Weight: 182lbs.
Height: 5 ft 5 inc (167cm)
Approx body fat percent: 25%
Male, 36 Years old

I would like to go on a cut and reduce my body fat % and expose my muscles. Currently my workout is 3x a week swapping between Training 1 and 2. Two days of treadmill running (not a lot but i run at a high speed and then rest for a min and do this around 4 times).

Training 1

Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Pendlay Rows 3x8
Reverse Flies 3x10
Calf raises 2x15/Tricep pressdowns 2x10 Superset

Training 2

Front Squat 3x5
Incline Bench 3x5
Romanian Deadlift 3x8
Lat Pulldowns 3x8
Ab work 2x15/Curls 2x10 Superset

On non workout days (Tuesday/Thursday) i do some running on a treadmill. Sat/Sun rest days.

Reading this page http://muscularstrength.com/mealplan my calories and breakdown are:

Calories: 1887
Protein: 137
Fat: 48
Carbs: 227

I then looked at Scott Herman's meal plan video and came up with the below

Fat weight = 182 * 25 = 45.5
Lean weight = 182 - 45 = 137 lbs
BMR at rest = 1780
BMR in motion = 2136

Average = 2136 + 1780 = 3916 / 2 = 1958 cals to maintain current weight
Goal (to go on a cut and reduce fat) = 1958 - 250 = 1708 (minus 250 calories)

Protein
Low = At 1gm = 137 gm protein to maintain current muscle
High = At 1.5gm = 205gm protein to build muscle

Fat
Low = .35 * 137 = 48 gms
High = 0.5 * 137 = 68 gms

Macros

Protein high/low
137 * 4 = 548c
205 * 4 = 820c

Fat High/low

50 * 9 = 450c
68 * 9 = 612c

So my calorie goal is 1708 (seems low??). I redid my macros to preserve and keep muscle with the following

High protein: 205 (820 cals)
High Fat: 68 (612 cals)
Carbs: 69 (276)

Total Cals: 1708.

Does this seem correct for my goal and my specifics posted above? If so

How long should i carry this out for (i know some will say "until you see results") but to me is seems like a low calorie in take and i dont want to lose muscle either.

Thanks

Ok first of all, I assume with your training you are aiming for total body workouts?

It looks like you are on the right track with your cardio doing some HIIT which is great.

For your diet, 1708 calories is relatively low, but remember you aren't that tall, and the smaller you are, generally, the fewer calories you need. The area of skin you have actually plays a part in how many calorie you need, because the more skin you have, then more calories your body actually needs to function and move bood and vitamins nad all that good stuff around your body.

By keeping your protein high, doing just a bit of HIIT cardio and training regularly, you shouldn't lose to much, if any, muscle mass, unless you are way down on your regular calorie requirements. You should be OK, but like you said yourself, you need to try this meal plan out for a while to see what happens.

For me, your carbs look incredibly low, even for a cut. Personally I think 100g of carbs is extremely low, and you are a lot lower than that. At 182lbs, you can probably afford to eat no more than 1g carbs per lb of bodyweight, or maybe go down to like 120-150g. Again though, if you want to, try it with the extra low carbs and see what happens.

For example though, you could try these macros:

Protein = 160g (640 Calories)

Carbs = 130g (540 Calories)

Fat = 65g (585 Calories)

Total Calories = 1765

This is a bit more than your target, but not too much more.

Hope this helps! #HTH

Jordan

Thanks Jordan.

[quote]Ok first of all, I assume with your training you are aiming for total body workouts?[/quote]

I'm doing total body workouts at this stage just to eliminate the extra fat and lower my body fat percentage. Perhaps once i reach a sensible BF% then i could concentrate on a certain body parts?

My only reason to lower carbs was simply to accelerate losing body fat. I suppose i could do it with the breakdown you have suggested as well.

Oh there is nothing wrong with total body workouts, I wasn't trying to say that. In fact if you are going for fat loss, total body circuit-type training is a great option, so stick with that for sure.

When you choose to start focusing more solely on muscle gain, then maybe you could try a split system.

You can definitely try your breakdown with only 69g carbs, just know that that kind of diet probably isn't sustainable. The whole idea is to try things out, and see what works best for you, like is explained here: http://muscularstrength.com/article/Trial-Error-The-Real-Failure-Is-When-You-Stop-Trying

Jordan