I have been asked by several people to explain my cutting process so I made a video to explain what I do in terms of eating and my take on exercising during my Fitness Contest Weight Cut.
Watch my YouTube video for all the details, here is a quick summary:
When I am cutting for a fitness contest I feel it is important to go against the natural tendency of the body during a cut and rather than scale back my workouts by doing lighter weights and higher reps, I continue to keep heavy weight on the bar and increase my workout frequency and workload. This does not mean I go for single rep PR's or even low rep PR's but I do make it a point to go heavy and keep my rep ranges between 8-12 reps.
I also refrain from cardio sessions as I feel that weight training burns just as many calories while telling my body that I still need to keep and even grow my muscle. If I need to burn more calories then I just add in another weight training session.
In this way I am able to keep all my hard earned muscle and even gain some additional muscle due to my increases work load and intensity.
When it comes to my nutrition I will be honest and say I do not always eat super clean during the first part of my contest cut but I am consistent on hitting my calories and macros for each day. I generally cut 1000 calories from my diet each day Monday to Friday and shoot to break even on the weekends, this way I am at a calorie deficit of -5000 calories each week which should be about 1.5 pounds of fat loss. I do believe it is important to make sure to eat as many carbs as you are burning during your training sessions as your body will function better when it has restored it's glycogen levels in the muscles.
The last 2 weeks or so I start to eat cleaner and will generally lower my carbs by eating a white fish and veggie diet, about 3-4 days before the show I start adding in carbs and really make sure to eliminate any sodium from my foods. During the last week it is not uncommon for me to drop 5 or more pounds!
Again make sure to watch my YouTube video as I explain all of this in more detail and show some of the foods I eat during my Fitness Contest Cut.