Carbs on a cut

[Nuvo6]

I'm going to be honest, I've never cut before. I've been bulking for like 4 or 5 years lol. So I'm unfamiliar with the cut routine.

I usually have lots of carbs pre and post. But if I'm not bulking what should I have then? How much carbs? What type?

I know how much calories and protein I should have, I know what kind of training I'll do.


But carbs I'm clueless about on a cut.

I usually drink Gatorade intra too. Should i only drink water?

I'm 5'10" 233lb

 

[jdubzzz44]

Keep the carbs in before, after and during workout and start pulling carbs out from other meals first and add some cardio. Should be losing around 1% of your body weight in pounds per week when that slows down, drop carbs again / add in more cardio.

 

[BigTomJ]

Protein should stay basically constant year round, baring GI issues/digestion (some people need to lower their protein intake periodically to reset digestion in a sense)

Fats should largely remain the same as trace fats in your protein sources and healthy fats from things like whole egg and avocado. Depending on your personal macros, fats can also largely remain the same (I operate best on low fats in general so my fats change very little throughout the year)

Carbs is where you manufacture your surplus or deficit with. To get to a deficit you want to scale back carbs in your meals that are furthest away from your training session first, sometimes incorporating zero carbs meals, and keeping your periworkout carbs for as long as possible, in moderate quantities.


As an example:

I eat 6 meals a day, with meals 4 and 5 being my pre and post workout meals.
When cutting, the first thing I do is pull carbs from meal 2. This works for me because it allows me to keep some carb in meal 1 to get my day going, and is still far enough away from training.
After that, I would scale carbs back from meals 1,3 and 6 until they are at a low enough to maintain the deficit, and only drop the carbs down in meals 4 and 5 when the diet is fully stalled (I've never had to do this outside of a contest prep)