Your Bodybuilding Diet Plan for Cutting the Freshman 15

Years ago, when I stepped foot onto my college campus for my first year of school, I was looking forward to new opportunities…

…and wanted to build a lean body to help me gain more confidence and make some awesome college memories.

Unfortunately, when it came to “getting shredded”, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

I didn’t know how much I should be eating and within a few weeks I wasn’t sure if anything was changing.

Suddenly, I wasn’t doing as well in the weight room either.

I couldn’t lift as much on the bench press.

My deadlift numbers were starting to waiver.

I was just feeling weak all over.

All of that hard earned muscle that I spent months building up seemed to be withering away!

If you’re still reading this right now, then you might be experiencing one or some of these symptoms and you’re searching for a reliable method to lean down while still maintaining a muscular frame underneath.

Well, keep reading all the way to the end of this post because I’m going to reveal some powerful, but simple methods to set up a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting that will make the whole process extremely effective, but very flexible.

I’m not going to waste anymore of your time so I’ll get to the meat of things and explain that the rest of this post is dedicated to showing you what the most important things are in following a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting the freshman 15 out of your life.

Let’s get started…

The Most Important Thing is To Count Your Calories

In the grand scheme of losing weight and body fat, the most important factor is managing your caloric intake.

…And there are a number of ways to keep your calories under control, but the most reliable way is by controlling your diet and nutrition.

In case you didn’t know, a calorie is a unit of measurement measuring the amount of energy released from the consumption of food.

Some foods release more energy, while others don’t release hardly any at all.

So if someone tells you that a calorie is in fact a calorie, they’re not lying.

The reality is, each of those calories are going to be used in a different way depending on its macronutrient profile..

So this is how you need to approach your caloric intake…

Create a Minor Caloric Deficit

Your body is in a caloric deficit when it consumes fewer calories than it needs to function and manage your daily metabolic processes.

So, your body essentially goes to internal stores for existing sources of energy to make up for the deficit that you create.

And when you strategically structure your macronutrients, your body will turn to stored body fat as a primary source of energy.

(This is the core of a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting.)

Now a common mistake is to create a caloric deficit that’s a little extreme.

Extreme caloric deficits are more difficult to follow over the long term.

And your body is going to adapt at the same rate for a smaller deficit and require adjustments almost at the same pace.

That’s why starting with a modest deficit of around 20% less than your maintenance calories will be enough to see at least one pound of fat loss per week in average for most individuals…

…And a little less than 1 pound of fat loss per week in already lean individuals.

So what’s the most important thing to structure your diet in order to make sure that your body turns to stored body fat in order to get its energy?

Make Sure You’re Eating High Protein

Proteins are the building blocks of new lean muscle tissue, so you need to make sure that you get an adequate amount of it so you can preserve existing muscle mass as your body decides to eat itself.

Failing to eat enough protein when your body is in a caloric deficit can lead to muscle loss.

(You’ll notice this when your strength in the gym appears to waste away over time.)

Now, the average unathletic individual needs only about 35% of their daily calories from protein.

However, athletic individuals like yourself are going to need about 1g to 1.2g of protein per 1lb of target body weight everyday.

This amount will actually stay constant as you get leaner and leaner and it’s an important point in this bodybuilding cutting guide.

So now you know how much protein, but how should you structure your meals?

Meal Planning and Deciding “How Many Meals”?

So after you dialed in how many calories you need to eat and how much protein is necessary for you to meet your bodybuilding goals…

The next thing you’re probably asking yourself is “how many meals do I need to eat each day”?

Well, as a novice, the most important thing in managing a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting is simply to make sure that by the time you go to sleep, you’ve eaten all your calories for the day.

It doesn’t really matter if it’s 1 meal or 25 meals.

As long as you got all your calories in before your head hits the pillow, you’re doing well.

However, there are some benefits and detriments to how many meals you eat each day that contribute to your hunger, and also some short-term aesthetic variables.

Let’s go through them…

Deciding to Eat 4 or More Meals Per Day

This is the most common recommendation in the bodybuilding community.

You may have heard from your favorite fitness model or an old school bodybuilder from the 70’s or 80’s that eating four or more small meals evenly spaced throughout the day is the best thing for optimal muscle growth.

While, this hasn’t been scientifically proven (and there’s actually research that goes against these claims), there are still a few arguments in favor of this eating method.

Pros

• Multiple meals throughout the day keeps your muscle glycogen stores full, increasing short term muscle size (you look a little bigger and fuller at all times).

Cons

• Eating smaller meals limits diet flexibility.
• Eating more frequently tends to increase hunger cravings over the long term.
• It’s a hassle to prepare so many meals every day.

Deciding to Eat 3 Meals Per Day

Alternatively, you can choose to follow the standard 3 meals per day protocol in your bodybuilding diet plan for cutting the freshman 15.

This isn’t as much of a stretch since it’s considered the standard way of eating for most of the United States population.

Pros

• You may already be eating this way so there won’t be any transition period.

Cons

• Eating every 3 to 4 hours can still increase hunger in some individuals.
• Having a very busy schedule can make even 3 standard meals a day a challenge.

Deciding to Eat Less than 3 Meals Per Day

Now, eating less than 3 meals a day has been associated with such eating protocols as standard intermittent fasting, Eat Stop Eat, and The Warrior Diet.

Personally, when I started intermittent fasting roughly 6 or 7 years ago the simple idea of cutting out breakfast everyday was hard to swallow.

The first day I attempted it, I walked into my kitchen after just waking up and almost habitually started pouring myself a bowl of breakfast cereal only to realize, “Hey, I don’t have to do this anymore.”

Now, I actually use a mixture of 16 hour and 24 hour fasts throughout the week for my own bodybuilding diet plan for cutting.

This allows me to manage my hunger cravings as I continue decreasing my calories in order to see more fat loss over the long-term.

On the days I fast for 24 hours, I only eat one meal and on the days I fast for 16 hours, I only eat 2 meals.

And while this sure is a simplistic way of approaching my diet, there are still a few negative aspects to it.

Pros

• Meal planning becomes as simple as it can possibly get.
• More energy and focus in the morning if you skip breakfast.

Cons

• Transitioning into intermittent fasting can be a challenge for some.
• You may feel some gastrointestinal discomfort if you plan on eating a day’s worth of calories in a single meal every single day.

So those are your options with how many meals you should eat in your bodybuilding diet plan for cutting the freshman 15.

As you can see, there are pros and cons to how many meals you decide to eat.

If you’re more concerned with aesthetics, even on a day-to-day basis, eating four or more meals throughout the day might be your jam.

This of course adds a bit of complexity to your meal planning, which I think is a bad idea for a very busy college student.

That’s why I would suggest using a mixture of intermittent fasting and 3 or less meals to make your plan as simple as possible, with some additional fat-burning benefits.

Deciding to Eat Completely “Clean”

Now if you’re not familiar with the term “clean eating”, it’s the suggestion that you should stick to only stereotypically healthy foods when planning your bodybuilding diet plan for cutting.

These types of foods include:

• Whole grain breads
• Moderate to low-fat Dairy
• Brown rice
• Lean meats
• Other tasteless things

On the surface, this sounds like a pretty reasonable plan, right?

But I want to point something out to you…

You Might Not Have Noticed How Most People Do Not Look Like Bodybuilders

Since the Golden Age of bodybuilding back in the 1970s, eating clean for the purpose of creating an aesthetically-pleasing physique has been a pretty prominent topic in the bodybuilding community.

And thousands upon thousands of individuals have taken this advice and put it into practice.

So where are all the six pack abs?

Where are all the lean and jacked, beautiful people?

Here’s the problem…

Creating a diet primarily based on clean foods doesn’t work for the vast population.

Make sure you read that last sentence again because I’m about to explain why.

It’s Because Typical Bodybuilding Diets Have Too Many… Rules

Well it’s absolutely true that eating stereotypical bodybuilding cutting diet foods with very isolated macronutrient profiles (high protein with low-fats and low-carbs, high-fat with low protein and low carbs, Etc.) will provide more health benefits, incur more hunger management benefits, and have a strong correlation with maintaining a healthy weight…

…Too many restrictions on any single eating plan leads to failure in the long term.

In other words, the probability of you giving up greatly increases.

(Not great for a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting.)

Here’s How to Structure Your Diet for Long-Term Fat Loss

There are probably hundreds of different diet setups that you could follow and lose body fat.

However, there’s a strong correlation between diets with more restrictive rules and the probability of someone quitting before they reach their goals.

That’s why I would never suggest that anyone eats bodybuilding cutting foods that are completely clean or follows any long-term fat loss diet that completely cuts out certain macro nutrients or foods.

It just doesn’t make sense.

Instead, you should learn how to create your own meal plan while being as flexible as you possibly can.

If I were you, this is the plan I’d follow…

1. Discover Your Favorite Healthy Foods

For each macronutrient, spend 10-15 minutes and think about what your absolute favorite foods are that are strong in that particular macro.

Seriously, sit there and think about it because up until this point if you wanted to build muscle and you didn’t like the taste of meat… you probably thought you were fucked.

Well, that’s not the case.

Just look at this short list of high-protein foods that are not meat:

• Eggs
• Cheese
• Milk
• Seeds
• Nuts
• Greek yogurt

Additionally, pick out a few not so healthy foods that you still want to work into your diet and eat every once in a while.

Really, there’s nothing wrong and with indulging in a few guilty pleasures as long as all your other macronutrients add up.

For example, I often indulge in macaroni and cheese and ice cream on a consistent basis.

Of course, I’m not eating giant bowls of these things for every single meal, but there’s nothing wrong with having a side of macaroni and cheese next to a giant bowl of broccoli and chicken.

Get it?

2. Plan 2-3 Meals and Eat Them All the Time

After you’ve picked out your favorite healthy and not healthy foods, now you need to work them into a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting (that meets your goals).

It’s best to think up two or three meals that you can just consistently swap in and out every day without even thinking about it.

Think about the food you need to meet your protein requirements.

Fill the rest of your calories with moderate fat and plenty of carbs to fuel your workouts.

Pro tip: you can even create these meals save them and apply them over and over again in calorie counting apps like MyFitnessPal.

3. Learn to Manage Food Temptations

After you’ve made your meal plan, stick to the damn plan!

No snacking in between meals.

Whatever you agreed to eat, eat that… and that’s it.

And the fact that you’re eating the same thing on a consistent basis will actually make resisting temptation much easier.

… Because it’s been proven on multiple occasions that more food options leads to bad decisions.

All other food options that you haven’t included in your meal plan…

… Keep them out of sight.

You’re more likely to deviate from your plan if you have food laying around in front of your face where it’s more convenient for you to get to it.

4. Stay Busy (Go Do Your Homework)

The most powerful thing you can do to keep your diet on track is to stay as productive as possible.

The worst thing you can do on a cutting diet is sit there and think about food all day long.

I can remember the first time I did a hard push to lose body fat that I was making steady progress for the first few weeks.

Then, suddenly I wasn’t making as much progress anymore.

I also noticed that my hunger was more ravenous than usual…

Then as I was at work I suddenly had a self-awareness moment and noticed I was browsing recipes on a cooking website!

I was actually sitting there and daydreaming about all the awesome things I was going to eat later when I got home.

Because of this I was focusing way too much on my meals and I was actually over eating consistently, ruining my results without even realizing it.

That’s why one of the simplest things you can do to manage your hunger cravings is to keep yourself as busy and productive as possible so you don’t even have a moment to think about it.

Now You Have a Bodybuilding Diet Plan for Cutting the Freshman 15

So now you have a bodybuilding diet plan for cutting the freshman 15 in a nutshell.

Put your body in a caloric deficit, eat enough protein, decide how many meals per day you want to shove it down your hole, and come up with a flexible meal plan that you can stick to over the long term.

If you hit all of these criteria, you’re much more likely to shred your body down to single digit body fat (and have a good time doing it too).

Now I want to hear from you.

Leave a comment below and tell me what you think about this plan.

Do you think this is something that you could stick to?

Have you tried a bodybuilding cutting diet in the past? And did they work?

Tell me about your experience in the comments below.