Rate/Help my Cutting Diet

[edpettit_TSI]

Well, I started cleaning up my diet about 2 months or so back. I've dropped about 8lbs. My goal is to get down to a single digit BF just for the summer and have a clean base for my bulking come September. Cardio has been lacking and when I do cardio it is normally HIIT Training. Even though I lost 8lbs I feel like I haven't lost purely 8lbs of fat; obviously pretty tough to do.

My current diet:
Meal 1: 7am 25g carbs (oats), 20g protein (chicken)
Meal 2: 10am 25g protein (shake)
Meal 3: 12:30pm 35g chicken
Meal 4: 4pm 25g carbs (oats), 25g protein (shake)
Gym at 8pm
Meal 5 gym day: 1 hour before bed 40g protein (shake and chicken) 30g carbs (oats)
Meal 4 and 5 on non gym days have no carbs

Before bed I always take my fish oil and vitamins. I do hit training about 2x a week. The lack of food in the diet above is due to work constraints.

Any input on keeping this a good cutting diet w/o dropping to much more mass?

Starting weight was around 195lbs 6'0". Currently 185ish.

[Suareezay]

calories are way too low.

[edpettit_TSI]

That's pretty much what I figured. Any pointers where I can try to add? I travel for a living with my job so it's really tough at this point.

[Suareezay]

more protein, more carbs*, more fat.

*unless ketosis is your goal.

[estray]

thats about the blandest diet ive ever seen. Why dont you throw some other protein sources in like tuna, eggs, lean red meat, etc. And yeah, not enough calories.

[edpettit_TSI]

My only option is to throw them into meals 1 4 and 5. I was trying for a non-cardio cutting diet at first :/. But I can be the first to admit that the calories are way low. I've been much more tired on this diet all around.

[Aztech]

more protein.

[kjay]

add natural pb for calories and whey , i see no green vegies which makes a big difference gallon of h2o and a cheat day.

[JayC]

more protein.

+1. Alot more bro!! ..and veggies as well. You need fiber.

[edpettit_TSI]

I'm going to try to add more protein throughout the day (only in shake form) and add some fats/more cals to my 1st and 4/5th meals. My bulking phases were a lot easier in college. I was able to keep a steady 205lbs, but I was also taking in 3x the amount of food :/.

[Drako]

I'm going to try to add more protein throughout the day (only in shake form)

Try throwing some eggs and oats in your shake to boost cals.

[Phil9999]

i think your carbs are way to low. you dont want to drop your carbs to fast because you can lose muscle quickly. And your protein needs to increase significantly.

[edpettit_TSI]

I've managed to add about 30g more worth of carbs and about 30g more worth of protein throughout my meals. If I can get that up just a bit, I don't think I'll drop anymore mass. Hopefully that combined w/some HIIT or just really long low heart rate cardio should show some good results. I've only got to drop about 2%bf from the looks of things.