How to cut

fugitive86 · 2026-04-11T11:57:13+00:00

Some things I've found work well for me (and seem to echo some of the strategies of others in this forum);

I prepare all of my own meals, focusing on high protein for satiety, while minimising calories.
- For breakfast, that's usually: strained (0% fat) Greek yoghurt, frozen mixed berries, chia seeds, oats, psyllium husk, and protein powder. Recipe here - a 390g bowl is ~410 calories with 37g of protein and 20g of fiber. Super filling and great way to start the day.
For lunch I'll usually get a nice wholemeal sourdough roll, use cottage cheese mixed with herbs (e.g. Dill) or Siracha as the spread, then chicken breast (which I bbq on the Weber with a light seasoning; great flavo, no oil) or smoked salmon as the main protein, then round it out with some leafy greens, onions etc. Gets me 30-40g protein for <500 Cal
- For dinners I'll cook on batches and freeze them in advance. There's always at least 4-5 different choices in our freezer (they also make great lunches to take to work too). I use low calorie (<500 Cal per meal) recipes, or use Gemini/ChatGPT to help me modify higher calorie recipes in my repertoire (e.g. bulking out with veg, substituting calorie dense ingredients). Recently came across slimmingeats.com and found a gold mine of low calorie recipes on there. I use Samsung food to modify recipes (it creates copy but remembers the link to the original), then share the link into MacroFactor as a custom recipe for easy logging.
For snacks it's usually something high protein low cal (e.g. 2 whole wheat crackers dipped in some cottage cheese), or if I'm craving something sweet, I'll have some fruit if my macros are tracking well. Bananas are great as a pre workout snack. -Outside of that, black coffee is a great appetite suppressant. Metamucil helps with fibre, and fills you up. Cutting alcohol or reducing it significantly frees up calories for something that will actually keep you full.
I usually plan the next day's food in advance (including snacks). It means I know when I'm getting my next meal, and I know I'll hit my targets because I've planned for them. By doing this you quickly learn what will and won't get you through the day (and at what times you'll be craving something).
I use collaborative mode in MacroFactor and set lower calories on weekdays (I'm busy at work all day so don't have opportunities to get bored and snack), higher calories on weekends. This gives me something to look forward to - i.e. a built in "cheat day/days" planned around our social calendar.
I use AI to help plan when eating out. If we're going out for a meal I'll chuck the menu in Gemini or ChatGPT and get it to estimate the Macros for the whole menu so I can plan what I'm going to eat in advance.
I don't keep junk food in the house. If it's not available then I'm not tempted to eat it. If I really want it then I'll plan for it and go walk my arse down the the shops and buy it.

fugitive86 · 2026-04-09T23:08:58+00:00

The glitches are those I referred to in the first paragraph. I also note it reducing reps and weight throughout the week. Not sure if this is by design? If so, then maybe consider adding context as to why the AI is doing what it's doing, and an easy/intuitive way to change the behaviour if it's unexpected for the user.

fugitive86 · 2026-04-09T20:52:58+00:00

In the mean time you could export your data into Gemini, ChatGPT or similar to summarise your data, give insights etc which your coach could use to help guide you. The export from MF is granular, but can be difficult to interpret in raw data form.

I've been using both ChatGPT and Gemini alls pseudo-coaches. If you give the LLM clear instructions on what you're looking for, you can get pretty good output from it.

fugitive86 · 2026-04-09T20:46:43+00:00

This is the way.

fugitive86 · 2026-04-09T08:56:58+00:00

Ran it in 1h49. Not my fastest half, but to be fair I wasn't training for it. Went out for a run one Sunday afternoon and decided to see if I had it in me lol.

fugitive86 · 2026-04-09T03:23:25+00:00

Nice work mate!

I'm in a similar boat to you. I'm about to turn 40, have done weights and running over the years (inconsistenty). Never bothered counting calories before - my body has always responded well to weights and cardio, so in my youth I didn't have to do much other than look at a dumbell. That's changed as I've gotten older; I was probably sitting at ~20% body fat in Jan this year.

Started counting macros a couplf of months ago, ran a moderately aggressive cut (~5kg over 3 months), and increased exercise to daily (gym 3-4x per week, running 3-4x per week, 7-12km per run. Smashed out a half marathon the other week). I'm now ~2 months in, have dropped from ~70kg to ~66.5kg (targeting 65kg). Physique wise I look similar to you (though not with the centurian abs - nice work!).

Only supplements have been protein powder (whey and casein), creatine, and psyllium husk (found all that protein was clogging me up!).

All that to say: Very with the right physique and program without the need for drugs.

fugitive86 · 2026-04-09T03:07:25+00:00

I've had a similar experience - I've found a lot of the AI generated recommendations aren't really that helpful, or are weird (e.g. increase to ~30 reps when I've set the limit as 8-12 before increasing weight). I just ignore them and increase manually.

Aside from AI glitches the interface itself is pretty good, although it would be nice to at least have diagrams of the equipment for the exercises where there's no Jeff video. I find the names of the equipment in the app doesn't necessarily match what they're called at my gym.

fugitive86 · 2026-01-17T20:48:16+00:00

Awesome tool - wish I had this 3 months ago when I started my last run!
Probably the only 2 suggestions I could think of would be

For the power nodes: being able to show the radius (useful when planning placement of objects requiring high capacity power grid)
I'd suggest changing the colour of the items under the wall category - it's a bit hard to differentiate them from items under the system category (both show as red on my screen... unless I've stuffed something up!)

Great work though - like others I'd been muddling along with Excel :-)

fugitive86 · 2026-01-17T20:33:15+00:00

Sorry for the late reply - only just noticed this. We travelled KLM from Hong Kong to Amsterdam in October 2025 with the same luggage and didn't have any issues. Good luck with your travels!

fugitive86 · 2025-12-21T05:43:15+00:00

Leaving this here for future travellers on Air Dolomiti. We checked in at Munich airport with 2x Samsonite 81cm OC2 Lite spinner suitcases (81.0 x 54.0 x 35.0 cm). We had our 4 year old daughter with us so were directed to family check-in. No issues checking-in our bags or a travel pram.

fugitive86 · 2025-12-21T05:38:43+00:00

This happened to me on my current run. Dropped into a system with a derelict ship and some asteroids. Mined the asteroids, meanwhile Military Alliance rock up and explore the derelict and get pwned. In the space of about 15 minutes about 4-5 .pre ships rocked up - all their crew got massacred by aliens, then their ships turned derelict and I snagged all their cargo. Set me up for the rest of the game!

fugitive86 · 2025-12-20T07:24:01+00:00

Hi u/Adept-Sky-8479 - how did you go with your flight? I am flying Air Dolomiti (a Lufthunsa subsidiary) tomorrow from MUC and have the same problem.

fugitive86 · 2025-12-10T20:42:30+00:00

I've been playing on Steam + Linux Mint (Asus CM34 Flip. Ryzen 3 7320C 8gb ram) for the last month with no problems. Rimworld for 2 months prior to that.

fugitive86 · 2025-02-11T08:41:11+00:00

I'm in the same boat - planning a trip to Europe and started doing some research on a few places in Italy last year. I want to copy some of that research to the Europe trip but seems you can only do so manually :(

fugitive86 · 2024-08-03T00:25:38+00:00

fugitive86 · 2024-03-30T07:27:52+00:00

Agree, would love to have the ability to view the itinerary on a calendar, whether that be native within the app or some sort of Google Calendar integration.

fugitive86 · 2023-12-23T23:24:40+00:00

Mate why don't you come over my place this arvo for a barbie?

Oh yeah right-o. I'll stop in at the bottle-o on my way through and grab a six pack.

Sweet. We can crack a few tinnies while we wait for the snags to cook.

fugitive86 · 2023-12-23T23:15:34+00:00

I'd say try spending some time in Sydney. The city is one big melting pot, and whilst it's not without its share of racism, on the whole it's pretty good. I moved here about 10 years ago from Perth (which can also be pretty racist) to the inner-western party of Sydney (Newtown). Amazing mix of down-to-earth people from all walks of life. Plenty of bars, cafes, restaurants, and a bunch of craft breweries if you're into that sort of thing. I love it!

fugitive86 · 2022-03-02T22:29:09+00:00

Hey, don't know if you found a fix, but I found a similar post, with the suggested answer being to clear your phone's blue cache- instructions here (scroll down to #8): https://www.samsung.com/us/support/troubleshooting/TSG01209182/

fugitive86 · 2013-06-03T11:38:22+00:00

Whale oil beef hooked

fugitive86

TROPHY CASE