So after hitting a plateau or my genetic setpoint if you will, Ive been searching for a plan besides the simple 500-1000 kcal below maintenance stuff. The simple hypocaloric diet works awesome even if you ignore macronutrient ratios until you hit about 15% body fat. After that, we all know that you've got to start doing something a little more complicated to drop body fat even further.

I've been looking through lots of diets on here, tnation, mindandmuscle, etc. So far I've checked out:

TwinLabs carbcycling
Tom Venturo's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Ultimate Diet 2.0
John Berardi's Get Shredded Diet
and the Velocity Diet

It seems like they all essentially revolve around the same thing:
You go very low calorie and low carb for a certain period of time and then eat relatively "normal" for a day or two before your metabolism starts to adjust to the extreme decrease in carbs/calories.

Am I right or am I oversimplifying things?

Here's what I'm gonna try and see how it goes:

5'8", 150-153lbs, 13-15% body fat

On most days I'll take in about 1800 calories,
50% from protein
30% from fat
20% from carbs

Every three or 4 days for my "re-up", I'll take in about 2400 calories
I wont worry too much about the macro ratio but it'll be something around
30% protein
20% fat
50% carbs

Now these 1800 and 2400 calorie days might seem a lot for a guy my size, sh*t, most of the above mentioned diets have about that much for guys who are about 50lbs bigger than me. But according to my bodybugg, I burn about 3000 calories on training days and about 2400 on non-training days so I think going any lower than this will either be very catabolic or just mentally hellacious or both..

So what do you guys think?

*cricket chirp*

How long have you been dieting for?
How many calories did you start at?
What do you normally eat when you bulk?
How long have you been at 1800 cals?
How often do you train/how long?
What type of cardio?
What type of training split/program?
Are you taking a tablespoon of fish oil per day?

Without the above info I'd say you could probably go down to 1700 cals with your current weight. If you've been at it for a long time maybe take a break, do six weeks of slightly above maintenance then start back at it. That being said, I've never had to do to much with my dieting I take in 1 g protein per lb get my fish oil do HIIT and eat slightly below maintenance, I have and will continue to use this method to bring my BF down from ~12 to ~8%.

An example of previous 1800 cal diet I used with success:

1 pound chicken breasts
3 pieces fruit
4 cups 1% milk
1 cup dry oatmeal or 3/4 cup cream of wheat
1 tablespoon fish oil

or

3 pieces fruit
4 cups 1% milk
5 scoops whey
1 cup dry oatmeal or 3/4 cup cream of wheat
1 tablespoon fish oil

Basically I had success with a variation of the above diet, just minor changes to accommodate the different level of cals. Not saying the mentioned diets are not better, but I don't think it is necessary to make things overly difficult if you don't want to. For me if I wanted rid that last bit around my waist I may consider something else, I just haven't had to yet.

Unless you are competing, dieting is pretty much that simple.