Hello, I’ve been dieting for roughly 8 months now and I’ve managed to get down to 167 from 205. I’m lean as hell (veins everywhere, even on abs) but I can’t for the life of me lose weight off my face. It’s still not as lean as I want it to be or not as lean as the faces of other lean athletes look. I’m currently training intensely 5-6 times a week and burning 700 calories 5 times a week in an effort to lose 1 pound a week (I bumped it down from 2 pounds a week because I don’t really much fat left to lose). I’m eating at my maintenance which is 3,000 calories.
I guess what I’m asking is, what’s the best way to lose that last bit of fat? I was doing fasted until I read your article about how dangerous fasted cardio can be for muscle loss so I’ve decided to stop it. I’m also going to purchase the MAG-10 in an effort to help lose the last pounds but would really like advice to lose the last 5 or so stubborn pounds (particularly on my face).
I am not CT, but being someone who has gone from lean to shredded in the past, I know something very simple: the best way is to keep going! This means either continue with what you’re doing if it’s working, or make an adjustment with training and diet to get fat loss going again.
This statement strikes me as odd, and I don’t ask this in a rude manner: if you were having success losing two pounds per week without excessive muscle loss, why would you ask what’s the best way to lose fat. Clearly you know what to do to get measly five pounds of fat off if you were steadily losing two pounds per week.
It is hard to believe your maintenance caloric amount is 3,000 calories at 167 pounds. I had to reduce my calories down to about 2,000 for the last four or five weeks of my contest prep and I got down to 173, and I know men considerably more muscular than me at my height did not have such an amount towards the end.
If you are really eating 3,000 calories, then you can definitely drop some.
I think I read the article you refer to but I believe it depends on the type of cardio. I did brisk walking for much of my cardio fasted (with another two weekly interval sessions at night) and I got shredded to the bone.
Though it’s a good supplement, that’s not the ticket in going from lean to shredded.
If you actually have veins running through your abs, you are likely shredded.
Hey thanks so much for responding! I went down from 2 pounds a week because I found it wasn’t sustainable for me. I was working hard but overeating on the weekends because of intense cravings and so I was adding those 2 pounds back. As for the maintenance, I use Paul revelias calculator and according to it, age 22, 167 pounds, 5’11” and with intense exercise 5-6 times a week it’s 3k calories. I do very rigorous training and always end with an hour cardio (600 calories burned). I am very vascular and shredded but my face isn’t showing it and I guess I just want to know why. Maybe it has nothing to do with being shredded? Maybe I’m eating too much sodium? Not cutting my water to get a better picture? No idea. Here’s a pic of my uppper body
:
This has absolutely nothing to do with it! Cutting water and fooling around with sodium intakes is a bunch of BS. You can drink all you like and salt your foods. It has nothing to do with leanness and a healthy body doesn’t retain water.
You are very lean, and at this leanness your face is not fat-appearing. I don’t need a picture to know this. Maybe the configuration of your face just doesn’t lend to a particular look.
Why are you so hung up on your face, if it’s alright to ask? What is the reward of a gaunt face? If anything it just lends to people asking if you’re alright or suffering from illness!
100% this. If there is one thing I did different when trying to get photoshoot ready versus just getting lean (for example for 8 weeks of the diet was to essentially go from 12% to 8% and then the last 4 weeks were to get down to 6%) was including more refeed days, BUT getting a larger deficit on the other days.
I would go 2 hard days (large deficit and more cardio) and 1 refeed day (adding 150g of carbs from rice), 2/1, 2/1 etc.
During first stage there was no real caloric fluctiuation from day to day.
Haha I had an illness in April and lost 16 pounds (muscle and fat) and my face fell in. Some girls said it looks better and complimented me but most people asked me if everything is alright and said I look sick. So OP, don’t get hung up on it. You’re clearly lean.
LOL. I shot a video while I was dieting for a photo shoot and started by mentioning “I don’t have cancer, I’m dieting at the moment”… I have a small face to start with so I look like Smeagol when getting super lean.
Haha! I got a some T-Rex action going when I’m really lean and small cause my head is relatively big. I think that’s why girls thought it looked better lol
