Right! Down to business
I’m 19 currently weight about 161pounds my body fat is around 10% and height about 5ft11
My top four abs are clearly visible & my arms measure around 15inches but I have about 2cm of fat If pinched at the belly button this is hiding the bottom row of abs & those Vlines
I want to drop down to about 8/9% body fat and have a pruned 6pac for summer and then lean bulk from there and keep my abs all year round!
i have been dieting for a while one typically low low carbs
I have been doing a ckd for the past month and lost about 2lb I have energy on the diet but I can stand always looking so depleted at flat! I have read about carb cycling altho I find myself to be carb sensitive I know it’s possible to diet down on carbs no matter how sensitive you are! I have been eating 6 meals day so this is no problem I train about 4times a week late evening between 6 & 8
I’m just looking for advice/carb cycling plan that would help to shift that last stubborn lump of fat
My diet as it stands
Meal 1: 40g Oats & 2scoops whey (25carbs25pro)
Meal 2: 6egg whites (25pro)
Meal 3: 100g Chicken (25pro)
Meal 4: 20g Oats & 2scoops whey (13carbs25pro) (3hours before workout)
Meal 5: post workout: whey shake (25pro)
Meal 6: whey shake & 50g natural Pb (25pro&25fat)
Adds up to 1600calories a day
Thanks!
There are plenty of advisable carb-cycling approaches out there. There are plenty of articles on this site alone, written by noteable authors such as Thibbs and Dr. Clay Hyght, with very well planned macronutrient breakdown methodologies.
I’d recommend sourcing them out yourself and giving a few of them a reasonable shot, say a minimum of 6-8 weeks. Cycling your carbs has been shown to produce excellent results, and will most likely help you with appearing so depleted and flat all the time. Unless you’re dieting for an upcoming bodybuilding competition I see little reason to diet with so few carbs in your system.
Finally, you probably aren’t as carb-sensitive as you think you are; it’s just that you’ve neglected them for so long that your body doesn’t quite remember how to process them, as if it’s shut down the production of the enzymes needed to most efficiently digest them.
I would recommend re-incorporating small amounts of carbs at practical times of the day (i.e. pre- and post-workout) at first, then perhaps during breakfast once the weight gain has plateaued. Hope this helps and best of luck.
Secondly, I’d suggest rearranging your macros. With fat loss as your main goal, with limiting muscle loss a close second, your carb intake appears to be quite low. It can, however, become lower with the substitution of oats in favor of more vegetables to your diet. Personally, I’ve incorporated yams, sweet potatoes and butternut squash with very positive results. Also, scrap the shakes and replace of whole foods. The thermic effect of whole foods alone will spark your metabolism to new heights.
I would also suggest incorporating more healthy fats into your diet. The only fats you list occur in your final meal. While I agree with the use of something like peanut butter during your final meal (I’ve personally found it slows digestion overnight), I think your portion is a little high. Bring it down to one tablespoon, which is about 15-ish grams and should yield approx. 100 calories, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein and 3 to 5 grams of carbs depending on the product. With fewer fats at night, you can incorporate additional fats during the day. A tablespoon of peanut/almond butter; a handful of nuts such as almonds, peanuts, walnuts or Brazilian nuts; or a small avocado with each meal should serve you very well.
The addition of healthy fats will actually allow the body to burn more of its own fat instead of clinging to the very little you’re taking in.
You’ll probably have to do some rough math to re-calculate your daily caloric requirements. You’re currently taking in 1 gram of protein and 10 calories per lb of bodyweight, which is very low…in fact, probably too low. I’d bump up your protein intake to 1.25-1.50 grams per lb as well as increase your calories slightly, keeping in mind the changes I’ve outlined, meanwhile increasing your cardio (assuming you’re already doing some).
I know this may sound a bit crazy, but I had some similar issues last year. I dieted down from about 20+% body fat to around 10% body fat over the course of 5-6 months, but then I was stuck in the same situation. I got really frustrated and started cranking up my cardio. Instead of running 3-5 miles two or three times a week, I was running 7 or 8 miles two or three times a week, plus biking and swimming. The strange thing is I wasn’t losing weight, and my body fat seemed to start increasing. Looking back on it now I’m pretty sure this is because I was doing way too much cardio and just crushing my muscle mass. So then I started trying to restrict my calories even more. I was previously eating 1600-1800 calories a day (for several months) in order to get down to 10% body fat, so I started eating less, around 1200 calories a day or so. I would lose a few pounds and then put it right back on, could never really break down below 10%. After struggling like this for a long time I decided I was going to stop trying to lose weight for a while and just focus on living a healthy normal life. I started lifting weights again 4 times a week and eating about 3000 calories a day. I put on some weight at first, but then after a couple of weeks I actually started getting more ripped. Very weird, but I think that the long term dieting had actually killed my metabolism, so I had to repair it a bit.
Anyway, my advice would be if you’ve been dieting for a while, 1600 calories is actually pretty low. I think you can probably eat around 2200 calories a day and still lose weight. Eating a little bit more will actually give you some more flexibility with carbs and workout nutrition that way you can maintain your muscle mass a bit more. This will let you lean out without necessarily having to lose weight. It’s a weird concept, but eating more can actually help you lean out better.