1.) Maybe bump up to maintenance calories for two weeks and then drop 500 calories. As you drop calories, drop them just from fat. I wouldn’t go below 300g of protein if I were you.
2.) Whatever program you do, start out with it exactly as written. Otherwise, you’re not really doing that program.
This looks SO much better than what you were doing. It looks like you cleaned up your food sources as well.
Thanks! Bacon is next on the chopping block to reduce fat and bump protein next week. After that I think I have no semi-processed foods at all.
When you’re not working on fat loss you have two good bacon options to choose from. Most stores will carry the Oscar Mayer No Nitrates Added bacon. The BEST option is the no sugar bacon from U.S. Wellness Meats. The only ingredients are pork and sea salt.
Something else helpful would be to buy a digital food scale. This way you can weigh out your food and be much more precise. Half a cucumber has a LOT of net carbs for a vegetable.
These picture comparisons are between 7-4 and 7-13.
7/13/2012
Scale Weight: 208.5 lb
BF%: 18% (On calipers, 19.4% on handheld)
Chest: 41 3/4
Bicep (right): 16 inches
Bicep (left): 15 1/2 inches
Waist: 40 1/2 inches
Hips: 41 1/8 inches
Thigh (right): 26 inches
Thigh (left): 26 1/4 inches
Calf (right):16.5
Calf (left): 16.5
6/29/2012
Weight: 207.5
BF%: 20.3%
6/16/2012
Weight: 207 lb
Fat%: 22.4%
It should be mentioned that on 7/14/2012 was my first time using calipers to do BF%, before that it was an electronic one you hold in your hands out from your chest. I wanted to change to calipers for accuracy purposes, and will be measuring with them from now on. I will also be doing pics and measurements on Friday Mornings always now for consistency, as well as a weekly diet post.
Anyway, it looks like I lost somewhere around 3-4% body fat in the last month. I wish I had taken pics in June, but I definitely look significantly better. Is it possible for me to lose that much BF% and have gained 1.5lb in a month? I am a lot stronger in the gym and my muscles look bigger, but that seemed a little strange to me, like 3-4$ BF loss should have had a lower scale reflection. I am new to this though.
I am planning on cutting around 500ish calories a day (bring me to 2500ish) this week and trying to down to 0g carbs and see what happens this week.
My carb up last from 1:30pm to 7:00pm between 3 meals on Saturday. It consisted of whole wheat pasta and marinara for 2 meals, and then rice and chicken stirfry for the last one. Totaled 189g carbs (I later realized that I mis-calculated dinner, I meant to go for 156g for the day)
Thoughts on my physical changes and diet adjustment? Thanks!
Also, I posted it in its own thread but no one seems to have an answer there, so maybe someone here will. I am concerned about the next week because I just all of my supplements in. BCAA, Glutamine, BCAA, Creatine, Leucine, and Glycine. When added up, this is…
lifting day = 195g (w/o whey) = 780 calories
non-lifting = 50g = 200 calories
Do I count these supplements against my daily protein and/or my daily calories?
Searching around the internet the claim is that they do not require the body to use energy to burn so they are not considered calories by the FDA. Frankly, the FDA is unreliable, and all I care about is if the calories from these will effect my cut.
I don’t know why my original response didn’t post. Congrats on the progress! If you’ve changed your body comp that much in a month then I would NOT drop calories or change anything. If you’re dropping fat and gaining muscle then why eat less food? Don’t count the calories in those supplements.
Thanks Zach, can you see much change in my appearance between those pic comparisons?
7/11/2012 7/20/2012
Weight 208.5 209
BF% 20.30% 19.40%
Chest 41 3/4 40
Waist 40 1/2 38
Hips 41 1/8 40
Bicep Right 16 16 5/8
Bicep Left 15 1/2 16 1/4
Thigh Right 26 25 1/8
Thigh Left 26 1/4 25 1/8
Calf Right / /
Calf Left / /
7/11/2012 7/20/2012
Weight 208.5 209
BF% 20.30% 19.40%
Chest 41 3/4 40
Waist 40 1/2 38
Hips 41 1/8 40
Bicep Right 16 16 5/8
Bicep Left 15 1/2 16 1/4
Thigh Right 26 25 1/8
Thigh Left 26 1/4 25 1/8
Calf Right / /
Calf Left / /
So for some reason the text box won’t maintain my spacing, but those are my improvements, I lost 2 inches from my waist and chest, 1 inch from my hips and about 3/4ish from my thighs. Gained 1/2 lb and went up in strenght on all my lifts. I will post pics when I get them uploaded
