How is everyone doing? I have been following this thread for awhile now, and I finally have a reason to join in. But first, a little background. I have been trying to lose weight it seems my whole life, and I just now started to see the results that I want. I have lost about fourty pounds in three months, but I still have fifty to go to be where I want to be: 9% bf at 220. But, I am really feeling burned out, this is mostly due to a lot of stress that is going on in my life right now. My girlfriend of three years decided it was a good time to break my heart. And, damn if it isnt painful, but I cant let that beat the shit out of me, so I am trying to figure out what I am going to do next. I plan on using the anabolic diet with one cheat day instead of two, and I am going to icorporate androsol, MD6, creatine, and a multi-vitamen into my routine. However, I am not to sure what type of training and aerobics program I am planning on using. And, I am not sure how I should use androsol for dieting. So, help with this would be great.(Joel congradulations with the BFL contest. You did an awesome job.
Great job so far! Keep it up! Those cheat days are just aroung the corner.
As for training, please take Joel and I's advice that we have been harping on for the last week (sorry about the rant).
Focus on maintaining strength and preservation of lean body mass with a basic M,W,F 5x5 program. Joel and I have posted several different versions of this program. Pick 2-3 core exercise (squats, deads, bench, overhead press, chins, etc.) per day and make sure you cover the whole body. You'll also want to do your cardio especially during a low carb diet. I'd suggest 30 min after your workouts and another two 30 min sessions on your off days. Keep the intensity moderate, but still challenge yourself. You don't want to push too hard with cardio on a low carb diet.
With the androsol, how much do you have and how long do you plan to use it. I got great results using 50 sprays every morning for 6 weeks. Most people use anywhere from 35-70 sprays in the morning to preserve lean body mass and you could probably keep this up for extended periods of time. I would suggest taking a break every 6 weeks and using Methoxy-7 for a 2-4 week break. As for creatine, use my prescription that I told somebody else in this thread (5g in tea in am, 5g in post-workout shake). Hope this gets you started. If you need any clarification, just let me know.
Hey buddy. Thank you for the kind words; they are appreciated. Although I have never actually given the Anabolic Diet a try, I have read the book, and learned alot from it. Let me know how things go with all the steak and eggs 
Also, I'm not sure if you are familiar with everything that I went through a few months ago with my girlfriend, but I can greatly empathize. You have the right attitude man; keep it up. By looking at things from this perspective, you'll be strong whether or not she decides to come back to you. Give her space and see what happens; it's highly likly that she will be back.
You can find a 5x5 program that Jason was referring to on this thread, post: "Joel Marion; Re:" Any other questions, just ask!
Today is end of week 7 of my diet. The first four weeks were pretty much a t-dawg style diet, very little carbs, and I dropped a lot, I mean a ton of weight really quick, which I was pleased with the results. The next two weeks, that diet wasn’t working for me anymore. So last Saturday, I started to up my carbs to about 150+g. a day. Which brought me to about 2,100 cal/day. Then I ate that awesome pizza Tuesday and did legs that night, with very light cardio for 20 minutes. Thursday morning, I did the ol’ sprint interval training. This morning, I was 4 pounds lighter than last Friday !! sounds like I got out of my sticking point !!.. but that seems like an aweful lot… now I wondering if I’m loosing muscle. I figured after 7 weeks, I’d loose a pound, maybe 2 of muscle… what do you all think… ??? i hope things are going well with you fellas !!
You certainly wouldn’t lose 4lbs of muscle in a week; especially when you upped the carb content of your diet. It is not unusual for fat loss to occur in spurts, and can probably be attributed to the sprinting and your decision to finally have some pizza. Keep sprinting and enjoy some tasty food once a week. Worry about making adjustments when it stops working.
Podge - Joel summed it up nicely. You broke your plateau by changing things up. Stick with a bigger cheat once a week and keep up the sprint work.
I'm starting to transisiton back to maintenance now. Meltdown drained me and I could tell that another week of it was not going to benefit me, so I'm breaking a little early to start my transition. I plan to slowly return to maintenance while simultaneously leaning out a little bit more. Still working on the program. Good luck to everybody else!
Due to a few major changes in my life regarding uni/work commitments, living arrangements etc., the Warrior Diet is looming is an appealing option for the time being. I like to experiment and learn how my body works. My ab skinfold is stuck at around 8-10mm and I’d love to drop it below 5mm before June to prime myself for some long-term bulking (even though its autumn/winter here!).
I'm going to be using a M/W/F spilt with Chest on Monday, Back on Wednesday, and Shoulders/Arms on Friday. The program will be intense, using low repetitions and medium volume - focusing on strength. I still can't train my legs/abs for another month, maybe more.
My diet will consist of lots of water and coffee/Diet Coke until post-workout where I'll consume 1500 calories in one sitting. On non-workout days I'll eat a 1000 calorie meal at 7pm.
I'm currently waiting on two bottles of Methoxy-7 to arrive from the US. They should be here this week, and I plan on taking a double dose (10mL 7am/7pm). Apart from that, a mutli-vitamin, vitamin C and ZMA are the only other things I'll be taking.
This diet is completely irresponsible and idiotic based on common practices and thinking. However, I'm going to be brave and experiment with it just this once. The only person that won't necessarily benefit from it is me - you'll all learn whether or not the approach can work, and how to make it work. I start tomorrow (Monday) and will report back as regularly as I can.
I’ll I can say is good luck and keep us posted. The Warrior Diet is interesting, but still a little too extreme to one side of the dieting spectrum for me. Good luck!
Have you read the book? I have. If you havn’t; don’t start the diet. The articles here just don’t do the diet justice. There is much more to it than is covered in T-mag.
I haven’t read the book, but I’ve done a fair amount of research online. I’ve also been in correspondance with people who are using the diet, or have done so successfully in the past. I wouldn’t try something like this without some ground-work, and I think I’ve got it down pat. We’ll soon see… =)
I’m looking to get somewhat ripped over the next 5 weeks if possible without losing too much strength (I am actually in baseball season still)…I highly value everyone’s opinion on this thread, and am looking to see what you think about this plan. I am 5’10", 205, 14% bodyfat right now (20 yrs old).
Training: 5x5 3 days per week with a chest/back, legs, and arms/shoulders day. Almost all compound movements (do have calf raises in there).
Cardio: Morning interval sprinting 3x week on off days from lifting. May add some aerobic work later on when baseball ends.
Diet: Will be getting 3,000 cals on both lifting and off days (I believe my maintenance cals to be around 3,400-3,500 right now). 100g carbs, 375g protein, 130g fat. Most carbs consumed in post-workout shake (50g I’m thinking) except on off days when most are consumed in post-sprinting meal (in the form of bananas+oatmeal most likely). Should also mention that I’ve been consuming less than 150g carbs the entire baseball season, so my performance shouldn’t be compromised with 100g a day.
Supplements: The obvious such as multivitamin, vitamin c, fish oils, etc… Also 5g creatine in post workout shake or with post-sprint meal, 20 extra grams glutamine a day (10 in shake before bed and 10 earlier in day), MD6 pre-workout.
Let me know what you all think…also, how do you feel about carb-ups? I don’t really tend to get cravings when dieting, so should I just forget about them? Oh, and how do you feel about doing 5x5 for 5 weeks? Too long without a switch, or okay for this plan? I appreciate all the help everyone.
Hey fellow T-Men,
I’ve been a long time lurker, posting rarely here and there, and a reader of t-mag for two years. I’ve been dieting for 10 weeks, and dropped from 246 at 23% bodyfat to about 220 at 16% bodyfat. I’ve been basically just moderating my carbs, upping my protein intake, and just lowering overall calories, while taking various combo’s of MD6, t2 and t2 pro. I’ve got 4 more weeks till graduation (college) and I wanna really drop more weight for it. I was hoping to get down to 10% by then, but don’t see that as realistic in this time frame. At this point, I’d be pretty happy to get to 12 or 13% bodyfat. What do u guys think I should do? I’ve been doing Ian King’s Arm specialization and getting good results, so I’m almost hesitant to change my training routine to a meltdown or something along those lines.
Hey Big Bruva,
Sounds like u’re an Aussie. If u r goto a GNC store, i think they have the Methoxy stuff by Biotest,…i live in Melbourne and i goto the Chadstone GNC to get my stuff, coz the guy who works there is pretty honest with me and he doesnt try to push me to get useless supps. He says that Methoxy works well if u can hit the dosage estimation jackpot coz every individual reacts differently to Methoxy. Keep us upto date on your progress mate!.
Hi T-gang,
I thought I'd join this discussion since I'm on a quest to get lean myself. I started working out on and off since last year, and this month marks 11-month anniversary of that. I didn't hear about T-Mag until last winter, but I went back and read some of the back issues/archives.
I made some dumb mistakes, but I think they all helped me learn more about myself and how my body works.
1. I don't do well on low-carb. I lack energy, and WO intensity suffers. Also I rebound back horribly...as in, when I give myself to eat carb again, I'd eat any and all carb in sight. Not pretty.
2. I do very well with moderate cardio thrown in. I tried it with cardio and without, and I lost quicker with cardio. Some people are lucky and don't need cardio. Guess I'm not one of them.
3. When I was eating 2100-2200 cal/day, squeaky clean for 5 days and semi-cheat for 2 days, not utilizing JB's P+C and P+F, with the macro-nutrient breakdown of 55C 30P 15F, I was losing about 1/2-3/4 lb of fat/week. I was working out about 4.5-5 hrs/week at that time.
4. When I eat near 1000cal/day, I do very badly, and I always end up going on a binge-cycle when I eat everything in sight.
I just finished reading JB's Winning Formula. Per my calculation, I can eat about 2400-2500 cal/day on his Formula. I'd like to give it a try and see how it goes. I plan to follow it strictly and allow myself 2 cheat meals/month. I'm going for the macro-nutrient breakdown of 40C 30P 30F, +/- 5%.
Tomorrow's going to be my first day. My friend told me my progress may not be very fast since I only need to lose about 20-25 lbs at the most, but we'll see. :)
BTW -- Patricia, you're an awesome T-Vixen role model. :)
Stella aka Patricia Wanna-Be
Bugger the Warrior Diet. Re-think tells me its really not the best idea, and was just my eagerness for the easy way out playing tricks on me. I’m lean, but not ripped, and its still autumn. No need to be going to extremes at the moment.
Damn my mind is a scramble at the moment: my dearest younger brother tore the medial cartilage in his knee for the 2nd time - playing soccer - requiring his 4th knee operation before the age of 18... Needless to say, I'm a bit depressed and not thinking straight. This on top of a few other stresses, but they're nothing compared to the pain I'm feeling for my brother. I love him dearly, and its especially sad given the circumstances and the luck he's had - he was a promosing athlete - state level hurdler and soccer player...
Back to the straight and narrow now. Time to pull myself together and get cracking.
The plan looks great buddy! But I would change a few things:
1) drop the protein to around 1.35g/lb LBM, and up the carb content to at least 1g/lb LBM. All that extra protein isn't going to do much and there is no reason to waste calories when you could be getting some more from carbs.
2) There is no reason to be taking 20 grams of glutamine in daily, and certainly not 10 grams in one sitting. No more than 5 grams at once (I still think that is too much, and so does research) and don't exceed 10 grams a day; no reason too, no added benefit; just more money.
Yes, 5 weeks of 5x5 is fine, and should be conducted at least that long. If you still want to cut after 5 weeks, just switch the exercises and split and you will enjoy continued progress. Keep us informed, and good luck.
Okee dokee, gonna do the 5x5 Program - most likely will perform mostly compound movements. But, Joel - you talked me into it, of course by using good points and sense. Looking forward to it! Folks, I guess I should look into getting a Tanita scale - because I swear, I’ve lost some BF. Ko (boyfriend) is hovering around 7-8% and I’m at 9-10% now. Again just by incorporating interval rope jumping on my non-gym days. Also am performing some old drills from my martial arts training. Sometimes, all you have to do is just a “little bit” more to see some good results.
So my schedule has been: Sat: Squat, Deads, Barbell Shoulder Presses, reverse hypers, ab work (hanging leg raises, reverse crunches), Sun: Bench (chest day), Incline DB Presses, DB Flyes or cables crossovers, abs (same as Sat). Monday, PM: Jump rope, drills, abs. Tues: Shoulders/Biceps, abs (might also do 20-min of intervals on row machine). Wed/Thursday , PM: jump rope. Fridays: If I don't do anything on Thursdays, Ko and I might use this day as a weight training day. OR, I'm a lazy bitch and we just go and have a beer, or two. ;-)
And I haven't dropped my caloric intake.
Stella: I don't know what to say - but stick with it - and keep us all informed as to how your progress is coming along! T'anks for the fine compliment - especially when there are other really fine T-Vixens on the forum, too!
Do you think it is necessary to use something like maltodextrin powder after sprinting? Last year I used sprinting to reach an all time low bodyfat at 9%, pretty good considering I once had bodyfat of around 35%. I also didn’t eat any carbs after and don’t think I lost any muscle. Right now I am coming off the T-dawg diet and bumping cals up a little and to a 40P/30F/30C diet. I eat my P+C meals in the early part of the day and my P+F meals in the later part of the day. I’m working out in the morning and sprinting at night. My main goal is fat loss. Right now I’m probably at 12% body fat.
Joel, thanks for the input man. I have thought about decreasing the protein and upping the carbs, but I have been getting no more than 125g carbs a day for the past 3 months…I just wonder if upping them to around 185 would be bad as I go into a cutting phase like this. About the glutamine…I may drop it down to 5g twice a day. Can glutamine peptide sit in water (in a protein shake really) for some time and still be effective? For some reason I remember reading that it shouldn’t be diluted for too long before you take it.
Describe your sprints sessions a little more. If doing something like TC’s 50 yard dash program then you should take some post-workout carbs, but if doing a more typical sprint interval workout (like the one’s on Joel’s page) you can probably get away without any carbs.