I just had the realization that only 10 lbs of fat separates me from looking soft to looking pretty cut. Suffice it to say, I find this pretty amazing and very encouraging. Keep going strong everybody. BTW, does anybody have any thoughts on my previous keto question?
From my experience, the only benefit to a carb-up day was peace of mind. In other words, it was nice to actually feel the pump that is almost always lost (at least for me) when I’m on low carbs. I think that you might be better off holding off on the keto for a bit longer; 1.5 lbs. per week is still pretty good (especially considering that you mentioned that there were a couple of “not-so-hot” diet days mixed in). Why fix it if it isn’t broken? You could always just drop 250 calories or so without going keto for another week or two, and then just hit it hard in the homestretch. Obviously, I’m the last one who is going to be anti-keto because I go to a modified version of it right away whenever I cut. However, from what I read of your posts on diet and training, your insulin sensitivity is better than mine. Just a few thoughts. BTW, I’m at 6.19%, but my six weeks on MD6 ends tomorrow, so it’s going to be a lot tougher over the next week or two. Actually, you think I could get away with eight weeks straight of MD6?
Day three of fat fast. Day 1 I felt tired and hungry, but yesterday and today I just feel hungry. No real lack of energy or anything. I’ve lost approx 5 pounds, probably all water. So far it’s easy, although I get hungry late at night. Thank god for sugar fre jello.
I’ve modified it a little so that I actually eat some food, though.
Meal 1: 1scoop grow with 1tbl flax
2: 3oz tuna with 1tsp flax, .5oz mayo, 1 packet mustard
3: Chicken breast with a boiled egg
4: 1scoop grow with 1 tbl flax
5: 5-6oz meat, steamed green veggies or a green salad with more flax.
Less than 20g carbs per day and I don’t want to barf my shakes! this thread has been great inspiration, thanks folks!
I am doing the Don’t diet diet. I am also training ala meltdown. I started meltdown last week and cut out all garbage foods. This week is the first on the don’t diet. I feel great however I am worried the cals are way to high. I did all the measurements correctly and checked and double checked them. I also did all the blood tests and according to my blood I have no excuse to be fat. My BF is at 23% according to tanatia and calipers. I am going to keep measureing BF because of a motorcycle accident I have been off for a long time now and am just getting back into the iron game. After meltdown I am going fat to fire, then German body comp. Followed by a bulking cycle of 12 weeks Ian style. I will do one week break between each and on that break will set my diet to isocaloric.
Good advice Eric. I’m now leaning towards keeping things the same. I don’t know if I mentioned that I’m down to about 2500 calories a day - 200g P, 200g C, and 80g F. I’ve also added 49 sprays of androsol in the a.m. only. Tanita measurements are looking good and I’ll see how the calipers measure up on Sunday. I’ve got a slightly modified version of using the Tanita scale that I added to the article. I just got a digital camera of my own, so I’m pretty excited and can do pictures a lot easier now (as compared to borrowing a friend’s). I’ll talk to you later.
Jason, I’m kind of curious on how/why your carbs are that high… or maybe mine are too low…!!!..(about 220g protein, 80-100g fat mostly from flax, and 50-75g carbs a day)… my first two weeks I dropped a ton of weight fast… about 13-15 pounds…. This third week I’ve leveled out to loosing 2 pounds this week…. Only 3 days during my diet I have had a semi-cheat meal, like filet mignon with baked potato and 2 rolls… didn’t do any harm at all…. I’ve started at 253 and now I’m 237… I originally measured my BF at 22%, but I’m no pro at it, so I could be off. I’m doing the ol’ methoxy, T2 and MD6. and cycling Tribex and M accordingly. I’ll have 2 more weeks of T2 then I’m switching to T2 pro…
Podge - I kept my carbs higher and plan to keep them higher because I think it offers a better long term plan. I don’t have to worry as much about a rebound fat gain when I return to maintenance. From your other posts, it is clear that you have gone the low-carb route. There is nothing wrong with that and it works very well for most people. Sometime in the future I may switch to that plan. Just not now…Losing 13-15 lbs in 2 weeks is not unreasonable on a low carb diet for someone your size. You obviously have a lot of room to store glycogen and for every unit of glycogen stored, you also store 2.7 units of water. Therefore, it you deplete glycogen stores (and you will in a short amount of time on a low carb diet) you lose the weight of the glycogen and the weight of the water attached to it. If you were to go out right now and load up on carbs (500 g/day) you would likely gain 10+ lbs in a day or two…What kind of training are you doing right now? Something that I have been doing some research into is combining the right diet with the right training program. I just don’t think that low carb diet mix well with certain types of training and I don’t think high carb diets mix well with others. Let me know what you’re doing and I’ll tell you what I think. Your carb intake might be fine or you might be better off changing something (carb intake, training). Talk to you later. BTW, if you want an article on body composition, give TC a shout. I’m almost done (just waiting on some pics to add) and I think it will help all of us out who want to monitor body comp.
Well, I’m down to my goal of <10% body fat (not too ambitious, but I’m not the lean type), down about 38 pounds from 13 months ago (almost all fat).
Now, 4 months of bulking, then maybe 2 months more cutting and I’ll be at maybe 8 percent and bigger, that’s the plan.
One suggestion: www.fitday.com is how you take it to the next level (for me, the next level was going from 15% to 10%).
Now I have to reread all the stuff on this site, since I’ve been cutting forever, more or less (since I’ve been >25, I’ve not exercised without some ambition to lose weight, I’m 40 today), and bulking is different.
Hey guys quick question. I started t2 on Friday. I noticed the next day I had a little rash developing behind my neck and lower left part of my chest… close to the armpit. Anyways, So I continued taking it thinking it’s an initial reaction. (Btw the rash looks sorta like blood vessels are bursting or something, it’s just red spots). So It’s gotten worst, but it’s only concetrated in 3 areas, back of my neck, and lower chest close to both armpits. So i’m thinking it may have something to do with sweat glands? maybe not. Anyways was wondering if anyone else experienced it. I cut off the t2 till Saturday to see if it gets better.
I’ve used T2 and was rash free the whole time. Sounds to me like a freak chance, but you never know. Just wait and see what happens when your off the stuff.
That sounds a lot like shingles. Have you had chicken pox before? I would definitely stop the T2 for now and get it checked out.
I’ve pretty much have the same workout routine that I had during bulking. Monday: chest, bi’s Tuesday: legs Thursday: delts, Friday: back, tris. Abs 2-3x a week. I do light treadmill (for me being 31, i keep my pulse around 128-135 while on there) 30 minutes 3x a week. The biggest difference in my routine is reps. 3 sets with first being a warm up and the next two being 4-6 rep range… trying to keep lifting heavy, since no carbs for prolonged energy.
Regarding the issue of carb refeed, I think it is a must at least every 10 days. I point to the leptin research Lyle and Elzi on MFW. From their point of view if you don’t refeed your body will protect itself from further fat loss. Although this might not be a concern since it will take you longer to hit ketosis at a higher range of carbs. As you know, leptin refeeds are must for anyone that is on a hypocaloric diet and trying to get below their bodyfat setpoint.
It sounds like your training is very well suited to your diet. I’m not sure what tempo you are using, but I would try to keep my time under tension to less than 30 seconds. Also are you supplementing with creatine. If you are not, I would suggest that you do this. It will help provide energy for the heavy sets, it won’t knock you out of ketosis and it will allow most people up to about 25-30 seconds of time under tension.
I rarely get a chance to cruise over to MFW, but may try to find some of the threads that discuss refeeds. I’ve heard bits and pieces and understand the basic philosophy, but I was also under the impression that leptin is of minor concern to normal healthy people. Well, looks like I have some more research to do.
Alright guys I went to the doctor. I showed him the labels from the Md6 and t2, he didn’t see anything that could be causing it. He basically prescribed a cream told me to stop taking both substances for a week and it should go away. If not… then I have to get benadryl for allergies, and if that doesn’t help go see an allergist.
Yeah Jason, I’d pretty much figured you’d might agree with my plan, and I have been trying to take in creatine, about 1-2 5g servings a day. But it’s hard for me to remember that for some reason… with everything else I do in a day for my diet, I still have a hard time remembering creatine. Time under tension is under 30 seconds… I’m pretty explosive with my lifts with good form, and eccentric contractions. What I really like about this dieting is having the excuse to lift heavy !! ?.. I’ve been pretty damn strict for 3 weeks so far, so I’m going to carb up a little tomorrow, see how that feels… shoot for 200+ g. carbs, from the good sources…
Take 5g of creatine mixed in tea with your breakfast every day. Make it a habit. This sets up your base. Then just add 5g creatine to your post workout shake. This supplies a steady source of creatine and supplies creatine when you need it most. Give this a shot. It is working for me. I used to forget to take my creatine all the time, but I made it a habit with this set-up. Also have a small tupperware of creatine at work with you. That way if you ever forget, you can take some there.
I’m about a set ahead of you… i remembered to bring my creatine into work this morning, and set up reminders on my computer… to change the subject a little, i was suprized to see so many threads on the release of Myostat. I thought for sure it would be a few more months before it came out… I’m now curious on how it can possibly hold muscle mass while dieting, even add some possibly. I’ve noticed there’s a ton of reading to do on it, so I’m going to read it now…well, Jason, hope your diet is going well !! talk to you later…
Well, two weeks into my cutting cycle and doing pretty well overall. Body Fat dropped from 22.7% to 20.4%, Weight dropped from 242 to 235. A bit bizzare, those figures would mean that almost all of the weight loss was fat - maybe either of the caliper tests was off.
I have dropped the volume on my training considerably (3*3) and training heavier (Thanks for the advice Jason) and this is making a big diference to the energy levels.
Anyway, I am going to get really strict with eating & cardio this week and see if I can’t make a really big dent in the lard.