Just started T-DAWG diet...

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I am posting this to keep myself motivated as I start the T-DAWG diet…

I started on this past Monday, and plan to continue for 8 weeks. I am 6ft 202.5lbs, at 24% bodyfat. I want to get down to 15% body fat while retaining as much LBM as possible. I figured I need about 2900 calories per day (approx 220 grams fat,200g protein,30g carbs)divded into 6-7 meals per day.

Monday-Friday, I take 6 tablets of Tribex500, and 3tabs MD6 per day. Sat & Sun (light) carb up days, while taking 200mg ALA 3times a day.

I take a colon cleaner, Metamucil for fiber, and Flax seed oil. Cardio is performed 2 times per week for 30 min each.

Being that I have just started and been on the diet only 3 days, I want to know if anyone has any suggestions as to what I should change, or do differently. I don’t mind criticism in any way. Please feel free.

While I believe the only way to succeed is to think positive, this isnt the first time I have tried to lower my body fat percentage. Every time in the past I have failed. My body fat either remained the same, or increased while my LBM goes DOWN!! the more cardio I do, the more LBM it seems I lose…

While I would really like to remain positive, I can already predict what is going to happen…lol…
after about 1 week my weight will be around 197-198 and my body fat will 25%, after about 3 weeks my weight will be 193 and 23% body fat, and will go no lower, but my weight will continue to…lol…

Just to satisfy my own morbid curiosity, I weighed myself this morning, and low and behold…bang!! 200lbs,and 25% body fat!!!..lol
I know its too early to weigh myself, but damn!!..WTF??

any comments are appreciated,
-Matt-

2

Just keep thinking of what you will look like in the end and keep going.

3

Are you taking Androsol or Methoxy7? Do it! I’m currently on the same diet, but I’m smaller than you are. 6’2 180 14%, started a week ago at 190 16%. I’ve actually got Nandrosol and I’m applying 35 sprays twice a day. I’m doing Meltdown training, and 2 days of cardio a week along with it and things seem to be going well. When the ropework part of Meltdown starts in a couple of weeks I’m going to start Methoxy7. If you’re trying to maintain LBM use one of those, they work. Good luck, pal. -ryan

4

Just a quick thought b4 I go to the gym…

I feel your goals may be unrealistic, here is why:

  1. You have ~ 200lbs of mass at 25% BF, thus an LBM of 150lbs and fat mass of 50lbs.

  2. You want to drop to 15% BF in 8 weeks. Thus your goal weight, assuming NO loss of LBM, would be 176.5lbs. This would give you an LBM of 150lbs and a fat mass of 26.5lbs.

  3. The total fat loss would be (50 - 26.5) 23.5lbs in 8 weeks. This works out to 2.9lbs per week (see where this is going?).

  4. The calorie deficit required to attain this is: 3lbs of fat x 454grams/lb x 9cal/gram = 12258grams/week. Per day this is 1751 calories.

Okay, so now ask yourself two questions:

  1. Is it really possible for me to restrict my calories and increase my exercise to create a daily deficit of 1751 calories per day?

IF the answer to Q1 is an EMPHATIC YES!! then ask this question:

  1. Is my current diet and exercise program creating this deficit?

If all of the above is YES and you are not getting the results desired then either your measurements are inaccurate - both of calories ingested/expended and of your BF. BTW what method of BF measurment do you use? More questions later… Ron

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the anabolic diet was the best weight loss diet by far i ever did. don’t try to outsmart the diet and reduce your fat intake. go 2 weeks low carb before your first weekend of carbing up. start friday night and eat and drink what you want. you will lose weight and fat. after 3 weeks start varying your calories on a daily basis to keep losing body fat. this is very important. just trust the diet, don’t be afraid of pasta, beer and ice cream on the week ends and start again on sunday afternoon. don’t attempt to gain weight with the diet as it won’t work any better than a regular dietary approach. 8 weeks is long enough to lose plenty of fat and when you see your improvement, this will provide plenty of motivation. endpoint- don’t try to trick the diet. vary calories after 3 weeks, go for 12 weeks and then switch to an effective modest carb, typical bb diet.

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i don’t see any weight training in your program, if you have been here at t-mag long enough, u should know the whole site is about the iron. u should, no matter what type of cycle your on, bulking, cutting, etc. you should be training with weights, PERIOD. I know u already said its bad, but just to repeat what u said, it is very bad to weigh yourself everyday or every other day, heck don’t even weigh yourself at all, just measure your bodyfat %, because the weight u lost is, as i can GUARENTEE it is just water. i don’t want to sound rude, but u are in such bad shape, u are probably carrying a shit load of water. expect to lose a lot of water for the first couple of weeks at the least. it could even be different times of the day, and your stomach or bladder could be full, so that could have an effect on the scale, so don’t trust the scale for now, go by what u see in the mirror. weigh yourself weekly at best. don’t worry about the scale and just stick to what your doing, you’ll see the results over time, but the key word is time.

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Matt, I’ve used both the Fat Fast and the T-Dawg diets with success. In fact I’m currently in my 4th week of a T-Dawg diet. My main observation is that it sounds like you are probably using a “Body Fat/Scale” like the Tanita series to measure your bodyfat. Don’t trust it. Go to your gym (assuming they have a clue) and get measured with calipers by someone who knows how to use them. My Tanita scale currently tells me I’m 162 at 20% – but I’m actually 162 at 13% as measured by calipers (I’m 5’8", FYI). I’m trying to hit single-digits before my MAG-10 arrives, then blast up to 180 or so for the New Year :slight_smile: I started weight training and dieting about 18 months ago. I had moderate success for the first 6 months; started at 205lb and managed to get down to around 190. I didn’t (dare to) measure bodyfat at the time but I’d guess in the 30%-40% range - a total couch potato. Anyway, at the 6-month point everything changed – I finally found my way to the T-mag site and read the Fat Roundtable, Diet Manifesto, and other awesome articles. I owe Mr. Berardi in particular a great debt of thanks! The last year has seen me lose almost 60lb of fat, while adding about 40lb of lean mass – not bad, huh? Second observation in next message…

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… (continued) … my second observation is that you’re consuming about 200g of protein at a bodyweight of around 200lb, or 1g/lb. Read the diet specification carefully; I believe the spec calls for between 0.6 and 0.8 grams per pound of bodyweigh (the other, higher figure given is for mass in KILOGRAMS, not pounds). There’s a warning given against trying to “make up” the calories with additional protein, because protein that is not directly metabolized is deaminated and becomes glucose via gluconeogenesis (Hey, Mr Berardi… did I get that right? :slight_smile: – the resulting higher glucose level tends to keep you further away from a ketogenic state (not that you have to be totally “in ketosis” for the diet to work). I’d suggest paring back your protein intake a little; the closer you stick to the protocol, the more successful you will be. Third observation; although this may seem counterintuitive, try backing off the cardio somewhat. Either reduce to one session per week, or (preferably, I think) do two 25-minute sessions at a modest workload. Monitor your heart rate, and work at no more than 70% of your max heart rate (220 - your age, approx – and yes, I do know there’s a newer formula, but it doesn’t change things much unless you’re over 50). Fourth observation: if you’re going to use Tribex, follow the instructions. 6 caps per day is 20% short of the recommended dose, and at your weight you might even want to take 10 per day – but ask a T-mag expert before exceeding the recommendations. Frankly, I think you’d do better with Androsol and Methoxy-7 than Tribex – I’ve done it both ways, and Androsol/Methoxy-7 works GREAT for me. For example, I started this T-Dawg diet at 172lb and 19% BF, just over three weeks ago. That’s more than 10lb of lard, incinerated, in just three weeks - with virtually no loss of lean mass. I’m doing four maintenance weight workouts with 2 to 3 thirty-minute treadmill sessions at 6mph per week, which for me is not particularly difficult or stressful; I check my heart rate periodically, and it’s usually between 125 and 135 (I’m 38 years old). Re: supplementation… I’ve added 5-HTP (5-Hydroxy-Tryptophan) at 200mg 3x on “Free Day”.

I found though experimentation that I can’t afford to really pig out on carbs; I have to be just a little restrained… and the 5-HTP suppresses carb cravings. I take MD6 on all but the free day, which contains 5-HTP – but I should stress that I take SIX CAPS (that’s three DOSES per day). Maybe it’s not what you meant, but you did say that you take 3 “tabs” daily. I think if you focus on your goals, pay close attention to the protocol, use appropriate supplementation, and RELIGIOUSLY log your nutrition intake, and moderate your cardio to an appropriate level,you’ll find the T-Dawg diet will work wonderfully well for you. Good Luck!

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hmmm “The more cardio I do, the more LBM I lose”…(no offense) but D’UH!! For the best results at weight loss but NOT LBM loss, check out “Meltdown Training” on this site or read any of Poliquin’s articles on weightloss ie “A bowlfull of jelly”, or get his book “Manly Weight Loss” (which IMHO has a faggy cover)

10

Just wanted to say thanks for all the great suggestions, and wish everyone a happy turkey day!!

I am 29 years old, perform Power Factor Training, and Static Contraction training. I have been ( I believe) overtraining for the past 5 years without any results to show for it. This is why I started on the PFT/SCT workout program.

I consume at least 1 gallon of water per day, and checked my body fat pecentage using a Tanita Scale…lol (24%)

using the 7-step caliper method, its more like 20%…

so in 8 weeks, I will be satisfied if I can get somewhere near 15-16%. Maybe I am wrong, but isn’t the idea that more cardio training at a modest 60-70% HRM, creating a larger caloric deficit on the same calorie intake, when compared to not peforming any cardio? Why wouldn’t it make more sense to perform 5 days of cardio??? Just curious…

Thanks again,
-Matt-

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I don’t know as much as these other guys, but check out Don Alessi’s Meltdown Training article in issue 173… i think. It has a chart compariong resistance and cardio exercise. Excessive cardio results in loss of muscle strength and lowered t-levels, and there are others. Not sure if that was the answer you’re looking for, but if you haven’t read that article… check it out! -ryan

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Re: your question about "more cardio (e.g. 5 days a week), the short answer is that more and heavier cardio excercise will make you more catabolic for longer periods – obviously counterproductive if you’re trying to gain or preserve lean mass. However, you do need to create a small (250 - 500 cals/day) caloric defecit, and you should try to maintain your cardiovascular efficiency, but a point of diminished returns is reached quickly – VERY quickly, in fact, if you are (a) using a hypocaloric diet AND (b) lifting weights AND (c) performing cardio excercise. A couple of moderate cardio sessions a week should be all you need if you’re weight training and following your diet scrupulously. In fact, it’s possible to dispose of “cardio” excercise altogether, in the form of treadmills, stairmasters, etc… German Body Comp training (referenced elsewhere in the T-mag site) is an example of using higher rep ranges and shorter rest intervals to create and maintain an increased cardiovascular output during a weight workout. As long as your diet is right on target, following this type of workout regime means you don’t have to get on the treadmill, etc., at all. I used this technique in conjunction with a short stint on the T-Dawg diet early this year, and shed 17lb of fat in 4 weeks (AND gained 4lb of lean mass in the process:-). I was carrying a lot more bodyfat at the time, so losing a lot of fat fast was both desirable and feasible. FYI, I was using an Androsol/Nandrosol stack, old-formula MD6, old-formula T2 and old-formula Methoxy-7). I should stress that I’m either repeating what I’ve read from the awesome contributors to T-mag, or passing on what I’ve learned from direct personal experience. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m any kind of expert on the subject – I’m just a dedicated TMU (T-Mag University) student :slight_smile: Stay focused, train hard, eat right, use high-quality supplements, be patient – and the results WILL come!