Post: #101

(06-18-2012 10:31 AM)Giovonny Wrote:  Your diet is more important then your exercise program!

If shitty food never touches your mouth, you won't have fat building up around your belly.

The number one rule of exercise should be "Don't put shitty, processed food in your mouth".

I only workout to build muscle, never to lose fat. Fat doesn't enter my mouth unless its "good fat: like olive oil, avocado, coconut, etc.

Want to lose weight quickly? Only eat salads and fruit at night. Maybe a little fish if you need some protein.

This is not necessarily true. While it may work initially, your body's metabolism will readjust to the lower caloric intake and you will begin to maintain your overall weight again. This is why working out while dieting is important. Lifting weights is especially good at this because it puts increased caloric demands on your body over a long period of time (24-48 hours) because your body needs to use energy to repair torn muscle tissue. Thus working out maintains/increases your metabolic rate, while lowering your caloric intake forces your body to go into its energy reserves aka fat (although if you are in too great of a caloric deficit, your body will break down muscle tissue for energy).

Post: #102

txtraveler, ive read the book in its entirety. I was curious if anyone had success doing it doing the week and giving 36 hrs of free time inbeween. I guess ill be a test rat and get back to the forum. Its never easy with holiays coming up.

Post: #103

(11-30-2012 07:34 PM)txtraveler Wrote:  http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rap...s-handbook

Like a few others in thread have said... completely agree. This shit works extremely well.

Hint: casein + almond milk is a nice combo to help satiety while meeting huge protein intake requirements on PSMF. Granted there are a few carbs and fats in almond milk so it's not perfect. But it gets the job done.

And remember to LIFT to avoid losing muscle.

Post: #104

(12-01-2012 03:44 AM)_DC_ Wrote:  txtraveler, ive read the book in its entirety. I was curious if anyone had success doing it doing the week and giving 36 hrs of free time inbeween. I guess ill be a test rat and get back to the forum. Its never easy with holiays coming up.

(12-02-2012 03:10 PM)TheIndifferent Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 07:34 PM)txtraveler Wrote:  http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rap...s-handbook

Like a few others in thread have said... completely agree. This shit works extremely well.

Hint: casein + almond milk is a nice combo to help satiety while meeting huge protein intake requirements on PSMF. Granted there are a few carbs and fats in almond milk so it's not perfect. But it gets the job done.

And remember to LIFT to avoid losing muscle.

I've never done it myself so I can't say if it works or not....but there are people on bb.com that have done it and said it works.

Post: #105

I have been doing SS, but my diet has been wack. Using a protein supplement that had waaay too many carbs in it. I have put on a bunch of weight, but it's too much fat. I'm also not drinking enough water.

I just struggle to figure out what to eat to make it up to 2500 calories that will also help me lean out. Fat free cottage cheese looks like a good substitute.

Can one of you put up your diet, i.e. exactly the foods you eat.

Post: #106

(12-03-2012 04:13 PM)Menace Wrote:  I have been doing SS, but my diet has been wack. Using a protein supplement that had waaay too many carbs in it. I have put on a bunch of weight, but it's too much fat. I'm also not drinking enough water.

I just struggle to figure out what to eat to make it up to 2500 calories that will also help me lean out. Fat free cottage cheese looks like a good substitute.

Can one of you put up your diet, i.e. exactly the foods you eat.

You want to eat nutrient dense foods with plenty of protein. If you are adventurous, check out the nutrient profile of beef liver, heart and kidneys, they are by far the most nutritious meat. I usually eat the following:

Breakfast-
3-6 eggs w bacon, spinach and some pecorino romano cheese grated on top.
Coffee w/ Kerrygold butter and coconut oil in it

Lunch-
Large salad with some kind of meat(steak, shrimp, salmon, chicken, tuna) on top
Mix evoo with mustard and vinegar for dressing, apply liberally
For the salad, use kale or spinach. Most lettuce is not very nutrient dense.

Dinner-
Steak, sardines, shrimp shish kabob, chicken thighs(more fat than breasts), liver, heart or kidney dish. You do not want to go overboard on the offal, you risk overdosing on certain nutrients. Eat liver once a week and heart/kidney once or twice a week as a rough guide. All sockeye salmon is wild caught and costs about $7 a lb at walmart.

Eat carbs after working out or whenever. It isn't going to matter much when you are active.

Sweet potato fries-
Slice sweet potato latitunidally into thin slices, fry in coconut oil or lard until cooked. Sprinkle salt on and cayenne pepper or whatever spices you have.

Nuts as a snack, esp brazil nuts(high in selenium) and walnuts(omega 3)

Also consider making green smoothies.
Ingredients:
1 banana
Several tbps of coconut oil/butter/peanut butter
Blueberries, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, etc.
Broccoli or other cruciferous veggies.
Chard, spinach, kale, other leafy veggies.
Basically whatever nutritious vegetables you have on hand.

Consider incorporating stuff like spirulina, chlorella and other sea organisms. Their nutrient profile is pretty impressive. Do you research as always.

Supplement nutrients you think you arn't getting enough of. Vitamin d, zinc and magnesium seem to be less available in the average persons diet. You can get these in whole foods by taking cod liver oil, eating oysters and pumpkin seeds.

Eat like this and you will have a better diet than 98% of americans. You will lose fat rapidly and probably gain strength. You are most likely deficient in some mineral that the above diet will most likely correct and your testosterone level will most likely rise because of the adundence of nutrients necessary for t production. Most of the nutrients are coming from real food so there should be increased bioavailability.

Post: #107

It seems like a good time of year to simultaneously bump this thread, share my goals and process, and hold myself accountable by posting it.

Goal: 12% body fat by Memorial Day Weekend. Currently I am 36yo, 6’3, 200lbs, and 21.5% BF, measured by a personal trainer via the 7-step skinfold test. That’s 43lbs of fat. I’ll need to lose 22lbs of fat to hit my goal.

Workout Numbers: I squat 205lbs at 10 reps on the 3rd set, leg press 420lbs at 12 reps on the 3rd set, and bench 155lbs 10 reps on the 3rd set (I work in pushups to failure immediately after each BP set). Shoulder DB press is with 45lbs at 10 reps on the 3rd set.
I’ve been lifting 3x a week faithfully for the last 9 months, and stretching/activating separately, for 45 minutes, an additional 3x a week. It took me 3 months to rebuild my proper squat form after throwing out my back last spring.

Diet Background: 12 months ago I weighed 180 while training for my last sprint triathlon with a weak back. In June of 2013, I started from ground zero with weightlifting and went back to the basics, using a personal trainer. The last 10lbs to 200lbs was the hardest. I did it by consuming loads of animal fats and eating peanut butter at my desk at work every morning and every afternoon. I didn’t drain the fat from cooked hamburger, didn’t cut the fat off of the rib-eye steak, and was liberal with the olive oil. I reduced chicken and turkey breast white meat and substituted heavily marbled meat instead.

4 months ago I recalibrated the diet and gave up dairy, sweets, pasta, and limited bread. I used potatoes, rice, oatmeal/granola, and whole grain crackers for carbs. I ate a couple of fruits in the morning (apples, raisins, dates) and a nice romaine or spinach salad with tomatoes at night.

Process Going Forward:
1) The first 2 weeks I will start up cardio again; 3x a week. This morning I held my heart rate at 130-135bpm for exactly 60 minutes. In my triathlon training last year, I trained at 175bpm for 60 minutes. My max heart rate was 200 last year.

2) Coinciding with the addition of Cardio, I will continue to lift 3x a week, since I want to maintain as much of my muscle gains as possible. I realize that this will be next to impossible. I will continue consuming 1g protein per lb of body weight.

3) Diet will be reduced from ~3000 calories to ~2500 calories daily. This will be easy for me. During the past 4 months, I ate every time I was even remotely hungry. I’ve been full for the past 4 months. For the first two weeks, I will simply eat at the same intervals, only with smaller portions.

a. I’ve found that cold, lightly steamed carrots and broccoli taste good. This week I will keep 3-4 baggies of them in the fridge at work and take them to lunch with me. They will be my substitute for fries/bread. The benefit in steaming them, is that you can eat them in 3 minutes instead of 15 minutes of chewing raw veggies.

b. Increase water intake. It’s been recommended to me that I get 1oz water per lb of bodyweight. This is a ton of water and it makes you pee all the time. Forget sleeping through the night. I’ll expand on this in a post later on.

c. I’ll have to quit drinking. This shouldn’t be that hard. I rarely have more than 3 drinks a night anyway. We’ll see how it goes. No beer for sure.

d. Props to MikeCF for recommending Quest protein bars. 200cal, 20g protein, taste great, and the added bonus of not melting in your car. These are great!

Motivation for this is that I’ve realized that my best game comes in the summer time at pool parties and at the beaches. It’s definitely where I have the most fun, and I want to have my best summer yet in L.A. and Vegas.

Critique is welcomed.

Post: #108

Quest bars are pretty good, I grabbed some during a gnc sale a few weeks ago. Pretty awesome.

CaP7, really admire how you laid out your plan. I am interested in getting shredded for the summer, so thanks for bumping this thread. Hopefully, some of the more informed fellows can comment on your plan.

Good luck!

Post: #109

I have dropped 13lbs and 3% BF (scale measured) in two weeks by cutting out all dairy and almost all carbs (the only exception so far being protein shakes after lifting and occasionally - but rarely - beans). I regulate the rest of my diet very loosely, but because of what I've cut out, I'm pretty much limited to meats. My go to meal for the last couple weeks has been polish sausage and sauerkraut that I prepare in large batches and eat for a few days. Realistically, the diet is a modified "Slow Carb" diet. During this, I'm lifting 3x a week.

I started out at 225lbs and 23% BF (the highest I've ever seen either of those numbers - also I'm 6'1") and i currently am sitting at 212 and 20, as I mentioned above. I took body measurements and I've lost 2 inches around my abdomen, 2 inches around my chest and 1 inch around my hips. I'd prefer not to lose too much around my chest but I suspect I was carrying more fat there then I should have been anyways.

Although I'm purposely trying to lose fat while maintaining muscle (ha), I'm definitely noticing a difference in strength gains and all that because of the caloric deficit I'm functioning with. When I say difference, I should say I'm just not noticing as good of increases as in the past (not surprising honestly). I haven't kept a detailed calorie count but I'd have to estimate my daily intake at around 1200-1500. I also quit drinking (everything for 30 days, but I plan on reintroducing alcohol after that - just not beer). On every 7th day (Sundays as of now) I'm also lifting all diet restrictions and literally eating everything I want, to the tune of 4000+ calories if I can stomach it. Mostly junk food.

CaP7, your plan seems like it should work pretty well based on what you have and seems (as far as I can tell) pretty sound from a "tried-and-true" perspective. I've done what I'm currently doing in the past (usually ~30 days) and have dropped 5% BF by the end, but since I have more than usual to lose I'll likely ride it out until the positive momentum slows (and it always plateaus - always). Best of luck to you, and enjoy it: weirdly enough, one of my favorite things to do is let myself get out of shape over the winter like a boxer between fights and use a 3 month window to reign it all back in.

Post: #110

I changed my diet, dropped from 235 down to 185 on that alone. Then I joined a gym because I want to go even lower. I'm only 6' 1" so ideally 150 is probably the stopping point, assuming there's no muscle built along the way. I'm going to stop when the belly goes away.

Post: #111

I lost 12 pounds in a week doing a 7 day juice fast.

Pretty much everything has been said here but also make sure you are chewing your food at least twenty times and wait twenty seconds in between bites.

Post: #112

I tried CLA tablets once (in conjunction with a hard exercise regime), and worked for me, although not sure how much was down to the CLA, or not.

Post: #113

(11-30-2012 07:34 PM)txtraveler Wrote:  http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rap...s-handbook

good to see this mentioned. too much broscience ITT. the secret to fat loss is Reduce Calories + Maintain Strength. that's it. and the point of lyle mcdonald's book is to give the most extreme but viable way to do it. summary of the diet in the book if i recall correctly:

75-200 g of protein from lean protein sources, exact amount depending on your lean body mass (300-800 cals)
6 g of fat from fish oil capsules (54 cals)
unlimited vegetables
magnesium tablets, sodium (ample salt in your food), and a multi-vitamin (if necessary), EC stack
strength training 2-3 times a week
0-2 free meals/refeeds a week, depending on your leanness
a 1-2 week diet break every 2-6 weeks, depending on your leanness

Post: #114

(02-18-2014 03:52 PM)bodmon Wrote:  

(11-30-2012 07:34 PM)txtraveler Wrote:  http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rap...s-handbook

good to see this mentioned. too much broscience ITT. the secret to fat loss is Reduce Calories + Maintain Strength. that's it. and the point of lyle mcdonald's book is to give the most extreme but viable way to do it. summary of the diet in the book if i recall correctly:

75-200 g of protein from lean protein sources, exact amount depending on your lean body mass (300-800 cals)
6 g of fat from fish oil capsules (54 cals)
unlimited vegetables
magnesium tablets, sodium (ample salt in your food), and a multi-vitamin (if necessary), EC stack
strength training 2-3 times a week
0-2 free meals/refeeds a week, depending on your leanness
a 1-2 week diet break every 2-6 weeks, depending on your leanness

I agree, far too much broscience. Some people just seem to be lean by nature.
What can their advice be worth, if they can eat basically anything and never get fatter? Also, what can a skinny guy's advice be worth on getting lean, if they've never been fat or lost an appreciable amount of weight in their lives?

The only useful type of diet that can be recommended here is one that minimizes muscle loss and has guaranteed success in bringing a big fat bastard down to ~8% body fat in short order without causing organ failure or god knows what. The PSMF hits pretty much all needed requirements.

BTW, this is the third or fourth time Lyle Macdonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook was mentioned in the thread. I think I brought it up a while ago, some other guy on the first page, maybe another on the fourth.

Post: #115

On the subject of those pills:

1. Ephedra: can you still buy this in the US ?

2. Hydroxycut / Xenadrine / Other caffiene pills: do these really work? I was on them for a little bit and I'm not sure if they did anything.

Quote:In recent years, the safety of ephedra-containing dietary supplements has been questioned by the medical community as a result of reports of serious side effects and ephedra-related deaths.[4][5][6][7] In response to accumulating evidence of adverse effects and deaths related to ephedra, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of ephedra-containing supplements on April 12, 2004.[8] A lawsuit challenging the FDA ban was upheld by a Federal District Court judge in Utah on April 14, 2005.[9] The FDA appealed this ruling, and on August 17, 2006 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the FDA's ban of ephedra.[10] The sale of ephedra-containing dietary supplements is currently illegal in the United States because of the high risk of ephedra-related adverse events.

Post: #116

You can still get ephedra in the US. Go to your local CVS and ask for bronkaid that contains ephedrine. Stack bronkaid and caffeine tablets and you get ephedra.

Other supplements you can use is clenbuterol.

I would stay away from over the counter stuff because most of it is junk.

Post: #117

Update after 2 weeks of what I will call, "Slow Cut".

I've added the cardio. 45-50min with an average heart rate of 135bpm. (It takes 8-10 minutes to get my heart rate up to 130. The clock doesn't start until 130bpm). I was nervous that the added cardio would impact my strength. So far it hasn't, and I think the reasoning is that I never let my heart rate rise above 140bpm.

I am keeping detailed track of my lifts. This is a vital part of my strategy to not lose strength. You have to have a measuring point. Make an excel spreadsheet and put them in a 3-ring binder. No excuses here!

Now I'm at 3 heavy weight workouts per week and 3 cardio workouts.

Diet has been doing well too. The carrots and steamed broccoli snack bags I pack, give me afternoon energy. I've cut portions at meals across the board. The calories that I'm cutting are carbs. Less oatmeal in the morning, 2 eggs instead of 3, less rice, less tortillas. More vegetables. No alcohol so far.

I'm getting plenty of sleep as well.

I'm down ~5 lbs to 195. In the morning, my stomach area looks visibly tighter. I'll call it a two-pack.

12 weeks to go.

Post: #118

Thank you txtraveler for the http://www.bodyrecomposition.com website. I ordered "The Ultimate Diet 2.0". It's the book that is meant for losing bodyfat while maintaining muscle. A quick read, but very detailed.

A main premise of the book is partitioning. The first half of the week is dedicated to losing badyfat, the second half is gaining muscle.

There are four different workouts and a detailed outline for how to eat around each workouts.

It's essentially a starve via glycogen depletion, then refeed diet.

I'll try it out if I am not satisfied with where I am at by the end of March.

Post: #119

I can lose 11 lbs easily a week following a diet like this, will probably work for you:
Breakfast: 4 eggs with yolk, 2 pieces of cheese
Snack: celery and small amount of unsweetened peanut butter
Lunch: Steak with a lettuce, spinach, broccoli, fresh squeezed lime, and cheese salad
Snack: Hard-boiled egg
Dinner: Boiled or grilled chicken breast and asparagus
If you get cravings for crap, you can drink drink water, or mix water with unsweetened iced tea. I like to chew ice when feeling hungry too. Only eat until you're content, not stuffed.

Post: #120

I have casein for breakfast everyday, usually two scoops. Its a huge shot of protein, and if I eat well during the day can lose weight pretty quickly with this approach if I follow the slow carb diet.

Post: #121

(02-19-2014 11:41 AM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  On the subject of those pills:

1. Ephedra: can you still buy this in the US ?

2. Hydroxycut / Xenadrine / Other caffiene pills: do these really work? I was on them for a little bit and I'm not sure if they did anything.

Lipodrene...
http://www.worldclassnutrition.com/lipodrene1.html

Post: #122

Is that real ephedra though? Amazon reviews say that its ephedra extract and it doesn't give the same effects.

Post: #123

for some strange reason smoking weed makes me drop weight, about 4-5kg per month without doing anything else.

so if all else fails, blaze up and see if it works for you

Post: #124

Would it help with fat loss if you did more reps and a lower weight with weight lifting? So instead of 5x5 or 5x4, you do 6x5, or 6x4? And work up to 12x5 and 12 x4 at say 20% less max weight?

Post: #125

(03-02-2014 09:08 PM)CaP7 Wrote:  less rice

You can eat potatoes instead of rice, as they are much less calorie dense:
- Rice: 365kcal/100gr (pre-coocked)
- Potato: 77kcal/100gr (pre-cooked)

I replace 85gr of rice (pre-coocked) with 200gr of potatoes. This means a drop from 292kcal to 154kcal, a difference of 138kcal.