Last 10lbs: Help!

I am right at 12%BF. Weighing in at 178lbs 5'11".
I'm thin in the waste line, but trying to get down to 10%BF so my abs that I work very hard on (700 crunches 3-4/week) will start showing.

I try to keep salt intake low and drink plenty of water.
During the week I do 5-6 meals a day of about a fist size of grilled chicken and brocolli. Couple of cheat meals when watching football on the weekends.
Try to drink no beer, but when I do, I try to go with an ultra light.
I'm at the gym 2-3 times a week. I do an hour of weights and then 20 minutes of cardio. Typically working out at 8pm after my night classes (I'm in grad school).
I'm down to about 12%bf right now.
My girlfriend lives long distance and is coming to see me for a month in December, so I have been doing diurectics to try
to help cut the last bit. I have been using muscletech thermoshred (i know everyone thinks its a noob supplement, but its working for me, so to each his own) which contains a diurectic for the last month.

I've got 6 weeks till my girlfriend arrives. I will change my diet, my work out pattern, work out time and length, routine, add cardio, whatever it takes to get down to 10% in the next 6 weeks.
We are going to the beach when she comes, and I want to be able to show off my hard work over the last 4 months.

Can you guys help me out with this last 2%?

1.) what about cardio in the mornings?
2.) what about your Omega 3 intake?
3.) are you going to bump up our cardio for each session (am sessions on non-lifting days and post-workout days)?
4.) do you know how many calories you are currently taking in?

Ralph_Wiggum said:

1.) what about cardio in the mornings?
2.) what about your Omega 3 intake?
3.) are you going to bump up our cardio for each session (am sessions on non-lifting days and post-workout days)?
4.) do you know how many calories you are currently taking in?

Click to expand...

1) This is all about encouragement! Like I said, I'm in grad school, so I have night classes, and late night study sessions, and don't usually get up till 10am. Is that bad? Should I be getting up earlier? Encouragement is my GF, so that needs to be my focus. So if it's ok to get up at 10am and do cardio then I will. If I should be getting up earlier, then that will be harder but I will do it.
However, running is painful for me because I have shin splints. And it is hard to find parking at FSU's gym that early in the day. Can I try some other morning cardio, sessions of jump rope or something?

2) Omega 3...I have no idea what that is. I will have to research it.

3) I can bump cardio up on non-lifting days. Are you talking 25% more or 50% more or doubling my cardio? What's the logic behind this?

4) Like I was saying, I am eating 5-6 fist size meals of chicken and brocolli That comes to about 1 cup broc per serving, and two chicken breasts total, or about 1000 calories a day. Plus the supplements of ThermoShred and daily vitamin.

I have no problem trying other supplements, but I have no contacts for juice, so they would have to be legal.

1) sleep is important try and get 8 hours a night.
2) Omega-3's are fish oil that are important in aiding in fat metabolish and helps increase metabolism
3) You do 20 minutes of cardio but you need more. Do like 45 minutes to one hour. This will increase the amount of fat you burn and jumoing rope is not a bad idea. It has actually been proven to be one of the best cardio workouts.

shamrock11 said:

1) sleep is important try and get 8 hours a night.
2) Omega-3's are fish oil that are important in aiding in fat metabolish and helps increase metabolism
3) You do 20 minutes of cardio but you need more. Do like 45 minutes to one hour. This will increase the amount of fat you burn and jumoing rope is not a bad idea. It has actually been proven to be one of the best cardio workouts.

Click to expand...

Is Omega-3 a supplement that I could pick up at any pharmacy, or will I need to find a supplement store?
Good to hear about jumping rope. Joging really hurts my shin splints. I usually do a combo of bike and rowing machine instead. But I go to the school gym after night classes. It's very hard to find parking in the morning, so anything I can do like that at home in the morning is great.

Good info, keep it coming. I'll try to keep this post updated over the next six weeks to let you know my status.

How is that caloric intake? Ok, or too low?

Vitamin world has Fish Oil pills, but I couldn't stand the taste of them. Many people on the forums reccomend a product called "Udo's Choice". It is an oil you can supplement your diet with.

Of course, you could look into other Omega 3 products that Vitamin World (or any place that has health foods) has.

Ralph_Wiggum said:

Vitamin world has Fish Oil pills, but I couldn't stand the taste of them. Many people on the forums reccomend a product called "Udo's Choice". It is an oil you can supplement your diet with.

Of course, you could look into other Omega 3 products that Vitamin World (or any place that has health foods) has.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll look for that at the store tomorrow.

What's an appropriate caloric intake for what I'm trying to do here? 1,000 calories too low or ok? I'd do a search, but I'm not platinum, sorry.

Bro, from what I have learned on this site and from research a male should never go that in in cals, 1800 should be as low as you go. Otherwise you are in trouble of losing muscle! You are starving yourself with only 1000 cals a day. Just my opinion though!

Good info here.
Did a long session of jump rope this morning to get the metabolism pumped up earlier in the day.
I have also pused up each meal to 1 cup of veggies instead of 3/4 cup. And added another chicken breast over the entire day. This should give me close to 1,500 calories out of meals. And I will leave a bit of room in case I want to grab a smoothie after work outs or have a handful of peanuts, or some natural peanut butter between meals.

After tonights workout I bumped up my bike session to 45min. I got my runner's high around 25-30min and it helped me push it to 45min. I actually could have easily gone longer, but my ass was sore as hell from sitting on that bike so long. I'm thinking from now on I will just do 30min on bike, as that's about the time my ass gave out, and then do 30min rowing machine. I like the rowing machine anyway, because it gives my upper back a bit of a go.

I feel like my arms and shoulders are looking really great, and just have this bit left to loose off the mid section before I am going to see lower abs. I can already start to see some definition in uppers. But I'm really frustrated with my chest. I just can't get any definition on it.

Eh...I guess one thing at a time.

I've heard so many people claim that carb cycling is terrific for loosing that 'last 10 pounds' but have never actually had to use it myself. I have been able to hit my goals just going the conventional 6 low carb days, 1 high carb day.

Carb cycling for someone your weight might look like this:
Day 1 0 carbs
Day 2 125 carbs
Day 3 250 carbs
Day 4 0 carbs
Day 5 125 carbs
Day 6 250 carbs
Day 7 Unlimited Carbs (cheat day)