22 years of working out , dieting, cycles, fad diets..I'm disgusted

[jet]

I'll be 40 in September. I've been working out since I was 18. I 'm a short guy 5'6" now at 175-180. I guess I look good for a 40 year old.. woman tell me i have a nice body, ass etc.. My problem is that I never have been able to get that lean big look. I can get big..but not with abs..even on the juice. When I lose fat I lose muscle. I WANT ABS just once in my life. I 'm in pretty good shape. I'd say 12-156% bodyfat but taht is as low as i can get.

I'm now trying a keto diet. If this doesn't get me abs, I'm just going to give up on the ABS and justy eat a well balanced healthy diet and assume that I will never have abs because of genetics.

I've done sust,deca cycles, sust /EQ cycles, primo/EQ cycles, ECA, still no ABS. I've tried every diet ever invented including your basic well balanced heatly diet. WTF

Any suggestions besides liposuction?

 

[iced earth]

Good luck man. I'm on day 2. Just so you know that at around 3-5pm is when you drain out and feel like absolute shit ( be prepared! ). So far I feel great early on in the day. Keep posting on your progress.Ù ?

 

[Par Deus]

Jet,

It is likely that the bodyfat levels required to be cut are below your natural bodyfat setpoint. When you go below this (or cut calories in general), leptin levels drop, which slows down your metabolism, increases appetite, and lowers levels of anabolic hormones such as test, GH, and t3. It should be obvious why this would not be conducive to obtaining that "big, lean look".

One thing that is quite helpful in keeping leptin levels up is to incorporate regular refeeds (high carb, very low fat) into your diet. For someone in the 12-15% range, doing 12-16 hours every 4-5 days would probably be appropriate. You can generally tell when they get too low because you start craving food, feeling tired and irritable, etc. This happens like clockwork for me every two days or so after a refeed (I am at 8% or so).