I can't drop the fat

[Tatyana]

If your BMR is 2012 and you are eating 1800 kcals plus doing all that cardio, my guess is that you have thrown yourself into starvation mode.

If you are going to use the BMR, you need to multiply it by your activity levels, I think it is 1.45 for moderate, but with what you are doing, I would say intense, which I think is 1.95.

so really, you need 3923 kcals/day. To lose weight, you take off a max of 15-20%, which would make it around 3138 kcals/day.

I personally think you are eating at least 1000 kcals less than you need.

 

[ironwings]

The soy milk I get actually has pretty good stats: 3.5g fat (3g poly/monounsaturated), 5g carbs, 7g protein per cup.

So as far as my carbs go:

52g in 1 cup oats
42g in 1 cup rice
12g in 2 rice cakes
6g from peanut butter
10g from soy
10g from veggies
5g from protein powder
------
Total: 125g

There was one error in the sample meals I posted, my rice serving is 1/2 cup x 2 instead of 1 cup x2.. So one cup of rice per day.

I appreciate your attention to detail. I am starting to see the holes in my diet. I could easily drop the unnecessary carbs and fat and replace them with protein.

That should make my diet pretty fool proof. It still doesn't make sense to me why I am not dropping at least a little bit of fat...

And I guess I still need to figure out what to do about my cardio.

Oh and I still need to figure out if I am eating too little calories.

"Soy milk is essentially Coffee-Mate with laced with estrogen, and is best left to vegans and other socialist vegetarian types that can't bring themselves to eat the completely natural-for-humans flesh of our friends the Animals but who have no trouble with slaughtering trillions of our other friends the Plants and processing -- in gigantic factories run by multinational corporations with shareholders that eat meat themselves -- very selectively chosen components of their poor little bodies into gooey shit that humans have never had an opportunity to adapt to digesting. Why, eating such material, with its high levels of isoflavones, touted by gynecologists as tantamount to Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT), will make you grow boobs, and this will screw up the clean lines of this fine young man's Under Armor. I recommend against it."

-Mark Rippetoe

 

[sonicwaste]

Well, I shall ditch the soy. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have problems with gyno... The Soy is likely a big contributing factor.

I was afraid that I needed to eat more. It's a serious chore for me to get 1800 calories right now. Some regular meals take me 30 minutes to finish. I think The liposhred package keeps the hunger away. Maybe I will try some different thermogenics to bring back my appetite.

As far as cardio goes, I always had great results on the treadmill: 15 incline @ 3.0 mph for 20-30 minutes.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[ironwings]

LOL on the soy. I use it in my protein shakes so I can't say a word. I just thought Rippetoe's rant was funny.

The Anavar is also curbing your appetite. But, no thermo's are going to increase it. The best thing for you to do is eat smaller meals more often. It seems you may be doing that - how many calories are you taking in at once?

A few suggestions (sorry if I repeat others, I haven't read all the way through your post):

You are at 13% bodyfat so it is going to be a tad harder for you to lose. Your body wants to hold on to that fat! It doesn't mean it is impossible though. Since your diet is pretty clean a few things I would switch up to see if it works for you would be to

1. Replace the brown rice with a sweet potato or yam
2. Drop the peanut butter
3. Drop the flax oil and take a capsule instead
4. Avoid high fat dairy
5. No need for casein while you are cutting or on anavar

I don't think too few calories is your problem. It takes much longer for that to have any impact on your storage of fat. I do recommend you calculating your maintenance level and create a calorie deficit of 3500 + a week to lose 1lb. A calorie deficit is calories under your maintenance + calories burned during workouts. When I am leaning out I wear a heart rate monitor watch during every workout and keep track of calories burned. At the end of the week I know exactly what my deficit is and the scale always matches.

"Approx 1825 calories" Approximately may be the problem. Count your calories to the "T" while leaning out. I have a list of meals and restaruants that I eat during my leaning phase and I know exactly how many calories are in the food. I won't eat it if I don't know.

I will say that while I am on Anavar (particularly larger doses - for me is 20mg) I hold on to weight. And, usually gain due to muscle engorgment. It seems when I come off it is giving my body permission to burn fat - lol. I am ramping my dose down slowly to come off of it and my first week I lost 4lbs. Calorie deficit of 6900.

As for your training - you may want to try a 5x5 or 3x5 full body workout 3 days a week. The full body workouts create a higher frequency hit on each muscle group and allows you to burn more fat during one session. The other 3 days get a good 30 - 45 minute high intensity interval workout in. No treadmill at 3.0 - trust me on this one. Try rowing, stair climbing, sprints, elliptical intervals, jump rope and boxing drills etc. There is no such thing as "fat burning zone". The harder you work the more calories you burn thus the more fat you burn. The whole fat burning zone was created by shelf magazines and an industry that is trying to appeal to the masses. You will not have any muscle wasting with that dose of Anavar. Use it as an advatage to get some hard core cardio in.

Give your body enough time to recover and rest and I think you'll see a difference. Don't be discouraged after a couple weeks - it just may take your body a bit longer to respond - especially with the stress you are putting it through.

Hope you find something that will make the difference. Good luck!

 

[cobracock1979]

Hey Ironwings,

Could you explain the resons for th folloing? Im about 10% bf tryin to get to 8.

1. Replace the brown rice with a sweet potato or yam
2. Drop the peanut butter
3. Drop the flax oil and take a capsule instead
4. Avoid high fat dairy
5. No need for casein while you are cutting or on anavar

 

[ironwings]

Ah, that last 2%.

In looking at your diet when you are at this point in your journey it is the smallest things that can make a difference. For me it is simply calories in, calories out. It doesn't matter one iota what I consume - speaking of fat loss only. For others it takes small tweaks to see what works for them.

1. Replace the brown rice with a sweet potato or yam:Anytime someone is stuck the first place to start is changing your carb sources. We all know what carbs do to us and we need them, but because it takes so much to process them we can all have different reactions to consumption. Fibrous carbs are always best. You could even add beans here (my fav).
2. Drop the peanut butter: It is not a necessary nutrient so why use it when you are dieting? Lots of calories and tons of fat. Sometimes people have in their mind that it is all natural peanut butter so it is ooober healthy. Nah. Use it when bulking.
3. Drop the flax oil and take a capsule instead: Flax oil has more cals and fat than the capsules and the capsules are just as effective. Again, this is for dieting. The oil is great when bulking.
4. Avoid high fat dairy: There is no additiional nutritional value in full fat dairy over lower fat - so, use this as an opportunity to cut calories and saturated fat. Full at versions also have 5x the cholestorol. When bulking, full fat it is.
5. No need for casein while you are cutting or on anavar: Typically this in consumed at night before you go to bed to aid in suppresing protein breakdown. This is a pretty big calorie load last thing at night. Casien is a very beneficial protein but if you are trying to lose those last few % - I'd take it out. The Anavar is keeping/building muscle. You won't see a difference if you stop taking casein.

Does that make sense? You would look at your entire diet and do the same. For me in particular, latose makes me bloated. I consume it but if I needed to be photo ready - I would avoid it for days in advance. For you it might just be a slight change in your workouts that would make a difference. That last couple are tough!

 

[desmond]

Ironwings:
- not sure if I agree re some of these comments.

Sweet potatoes and yams are healthier than brown rice (more nutrients etc), but how are they less fattening. Brown rice can actually have a lower GI and does have less sugar than sweet potatoes (Glycemic Index GI Brown Rice). My preference for vegetable carbs is better nutrients and more satiety, and moreover, sweet potatoes taste good on their own, brown rice requires source etc.

As for casein protein, 30g of casein protein is 125 cals - it's hardly a huge calorie investment. If he is building muscle on Anavar, that is calories directed towards muscle growth - wouldn't this mean more calories oxidised as storage fat? Put it this way, is it worth going through the day 8 hours without eating? If not, why not consume pre-bed protein.

Flax oil and capsules are the same thing - its just the doses that differ. In any event, increasing the omega 3 fats relative to others may have slight benefits for fat oxidation. I would ditch the PB and high fat dairy before the flax - as Ironwings says its not an essential source of fats (well technically it does contain omega 6, but u get this from almost anything>

Dairy doesn't bloat everyone, and if it does, doesn't mean u aren't losing fat.

 

[ironwings]

Ironwings:
- not sure if I agree re some of these comments.

Sweet potatoes and yams are healthier than brown rice (more nutrients etc), but how are they less fattening. Brown rice can actually have a lower GI and does have less sugar than sweet potatoes (Glycemic Index GI Brown Rice). My preference for vegetable carbs is better nutrients and more satiety, and moreover, sweet potatoes taste good on their own, brown rice requires source etc. I didn't mention anything about being less fattening, if I did, god borrowed my brain for a bit. When you are down to the last few and are stuck, carbs are a great place to start substituting to see how you react.

As for casein protein, 30g of casein protein is 125 cals - it's hardly a huge calorie investment. If he is building muscle on Anavar, that is calories directed towards muscle growth - wouldn't this mean more calories oxidised as storage fat? Put it this way, is it worth going through the day 8 hours without eating? If not, why not consume pre-bed protein. Yes, but my guess is that a shake is being made. And, 125 calories a day is a lot when you are trying to lose the last few %. Just that cut alone on a daily basis is 875 cals a week, particularly when it isn't necessary for a short period of time. Just a suggestion, this guy is stuck. It doesn't matter if it is before bed or in the middle of the day (hopefully before bed if casien) it is a place to cut.

Flax oil and capsules are the same thing - its just the doses that differ. In any event, increasing the omega 3 fats relative to others may have slight benefits for fat oxidation. I would ditch the PB and high fat dairy before the flax - as Ironwings says its not an essential source of fats (well technically it does contain omega 6, but u get this from almost anything> I find that when people use flax oil, they use too much. Much easier to control your source from a capsule. As for the pb - for the fat and calories, the omega 6 isn't worth it. Not for the couple months it will take to lose the last bit.

Dairy doesn't bloat everyone, and if it does, doesn't mean u aren't losing fat. LOL - certainly.

We are talking about the last little bit of fat loss. Calorie deficit is key. It is essential to look at your diet and see where you can get the biggest bang for the buck. If your body no longer responds to what you are doing - change it. Routine is an enemy.

Best of luck...I'm in calorie deficit too and doing really well. 4lbs the first week and so far I'm on track for 2lbs a week.

 

[timtim]

We are talking about the last little bit of fat loss. Calorie deficit is key. It is essential to look at your diet and see where you can get the biggest bang for the buck. If your body no longer responds to what you are doing - change it. Routine is an enemy.

Best of luck...I'm in calorie deficit too and doing really well. 4lbs the first week and so far I'm on track for 2lbs a week.

if hes at 13% bf, hes not in the last little bit of fat. 9% and lower, you are getting to the stingy fat. right now, hes average for a male.

 

[desmond]

if hes at 13% bf, hes not in the last little bit of fat. 9% and lower, you are getting to the stingy fat. right now, hes average for a male.

x2. + he's on the initial phases of a diet