Going down.... All the way down Baby...

Hello all, though not technically a newbie anymore (I have been reading and re-reading the boards daily for about 3 months) this is my first post.

Here is my background:

Until now: A FAT f..ck!!! Then, 3 months ago I decided to take control of my body (instead of the other way around) and got started.

Original Stats as of 15.09.2004

Height: 6'
Weight: 264 lbs
BF%: 40% (yup, you read that right)

I did a 2 weeks crash-course diet just to shed some water and stuff and started my first day at the Gym on October 1st.

What followed was the most gratifying 3 months I have had in QUITE SOME FRIGGING TIME!!!

As of today I am at:

Weight: 222 lbs
BF%: 29%

That is 42 pounds lost... In composition terms is: 41 Pounds fat and 1 Pound muscle (I obviously gained a lot of LBM at the beginning but I have been loosing it quite slowly... every week I loose about 1.8 Pound Fat and some 0.4 pund muscle)

Obviously, the road is a long and twisty one... nevertheless I can already see (and the people around me) all the changes... funny thing is everybody keep asking me for my secret diet... once I mention something along the lines of " well, you know, eat more... drink oil, and spend some 10 hours/week at the Gym" their faces turn to one of dissapointment... the lazy bastards...

anyway... During this time I have tinkered with both my diet and train plan, and this is what I find works for me... As you all know, there is no magic thing, only what works for you:

Diet:

Currently on 2100 Cals for 5 days (TDDE - 30%) and 2550 Cals (TDDE -15%) on my carb-up days. (I know is low, but hey it works for me... not much muscle loss)

MO-TU-WED-FRI-SAT: 45% Prot, 25% Carbs, 30% Fat
TH-SO: 35% Prot, 50% Carbs, 15% Fat

My week schedule is: Low Low Low High Low Low High

Carb and calorie tapering during the day.

Spread in 5 meals (real ones) and one post workout shake (with Dextrose, MaltoDextrine and Whey)

Fats are basically flaxoil (about 3~4 teaspoons/day) and coldwater fish.

Proteins are mainly Chicken Breast, White Fish

Carbs are: Full grain bread (The German one... you can see the grain), Oats and veggies.

I did 4 different menus, so as not to make this boring as hell...

TRAINING:

I started with a 2 days split, 4 days... but felt this was not good for me... so after 1 month I changed to a 4 day split and I hit the weights on:

Mon: Back-Traps-Abs
Tues: Biceps - Triceps - Forearms

Thursd: Chest - Shoulders
Friday: Quads - Lower leg- Abs

Every body part gets between 9 and 12 sets... each set performed till failure or minimum 10 reps.

Cardio:

6 day a week: AFTER weight-training: 45 min @ 75 ~ 83% MHR. No secret, wanna loose the flab... hit those cardio machines and LEAVE THE FUC---ING MAGAZINES HOME!!! Do your cardio like you mean it, damn it!!! swwat that shit!!! (Music is OK, as long as it is something like 150bpm)

Saturday is my day off...

Oh yeah, I drink 1.5 gallon water/day...

That was it... If anybody in my position think it is "impossible" to get rid of all that crap you have hanging around... take a look. I am more than willing to show more details on what I have done.

Last thought: I know some of you think it is not worth it... but for complete beginners, I recommend 120% to read BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING the "Burn the Fat, Feed the muscle" e-book by Tom Venuto... Is a great starting point and will save you a lot of research time... nothing more dangerous than an ignorant in a Gym...

So here it is... The "Magic Formula" that has worked for me... If it helps someone, great, if you feel it could be better, feel free to reply, I am open minded and as long as you make sense, willing to fine tune here and there...

my only question is: How low should I go in BF before I start bulking? I figure I will give it a try once I am down to 10%... with my current plan, that should be sometime in July-Aug....


Peace

Pintoca

CONGRATS on changing your life bro!! Keep up the good work and you will be where you wanna be in no time. You are a insperation to us all!

10% is a good BF to start bulking, you probly will gain some fat but you still will look lean while bulking.

Thanks Gguy9,

I guess Motivation is the only REAL secret to get where you want to get, no Drug, supplement or Gym Buddy will ever get you there without the real weapon: You believing in yourself.

Just as a side note, I realized today that in the 3 weeks going from Dec. 24th until today (January12th) I managed to loose 4.5 pounds... Hell, it is not what I should have lost in regular weeks, but better than maintaining and definitely better than gaining fat.

That is: With Christmas and New Year Dinners in between and our first son coming to the world (as much as the world currently sucks) on January 4th... If there were ever excuses to blow the plan, I had them all!!!

I will try to keep this updated on a monthly or quarterly basis, and once I am confident enough (it's damn difficult not to see yourself as a fat blob in the mirror after all these years) I will post some before and after pics.

Peace

Pintoca

That's awesome bro - congrats. It's good to hear someone talking about gaining the knowledge that us IMPERATIVE to true health. Great job and keep it up man.

This post is what im talking about, anything in life is working hard for, learning, reading, and busting your ass. I commened you on your effort, and all I can say is keep working harder and harder bro, one day you are gonna be that guy at the gym or at the bar that every girl is going to want, and guys will want to be you. Losing weight like this is life changing every aspect, work, school, friends, family relationships, I always preach that working hard, getting results is so much better than any cheat meal, Mcdonalds burger, or Beer.

Congrats.

ncmil said:

This post is what im talking about, anything in life is working hard for, learning, reading, and busting your ass. I commened you on your effort, and all I can say is keep working harder and harder bro, one day you are gonna be that guy at the gym or at the bar that every girl is going to want, and guys will want to be you. Losing weight like this is life changing every aspect, work, school, friends, family relationships, I always preach that working hard, getting results is so much better than any cheat meal, Mcdonalds burger, or Beer.

Congrats.

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Congratulations on taking your life back. I am always happy to see when very overweight people decide not to waste their life. Food is Fuel! I am proud of your results. Makes me know that I cannot complain about trying to get from 13% to 7 %. Good job bro.

That's great, man. You've done a hell of a job, it seems you aren't stopping till you reach your final goal. So good luck to you and keep us all posted on you incredible success story.

oh ya, by the way, Killah Bee..........NIIIIIIIIIICE AVATAR!! sorry, I just had to throw dat in there...lol...fire

Great job. I too have done the same we do seem to be in a simalar boat.

Thank you all guys for the support!!!

I will definitely keep you posted on how things are going on this side.

I am planning on hitting my next milestone (50 Pounds lost) in about a month. So there you will see the next report. Hell, writing that turns it into a commitment of sorts... so I better hit it hard!!!

As I said, if anybody would like to see more details (like the menues, my log sheet or whatever) just drop me a line. If my experience helps somebody get started, the better.

Congrats bro. I'm 5'8 and about 190, was probably 25% body fat back in July when I got with a trainer. I fucked around for a while, now I'm serious. I've lost weight, gained a TON of muscle, but still have a fat stomach and upper legs. I'm down to 20% body fat total. Joined a gym. Got up at 6:00am to work out today. Time to get serious. I want to get 'skinny by spring'....My diet is like yours with low, high and medium days. One day a week I deplete carbs after my second meal(today) and it sucks but works well. My diets just like yours as well. Hopefully we'll both be lean one day. Good luck to you man.