How long did it take you to reach 6% or less from ~10% bodyfat?

[jeff the lady backbreaker]

It took me seven weeks to go from about 10% or 11% to go to about 4%. You'll hear alot of different things, but what worked for me was finding my BMR, taking about 600 calories off of that aiming to take that in per day. I would do cardio twice a day, one in them morning and one in the evening. I did it for an hour each time but you can see what you need to do. I got in about 100 grams of carbs a day, about 5-10 grams of fat and the rest protein. I'm sure I could have done things differently or better. I just developed a plan that I thought would work and it did. This was the end result:

http://boards.elitefitness.com/foru...rpage=9&action=view&sortby=&in=statechmps.jpg

Like I said, I probably could have done things differently. I'm not sure if anyone else would recommend that regimen or not. I only offer it up as input because it worked for me. Good luck.

the pic did not come up. if you put it under the "elite fitness free website" you can download it to there then connect "img" tag to it to post a fullsize pic

congrats on hitting 4%

are you still able to maintain that?

 

[onerepmaximum]

I'll try to get the web site thing straight. It is giving an error right now. I'm not at 4% at the moment. Those are pics from my BB show last Sat (July 26). I intend to start growing a little bit now. The pic is in my gallery, I suppose it could be seen there until I get this figured out.

 

[molnii]

congrats man u look good on the pics!!
so what kind of carbs did u eat??
is there a timing for the carb in your diet??
how much protein did u shoot for??
thanks!

 

[onerepmaximum]

Thanks. For the most part, for the duration oy my diet, the carbs that I took in were complex. Oatmeal, vegetables, stuff like that. I think that since my overall calories were so low and I limited my carbs to about 100g a day, it didn't matter what kind of carbs they were. I was trying for about 150-200 grams of protein per day. The week of the show, I did a total carb depletion and replenishment and I think that was what really helped me to look hard and full. You'll hear folks say that if you take in too few carbs, you'll lose too much muscle. I disagree with that. Especially if you are above say 5% body fat. What will happen is your body will burn fat as it primary source of energy. If you are extremely lean already and get too restrictive with calories, catabolism will occur.

 

[molnii]

did u feel flat on the low carb with all that cardio??
my problem is that I like the low carb diet but always feel flat

 

[onerepmaximum]

Yes, I did feel flat when I was on restricted/no carbs. That was a good thing though because when I carbed back up, my muscles soaked in every bit of glycogen that they could get and they were fuller and harder than before. I had competed two weeks previous in Vicksburg. The competitors that were there and at the state championships last satuday all could tell a big difference at how much harder I looked. I didn't carb up right for the Vicksburg show because I was worried about weight. But yes, if you are on a low carb diet, your muscles will go flat. That's why they say to carb up every few days. It is definitely a part of my pre-contest routine from now on.

 

[molnii]

so carb up on the weekends or just one single day??
when u carb up how much carb do u take in??
abnd the rest of the week should be under 100 or even less??

 

[bilat]

Yes, I did feel flat when I was on restricted/no carbs. That was a good thing though because when I carbed back up, my muscles soaked in every bit of glycogen that they could get and they were fuller and harder than before. I had competed two weeks previous in Vicksburg. The competitors that were there and at the state championships last satuday all could tell a big difference at how much harder I looked. I didn't carb up right for the Vicksburg show because I was worried about weight. But yes, if you are on a low carb diet, your muscles will go flat. That's why they say to carb up every few days. It is definitely a part of my pre-contest routine from now on.

Carb up every few days?

I thought it was once a week...

 

[onerepmaximum]

Actually, I only carbed up at the end. I took in about 100 grams of carbs for the duration of my diet. My contest was Saturday. I stopped taking in carbs the Monday before. I started carbing up that Wednesday after my depletion workout. I took in about 400 grams of carbs each day for the next 3 days. The guys whose advice I took said to carb back up with 400 to 600 grams a day. Since I'm only about 160 pounds, I opted for the low end. I probably should have carbed up once a week during the diet, but you live and learn. This was my first time getting ready for a contest and I was just trying to feel my way through it. In retrospect, I would have carbed up with about 300-400 carbs every 4 days. I will continue to do the final carb depletion and replenishment as I described above. That was definitely right on time.

 

[molnii]

what intensity of cardio did u do??I mean incline and speed on the trademile??