I want to give you some background, if you just want the short version of my problem skip to the pound signs below
Early 30's, at it for 15 years, mostly natural except for a year or so when i was about 22-24 (don't remember). My T was really low (sub 300) so i'm on TRT as of recently and sitting around 950 ng/dl.... feel better.
Can't post pics due to my job and several unique tattoos, I will give accurate stats and measurements though.
As of now I'm 5'7, 184 with 32.5 waist.... chest 46, arms 17, legs 25, arms 17.... typically small-framed natty build. At my biggest I've bulked up to 206 with a 35 inch waist.
No longer squat or dead due to disc degeneration but my best squat was 460, best dead was 535 and best bench was 295.... not singles, maybe 4-6 reps or so.
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Ok to the actual point, I've taken all sorts of approach to cutting and have never seen my abs, never get any definition.... I just lose and lose weight and size but I still have a double chin, still look all soft, not even a hint of an ab line anywhere.
I said ok, I "reversed dieted" for about a year and a half. That's when I got up to 206 with a 35 inch waist and was eating about 4,200kcal per day. Pretty damn good I thought, did a nice, slow cut ..... down to 4000, nothing... down to 3800, nothing..... down to 3400, nothing...... I feel like that whole reverse dieting was BS because at the end of the day I still had to eventually drop back down to around 1600-1800 calories
The big issues is that at 1600 calories, I still have really thick skin, no abs at all, fat face, no definition anywhere really...... what do I have to do? Drop to 800 calories? At 1600 it's just no longer do-able.... if I was shredded it'd be a different story, but to still look 15% at 1600 calories after a good 6 month cut... something ain't right.
Strength is fine, even at 1600kcal I never lose any strength and still keep gaining (because I still have plenty of body fat on me)
I was sure it would be my thyroid but that came out fine. Docs didn't think it was a big deal since my waist was about 29.5 and my arms were 17, chest was actually 47 at that point....... but something isn't right, at that tine of a waist, on nearly starvation, while still gaining strength, I should in theory be pretty damn lean no?
If anyone can suggest anything other than thyroid for me to get checked out I'm all ears because it's ridiculous that after 15 plus years of super healthy living, pretty decent strength gains, keeping my waist under 32 at all times these past few years etc. i still have never even seen a hint of my abs.
Early 30's, at it for 15 years, mostly natural except for a year or so when i was about 22-24 (don't remember). My T was really low (sub 300) so i'm on TRT as of recently and sitting around 950 ng/dl.... feel better.
Can't post pics due to my job and several unique tattoos, I will give accurate stats and measurements though.
As of now I'm 5'7, 184 with 32.5 waist.... chest 46, arms 17, legs 25, arms 17.... typically small-framed natty build. At my biggest I've bulked up to 206 with a 35 inch waist.
No longer squat or dead due to disc degeneration but my best squat was 460, best dead was 535 and best bench was 295.... not singles, maybe 4-6 reps or so.
######
Ok to the actual point, I've taken all sorts of approach to cutting and have never seen my abs, never get any definition.... I just lose and lose weight and size but I still have a double chin, still look all soft, not even a hint of an ab line anywhere.
I said ok, I "reversed dieted" for about a year and a half. That's when I got up to 206 with a 35 inch waist and was eating about 4,200kcal per day. Pretty damn good I thought, did a nice, slow cut ..... down to 4000, nothing... down to 3800, nothing..... down to 3400, nothing...... I feel like that whole reverse dieting was BS because at the end of the day I still had to eventually drop back down to around 1600-1800 calories
The big issues is that at 1600 calories, I still have really thick skin, no abs at all, fat face, no definition anywhere really...... what do I have to do? Drop to 800 calories? At 1600 it's just no longer do-able.... if I was shredded it'd be a different story, but to still look 15% at 1600 calories after a good 6 month cut... something ain't right.
Strength is fine, even at 1600kcal I never lose any strength and still keep gaining (because I still have plenty of body fat on me)
I was sure it would be my thyroid but that came out fine. Docs didn't think it was a big deal since my waist was about 29.5 and my arms were 17, chest was actually 47 at that point....... but something isn't right, at that tine of a waist, on nearly starvation, while still gaining strength, I should in theory be pretty damn lean no?
If anyone can suggest anything other than thyroid for me to get checked out I'm all ears because it's ridiculous that after 15 plus years of super healthy living, pretty decent strength gains, keeping my waist under 32 at all times these past few years etc. i still have never even seen a hint of my abs.