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- Joined
- Jun 29, 2010
- Messages
- 371
I think a lot of us have been caught up in the hype and popularity of keto/low carb dieting, and we have forgotten about the basics and old school approaches. I prepped myself for my first show back in April, and have always figured that since I have been a fat kid/endomorph my whole life, that I would need to use a low carb approach. I had dieted down in the past using this method, I managed to lose weight and get lean (not stage ready) but always felt I lost a ton of size as well. I started with this approach for prep, and here is a timetable of how things went...
14 weeks out:
235 lb @15% (measured via 7 site test)
macros: 330p/100-200c/100f (2620-3020 cals)
Training: 5-6 days, 30-45 min cardio/day
10 weeks out:
220 lb @12%
macros: 330p/50-150c/90f (2330-2730 cals)
Training: 5-6 days, 60-90 min cardio
8 weeks out:
210@10%
(At this point I was frustrated because I looked a lot smaller but not much leaner. Someone suggested upping cals and training 2x/day, so that's what I started at this point.)
macros: 350p/200-300c/75f (2875-3275 cals)
Training: 2x/day 5 days/week, cardio still 60-90
6 weeks out:
208 @8%
(I looked and felt MUCH better at this point, but I was behind schedule and knew I needed to pull some cals to catch up, so I took it out of the fats)
Macros: 300p/100-300c/40f (1960-2760 cals)
Training: same, cardio 90 min/day
4 weeks out:
200 @6-7%
(I was now holding 90% of my fat in my low back/glutes, so instead of maintaining my present course which was working GREAT, I decided to push even harder. BIG MISTAKE.)
Macros: 300p/50-150c/30f (1670-2070cals)
Training: same but had no energy or intensity, cardio 90-120 min
1 week out:
192 @6%
(I looked stringy as fuck and felt even worse. I pushed on and carbed up starting 3 days out with 150-200g carbs. I looked pretty good the night before the show but had too many carbs the morning of.)
I learned a lot from this experience, and will definitely come in bigger and better next year. There are other mistakes I made which contributed to not coming in as big or lean as I wanted, but that is a topic for another thread. I certainly don't advocate cutting out ALL fats, but bringing them down into the 30-50g range and focusing on EFAs really worked for me. I do think you need to take this day by day and meal by meal, since going low fats for an extended period of time can have the same deleterious effects as low carbs on the body, and I am not afraid to eat some bacon and eggs with some red meat if I feel "off". I am also not afraid to pull out some carbs if I feel like I don't need as much.
Another thing I learned: make small adjustments day by day (going up or down 50-100g carbs each day) rather being in a large deficit 5-6 days a week then refeeding. This caused massive rebounds and weight shifts for me that makes it hard to determine what is working and what isn't. I also stopped relying on the scale and instead started using my morning belly measurement to gauge progress since that is where I store the vast majority of my fat.
Does anybody else diet with low fats? Either off season or prep
14 weeks out:
235 lb @15% (measured via 7 site test)
macros: 330p/100-200c/100f (2620-3020 cals)
Training: 5-6 days, 30-45 min cardio/day
10 weeks out:
220 lb @12%
macros: 330p/50-150c/90f (2330-2730 cals)
Training: 5-6 days, 60-90 min cardio
8 weeks out:
210@10%
(At this point I was frustrated because I looked a lot smaller but not much leaner. Someone suggested upping cals and training 2x/day, so that's what I started at this point.)
macros: 350p/200-300c/75f (2875-3275 cals)
Training: 2x/day 5 days/week, cardio still 60-90
6 weeks out:
208 @8%
(I looked and felt MUCH better at this point, but I was behind schedule and knew I needed to pull some cals to catch up, so I took it out of the fats)
Macros: 300p/100-300c/40f (1960-2760 cals)
Training: same, cardio 90 min/day
4 weeks out:
200 @6-7%
(I was now holding 90% of my fat in my low back/glutes, so instead of maintaining my present course which was working GREAT, I decided to push even harder. BIG MISTAKE.)
Macros: 300p/50-150c/30f (1670-2070cals)
Training: same but had no energy or intensity, cardio 90-120 min
1 week out:
192 @6%
(I looked stringy as fuck and felt even worse. I pushed on and carbed up starting 3 days out with 150-200g carbs. I looked pretty good the night before the show but had too many carbs the morning of.)
I learned a lot from this experience, and will definitely come in bigger and better next year. There are other mistakes I made which contributed to not coming in as big or lean as I wanted, but that is a topic for another thread. I certainly don't advocate cutting out ALL fats, but bringing them down into the 30-50g range and focusing on EFAs really worked for me. I do think you need to take this day by day and meal by meal, since going low fats for an extended period of time can have the same deleterious effects as low carbs on the body, and I am not afraid to eat some bacon and eggs with some red meat if I feel "off". I am also not afraid to pull out some carbs if I feel like I don't need as much.
Another thing I learned: make small adjustments day by day (going up or down 50-100g carbs each day) rather being in a large deficit 5-6 days a week then refeeding. This caused massive rebounds and weight shifts for me that makes it hard to determine what is working and what isn't. I also stopped relying on the scale and instead started using my morning belly measurement to gauge progress since that is where I store the vast majority of my fat.
Does anybody else diet with low fats? Either off season or prep
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