View Full Version : JUSA cuts with LEVIATHAN (non sponsored)
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=41245991#post41245991
I'm actually not going to log it here; I have another log going and I'm going to keep it up. However to those interested in this supp I'll give updates 3/week with my workouts and give my impressions of the product.
I started taking Leviathan on entry #190 (page 7) of my journal.
Ah screw it, I'll cut and paste the Leviathan comments from my journal here if anyone is interested.
The first couple entries will be back-dated (obviously)...
WED MAY 9TH
Leviathan Review: I only took one cap yesterday. In the past I took another supp (Fyre) and kind of jumped right into it the first day and felt too jittery and whatnot, so I didn't want to make the same mistake with this. Today I'll be taking 2 caps spread out through the day. Fyi, I'm a 200lb dude. They recommend you take 2/day at first, so I even took 1/2 of that the first day (safe vs sorry). Ultimately, you take 4/day and I read logs where towards the end of the run the users took more than that.
Energy: Hard to say. I was feeling down as I'd been sick. That went away later in the day to a good degree but who knows if it was going to happen anyway or if it was the Leviathan.
Mood: I actually felt a littler more chipper. My wife told me it was all in my head (psychosomatic for you psychology buffs out there.. although that tends to speak on a disorder that makes you think you're sick. I guess it'd be more apt to call it the placebo effect). No idea if her theory is right or not. Personally I think I'm too strong-willed to fool myself like that :)
Side-Effects: Slight jittery feeling about 1-2 hours after taking the pill which quickly went away.
THUR MAY 10TH
Leviathan Updates: My bb.com order arrived yesterday. I also took 2 caps yesterday and will take another 2 today (I've already taken one and the other's scheduled for around 1:30-2:30pm). I'm also taking 3 Sesamin pills spread throughout the day.
Weight this morning: 197, FB%: ~21% (scale says 26% which roughly equates to 20-22%, from here out I'll just give the estimate)
I've been doing some light cardio the past couple days. Last night for 20-30 minutes and I woke up this morning, took some BCAAs, took out the trash which had been piling up, drank some h20 and Nectar whey, waited a little bit and walked at a slowish pace on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
I plan on getting some more light/medium cardio in tonight, hopefully a little more lengthy or intense than this morning (need to burn some cals!)
Today I am scheduled to eat ~2750 calories. Rougly 300g of protein and the rest mainly from fats (most of those EFAs). Some minor carbs but for the most part I've removed them from my diet on non-lifting days.
I'm going to bold the next part, just to highlight it b/c it's important to anyone reading: Keep in mind that right now I'm only taking 1/2 dosage (2 pills/day) while I test my sensitivity. By Saturday I'll up the dosage to 3/day and sometime next week finally hit the recommended 4/day where I'll stick for the next 7 or so weeks.
Energy: My energy is low. Some of this is to be expected and I do think the Leviathan is giving me a bit of pep... I suspect without it I might even have less energy. (**Edit** it's 2:30pm right now and I took the second pill @ 1:15pm) - I definietly feel something. No jitters, just the desire and ability for activity. Nothing mind-blowing but pretty decent. Maybe it's the pill, maybe it's the steady stream of (less than usual) calories. Dunno, but I have more energy now than I did this morning when I wrote my initial response.
Mood: Very pleasurable. The little things that usually irk me don't. I kind of have a slight highish feeling for a couple hours sometime after I take the Leviathan. No idea if this is a placebo-effect or not but whatever it is it's very nice. Kind of a warm glow feeling. I don't really drink alcohol anymore but it's kind of like that relaxing feeling you get after your first beer. Not intoxicating or anything.. just nice.
Side-effects: Nothing serious. The slight jittery-feeling is pretty much gone now. I'm glad I slowly started taking this stuff (1 pill for day 1, 2 pills on days 2-4, etc...). I will say this, though: I am drinking a LOT more water. I usually drink 1 to 1-1/2 gallons a day, sometimes a bit more... but lately I've been getting just under 2 or even a little more. I'm just always drinking and pissing all day long. I generally drink 1 liter with meals (and I eat constantly) and lately I've been downing liters in-between the bi-hourly meals as well.
BuckeyeMuscle
05-10-2007, 04:43 PM
Excellent, Subbed.....If you need anything, feel free to ask!
Hola Bola
05-11-2007, 08:25 AM
Excellent, Subbed.....If you need anything, feel free to ask!
x2. :D
Excellent, Subbed.....If you need anything, feel free to ask! Well, if you want to help make this a Leviathan/Incarnate review you could hook me up with some Incarnate ;)
Supp review coming later today. I've taken my first pill and I'm going to go ahead and jump to taking 3/day today and continue that pace through the weekend. Monday I'll be going full-dosage @ 4/day. I'll take the 3rd pill sometime around 3:00 and get my update in an hour or so after that.
Morning Weight: 196 (Down 2 lbs from start)
FB%: 21% (no change)
I started taking 3 pills today and took my 3rd a couple hours ago.
Energy: Today working out I had a good amount of energy. More in the way of endurance, really.
Mood: Very good.
Side-effects: I'm feeling a little iffy today. Nothing major, but a little flustered with a very slight nausia. Last night I had some heartburn but a couple Tums seemed to clean it up, although I felt it a little this morning. I'm guessing since I upped the dosage to 3/day I'm feeling a bit off. I'm guessing I'll get used to it here very shortly.
I kept track of how much water I've drank today. So far I've drank 6 liters and I'll probably down another 3 before they day is over. I usually drink a lot of water but thats more than what I typicaly drink.
Weight is dropping a bit, I suspect because I haven't been eating any carbs which I've changed from here on out.
Today I believe I'm taking in 2,650 cals and just over 300g protein. I've added some carbs in spread through the day as well and I plan on just maintaining a balanced diet throughout this. A rough schedule of what I'm eating is as follows:
wakeup(6:30am): Leviathan & BCAAs
(7:00am): Nectar & H20, bowl of 1/4cup oats & 1/4cup bran cereal
(9:15am): Post-Workout (1cup milk, 1/4cup ground oats, 1/2-serving of strawberries, 1/2-serving of blue berries, creatine, 3-servings NOW dextrose, 1-1/2 scoops whey)
(10:30am): 1/2 cup black beans
(11:00am): protein pudding
(1:00pm): 1 serving chicken (made with crushed crackers, cooked in olive oil)
(2:30pm): protein pudding
(4:30pm): chicken (see above)
(5:00pm): 1/2 cup black beans
(6:30pm): protein pudding
(8:30pm): post-cardio - 1 cup milk, 1 scooop whey
(9:30pm): dinner (lean meat, veggies)
... roughly like that. The protein pudding is 1 serving of muscle milk & 3 scoops of whey split 3 ways and eaten throughout the day. A little too much powder or fake food for my liking. I'll try to eat more real food tomorrow.
Mickfootie
05-11-2007, 02:52 PM
Interested to see how this cuts with keeping up good lean mass. Following J.. :)
I'm going to give weekly updates on my LBM. The scale I use pretty much blows.
- It's very inaccurate
- It's only semi-consistant (sometimes the reading changes within 5 minutes of taking a reading with no other change)
- There is no decimal point with the %, which would be very helpful
I try and take a measurement under roughly the same conditions every day. Morning, naked and with empty bladder.
Where it's useful is that, over time, it can show trends with my weight and LBM%s.
Morning Weight: 196lbs (down 2lbs from start; same as yesterday)
FB%: 20% (down 1% from start; down 1% form yesterday)
Energy: Nothing terribly noticable but maybe more than usual.
Mood: Great! I continue to get a bump after taking.
Side-effective: Nothing major whatsoever. Warm feeling, slight indigestion/acid-reflux (very minor)
Today I'm taking 3 pills. I took 2 this morning which is the first time I've taken more than one at once.
My caloric intake today will run ~2,850 cals total with around 277g protein. I've added more carbs, roughly around 20-25% of my total cals. I think that might be why the FB% dropped; my muscle stores got a bump yesterday when I took in more carbs. No idea if I've lost any weight as yet and to be honest I'm going to up the cals a tad here... I'd been eating roughly 1,000 over maintenance previously so I don't want to just immediately drop to 1,000 below.
Sunday May 13th
Week One, Day Six
Morning Weight: 197 (no change)
FB%: 20% (no change)
- 3 pills. Ate more carbs this day; mostly clean.
- No real update on the Leviathan. Everything's about the same.
Monday May 14th
Week One, Day Seven
Morning Weight: 197
FB% 20%
- Was expecting a change in body weight (generally after a re-feed day you expect something).
Today I am eating ~2,600cal, roughtly 250g protein with an estimated 40/30/30 breakdown b/w protein, carbs and fats.
- Today if the first 4/pill day but I've only taken 2 pills so far today.
- No updates on anything. For the most part the sides, minor as they were, are easing up as my body grows used to the pills. No upset stomach, no anything, really. I continue to experience a nice even-keeled feeling with mood.
- My strength dropped a little with today's workout.
Monday May 15th
Week Two, Day Eight
Morning Weight: 195.5 (from 198 start, down 1.5 since Sunday)
FB%: 20% (down 1% from start, no change from Sunday)
Tuesday May 16th
Week Two, Day Nine
Morning Weight: 194 (see above)
FB%: 20%
- Strength was down on Monday and Today in the gym. I blame myself for some of this, I always cut calories too drastically too quickly. I was hoping to maintain my strength levels, though, so this is somewhat disappointing.
- My diet, while perhaps a bit too low calorie, has been consistently clean and relatively balanced so far. Generally I hit 40% of my daily cals in protein (getting 240-270g a day) and usually 30-40% each with the carbs and fats. Fats are primarily coming from EFA sources (fish oil, flax seed oil, nuts, etc...) and carbs are primarily from slow digesting sources other than PWO shakes where I take in some dextrose or sugars from milk.
- Feel fine. No real sides from the Leviathan and generally everything I felt (good or bad) has been toned down. I'm taking 4/day atm and plan to stick with that dosage for the next 6-7 weeks.
Thur May 17th
Week Two, Day Ten
Morning Weight: 195.5 (up 1.5lbs from yesterday, down 2.5 from start)
FB%: 20% (same as yesterday, down 1% overall)
- Things are going well enough, nothing much new to report on energy, strength, mood, etc... basically now it's just a waiting game to see how much weight drops and how much lean weight is retained or even gained throughout this.
- Diet was clean yesterday. Today I'm taking in ~2,400 cals. Already did some cardio in the morning and I'll get another session in tonight; hopefully burning ~400-600 cals additional between the two sessions.
- Leviathan doesn't really do anything regarding appetite and the cravings hit last night pretty hard. I'll probably cheat a little on Sunday.
Fri May 18th
Week Two, Day Eleven
Morning Weight: 195.5 (about the same as yesterday, down 2lbs from start)
FB%: 19% (down 1% from yesterday, down two percent from start)
- Energy is low; understandable when you're eating over 1,000 under maintenance.
- Strength is down but no more than previously.
- I fk'ed up yesterday and forgot to take my mid-day Leviathan with me. I only took the morning two pills.
- I broke down when my wife ordered a pizza last night and helped myself to 5 slices (1/2 the pizza) of Cici's ham & cheese. Even with the additional calories, I ate under maintenance (with cardio I was still about 500 under).
- In the past my FB% generally drops after a pizza-cheat. I suppose it has to do with re-fueling my muscle stores or something. Sometimes it jumps back up for a day or two before finally settling back down. Guess I'll see tomorrow how it's going to play out.
- Oh, btw, I've noticed some changes to appearance as well. Unless you've been a tad over-weight you probably don't get this, but sometimes your gut grows to the point where it's sticking out a bit. When you initially drop weight, for me, it comes down before your love handles. From the side you look better but your front-on appearance (shirtless) sometimes looks a little worse. That's where I'm at atm. Weight is dropping pretty rapidly, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the love-handles start shrinking here in 3-4 weeks if I can keep up with a decent diet and cardio routine.
Sat May 19th
Week Two, Day Twelve
Morning Weight: 193 (down 2.5 from yesterday(???), 4.5 from start)
FB%: 20% (up one yesterday, down 1 overall)
- FB% rebounded as expected. Hopefully it'll settle on 19% tomorrow or early next week.
- Nothing much else to report.
Sunday May 20th
Week Two, Day Thirteen
Morning Weight/FB%: 195.5 20%
- Ate like **** today. Had some pizza for lunch and a birthday party for my brother at night (although I did much better and only had a tiny slice of cake). I did walk in the morning and took my wife to my old college during the day (where we walked for about 2-3 miles).
Monday May 21rst
Week Two, Day Fourteen
Morning Weight/FB%: 196 20%
- My knee somehow got screwed up last night while I slept. I walked a lot yesterday but didn't do anything to jar it. When I woke up I thought I was ****ed pretty good but it's already feeling better. I switched over to an upper/lower x2 split this week but until my knee feels much better I'll have to back off of the leg days... I'll hit the treadmill sooner, though, but probably not today or tomorrow.
sjarvis77
05-22-2007, 12:53 AM
Considering taking this myself so will be interested to see how you react to it. Good luck with the log!
Palo Alto Labs
05-22-2007, 07:55 AM
lookin great man.. keep up the progress!!
Tuesday May 22cnd
Week Two, Day Fourteen
Morning Weight/FB%: 195 20%
- I'm taking the week off of weights for legs but I hit upper today. Already my knee feels almost 100% as well. Tonight I'll do some light walking cardio if it continues to feel fine.
- Otherwise nothing new to report.
Considering taking this myself so will be interested to see how you react to it. Good luck with the log! Thanks, so far it's been good but the proof is in the pudding. We'll see in 5-6 weeks how my body composition is.
beltboy
05-22-2007, 10:01 AM
Johnny,
I am at about the same time table you are with the Levi. I feel a huge increase and still do with each wkout in stamina! My strength has been going up weekly and continues to do so. I haven't lost much if any weight since starting the Leviathan, but my BF% is going down. Thus the Lean muscle mass must be increasing. Also, my libbido is going much stronger than before I started the Levi. Good job- keep it up.
Wed May 23rd
Week Three, Day 15
Morning Weight/FB%: 193.5 20%
- I expect my fb% to drop on the scale any day now. Often when you cheat a little too much like I did on Sunday it takes a couple days to bounce back. My cardio also fell back a day or two when my knee was acting up on Monday. It's fine now. I always respond better to cardio than eating less; although a combination of the two is generally perfect. For a couple days there, I wasn't getting the cardio (although I got a little in swimming).
- I think the difference between me and beltboy is the caloric decifit. Apparently his weight hasn't changed whereas I'm under-eating by 1,000 or so every day. So, yea, of course my strength isn't going to increase ;)
I think the last couple weeks or so I'll up my cals to maintenance and see where I go from there. This week I changed my workout program from Madcow's Intermediate 5x5 to an upper/lower split done twice a week (one day for strength, one for hypertrophy each). That being, it's a little hard to adequately judge strength but I got 190x5x2 yesterday and that's only a little less than what I'd been performing previously (about 210x5x1 before the cut). I figure 190x5x2 equates to 195-200x5x1.
- I hadn't thought much about the libido up until beltboy said something. I'll rate it as slightly increased, actually, now that I think about it. Otherwise things are moving along with few changes:
Absolutely no noticable side-effects, slight mood elevation, etc... I don't think I'm downing as much water as I did when I first started, either - although I still get 1-2gallons daily (which is the same amount I'd been drinking before Leviathan).
Thur May 24th
Week Three, Day 16
Morning Weight FB%: 194 20%
- I hope fb% drops here in a day or two. Cardio is back on track and I'll get leg workouts in starting next week or maybe sooner. I think tonight I'll do some laps in the pool for cardio.
beltboy
05-24-2007, 09:27 AM
About the Libido - How old are you? I am 33 so nature may be affecting my hormones more than you if you are in your 20's. If not screw me, for thinking wrong. I am really only cutting my cals by about 500/day, vs your 1000. I also added muscle milk right after I started the Levi, so my cals are actually about 300 less/day than maint.
My weight actually dropped 2lbs the last 2 days, But I haven't done anything different. This is wk 3, so maybe that is the difference. I recently switched my workout to a 5-4-3-2-1 max rep cycle, on bench/squats. First to see what my real max's were, but second to see if it increases my strength. I like the results thus far, may be something to consider.
I'll be 35 in a couple of weeks. Glad it's working for you, so far I like it too, but I'm holding final judgement until the cycle is complete.
Fri May 25th
Week Three, Day 17
Morning Weight/FB%: 193.5 20%
Wed May 30th
Week four, Day 22
Morning Weight/FB%: 190 19%
- I've been sick since about Saturday/Sunday. Summer cold, I guess. It's been raining here just about every day. Anyway, diet has been ok... my appetite is just ruined. No exercise, though. No weights, no cardio. That always makes things difficult but I'm hopeful to be back in the gym Friday or Saturday. I'm feeling a bit better today (yesterday - pretty miserable).
Thursday May 31rst
Week Four, Day 23
Morning Weight/FB%: 190.5 19%
- This week has been a wash so far. Still sick and not able to do any kind of exercise. I'm coughing up a lung today but the ache is fading so I hope this weekend I can at least get some cardio-time in. I miss the weights, too, but I've just had zero strength/energy throughout this summer cold.
BuckeyeMuscle
05-31-2007, 10:57 AM
Sorry to hear your not feeling well....hope you get better soon! Keep up the great log!
Sat Jun 2
Week Four, Day 25
Morning Weight/FB%: 190 19%
- Getting better; hacking cough though. My motivation tends to wane when I'm not in the gym, so I haven't been counting calories or eating 100% cleanly but for the most part my appetite has been pretty low while sick anyway so the damage is minimal... mostly it's just been me stalling out instead of making progress this week.
- Next week I plan on hitting the gym hard. Hopefully the DOMS won't be too bad. I'm also considering upping my calories to maintenance level for a week or two while I get back on track. Enough people have reported strong results while eating maintenance for me to give it a shot.
Tue Jun 5th
Week Four, Day 28
Morning Weight/FB%: 191.5 19%
- Weight's been pretty consistent. Yesterday it was like 188, though. My illness is fading somewhat and I was able to get a workout in this morning... finally.
- Today I'm eating very cleanly but I was so-so the last couple days.. culminating last night when I ate most of a medium pizza...
- I opened up the second bottle of Leviathan yesterday: 1/2 done with this.
- This week I'm eating maintenance or slightly under. Today I'm eating about 3,000 calories (very clean) and I'll do some slow-walking cardio tonight for about an hour and burn 200-300 cals to get that # closer to my maintenance level. At 190 lbs I would put my maintenance at 2,850 but that usually doesn't work so well for me. Generally speaking, I need to shoot a little lower than that or I will gain weight. Walking for an hour at a brisk pace on a moderate incline ought to do the trick.
Weds June 6th
Week Five, Day 29
Morning Weight/FB%: 190.5 19%
- I don't expect my weight to fluxuate much; but if it does it'll give me better insight on what me true maintenance-level calories are. In theory, I am eating maintenance this week.
- I was scheduled to workout this morning but passed. I got a new "Sleep Number" matress yesterday and let myself sleep in a bit (I generally workout 6-7AM). I did get some light cardio in and I plan on making up the skipped workout tonight. Fyi, I enjoy the matress a lot; very restful.
Thur Jun 7th
Week Five, Day 30
Morning Weight/FB%: 190.5 19%
- Looking through most people's logs, most lost about 3-5%fb over the course of the Leviathan 8-week usage. With that in mind, I don't expect much change this week.
BuckeyeMuscle
06-08-2007, 07:44 AM
Looking good so far man, keep it up.
Fri Jun 8th
Week Five, Day 31
Morning Weight/FB%: 191 18%
- Hey, fb% dropped today; a pleasant surprise. That's 3% overall since I began. Not bad.
Sat Jun 9th
Week Five, Day 32
Morning Weight/FB%: 190.5 19% ... or ... 189.5 17%
- No workout today; I had to wake up very early (5am) and help my wife with something. I woke up, took 2 caps of Leviathan and was on my way out to help her. I got back in at about 7:45am and before I took breakfast I had a rather sizable movement and re-took my weight/fb% on the scale. Big difference - but both readings were unusual. Usually, while I do like to empty my bladder or whatever else in the morning, I take the reading first thing in the morning at usually around the same time.
Mon Jun 11th
Week Five, Day 34
Morning Weight/FB%: 190 19%
- Diet was so-so yesterday also slightly twinked my back but I don't think it'll keep me out of the gym.
Tue Jun 11th
Week Five, Day 35
Morning Weight/FB%: 190 19%
- Back is better. Might hit the gym later today.
Sat Jun 16th
Week Six, Day 40
Morning Weight/FB%: 190 18%
- FB dropped a point, figured I'd report it. It's been running @ around 19% for the majority of the week. Weight's been about the same, as well. I'll cut cals a tad next week. Hopefully the fb% stays at 18% but it fluxuates often; so we'll just have to wait and see.
Week Seven, Day 49
Just a quick update; for the last couple days FB% dropped to 18 but today it was back at 19 for whatever reason. Weight is about the same. That's it for now - only a couple days left here.
BuckeyeMuscle
06-25-2007, 07:53 PM
Week Seven, Day 49
Just a quick update; for the last couple days FB% dropped to 18 but today it was back at 19 for whatever reason. Weight is about the same. That's it for now - only a couple days left here.
Hmm, did you have a cheat day or two? :D :p
Hmm, did you have a cheat day or two? :D :p No, but my general motivation isn't as 100% as it was when I started. I'll recap it when I give my end summary (coming in a day or two)