Oh, what the hell, let's give it a shot.

[MCEpidemic]

I probably tried one of these before, but just gave up on keeping a log. Now that I'm going to be home for the summer before next soccer season(September), it's crunch time.

Current stats(tentative, will confirm tomorrow):
Weight: 232.5
Bf%: 21.8-23.5
Waist: ~41

Short term:
Spend one week at maintenance to regulate metabolism - I'll log a sample daily diet, and then macros and cals for each day. No heavy exercise other than soccer scrimmaging on Wednesday for this week.

Weeks 2-9(maybe?) - Rippetoe training method to develop general strength. I know, trying to develop strength while cutting? Yeah, well hopefully the anabolic effects of keto will make it work. I'll also plan to ignore the whole six equal sized meals. Frankly I don't see much merit in eating six meals other than the fact that it's a new metabolic stimulus, but I'll eat six - but tapered. Bigger meals earlier in the day, smaller ones later.

The Problems:
Balancing my Rippetoe program with soccer training - that is, with what is very very likely to be a good deal of cardio. Which should I sacrifice for the other? Should I train soccer on my own time and just scrimmage every Wednesday, or take the training class and just lift first thing in the morning, leaving enough time to recover metabolically, or will that cause a plateau?

Finding ways to eat a variety of foods on limited funds. I'm looking for a summer job, but I doubt I'll make much, and I don't want to burden my parents with paying for too much expensive stuff. Which brings up to...

The Supplements:
Multivitamin
Green tea
Fish oil(I have cod liver oil already...but being as sunny as is, I don't want to overdose on Vitamin D), it's been shown to actually burn fat independent of exercuse
Natural Peanut Butter - I consider this a supplement because of its resveratrol content, an anti-aromatase agent(hopefully will improve hormonal environment)
Mushrooms - same as Natty PB
Grape Juice(carbups only) - same as 'shrooms
Whey
Do I need anything else?

Well, this is a beginning, and hopefully a fruitful one.

[MCEpidemic]

Started my carbup today to encourage my muscles to rebuild. And boy, do they need it. The past few weeks just walking up the stairs caused exertion in my legs(soccer every day for 2+ hours even during carbup...dumb of me). Which culminated in my all time worst workout today, where I could not successfully squat 205 to my desired amount of reps, despite the fact that I have squatted 275(albeit with much worse form and less depth than today), horrible lat and pullup work. So far I've eaten a ton of yogurt (after I exhaust my supply of yogurt, the total macros come out to: 40 g Fat/50 g Protein/250 g carbs. At dinner tonight I'll find something low fat to eat.

[MCEpidemic]

Started today.

Meal 1: An African meal, I'll estimate the cals as best I can: F/C/P
1 cup catfish: 30/1/27
.1 cup tomato paste: 0/5/1
.1 cup canola oil: 22/0/0
52/6/28 512 cals

Calculations:
RMR: 2086.21
Maintenance at "lightly active": 2086.21 X 1.375 = 2868.55 - Target for week 1
Maintenance on training days: 2086.21 X 1.55 = 3233.6

[MCEpidemic]

Today's totals:
Total Cals: 2842
Fat: 187
Carbs: 18
Protein: 255

[ironstrife]

gluck bro. subbed.

[MCEpidemic]

Today's totals:
Total: 2571
Fat: 200 1803 72%
Sat: 99 888 36%
Poly: 22 194 8%
Mono: 34 309 12%
Carbs: 19 65 3%
Fiber: 3 0 0%
Protein: 158 632 25%

A bit under maintenance today...we'll see the results tomorrow when I measure across the waist and maybe weigh in.

[MCEpidemic]

Calories Eaten Today
grams cals %total
Total: 2873
Fat: 204 1835 66%
Sat: 98 879 32%
Poly: 6 50 2%
Mono: 47 420 15%
Carbs: 32 106 4%
Fiber: 6 0 0%
Protein: 209 837 30%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Will deplete and carbup tomorrow. Preparing for a hardcore IF(intermittent fast) keto variant for next week, will go into more detail later.

[MCEpidemic]

Weigh-in today:

Weight: 226
Waist: ~40.75
Bf: 23.1
FFM: 173.794

[The Director]

your bodyfats gone up?

[MCEpidemic]

Well, no. I was just ballparking it when I began this thread(the number there is in the range). The waist measurement decreased slightly, which suggests fat loss to me. I need to lose five inches off my waist to be where I need to be.

[The Director]

I think waist size during the first week or two is just normal, it goes right back up on carb up, and 3-6 days after.

[MCEpidemic]

Hopefully. Just started my carbup recently. Will continue tomorrow, start new cutting cycle/routine on Sunday.

[MCEpidemic]

I'm trying something new. An IF diet - essentially a refeed/carbup after every lifting session and a modified keto-style fast in between. So today calories were very low. We'll see where I'm at at the end of the week.

Total: 1617
Fat: 124g 1117 68%
Sat: 42 375 23%
Poly: 7 63 4%
Mono: 27 240 15%
Carbs: 18g 66 4%
Fiber: 1 0 0%
Protein: 113g 451 28%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

[MCEpidemic]

Fasted completely from 11 PM the previous night until 1:20 today, which is about a 14 hour fast. Broke it with a Pre-WO meal of bologna and steak(I'm experimenting with maintaining the keto pre-WO). Which comes to:

Total: 579
Fat: 40 362 63%
Sat: 15 136 24%
Poly: 1 9 2%
Mono: 12 105 18%
Carbs: 3 12 2%
Fiber: 0 0 0%
Protein: 50 201 35%

[MCEpidemic]

Workout went alright, Rippetoe's style:

Squats: 3x5
Bench: 3x5
Deadlift: 1x5

Starting carbup. Should I include the shake I chugged down in my daily cals even for this carbup?

[MCEpidemic]

Including the shake, I got this:

Total: 3550
Fat: 101 905 26%
Sat: 29 262 8%
Poly: 20 181 5%
Mono: 33 294 9%
Carbs: 484 1852 54%
Fiber: 21 0 0%
Protein: 174 698 20%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Tomorrow I'll start my quasi-fast with a taper. Eat some chicken and eggs upon waking, end up around 1600 ish at the end of the day.

[MCEpidemic]

I have DOMS like no other today. Hopefully the DOMS I get will clear up by tomorrow, and hopefully by next week my muscles will adapt, because I need to train by playing soccer and not just squats...

[MCEpidemic]

Total: 1553
Fat: 112 1009 64%
Sat: 40 362 23%
Poly: 3 27 2%
Mono: 9 77 5%
Carbs: 27 110 7%
Fiber: 0 0 0%
Protein: 113 451 29%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

The low cal days really kill me. Luckily I get to carb up every other day, which is good motivation.

[MCEpidemic]

Weigh-in:
Weight: 231.0
Waist: 40.5
Bf: 21.9
FFM: 180.4

Whoa. 1.2% loss in a week, even in a state that is somewhat bloated. I'll carbup tonight, maintenance on Sunday, Keto-fast on Monday, and recheck this Tuesday morning.

[VegasTiger]

Weigh-in:
Weight: 231.0
Waist: 40.5
Bf: 21.9
FFM: 180.4

Whoa. 1.2% loss in a week, even in a state that is somewhat bloated. I'll carbup tonight, maintenance on Sunday, Keto-fast on Monday, and recheck this Tuesday morning.

Good to hear! Your results are outstanding...GOOD JOB BROTHER!

[MCEpidemic]

Thanks man - I need all the encouragement I can get, because getting down to 14% bf In the 9 or so weeks I have left is going to take an immense amount of commitment.

[VegasTiger]

Thanks man - I need all the encouragement I can get, because getting down to 14% bf In the 9 or so weeks I have left is going to take an immense amount of commitment.


Are you getting 2 30min sessions of LIT cardio in? Muscular Development says that 2 30min sessions are better for fat loss than 1 consecutive hour.

[MCEpidemic]

Was thinking of starting daily cardio next week, even though I come down to nearly starvation level cals every other day...what constitutes LIT? Just a walk/bike ride? If so that's a great idea - since this is for soccer anyway, I could do LIT on lifting days and use soccer skill work(ride bike to soccer field, dribble around, ride back) once or twice a day on off days.

[VegasTiger]

Was thinking of starting daily cardio next week, even though I come down to nearly starvation level cals every other day...what constitutes LIT?

LIT is keeping your Heart Rate lower while doing cardio. It takes longer, but burns fat. If you are 17.and weigh around 180lbs...I would think aroud 140 BPM is the highest you wanna get. Not sure what the Equasion is to figure it out...but some treadmills will tell you if you put in your weight, and age.

Also...I would reccomend going to GNC and buying some Herba Mate Tea( its under seven bucks). Most fat burners have trace amounts of this, as an added (different) type of caffine. The tea is great for in the morning to get your metabo going, and best during your LIT cardio...because it helps oxygenate the muscles, and makes you sweat with hardly increasing your heart rate.. Go check the stuff out...it helps everyone I have told about it.

I think you can buy it in bulk on ebay as well, fo alot cheepa. :p

Hope this helps dude. :D

[MCEpidemic]

I had a horrible diet weekend. I ate well above maintenance two days in a row, then on Sunday only ate once - at a Chinese buffet. Forgive me for not even bothering the count the cals of that day.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up to the same waist measurement I entered the weekend with - 40.5. Something tells me a tadbit of that may come off after the next ketoday, which is tomorrow.

Today I had new confidence going into the gym after some rest and refeeding. The results on my Starting Strength routine:
Squat:
3x5 230 +5

Standing Military Press:
2x5 95 +10, 1x5 90

Pendlay Row:
3x5 115 (Form check needed for this exercise, added poundage is irrelevant until form is corrected)

[MCEpidemic]

Went a little overboard today with barbecue chicken...nearly 1800 cals for the day's total. That's still a pretty big deficit though, so it shouldn't be too costly in the long run.

[MCEpidemic]

I'm tired of struggling to get in protein content on my fasting days. I'm thinking of doing something more like the velocity diet - 1500 or so cals with at LEAST 750 of those coming from protein. I'm going to start consuming shakes like meals. This weight must go.

[MCEpidemic]

I'm changing the key. Today's workout:

Squat:
235 +5 2x5, 1x4(I felt that I wouldn't get the last rep up if I went down to parallel, so I essentially quarter squatted it. It doesn't count)

Bench:
135 +10 1x5, 1x4, 1x3 (had trouble with the last two sets, but pleased at the improvement)

Deadlift:
I'm still convinced that I'm doing this lift incorrectly, so I'm holding off on this for now. But my 1x5 today with with 20 pounds over my squat amount, so take that as you will.

[MCEpidemic]

For the love of God...I'm at 241 pounds(not a morning measurement, but whatever). I haven't been above 240 since last year. My waist measurement is at least 2 inches above where it *should* be. This is ridiculous, coming off of a carbup or not. It's pretty damn disheartening. I keep busting my ass, nothing works.

[Atavis]

Few things:

What is your waist measure in comparison to what it was when you started? What about the rest of your measurements?

Did you just start working out with this diet? If so, weight gain is to be expected. It should be muscle.

Whatever else you do, don't give up. If what your doing now isn't working add some cardio. :)

[MCEpidemic]

Waist measurement is the only thing the bf calculators ask for, so that's all I keep track of. I was down to 40.5 last week, and now I'm around 42, 43. I've been resistance training for a while now but I just started Rippetoe's Starting Strength.

[MCEpidemic]

I did 5 minutes HIIT today and followed it up with LIT. A new goal using the ExRx calculator:

Bf: 14
Weight: ~220
Date: August 6

I have until then.

[MCEpidemic]

Woke up today. New results:

Weight: 235
Waist: 40.5
Bf%: 21.4
FFM: 184.71 +4.3
FM: 50.29 -.3

That's...confusing. Same waist measurement, different bf(according to this calculator - should I use a different one? http://www.freeweightloss.com/calculator.html)

The fat loss is kinda underwhelming to be honest. It should be much higher. I'll switch up the diet next week to make workout days 500 or more under maintenance until Friday.

[MCEpidemic]

Workout today was horrible. Someone ate all of all of the bananas at home, and I had nothing pre-WO - I made it through squats with flying colors, but my strength tanked and I couldn't even military press 95 or correctly row. I lowered the weights and did what I could, but man that was a garbage workout.

Squats:
3x5 240 +5

I noticed in the gym mirror that I look noticeably stronger in my upper body. I took a picture yesterday, and next week I'll take another to compare it to. I have to have *some* gauge of progress that won't have me going insane.

[MCEpidemic]

I've run my numbers through the ExRx calculator. To reach my goal, I need to lose 19 pounds of fat and gain at least 5 pounds of muscle in the next 7 weeks. To break that down, I need to lose fat at a pace of 2.7 or so pounds a week. I am confident that I can put on the muscle even on a cut, it's the fat loss that bothers me. I'll find some way to do it.

2.7 lb x 3500 cal/lb = 9450 total deficit per week.
Monday and Wednesday will be a deficit of -1000 each, Friday will be +500(leptin reset), so it's 7950 between the other four days of the week, or ~2000 cal deficit or more on the other days of the week. I'm phasing in some measures of cardio EVERY single day. Meaning my maintenance cals *should* go up to 3700. So each non-workout day, the goal for cals is around 1700 or less, with < 40% protein. Monday and Wednesday will resemble refeeds since they'll be at 2700 or so, but I am not sure whether to include carbohydrates or not.

[MCEpidemic]

Today's cals:Total: 1485
Fat: 116 1045 71%
Sat: 20 176 12%
Poly: 7 59 4%
Mono: 27 239 16%
Carbs: 6 23 2%
Fiber: 0 0 0%
Protein: 102 408 28%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Going with a keto ratio to get some of the water off. Did some shadow boxing as well.

[MCEpidemic]

I went up to about 3000 yesterday, a bit overboard, but still comfortably under maintenance. I'm going to run a half a mile this morning as quickly as I can run it without stopping, and then do it again at night. I'm gonna work up to two miles.

[MCEpidemic]

Ran fine today, I think my ghrelin levels are through the roof because I get so hungry at night. We'll see how the workout goes tomorrow.

[The Director]

are you eating carbs everyother day? so you're not doing keto right?

[MCEpidemic]

I'm just altering the keto cycle to make it shorter, basically. I probably never get deep enough to actually enter ketosis, but I do this mainly to efficiently place my calories when I need them. Next week I'm going to go back to a plain old CKD for a week or two and see where it gets me.

[MCEpidemic]

I gave up these past three days. I didn't even go to the gym on Friday, nor did I do my daily run, just played some basketball and practiced my soccer moves a bit. But now it's Sunday and I'm determined to get back on the horse. Pure CKD for the next few weeks, damn it. On Friday I should have new measurements and hopefully these last few days didn't kill me. You know, now that I think about it, all this low calorie eating has probably destroyed my metabolism despite whatever cycles I throw it's way. I'm still going to count calories, but only to make sure I stay far below maintenance. But I think I'm going to throw thermodynamics out the window - if my metabolism can change it's "maintenance" over and over again, what good is limiting calories if I have no idea how far below my real maintenance I'm eating. I'm going to just shoot for a good deficit, train my ass off and see what happens for a week or two. If I like the results...maybe I'll make it permanent.

[MCEpidemic]

The rest on Friday really paid off - and I suspect that keto didn't hurt either. I felt strong in the gym today. I felt so strong while doing my first set of squats(5 pounds above the previous workout like it's supposed to be) that I added another 5 pounds and got 14 out of the 15 reps I shot for. Thank you, keto!

Squats:
1x5 255+5 1x5 260 +10 1x4 260

Bench Press:
1x5 135, 1x4 135, 1x3 135

Deadlift:
1x4 255(form issues, which is why this isn't larger than my squat)

[MCEpidemic]

Yesterday's cals

Total: 3596
Fat: 226 2031 56%
Sat: 72 645 18%
Poly: 15 134 4%
Mono: 32 290 8%
Carbs: 68 264 7%
Fiber: 2 0 0%
Protein: 333 1330 37%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

[MCEpidemic]

Total: 2328
Fat: 151 1359 59%
Sat: 61 545 24%
Poly: 12 112 5%
Mono: 12 105 5%
Carbs: 36 144 6%
Fiber: 0 0 0%
Protein: 199 796 35%

[MCEpidemic]

Excellent workout today.

Squats:
3x5 265 +10

Military Press:
3x5 90

Pendlay Rows:
115 1x4, 105 2x5

[PickItUp]

I am in no position to offer advice on keto...as I am a noob in the area of keto...1 day and 2 hours of research so far...

From the stuff I have read...you are changing the basic principles too much. I doubt anyone who was steadfastly conforming to keto would be upset because someone ate the bananas. I estimate a banana to have roughly 30g of carbs...I dunno...maybe take out some fiber...and you still have above 25g of carbs right there. That is the DAILY intake limit for carbs...and for you ...it is a simple pre-workout snack.

In addition, I see a 2000 Cal difference between some of your days. I don't see how you can eat 3600 Cal one day, and then 1600 Cal within a day or so...especially when you weigh ~240 lbs. You mentioned fasting...but I have not gotten to the part in keto where you fast...I must have missed that part.

You need consistency, and I think you need to KISS (keep it simple...).

As mentioned, I have little knowledge in keto at this time...I have spent maybe 2 hours total reading stuff about it.

Here is my advice for you:

First, you should NEVER eat fewer than 2800 Cal in a day(until you start losing weight).
Second, you should eat lots of green veggies
Third, try to eat the same foods for a week at a time.
Fourth, eat the whole egg...do not take out the yolk
Fifth, use a PWO shake for recovery...forget about fueling before workout
Sixth, buy ketostix (walmart brand ~$7 per 50)

I could likely go on, but I would just be quoting lots of other people on this and other forums.

As you mentioned, it is likely that you are barely getting into ketosis...the ketostix will help confirm when you are in ketosis.

If I come up with anything else, I will update...I plan on beginning my keto diet this Sunday. I have until then to "figure" it all out.

[MCEpidemic]

The fasting stuff was IF, which was a different diet that I modified a bit. It worked, but the water fluctuation made gauging results annoying and so I got off of it, and like I said a few posts up, now I'm on a regular ol CKD. Thanks for the suggestions - but why do you say 2800?

[PickItUp]

The fasting stuff was IF, which was a different diet that I modified a bit. It worked, but the water fluctuation made gauging results annoying and so I got off of it, and like I said a few posts up, now I'm on a regular ol CKD. Thanks for the suggestions - but why do you say 2800?

I did a simple 12 X bodyweight...to get to 2800 Cal. This is a gray area...I mean...it will really depend on your metabolism how many Cal you need to cut...

If you wanted to be more conservative...10 X bodyweight would give you 2400 Cal.

I lost quite a bit of weight on a 10 X bodyweight diet...but I ate lots of healthy carbs while doing it...not sure what you need to consume on a keto.

The main thing you want to avoid is your body thinking you are starving. I have seen 135 ladies eat 1400+ Cal each day. For you (240lbs) to eat 1600 Cal just does not make sense.

I may be off with my 2800 Cal estimate...but I can tell you this...3600 is too much, and 1600 it too little.

Find the middle ground.

[MCEpidemic]

I'll go with 2500 each day then and see how that works.

[MCEpidemic]

Weigh-in:
Weight: 233.6
Waist: 40.0
Bf%: 20.7 -0.7
FM: 48.35 -1.9
LBM: 185.24 +.5

[MCEpidemic]

Squats:
280 3x5 +5

Standing Military Press:
95 3x5 +5

Pendlay Row
115 3x5

Pushups:
1x10

[MCEpidemic]

Total: 2311
Fat: 187 1687 74%
Sat: 96 860 38%
Poly: 19 169 7%
Mono: 18 158 7%
Carbs: 15 58 3%
Fiber: 0 0 0%
Protein: 132 526 23%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Wasn't too hungry today for some reason, must be because I carbed up way too long over the entire weekend.

[The Director]

You've gotthe same body as me, Ive got a 39-40 inch waist, about 160-170lbm. I do the 10x bodyweight when cutting (endomorph-meso), and it works out just fine for me.

[MCEpidemic]

Do you tend to plateau on 10x BW? Because that's about where I'm at now.

[The Director]

Nope, but I only CUT 4 weeks at a time, and take a week off. Atleast my new routine, I hate the idea of cutting for along time and coming off a diet learning that Ive jammed my metabolism.

Also, make sure you try to stick to the 65/30 rule, protein is very important.

[MCEpidemic]

Yeah, tomorrow I'll try to do better. I made something with heavy cream that I ate half of and finished today, which is why the ratio was so weird.

[MCEpidemic]

It isn't weigh-in day today, but I was curious, so this morning I took a measurement. I'll wait for Friday before I do stats, but this is worth mentioning:

For the first time ever in my year of dieting, my waist measurement is sub-40.

Maybe because of the way I measure it, but I do it the same every time, so I know at least it's down 7 or so inches from where I started. I love the smell of progress in the morning.

[MCEpidemic]

Weigh-in:
Weight: 235.2
Waist: 39.75
Bf%: 20.0 -.7
FM: 47.04 -1.3
FFM: 188.16 +2.86