Help reaching lower body fat % (Pictures included - before and after)

[PhitnessMMC]

Hi, im a new member here but not new to working out. Im 23 years old and started to lift when I was 16 with little experience. Over the last years I have been more serious with my training and dieting. But im no pro when it comes to dieting.

I have been "dieting" for 8 weeks now and started when I was at around 162.8 lbs.
When dieting I didn´t measure my food like I´ve done these past weeks, but from measuring now I think my my calorie intake at that time was at around 2000-2500.
With macros looking something like, Protein: 250 gram, Carbs: 150 gram, Fat: 60-70 gram.
I have always eaten clean and measured my food by eye, you guys know what I mean. After so many times you just know how much the meat weighs by looking at it.
But I wanted to know exactly how much I ate, so I started to measure my food on the scale again.
After 8 weeks I have definitely lost body fat as my abs are more visible and I dropped some pounds. However my goal is to get ripped as much as I can by the end of this summer, so I can start on my lean bulk and put on some mass again.

I workout intense 5 days a week, heavy weights even with a calorie deficit. I have gotten stronger while dieting.
Now after measuring and some thinking, I want to go lower on my calories, 1500 Kcal. I have read some threads on the forum about 1500 Cal a day diet and their are many members who dont recommend going that low. But with my height and weight taken in consideration, I think its doable for me. I have done this for a week now and don´t have any problems with working out.

Height: 5´6
Weight: 156.2
Bodyfat: 10-13%? (Judging from other members on the forum).


My current macros are: Protein 205 gram, Carbs 100 gram (60 gram on off days), Fat 45-50 grams.
Calories: 1500 Cal +/- 20%

With 1500 calories I manage to get 5 meals and dont go around hungry.

Whats your guys opinion on this? Should I stick to the 1500 Cal or increase? Any other tips a welcome.

I attach some photos of me when I started the diet and some photos I took recently. (Sorry for the quality, they are taken with different camera phones).


Thanks!

[PhitnessMMC]

Bump, any opinions guys?

[Flexz0r]

my opinion is you look better than i do so just keep doing what you're doing...
id say 10-11%, no way 13

[sexy_kuta]

Bro it's obviously working quite well! Your transformation is on par. Keep doing what you are doing and the results will follow!

[PhitnessMMC]

Thanks, I just wanted some opinions on the 1500 calorie intake a day. Dont want to lose to much muscle while dieting.

[ScottishColin]

Don't go as low as 1500, losing weight from where you are has to be taken slowly.

Hav you tried leangains? A lot of people seem to be making great Progress on it.

To be homer though, you're already lean, much leaner than myself, you only really need to lose another 3-4 lbs of frat before you're ripped bro

[PhitnessMMC]

Do you recommend me to bump up the calories a bit, to about 1800? Or go back to where I started. When I started my diet, I think it was around 2000-2200 calories a day.
My goal is to get as ripped as possible by 3 weeks.

I have never heard of leangains but it seems interesting after a quick read on it. But skipping breakfast? I love my breakfast!

[sexy_kuta]

id say keep doing whats working for you.

many would say 1500 is quite low, others will say it all depends on your body. Hence why we will start at a certain point and decrease our macros to find the right fit for us. Everybody is different. long as you get all of your nutrients and vitamins.
I can confidently say you are very close to your goal. another 5-6 lbs of solid fat loss and you will be there.

Now since you probably had reached a new low BF%. Id say keep doing what you are doing until you hit a wall THEN you should be looking into changing your diet. From your pics I can see a natural progression.

if you dont see any difference in 3-4 weeks then increase ur diet

[aman88]

no where close to 13%. id say you fall in between 8-10%. you dont have any fat to pinch so you have to be lower than 13%.

[Ace11368]

I agree. If it's working for you...keep it pushing until you hit a wall then look to changing it.

I actually wanted to ask you what your diet is like exactly...in terms of what you eat..because I am 5'7 myself and weigh 150 lbs and Im looking to get into single digit bodyfat..but im still not cutting yet as I want some more mass on my chest (so I guess I still have to keep going up in weight first)

[lee__d]

Look good bro.

1500 is crazy low for someone working out 5 days a week. I would honestly slow weight loss down to .5lb-1lb per week if you still want to get leaner.

You could always reverse diet to maintenance and start a slooooooooooooow bulk from now until next march or so. Then cut for summer. You will look beastly. You're quite aestetich at this level of leanness and i wouldn't waste time adding lbm if i were u.

[Voxmusculus]

While I'm nowhere close to being as muscular (or as shredded) as you, I'm trying to lose a bit of fat (pretty much from my midsection). I'm currently at 140 lbs, and probably around the 20-25% bf range.

Given that we're the same height, I'm targeting around 1400 calories/day, and work out 5 days a week. I usually eat a little more (~1800-2000 -- really depends on the day) and burn most of the overage through my workouts.

That said, I do not have as much muscle to lose as you, and more fat to lose. So, you may want to take it a little more slowly.

[PhitnessMMC]

Look good bro.

1500 is crazy low for someone working out 5 days a week. I would honestly slow weight loss down to .5lb-1lb per week if you still want to get leaner.

You could always reverse diet to maintenance and start a slooooooooooooow bulk from now until next march or so. Then cut for summer. You will look beastly. You're quite aestetich at this level of leanness and i wouldn't waste time adding lbm if i were u.

Im going to try to keep my calories on 1500-1700 until mid august, and depending on how I look im probably going to go back to maintenance and start a slow bulk like you say. Try to put on more muscle till next summer BEASTMODE for those of you who watch Chris Jones on youtube.

[PhitnessMMC]

I agree. If it's working for you...keep it pushing until you hit a wall then look to changing it.

I actually wanted to ask you what your diet is like exactly...in terms of what you eat..because I am 5'7 myself and weigh 150 lbs and Im looking to get into single digit bodyfat..but im still not cutting yet as I want some more mass on my chest (so I guess I still have to keep going up in weight first)

This is what I ate yesterday.

Meal 1:
Oat meal - 40 grams
Peanut butter - 20 grams
Protein shake - 40 grams
Half of a banana - 60 grams

Calories= 450 Kcal
Protein= 45g Carbs= 37g Fat= 13g

Meal 2 (Post workout):
Ground beef - 200 grams
Broccoli - 100 grams
Mushrooms, tomatoes and onion - 100 grams
Brown rice - 50 grams (cooked)

Calories= 470 Kcal
Protein= 38g Carbs= 41g Fat= 12g

Meal 3:
Same as meal 2.
Calories= 470 Kcal
Protein= 38g Carbs= 41g Fat= 12g

Meal 4:
Egg whites - 250g
3 slices of ham - 36g
Mushrooms - 35 g

Calories= 155
Protein= 31g Carbs= 3g Fat= 1.73g

Meal 5:
Protein shake - 40g
Peanut butter - 20g

Calories= 260
Protein= 39g Carbs= 4g Fat= 11g


Total Calories= 1633
Protein= 205 Carbs= 93 Fat= 48g