Data collection on individuals who have dieted from 10% to 6%(Or anything in between)

[JacqueAttack]

Hey everyone, looking to conduct some primary research and would really appreciate the help if anyone can contribute their own experience/stats. The general idea that I'm trying to find data points for is metabolic adaptation as one gets to(or at least close to) contest shape. To clarify, "Starting" refers to Week 1 of your cutting diet, and "Ending" refers to your final week(whether it be before you step on stage, start your reverse diet, etc). Thanks in advance!

What I'm looking for:

Sex:
Age:
Height:

Starting weight:
Starting BF%:
Starting calories:


Ending weight:
Ending BF%:
Ending calories:

[MyAvatar]

Bump because im interested in this study

[ErikTheElectric]

Don't expect to get a ton of responses OP, most of these individuals are ex-competitors or ARE currently competing and are too mentally brain fogged to log onto a BB.com forum to post.

[AdamWW]

Well i'm probably close to 7-8%... what it took? An eating disorder.

I do not recommend.

[MosToorani]

Well i'm probably close to 7-8%... what it took? An eating disorder.

I do not recommend.

Forever grateful to that advice.

Reps. *on spread... shiiite*

MT

[desslok]

Sure, whats the pay? Fyi, "metabolic adaptation" is going to be dependent on time, duration, etc. as the setpoint gets involved.

[DanielMera]

Hey everyone, looking to conduct some primary research and would really appreciate the help if anyone can contribute their own experience/stats. The general idea that I'm trying to find data points for is metabolic adaptation as one gets to(or at least close to) contest shape. To clarify, "Starting" refers to Week 1 of your cutting diet, and "Ending" refers to your final week(whether it be before you step on stage, start your reverse diet, etc). Thanks in advance!

What I'm looking for:

Sex:
Age:
Height:

Starting weight:
Starting BF%:
Starting calories:


Ending weight:
Ending BF%:
Ending calories:

Let's see if I understand OP, do you want data on individuals who are currently dieting for a show, or individuals who have dieted for a show before? I have dieted to 5% bodyfat before (shredder lats, traps, glutes, veins all over my skin, etc.) and I am planing to do it again in July. I am currently 15 pounds away or so from being stage ready, but if you want I can give you my past stats from the last time I dieted:

Sex: Male
Age: 20
Height: 5'9

Starting weight: 195lbs
Starting BF%: 15% (true 15%, with abs clearly showing, probably what most people think 10% looks like)
Starting calories: 3500


Ending weight: 165 lbs
Ending BF%: 5
Ending calories: 3000

As for "reverse dieting", I just ate like crazy (legit over 8000 calories a day) and I gained 40 pounds in the first month. My appetite was out of control, you see, when you are nearly dying from starvation, your brain does not send you the signals that tell you "enough food for now, we are full and need to digest all of this energy". You can eat until the point your stomach literally explodes, like it happens with bulimic and anorexic patients. This gets better the more bodyfat you regain, and the faster it is, the better you will feel. That is why a lot of competitors gain so much weight after competition.
I would also recommend you to research more about this here:
h ttp: //ajcn.nutrition. org/content/102/4/807.short
h ttp: //jn.nutrition. org/content/135/6/1347.short
h ttp: //europepmc. org/abstract/med/8696417
If you want more information on the subject, you can google Minessota Starvation Experiment, which is the best study done on extreme dieting.

[AdamWW]

Let's see if I understand OP, do you want data on individuals who are currently dieting for a show, or individuals who have dieted for a show before? I have dieted to 5% bodyfat before (shredder lats, traps, glutes, veins all over my skin, etc.) and I am planing to do it again in July. I am currently 15 pounds away or so from being stage ready, but if you want I can give you my past stats from the last time I dieted:

Sex: Male
Age: 20
Height: 5'9

Starting weight: 195lbs
Starting BF%: 15% (true 15%, with abs clearly showing, probably what most people think 10% looks like)
Starting calories: 3500


Ending weight: 165 lbs
Ending BF%: 5
Ending calories: 3000

As for "reverse dieting", I just ate like crazy (legit over 8000 calories a day) and I gained 40 pounds in the first month. My appetite was out of control, you see, when you are nearly dying from starvation, your brain does not send you the signals that tell you "enough food for now, we are full and need to digest all of this energy". You can eat until the point your stomach literally explodes, like it happens with bulimic and anorexic patients. This gets better the more bodyfat you regain, and the faster it is, the better you will feel. That is why a lot of competitors gain so much weight after competition.
I would also recommend you to research more about this here:
h ttp: //ajcn.nutrition. org/content/102/4/807.short
h ttp: //jn.nutrition. org/content/135/6/1347.short
h ttp: //europepmc. org/abstract/med/8696417
If you want more information on the subject, you can google Minessota Starvation Experiment, which is the best study done on extreme dieting.

"when you are nearly dying from starvation"...

"I am planning to do it again in July"...

So after subjecting yourself to what seems like hellish deprivation and subsequent episodes of binging due to the starvation, you plan on doing it all over again.

Why?

[gbullock32]

"when you are nearly dying from starvation"...

"I am planning to do it again in July"...

So after subjecting yourself to what seems like hellish deprivation and subsequent episodes of binging due to the starvation, you plan on doing it all over again.

Why?

He enjoys competing? Assuming he does pro or semi-pro; some people have a passion for it.

[DanielMera]

"when you are nearly dying from starvation"...

"I am planning to do it again in July"...

So after subjecting yourself to what seems like hellish deprivation and subsequent episodes of binging due to the starvation, you plan on doing it all over again.

Why?

I hate to lie so I am going to be very honest with you: the last time I prepared for a contest, I did it drug free, which makes all those symptoms 10 times worse than if you use "some help", so this time I am not going to do it drug free. Also, I will be doing it because last time I got payed for doing some photoshoots with a friend of mine who happens to own a model agency. Right now my mother is very ill and I really need that money to help her with the medication costs, and I am going to do everything to help her, even if that means I have to put my health at risk and feel like crap for some weeks. However, I do not recommend anybody, especially drug free, to diet below 10% bodyfat. Some strange individuals can get away being around 8% bodyfat, but when you are below that, you better know what you are doing so that you do not cause any serious/permanent damage.

[ErikTheElectric]

I hate to lie so I am going to be very honest with you: the last time I prepared for a contest, I did it drug free, which makes all those symptoms 10 times worse than if you use "some help", so this time I am not going to do it drug free. Also, I will be doing it because last time I got payed for doing some photoshoots with a friend of mine who happens to own a model agency. Right now my mother is very ill and I really need that money to help her with the medication costs, and I am going to do everything to help her, even if that means I have to put my health at risk and feel like crap for some weeks. However, I do not recommend anybody, especially drug free, to diet below 10% bodyfat. Some strange individuals can get away being around 8% bodyfat, but when you are below that, you better know what you are doing so that you do not cause any serious/permanent damage.

Do what you will, just take into consideration the health consequences that come along with being at such a low body fat percentage.

[DanielMera]

Do what you will, just take into consideration the health consequences that come along with being at such a low body fat percentage.

Thanks for replying Mr.Erik. I know you do not know me, but I have been lurking from time to time in this forum since 2007, I even posted two times at the Eating Disorder thread. I just want to tell you that through your logs and all the information that you, Emma and Determined (may he rest in peace) posted on this forums, helped me tremendously in achieving full recovery from anorexia and bulimia. I used to weight 85 pounds and I was very ill back when I posted, and you and Determined replied to me in a sort of a though fashion telling me the harsh truth of my mental state (this was some years back, I do not remember the exact date).
Thanks for all the help to me and many other people with eating disorders, You truly are a really good person and I am very happy to see you doing well. Keep rocking it!

[jdcole4]

What I'm looking for:

Sex: M
Age: 26
Height: 5'9

Starting weight: 162
Starting BF%: 13%
Starting calories: 2000


Ending weight: 141
Ending BF%: 5%
Ending calories: 1200

Definitely dropped calories way too low during the last few weeks of prep. Was doing keto with a reefed once a week consuming ~1800-2000 calories on that day. You might want to raise the 1200/day ending calories I was doing every other day to compensate for that extra consumption; guess that'd be right around 1300 average. I was also doing about an hour of SS cardio daily at that caloric level since I couldn't drop it any lower.

If you feel the itch to compete then do what you gotta do, but getting that lean natty sucks balls. If you're trying to get that lean just to see what it looks/feels like I do not recommend. Six months of strict dieting, several weeks of low energy, and some real nice muscle loss to look good for a day probably isn't worth it if you're not pursuing competition seriously.

[ErikTheElectric]

Thanks for replying Mr.Erik. I know you do not know me, but I have been lurking from time to time in this forum since 2007, I even posted two times at the Eating Disorder thread. I just want to tell you that through your logs and all the information that you, Emma and Determined (may he rest in peace) posted on this forums, helped me tremendously in achieving full recovery from anorexia and bulimia. I used to weight 85 pounds and I was very ill back when I posted, and you and Determined replied to me in a sort of a though fashion telling me the harsh truth of my mental state (this was some years back, I do not remember the exact date).
Thanks for all the help to me and many other people with eating disorders, You truly are a really good person and I am very happy to see you doing well. Keep rocking it!

Thanks very much for the kind words sir! keep up the good work!

[DanielMera]

What I'm looking for:

Sex: M
Age: 26
Height: 5'9

Starting weight: 162
Starting BF%: 13%
Starting calories: 2000


Ending weight: 141
Ending BF%: 5%
Ending calories: 1200

Definitely dropped calories way too low during the last few weeks of prep. Was doing keto with a reefed once a week consuming ~1800-2000 calories on that day. You might want to raise the 1200/day ending calories I was doing every other day to compensate for that extra consumption; guess that'd be right around 1300 average. I was also doing about an hour of SS cardio daily at that caloric level since I couldn't drop it any lower.

If you feel the itch to compete then do what you gotta do, but getting that lean natty sucks balls. If you're trying to get that lean just to see what it looks/feels like I do not recommend. Six months of strict dieting, several weeks of low energy, and some real nice muscle loss to look good for a day probably isn't worth it if you're not pursuing competition seriously.

May I ask you why your starting and ending calories were so low? I have a hard time believing you maintained such a high amount of percentage of your initial lean body mass after dieting while consuming such a low amount calories, without mentioning that you had a very high amount of activity during the day (do not take this as if I did not believe you, I am just very shocked that someone could eat such little amount of food and still retain most of his muscle mass, while at the same time dieting until having reached paper thin skin with no subcutaneous bodyfat). I mean, my girlfriend and future wife is dieting down and she eats 2000 calories per day (she is 5' 2" and she had a starting weight of 220 pounds 6 months back. She now weights 152 pounds and she still loosing between three and four pounds per month eating way more calories than you at the end of your contest prep). All the daily activity she does is one hour of LISS cardio 4 times a week and weight training for 30 minutes 3 times a week, along with 30 minutes walks every morning.

Even if you were in a coma, you would at least burn 1500 calories through breathing and all the other essential body functions. I would have spected your maintenance to be at least 3000 calories.
I hope you did not manage to hurt your health in a serious or permanent way. If you ever feel the need to diet down again, please, take it easier next time. The consequences can be disastrous. I for example struggled with erectile dysfunction the last month and a half of my prep, and it subsided only after regaining 40 pounds or so (which took just four of five weeks). This is one of the reason of why I believe reverse dieting is bull**** for natural athletes, you are just prolonging all the health consequenses of being underfat and even risking your physical, mental health and relationship with your body image and food .

[jdcole4]

May I ask you why your starting and ending calories were so low? I have a hard time believing you maintained such a high amount of percentage of your initial lean body mass after dieting while consuming such a low amount calories, without mentioning that you had a very high amount of activity during the day (do not take this as if I did not believe you, I am just very shocked that someone could eat such little amount of food and still retain most of his muscle mass, while at the same time dieting until having reached paper thin skin with no subcutaneous bodyfat). I mean, my girlfriend and future wife is dieting down and she eats 2000 calories per day (she is 5' 2" and she had a starting weight of 220 pounds 6 months back. She now weights 152 pounds and she still loosing between three and four pounds per month eating way more calories than you at the end of your contest prep). All the daily activity she does is one hour of LISS cardio 4 times a week and weight training for 30 minutes 3 times a week, along with 30 minutes walks every morning.

Even if you were in a coma, you would at least burn 1500 calories through breathing and all the other essential body functions. I would have spected your maintenance to be at least 3000 calories.
I hope you did not manage to hurt your health in a serious or permanent way. If you ever feel the need to diet down again, please, take it easier next time. The consequences can be disastrous. I for example struggled with erectile dysfunction the last month and a half of my prep, and it subsided only after regaining 40 pounds or so (which took just four of five weeks). This is one of the reason of why I believe reverse dieting is bull**** for natural athletes, you are just prolonging all the health consequenses of being underfat and even risking your physical, mental health and relationship with your body image and food .

Oh I sure as **** didn't maintain my all my lean mass. I definitely cut too aggressively and lost a fair bit of muscle during the final month of my cut. I was slowly losing reps in the gym during this time period, and the last two weeks strength absolutely plummeted (like 20%) when I added stupid amounts of cardio. I was overly concerned with hitting conditioning and definitely overlooked maintaining muscle mass.

As for calories, either I wrecked my metabolism doing such overzealous dieting or I just got the short end of the stick on genetics. That's why I suggested anyone looking to diet that low seriously consider if it's worth it. Even while bulking with no cardio I only eat around 2200. If I creep up to 2500 I start getting unwanted fat gain.