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I'm about wrapped up with my first real disciplined effort with a diet. I'm 28 and thought myself to be a fit guy for a long time but working out regularly wasn't enough, so I went to a friend for advice and he recommended carb back loading as something i should try.
Background:
I peaked 209# body weight at 6' around Christmas time(near 20% body fat). The highest I had been in my life was 7 years ago when I was in a World of Warcraft body type, 207# and est. 25% bodyfat, and going over that number knowing it wasn't mostly muscle really bugged me.
I started working out more regularly and I joined a yoga studio because I had stopped training MMA summer of 13(local club closed) and needed a group activity to fill that hole. That got me down a couple pounds but something was missing; a diet. I really wanted to get lean, my lifetime low was around 12.5% back when I was 23 and working out with friends during the summer regularly.
I started the diet in the beginning of March with the intentions of doing it for 12 weeks and re-assessing my progress/goals at the end of that window. My 2 goals were:
1.)stick with the plan and stay Ultra low carb except for back loads (PM, PWO only)
2.)10% body fat at diet finish (I thought this goal seemed ridiculous but my friend insisted it was possible)
I went from eating 5000-6000 calories a day with many of those calories coming from gas station food or fast food regularly, to roughly 3000-3500 calories a day, very high in fat/protein, and very low in carbs/sugar.
I'v had the same guy at a complete nutrition store do a 3 site skin fold test each time(realize after reading i should have been recording the readings not the BF number)
PROGRESS/Results:
START Begin 12 week period.......(2/27/14): 203.0#, 17.8% bf
MID 6 weeks down 6 weeks to go..(4/10/14): 192.5#, 12.8% bf
near END - 1 week to go..............(5/14/14): 186.5#, 10.3% bf
This is all great, I'm thrilled (It's not bad news to get lean and maintain your strength) to successfully hit my goals (only .3% to go in 1 week, no problem). However, there is some things that aren't turning out like I had hoped/planned.
Disappointment:
I "expected" I would have abs showing at around 10%. I don't. I expected a lot of things, I expected my muscles to have a lot more "pop" than they do. I have been watching videos of bodybuilding as motivation for my resistance training sessions and perhaps my expectations weren't properly managed.
In reality, the fat has melted quite a bit, in my chin and neck, around my midsection, my love handles, had to drill 2 more holes in my belts, my pants don't fit properly.
My body generally speaking looks pretty average. I have some decent arms, and my overall shape is fairly balanced and symmetrical but I am very disappointed how not muscular I am, compared to my expectations of trimming the fat. For whatever reason I thought there was a UFC fighter physique underneath my 18% bodyfat, and there certainly is not. As I lost each %, I thought wow, this is awesome, but now that I realize 10% is basically achieved (even if i'm 12 with a margin of error) and I'm no where near what I thought I would see.
I am not the only one guilty of this. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who were formally in shape and athletic and are now overweight. All of them have the impression that if they just got disciplined and ate well for a few weeks that they would look like the guys we watch in the cage. I was this delusional as well. I really thought I would look close to a carlos condit or a rory macdonald if i could cut the fat and keep my muscle. As you can see from the pic; this is not the case.
Am I the only delusional mofo out there that thought/thinks leaning out reveals a bodybuilder underneath in each of us?
Background:
I peaked 209# body weight at 6' around Christmas time(near 20% body fat). The highest I had been in my life was 7 years ago when I was in a World of Warcraft body type, 207# and est. 25% bodyfat, and going over that number knowing it wasn't mostly muscle really bugged me.
I started working out more regularly and I joined a yoga studio because I had stopped training MMA summer of 13(local club closed) and needed a group activity to fill that hole. That got me down a couple pounds but something was missing; a diet. I really wanted to get lean, my lifetime low was around 12.5% back when I was 23 and working out with friends during the summer regularly.
I started the diet in the beginning of March with the intentions of doing it for 12 weeks and re-assessing my progress/goals at the end of that window. My 2 goals were:
1.)stick with the plan and stay Ultra low carb except for back loads (PM, PWO only)
2.)10% body fat at diet finish (I thought this goal seemed ridiculous but my friend insisted it was possible)
I went from eating 5000-6000 calories a day with many of those calories coming from gas station food or fast food regularly, to roughly 3000-3500 calories a day, very high in fat/protein, and very low in carbs/sugar.
I'v had the same guy at a complete nutrition store do a 3 site skin fold test each time(realize after reading i should have been recording the readings not the BF number)
PROGRESS/Results:
START Begin 12 week period.......(2/27/14): 203.0#, 17.8% bf
MID 6 weeks down 6 weeks to go..(4/10/14): 192.5#, 12.8% bf
near END - 1 week to go..............(5/14/14): 186.5#, 10.3% bf
This is all great, I'm thrilled (It's not bad news to get lean and maintain your strength) to successfully hit my goals (only .3% to go in 1 week, no problem). However, there is some things that aren't turning out like I had hoped/planned.
Disappointment:
I "expected" I would have abs showing at around 10%. I don't. I expected a lot of things, I expected my muscles to have a lot more "pop" than they do. I have been watching videos of bodybuilding as motivation for my resistance training sessions and perhaps my expectations weren't properly managed.
In reality, the fat has melted quite a bit, in my chin and neck, around my midsection, my love handles, had to drill 2 more holes in my belts, my pants don't fit properly.
My body generally speaking looks pretty average. I have some decent arms, and my overall shape is fairly balanced and symmetrical but I am very disappointed how not muscular I am, compared to my expectations of trimming the fat. For whatever reason I thought there was a UFC fighter physique underneath my 18% bodyfat, and there certainly is not. As I lost each %, I thought wow, this is awesome, but now that I realize 10% is basically achieved (even if i'm 12 with a margin of error) and I'm no where near what I thought I would see.
I am not the only one guilty of this. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who were formally in shape and athletic and are now overweight. All of them have the impression that if they just got disciplined and ate well for a few weeks that they would look like the guys we watch in the cage. I was this delusional as well. I really thought I would look close to a carlos condit or a rory macdonald if i could cut the fat and keep my muscle. As you can see from the pic; this is not the case.
Am I the only delusional mofo out there that thought/thinks leaning out reveals a bodybuilder underneath in each of us?