Post: #376

Quote:If you’re clocking in at 15% body fat, you’ve already earned a gold star when it comes to healthy habits. Unless you’re an endurance athlete who needs to drop body fat for speed, shooting for 10% is probably for physique more than any other reason—you want to turn your hard stomach into a fully defined six pack or you want more vascularity.

The good news? That next level can be yours within three to five months. The bad news: All of the easy-to-kick habits are already broken, and now you’re getting into things that are harder to let go of. In addition to having a thorough mastery of everything that took you from 20% to 15%, here’s what else you have to do to drop down to 10%, according to Jim White Opens a New Window. , R.D., owner of Jim White Fitness and Nutrition Studios in Virginia Beach, VA, and celebrity trainer Lalo Fuentes, C.S.C.S.

How To Shave Off 5% Body Fat If Your'e At 15%

Post: #377

Yeah I've been in the 220s for a while. The first 50 pounds were fairly easy (thanks Dulceácido for advice) but I'm really going to have to tighten things up for the next 15 or so pounds.

Post: #378

In Colombia I find this eating style works very well. A coffee in the morning, then I eat 2 big as meals a day, sometimes a menu of the day for lunch (soup,meat, salad,rice, avocado with juice) then a bandeja paisa or punta de anca at night.

I need to clean up some bad habits
> 2 x per week I order pizza and soup at night .
> Also I drink 2x / week and have a little party.

Dropped from 102 - 99 kgs in 4 weeks just going to the gym.

Dulceacidos' link made a couple of points that hit home for me, because I always lose weight here:
> Fibre: lots of beans down here and its probably upped my fibre intake too.
> Sleep: I do sleep more here, sometimes I have time for a siesta which would be impossible in a 9-5.

Also I recommend skipping dinner a little more, at least 1 - 2 x per week to make a big gain

Post: #379

I'm onto day 4 now, finding it very easy. First day was brutal and 2nd night was hard but have had zero issues the past couple of days. Enjoying it!

Post: #380

(11-06-2018 07:45 AM)Eddie Winslow Wrote:  Got a body composition test on Saturday at my gym.

I weighed in at 166lbs and 15% BF, which is down from 195 and 19% BF the last time I checked it in May 2017. My goal is <10%, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm going to start incorporating some dry fasting so that I can keep this momentum going. 9 more pounds of fat loss should get me to the promised land.

After Thanksgiving, I became stricter with my fasting regimen and started incorporating some dry fasting. On 11/24, I measured at 163 and 13.4% bodyfat. On 12/3, I weighed in at 154.5 after a 72 hour fast (the final 48 hours were dry as well).

After a celebratory carb binge and rehydrating, I am now sitting at 159 and ready to start rebuilding. I will get it measured again but I assume I'm around 12.5% BF right now.

Even with a FULL WEEK of binge eating garbage and drinking around Thanksgiving, I dropped a legit 25lbs in two months. It was hard, but not super hard. Dry-fasting was miserable for me, but very effective.

Post: #381

Have been going for basically a month now, have only weighed in once in that period so no progress on that side of things but have found it very easy, which to be honest is a bit of a surprise as I generally love breakfast foods so not having them has been weird but no struggle at all.

Certainly noticeable that working out is a bit harder in the morning after fasting but that's to be expected, have noticed a pretty decent difference when I get up 1 hour or 2 hours before working out (1 hour much easier) but I'm still making good progress after years out of the gym thanks to injuries (and some laziness thrown in).

It's an interesting technique, I think the most noticeable part for me is that it's just easier to only eat the two meals a day, that's probably the best part of it. Will be weighing in regularly moving forward so will find out how the results go on that front. Will also be getting a few body comp analysis sessions in as well to see how it goes. I'm training as hard as I have in years so hopefully will get some results out of it all!

Post: #382

This does nothing (16/8). For the last couple of months I’ve switched to two meals a day, one at 1pm and another at 8pm. No loss in weight- in fact I’ve started gaining weight recently, as is typical for winter. Perhaps one meal per day is required.

Post: #383

(12-06-2018 06:40 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  This does nothing (16/8). For the last couple of months I’ve switched to two meals a day, one at 1pm and another at 8pm. No loss in weight- in fact I’ve started gaining weight recently, as is typical for winter. Perhaps one meal per day is required.

Are you at a caloric deficit? Are you maintaining any kind of calorie count?

Changing when/how you eat isn't going to change the underlying caloric intake and if you're ingesting more than you're using you'll gain weight.

Post: #384

(12-06-2018 06:40 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  This does nothing (16/8). For the last couple of months I’ve switched to two meals a day, one at 1pm and another at 8pm. No loss in weight- in fact I’ve started gaining weight recently, as is typical for winter. Perhaps one meal per day is required.

If you can eat everything in one sitting, good on you. If you have to have 2-3000 calories a day, that becomes very difficult.
I would suggest having the meals closer together--maybe 5 hours apart or less.
Limiting carbohydrates, especially sugars does wonders. Low carb/keto diets work wonderfully combined with IF, if you can do them.
And you have to run a 200-500 calorie deficit, as was mentioned.
It is difficult to do around the holiday season.

Post: #385

I like 19/5 the best... eat at 1pm and 6pm. Max time between last mean and bedtime personally helps me the most. (My body doesn't like sleeping on a full stomach).

16/8 is kind of too easy, and I feel it's a good intro, but needs to be surpassed. (There was a study I saw once where the good effects of IF started around 16 hours, but increased A LOT over the next few hours, maybe to do with insulin response).

I'm also a fan of OMAD, just hard to keep it healthy and not too bingey.

Low-ish carbs also helps (even if I'm not 100% keto about it).

Post: #386

16/8 and that's called "fasting"... You eat 8 hours/day. That's a normal workday of eating whenever you want. It's surprising that that even qualifies. Try narrowing that 8 hour eating window to a 4 hour eating window and then eat clean, healthy food. See how that works out.

Post: #387

I’m thinking I may have to give up on cooking a dinner at home. I don’t get home until 7 or 8pm. My lunch time is fixed. So it will have to be lunch at 1pm and a snack (protein shake?) around 6pm.

Post: #388

(12-07-2018 05:55 AM)Dulceácido Wrote:  16/8 and that's called "fasting"... You eat 8 hours/day. That's a normal workday of eating whenever you want. It's surprising that that even qualifies. Try narrowing that 8 hour eating window to a 4 hour eating window and then eat clean, healthy food. See how that works out.

To me this is critical.

I will need to tighten up the food quality and the window to make real gains. I would guess my schedule is like this, but I will need to tighten up to push for more gains.

Weekly Schedule:
- Large Window 12pm & 7pm (3 days)
- Smaller Window 12pm and 5pm (2 days)
- One meal a day: That is where I lose that lb each week, real gains in my opinion (1 day/week)
- Cheat days where I eat for social reasons (1 Day/week) late dinner with friends or breakfast at my mothers)

Post: #389

(12-08-2018 09:51 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  I’m thinking I may have to give up on cooking a dinner at home. I don’t get home until 7 or 8pm. My lunch time is fixed. So it will have to be lunch at 1pm and a snack (protein shake?) around 6pm.

Rex,
A steak takes 5 minutes to sear on your skillet in the morning. Take that with you to work and microwave for lunch. That's all that's needed.

Post: #390

And, Rex, these are your friends...



Cook 5 days worth of chicken breasts/steaks/lean pork/whatever at a one time. Get some frozen veggies (beans, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, mixed veggies, etc.) in steamer bags, cooks in 5 minutes... Get a rice cooker and cook enough for 5 days of meals (also comes in steamer bags and boiler bags, but sometimes hard to find "whole grain," which is what you want. Put all of them into these containers and you're good to go for 5 days (I wouldn't go beyond that because that's about as long as I want to eat stored food, but you could probably get away with longer; it's just not as tasty). I always augment with a protein shake (at least 25g 1 scoop of protein--I use 50g or 2 scoops), and add a fiber powder (should be acacia fiber), a multivitamin, a probiotic (with at least 15 strains and 30 Billion CFU's), 1800 mg of fish oil, and, if you want, Raw Greens powder. I also use a joint protector, but you may or may not need that. I do because of my crippling old age and years of carrying shit that's way too heavy.















And, if you are feeling adventurous, this can go into your protein shake (I recommend flavorless--if you get the Wild Berry flavor and try to drink it in water, it tastes like ass):



I also use and recommend a very powerful antioxidant. This amino acid, in particular, has restorative benefits for your brain (helps when you've been blown up a few times and have brain issues), also aids with hangovers if you can't avoid alcohol, helps with sleep, respiratory system, and good for fertility and your teeth (take 2 per day, but not at the same time, at least an hour apart to aid in absorption):



***Take all this shit inside your eating window.***

Post: #391

If you're lazy or in a hurry, when you get tired of rice, you can use:



Also good and easy to carry around: dill pickles, sour kraut, Greek yogurt, almond/pecans/cashews... These are deadly delicious (careful though, these are easy to overeat, just a handful as a snack is what you're shooting for):



Pretty quick and easy to do a 3 egg omelette with a slice of all natural cheese:



Eating clean and healthy is pretty easy, you just have to prepare and front-load your meals.

Post: #392

I have containers. I already pack food for lunch so this would mean the doubling of that work and having to bring two meals with me per day.

Post: #393

Weird. Cooking 5 meals at once and cleaning up just once seems to save me a ton of time and is hardly any extra work at all. I must be doing it differently.

Post: #394

(12-09-2018 09:20 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  I have containers. I already pack food for lunch so this would mean the doubling of that work and having to bring two meals with me per day.

Rex, what is your macronutrient breakdown like?

Post: #395

It's coming up to Christmas and you can tell in my household by the sudden proliferation of chocolate and alcohol everywhere I look. I'm reminded of how difficult it is to maintain any sort of healthy diet around this time of year. There's sweets and chocolate all over, and I've got parties to go to, so no way am I sticking to any diet, I might as well admit it.

Rather than fight it, I'm going to roll with it until the holiday season is over with. Otherwise, it just gets me down and I want to enjoy this Christmas.

I know IF works (for me) 'cos I've done it long enough to see results. I also know it's easy for me to commit to. So, in the new year, I'm confident I can hit the ground running and even dial things up a bit by focusing more on what I actually do eat during my 'feeding window'.

Post: #396

(12-08-2018 10:37 PM)Dulceácido Wrote:  And, Rex, these are your friends...

If you have a little extra money to spend, I recommend buying Pyrex glass instead, I'm paranoid and trying to avoid BPAs and other chemicals in plastic.

Post: #397

I dont get it. Isn't the point of IF to allow you to eat whatever the hell you want and still maintain a caloric deficit? Assuming you are also lifting weight.

I eat as much as the next guy and have several cheat meals, but my weight hasn't moved one bit. Same thing with my roommate but this nigga is a boxer so he has a clear 8 pack

Post: #398

IF is not a diet per se, it's an eating regimen. Fasting periods reduce blood sugar levels, which has an effect of not making you as fat. But if you reach for your daily donut, it is going to be only so effective.
It isn't magical, you still have to practice good diet habits and eat only as many calories as you need for your bulking/cutting cycles.

Post: #399

(12-11-2018 08:18 AM)Dalaran1991 Wrote:  I dont get it. Isn't the point of IF to allow you to eat whatever the hell you want and still maintain a caloric deficit? Assuming you are also lifting weight.

I eat as much as the next guy and have several cheat meals, but my weight hasn't moved one bit. Same thing with my roommate but this nigga is a boxer so he has a clear 8 pack

Yeah that's not how it works, that's so illogical in every way.

There is no form of diet/nutritional setup that can possibly allow you to "eat whatever the hell you want and still maintain a caloric deficit". That entire idea is an oxymoron.

You create a caloric deficit by controlling what you eat. Doesn't matter if you do it by eating once a day, 17 times a day or anywhere in between or outside that. You eat less food and the right foods and you'll create a caloric deficit.

Intermittent fasting is about when you eat and is designed around creating positive side effects by eating in a smaller window to get the body into more productive habits/processes for how it handles and allocates those calories but it quite simply cannot erase calories from existing simply because you stuff them all in over an 8 hour period instead of over 14 hours, it gets the body into a position to actively target fat over other components of the body if you do create a deficit though.

Post: #400

At least for me, IF solves the hunger problem. When.stationary (not hiking or bicycle touring), I eat once daily, typically mid afternoon. Food takes maybe 8 hours to digest and I go to bed early, so no hunger prior to falling asleep. For whatever reason, hunger during the night doesn't wake me up, and I also don't feel hunger in the morning. Thus IF eliminates hunger. But I still have to be careful not to gorge during that one daily meal. No gallon of ice cream with 3 big packs of cookies washed down by a couple liters of cola, for example. I'm certainly capable of eating that much at one sitting, and much more than that.