[WheyGood]

About five or six months ago I decided I needed to finally get lean, so I started eating 'cleaner' and doing more cardio. But, I went through a long spell where I was on a seemingly never-ending plateau and I didn't really lose any bodyfat for three to four months. I was doing cardio for 45-plus minutes, five to six days a week. My diet was very clean with no junk (except for one or two diet sodas a day) and lots of vegetables and lean protein.

The truth was, for me at least, that my calories weren't low enough to be burning fat. Even at a weight of 235 - 240 and averaging about 2500 to 2700 calories a day, I still wasn't losing fat. Everybody is different (and I am 40 years old), but even with an average caloric deficit of about 800 - 1000 calories a day I wasn't getting results.

As someone who has worked to build muscle for many years, it is hard to think about going too low in calories and losing hard-earned muscle in an effort to burn fat. After this long period of plateau I just said, "Aw, screw it!" and decided to dramatically lower my calories even if it meant losing some lean mass as well.

I tried to be smart about it though. Instead of just lowering my calories down to a certain level each day, I decided to 'cycle' my really low calorie days. Basically, every second or third day would be a really low (for me) calorie day, eating about 1200 to 1400 calories. The "higher" calorie days would still be low at around 1600 to 1800 calories. Then, one day a week, I'd allow myself to have around 2500 - 3000 calories and I might also have a second 'high' calorie day of about 2000.

Here's what a typical week has looked like for me with this approach:

Mon: 1200 cal
Tue: 1800 cal
Wed: 1700 cal
Thu: 1400 cal
Fri: 2900 cal
Sat: 2000 cal
Sun: 1600 cal

I have never in my adult life (and I mean NEVER) gone this low with calories before. At my weight, the above would have seemed like a "starvation" diet to me. But, I was determined to burn bodyfat even if it meant losing some muscle. In the past 6 weeks I have lost 15 pounds. To my surprise, I don't think I have lost any significant lean mass. I think this was possible because of my cycling the calories up and down, especially allowing myself that one day a week of up to 3000 calories (NOTE: when I was in my 20's I probably averaged about 4000 to 5000 calories a day -- ahh, those were the days!).

So, I would recommend people who've been trying to get leaner without much success consider cycling calories up and down throughout the week -- it may not work for you, but it has worked great for me.

The one or two high calorie days keep your body from going into starvation mode and are great for your sanity. Those can also be the nights you go out to dinner, allow yourself some alcohol, etc. Your glycogen stores will be replenished and those are the best days to do heavy lifting.

Needless to say, on the really low calorie days you burn a boatload of bodyfat. ;-)

Keys to success for me:

1) Writing down everything I eat and tracking the calories. I use a program called FitDay which makes it easier and also tracks calories eaten vs burned, % of carbs/fats/ protein, and a bunch of other data that can be very helpful.

2) I have been eating a lot of vegetables -- broccoli, green beans, spinach, salads, and carrots. Sweet potatoes (a.k.a Yams) are a super low-glyceminc carb that I never really ate a lot in the past but are now a staple for me.

3) For breakfast I've been loving Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal each day.

4) Except for the one or two higher calorie days, have only lean protein. That mean's good-bye beef and hamburger. I've been eating a lot of turkey, chicken breasts, haddock, and sometimes salmon.

5) I have a tbsp a day of either flaxseed oil or cod liver oil. It tastes pretty good once you get used to it ... really.

6) I've completely eliminated diet soda from my diet. That was a really bad habit ... even if it’s zero calories, I think it gets in the way of optimum health and fat-burning. I replaced all the soda I was drinking with water.

FWIW, I’ve been averaging roughly the 40/30/30 ratio for carbs/fats/protein. I haven’t been shooting for that ‘Zone’ ratio, but that’s how it’s worked out.

For people who are younger, the diet I used is probably too low -- so you'd want to eat a bit more. Also, if using gear or pro-hormones then you'd obviously eat more. The basic concept of cycling the calories up and down throughout the week I think is the key point I'm trying to convey.

[PhilABowl]

Where can I get FitDay? And did you have to pay for it?

[VtecTypeR]

fitday.com its free

[ltyson]

www.fitday.com

There are both a free and paid version.

ltyson

[blzr]

Even at a weight of 235 - 240 and averaging about 2500 to 2700 calories a day, I still wasn't losing fat. Everybody is different (and I am 40 years old), but even with an average caloric deficit of about 800 - 1000 calories a day I wasn't getting results.



Just for your reference at 40 yrs and 240lbs

Your Basal (basic resting life support) Metabolic rate is about 2000 cal per day

Add in an moderate active to active lifestyle it would be about 2,700 to 3,000 total.

So your average of 2500-2700 was not very far below your requirements for break even, if at all. Certianly not 1,000 below.

Now you are averaging about 1,800 per day which would be about 1,000 per day or about 7,000 per week.

At 3,500 per pound 7,000 a week would be about 2 lbs per week which is almost exactly what you did. A little fast, but not too bad for a short period. Extend this for several more weeks without a break and I'll bet you see more LBM go away.

There are many calorie requirement calculators on the internet that let you plug in your personal info.

[WheyGood]

FitDay does calculate calories burned each day based on my height, weight, average activity level, plus any additional activities that are added. So if I burned 600 calories on the treadmill in 45 minutes, it doesn't just add 600 calories to my amount burned for the day but adds the difference between what was burned exercising (600) and whatever I would have burned just being sedentary during that time. It's a nice program (I have the PC version, which costs $29.95).

Blzr, your numbers must be about right because I wasn't losing before so I couldn't have been averaging much of a caloric deficit. I may have been overestimating calories burned some and underestimating what I was eating some as well.

I also agree that if I continue the approach from the past six weeks that LBM will start coming off.

Originally Posted by blzr

Even at a weight of 235 - 240 and averaging about 2500 to 2700 calories a day, I still wasn't losing fat. Everybody is different (and I am 40 years old), but even with an average caloric deficit of about 800 - 1000 calories a day I wasn't getting results.



Just for your reference at 40 yrs and 240lbs

Your Basal (basic resting life support) Metabolic rate is about 2000 cal per day

Add in an moderate active to active lifestyle it would be about 2,700 to 3,000 total.

So your average of 2500-2700 was not very far below your requirements for break even, if at all. Certianly not 1,000 below.

Now you are averaging about 1,800 per day which would be about 1,000 per day or about 7,000 per week.

At 3,500 per pound 7,000 a week would be about 2 lbs per week which is almost exactly what you did. A little fast, but not too bad for a short period. Extend this for several more weeks without a break and I'll bet you see more LBM go away.

There are many calorie requirement calculators on the internet that let you plug in your personal info.

[lilanimal]

thanks for sharing, and conngrats on ur results. Did u use any supplements at all?

[Gutterpump]

Congrats, that's pretty impressive.

I could never drop my cal's into the teens..I'd get pretty b!tchy if I did lol.

[WheyGood]

Originally Posted by lilanimal

thanks for sharing, and conngrats on ur results. Did u use any supplements at all?

No, I didn't use any supplements. I even limited my caffeine intake to one small cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

Back in the day I pounded Ripped Fuel (ECA stack) when trying to speed up fat burning, but started having some problems with waking up in the middle of the night a couple of times with my heart beating at about 120 bpm or something. So, in the last five or six years I decided really to avoid stimulants as much as possible.

[WheyGood]

Originally Posted by Gutterpump

Congrats, that's pretty impressive.

I could never drop my cal's into the teens..I'd get pretty b!tchy if I did lol.

I hear ya. I did find myself being more testy than usual with my wife on those really low calorie days.

Like I said, I don't think it would be possible to go that low if I was in my 20's.

[EasyEJL]

I've thought about doing a pulse diet like that before, just never actually did it. Nice to see such solid results from it! I'll keep that in mind.