Before/ After:
Quick Summary: I basically set out on my usual winter bulk last October starting at about 209. My strength had plateaued and I needed to break through. So I upped my calories to about ~4000/ day. By January I was sitting at about 215 and I had put on some recognizable body fat (Used to be about 230 when I graduated HS in 2007 - Never lifted in my life until Summer 2009). I joined AM this past January, where I learned more about this attained hobby in the First month than I had in the past few years of lifting and reading tid-bits here and there. I started training and doing new workouts, which got me up to about 220 lbs by April. The supplementation and information was extremely helpful in this process. I Decided to start cutting, which included reducing my calories to a maintenance level, and adding in some HIIT training to burn some extra fat. My cut went extremely well, with no noticeable losses in strength - I actually hit a few PR's! I think the combination of diet, supplementation, and the re-introduction of cardio was key for my lifestyle. I got on a very low carb keto diet at the beginning, and stuck with it very well throughout the whole time (no real "cheats" every re-feed was planned out). My cutting supplementation started with Anabeta elite, Alphamine, Vanillean, and Recompadrol (after the first 4 weeks I switched ABE to Mass FX extreme black). I took all of these supplements with my usual staples. In my eyes, the thing that did the most was the HIIT -- in combo with everything else. There was literally no cardio or intensive heart rate exercise before the start of my cut. I feel this was key because along with the keto, my body was "shocked" by the HIIT cardio that it hadn't been exposed to in so long. Also, My workouts went from low volume low rep/heavy weight to High volume/ Moderate weight (8-15 reps). Some of my gym sessions had me going for over 2 hours. My buddy TheMovement was a big motivator throughout the whole process and We definitely kicked out some intense workouts through the last few months.
Before: April 10, 2013 - @219.5 lbs
<img src="http://anabolicminds.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=82687"/>
After: June 11, 2013 - @196.0 lbs
<img src="http://anabolicminds.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=82688"/>
I'm really happy with my results, and I plan on continuing to lean out some more, and to keep my body fat % down year round. It has become extremely addicting challenging and pushing myself to the limit.
Thanks to all that have been supportive!