Halo Extreme Cut Number 3

[zzguy2]

Hello again,

This is now my third Halo Extreme cut (I stocked up before the ban, haha). I've already been dieting for a few months, so I am going to start the cycle to at the end of my cut and continue it for the first week of my reverse diet.

This is what I've done so far in terms of my cut:

Beginning of Week 0: 206.5 lbs

End of Week 14: 192.5 lbs

I've been cutting 100 calories out of my diet every 3 weeks, but I am condensing what I would have done in 21 weeks to 18 weeks. During my last 3 week block, I cut out 150 instead of 100--for my last 3 week block, I will cut out 150 calories as well.

Thus, even though I have 4 more weeks of my diet left, if I were dieting like I normally do, it would have taken 6 weeks.

In terms of the cycle, I feel fairly experienced with Halo Extreme / 1-Andro / 4-Andro (not that I am expert by any means...I still have a lot to learn), but I feel like I know how my body responds to it. The past 2 cycles I extended to 8 weeks, but this time I am only going to do 6. I am for sure going to do at least 50 mg per day, but I may bump it up to 75 after the first week--my stockpile is not huge, so I want to try and be conservative with the dosing. If I am making gains with 50mg, I am not going to bump the dosage up to 75mg...so we'll wait and see.


Stats:

Cycle History: 2 bulking cycles, 2 cutting cycles

28 years old
5'9"
192.5 lbs
10-12% bodyfat



Cycle Plan:

Cycle:
Halo Extreme: 50/50/50/50/50/50
*first week, 2 caps daily, 1 morning and 1 evening
NOTE: Like I said previously, I am trying to make my stockpile last a bit longer, so if I see good gains on 50mg per day, I am not going to increase the dosage up to 75 mg...we'll wait and see what happens.
Iron Mag Labs 4-Andro: 2 caps daily for the duration of the cycle
Finaflex 1-Ad / Iron Mag Labs 1-Andro: when I feel gyno developing, I will add 1-Andro at about 300 mg per day for approximately one week--this has been very effective in the past. Over the course of the 8 week cycle, I predict that I will be taking 1-Andro for a total of 3 weeks.

IML Advanced Cycle Support: 2 caps daily, 1 morning and 1 evening
Taurine: 1 gram--1000 mg caps, 1 morning and 1 evening
(I may increase the taurine dosage. I saw one log where someone took 5 grams per day, but most information I've seen says that 1-3 grams per day is a good dose...so we'll see)
Himalaya Liver Care: 4 caps daily, 2 morning and 2 evening

PCT:
Nolva 20/20/10/10
IML Advanced Cycle Support: 2 caps daily
IML Ultra Male: 1 cap daily
IML E-Control RX: 3 caps daily

 

[zzguy2]

First Day of Cycle: Sunday, May 16

End of Week 1: Saturday, 21:

Weight (home scale): 194.6

Not much to report. Workouts were a bit easier / I went up in weight on some exercises, as expected, and my weight is up. I feel a bit bigger in my arms, traps, and forearms, but it may just be in my head.

Let's see what the next week brings.

 

[Mumbles01]

Looks like a solid set up. I've ran halo 3 times also, just finished my recent cycle about 2 weeks ago. But mine was more of a cut.
I'm jealous you make gains at 50mg, I got up to 125mg and things were still tapering off.
You must have a really responsive body to it.

 

[zzguy2]

Looks like a solid set up. I've ran halo 3 times also, just finished my recent cycle about 2 weeks ago. But mine was more of a cut.
I'm jealous you make gains at 50mg, I got up to 125mg and things were still tapering off.
You must have a really responsive body to it.

Perhaps. The first time I ran it, I wasn't expecting to feel much until the 2nd or 3rd week (based on what I had read online). However, every time that I've ran it, if I start on a Sunday, I'll notice my workouts feeling a bit easier on Wednesday.

50 mg so far seems to be working OK. I'm not making as much in terms of gains I did in the previous cycles, but this time:

1. I'm deeper into a cut
2. Although this is the 2nd week, I'm still only taking 50mg per day

We'll see how it goes...but yeah, perhaps you are right--my body may just respond to it really well...too bad it's no longer readily available

 

[zzguy2]

End of Week 2: Saturday, May 28

Weight (home scale): 194.4

I kept the Halo Extreme dosage at 50 mg per day.

Also, I decreased my calories by 100 this week. I felt a bit thinner by the end of the week; since my weight only decreased by 0.2 pounds, and also given the (albeit not as much as during my other cycle's) increases in strength, I am probably gaining muscle / losing fat simultaneously at this point.


As I noted the first week, although the cycle is helping me to regain some strength, I am not regaining it as quickly as I did with my previous cycles...it's probably a combination of being deeper into a diet and using a lower dosage of Halo Extreme.


Let's see what Week 3 brings...

 

[zzguy2]

End of Week 3: Saturday, June 4

Home scale weight: 195.2 lbs

Another week, but not a ton to report:

Weight increased slightly (just under a pound)

Thursday, Friday, Saturday: I added 160-150 mg of 1-Andro to help deal with what felt like a growth behind my left nipple, and it seems to have gone down.

It may be in my head, but I feel like maybe the 1-Andro helped with a bit of water retention; combined with continuing to lose weight, I am continuing to look leaner.


The plan for next week is to increase the Halo Extreme dosage from 50mg to 75mg per day...let's see if I gain weight / strength faster.

 

[zzguy2]

End of Week 4: Saturday, June 11

Weight: 195.0


This past week I increased Halo Extreme up to 75 mg per day, and I did not make any changes to my diet; honestly, I don't feel that increasing the Halo Extreme dosage helped me gain any more strength, size, or weight more than 50 mg did. Thus, next week I am dropping back down to 50 mg per day.

However, I am feeling a bit bigger, especially around my traps and shoulders--so that is no surprise.

Next week begins the reverse diet: +25 calories of olive oil per day (1/2 teaspoon).

 

[zzguy2]

End of Week 5: Saturday, June 18

Weight: 195.4 LBS

This was the first week of my reverse diet, so I added back in 25 calories from fat (1/2 teaspoon of olive oil).

I thought that perhaps I would see a marked increase in strength this week with the slight increase in calories, but I didn't really see that, to be honest...not much more than during the part of the cycle in which I was still cutting.

My weight went up slightly, so maybe I did gain a bit of mass...not sure.

Although I don't really feel like I've gained as much muscle / strength during this cycle as during other cycles, my shoulders and raps definitely feel bigger...so it's definitely working...but overall I haven't gained as much as I did during my previous cycles. My guess is that this is because I am much deeper into a caloric deficit this time around.

A few things I have noticed during this cycle:

1. Slightly more oily skin on my forehead
2. 2 small pimples on my forehead
3. A slight case of insomnia: it takes longer to fall asleep, and I haven't been sleeping quite as well...but I am not quite as tired during the day as you would predict.
4. At the end of the cut and now during the first week of the reverse diet, I am hungrier than earlier in the cut...whenever I eat, it's as if my body just absorbs it right away.

****5. Maybe it's just me, but starting this past week, I feel like I have had difficulty emptying my bladder, or perhaps that I have to urinate more often. I'm not quite sure which, but perhaps something is going on with my prostate? This happens at the end of the extended 8 weeks cycles which I have done (at maybe at the end of the shorter cycles as well, but I just didn't notice), and then goes away...so not really sure what is going on.


Let's see what the last week of the cycle brings: I am going to increase calories by another 25 calories from fat...here it goes.

 

[zzguy2]

End of Week 6: Saturday, June 25

Weight: 194.0

The end of another successful cycle. This week I once again increased my calories by 25 more calories from fat per day; however, I have to admit that I had some extra fruit jam this week (I was trying out a homemade recipe), so I actually probably had 100-200 more calories from carbs this week then planned...yet I still continued to lose weight.

I felt a bit learner by the end of the week, so like I said, I feel like I am still leaning out a bit in spite of having already started by reverse diet.


PCT starts tomorrow, so let's see how this goes.