*Realized I sort of wrote a novel here, I could use some help from Derek, Chris, or anyone else with more experience than me. I'm coachable and after 14 years of obsession and experimentation I need advice from a pro*
Asah dudes! I'm feeling strongly inspired to see my abs for the first time in my life (again, story time in a bit).
I'm 27, 6'2", I walk at 218lbs and I'm roughly ~22% BF. I come from a family whose genes suck where my Dad has weighed over 350lbs my entire life (topped over 400 a few years ago) and an uncle who is over 600lbs. I'm obsessed with fitness, training, and biochemistry, I'm a certified trainer, I studied biochem for a few years in college before my company started to take off, and I have an eidetic memory for nearly everything I read. I've lost at least 60lbs 3 times now.
Since I was 13 I have given an honest shot at:
- Body For Life
- Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
- Eating 1.500 calories per day (because the Nutrition Facts label said 2,000 is normal.. I was in 7th grade)
- The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler (combined with swimming 5 hours a day for two swim seasons in high school I lost 25lbs)
- Slow Carb Diet by Tim Ferriss (This is when things got bitchin and I noticed my body finally responded well to something)
- The "I lost my fiance, can't eat for a whole week and then barely touch food while I do calisthenics and walk all day for 3 months" diet (another 60lbs down, GLL saved my soul from the girl hell. Love you Chris!)
- The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (STRICT for 9 months as a lifestyle in 2014, been my go when i want to lean out a bit now)
- Experimenting with IF mixed with Keto, trying Clen, T3, Albuterol, GW-501516, Tren, EQ, Various Prohormones, SARMS, etc.
- Using Insulin to force ketosis after a refeed so I get another 2 days of fat burning every week. (I do my homework and use a glucometer with glucose tabs on hand when doing this. "Desperate" happened a long time ago. Feel free to judge.)
- Dinitrophenol in various doses until my vendor took his site down. (I was a big fan of 250mg a day for 4 week cycles while pounding my nympho girlfriend as much as possible for extra cardio, and eating once a day while vaping and burning Kratom to suppress appetite. Fun season.)
I've spent most of the year in the gym obsessively powerlifting (Sheiko = 100% badass) and running various bodybuilding programs (Serge Nubret, Larry Scott, Pavel Tsatsouline's "Russian Bear"). I'm looking to get way into meal prep and finally being able to see my abs for the first time in my life. I've lost at least 60lbs 3 times and I'm yet to be able to complete my goal despite numerous attempts to do so. My discipline isn't an issue, the methods just don't seem to fit the bill all the way to the end.
I spent 9 months on CKD in 2014 with neurotically obsessive adherance and still didn't get below what looked like 14% bf (I have a pic, will upload if need be.) I figure I was undereating which stopped progress despite using Lipodrene 3x a day, running a Superdrol/M1T stack (DMZ 3.0) to preserve muscle. When results stoped I would drop calories further. Kratom, Tramadol (evil shit, another story) and Modafanil all really helped with my appetite but I stalled out and could barely work. Taking 2 weeks off at maintenance calories didn't help push through the plateau and I sort of wrote the whole thing off as a "character building" experience.
I made sure I was getting as close to zero carbs as possible and eventually just jumped ship thinking "Maybe I don't have enough mass to show anything? Let's run Tren and eat everything!" Bad time in my life but here i am 4 years later and ready to hit it HARD again. I just want to make sure I'm hitting everything right.
I'm not afraid of hard work, I'm afraid of hard work not working. (1st attempt involved 5 hours a day in the pool on swim team in high school. I didn't look great but nobody outworked me and I won every heat I competed in during Senior year. I didn't sign up to be a good racer, I wanted to not have a pooch roll. I want to fucking win after all of this.)
I've just binge read Lyle McDonald's books "The Ketogenic Diet" and "Ultimate Diet 2.0", Dan Duchaine's "Bodyopus," probably 2 dozen threads along with the main articles on the Evolutionary Diet, and every article on GLL about fat loss and getting shredded. Everything points to low carb and doing some metabolic slight of hand with training.
I could use some insight from anyone who coaches. No worries about followthrough, I'll stuff tupperware and eat only that until I'm done, I just need to figure out how to bridge the gap after trying to wrap my head around how for over half my life. My focus has been on business and audio production for the past 6 weeks but currently I now naturally gravitate to an IF style eating where I don't eat until 6pm or so. It's very comfortable and I don't get hungry until around then. My weight stays stable around 214-218 and I'm consistent with my kettlebell quick sessions. (Pavel Tsatsouline's Simple & Sinister, consistent with it since September 2016 in addition to any other training I've been doing)
Been off of serious training for about 6 weeks but when I lift I do so on an empty stomach and make sure I get high protein in right after the gym (Sessions were from 8am - 2pm, 3-4x a week) this leaned me out slightly and I added quite a bit to my total. I still mostly look the same as I did at the beginning of the year despite running YK-11 and LGD-4033 from a great source and eating 1,000 cals above maintainance. (My genetics suck ass I guess, correct me if I'm wrong. If I'm missing something blaringly obvious point it out. I want to learn and reach my goals, not have a big ego. I'm willing to do CRISPR gene editing at this point to fix this. I'd be an obese fat fuck if I hadn't been hitting this with everything I've got for all these years so that's something..)
Currently I can dose some BCAA's, wait until 7pm to eat, nohm a Betos breakfast burrito (1375 cal), call it there, and be fine for the day with plenty of strength and energy for my kettlebell sessions I'm doing. I should be dropping mad fat right? Not happening. My strength and conditioning are going up, I can press my 32kg for reps and swing two of them for days but it's appallingly obvious that "It's just calories in/calories out bro" is complete and utter bullshit when I'm running on half my supposed BMR. I'm a human space heater (always warm, even in the winter) and most girls I hug like to hang on for a bit because I'm "so warm!" (Anecdotal i know, I doubt I'd be low on a thyroid panel. Might get another one just to see where I am lately though..)
I have access to a huge array of sarms, gear, thermogenics, ancillaries, anything you'd ever want to run (sourced well, got a CLA). I just need some input on how to fix myself and get this chunky bitch down to 6% bodyfat once and for all. I'm a trainer and my clients tend to do just fine but I can't seem to get myself past the threshold.
Right now I'm leaning towards Chris's or Scotty's diet and re-evaluating my calorie consumption every week after the one carb up meal. Stack it with 12-25mg of Ostarine, a strength session and 30-60 minutes of cardio every morning. 1 cheat meal of pancakes or something of the like, and then right back into eating only what's in my tupperware until I not only see my abs but have veins showing across them.. I'm determined.
I've been discouraged for a long time but I'm ready to flip the crazy switch again. Any insight would be deeply appreciated. Shoot me straight, I'm willing to do whatever it takes so long as I finally fucking get there.. 4th time is a charm, just hope it doesn't take 9 months to almost make it when I only have 45lbs of fat on my entire body. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance guys
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