Spring Break

What’s up, T-Men. I’m 5’7, 168 pounds. Been workin out for 2 years now–mostly powerlifting stuff. Thus, I have a less-defined, more bulky-strong look. Clothed, I have great looks–hair, face, style. But I have some flab around my abs and my thighs. This ain’t good for spring break–I’m heading down to Fort Myers and I managed to get a condo with two chicks. I don’t have bodyfat calipers but I used a ruler and my fingers to measure and got 19.5%!!! I was shocked. I gotta be big for football, but I gotta look great for the ladies… Last time I tried it I couldn’t handle the Fat Fast diet. For now I’m just cuttin out the sweets and the cokes and excess carbs. Will this be enough for me to get trim? My old diet was alot of fast food, ice cream, and those delicious hershey almond bites. Don’t ask. Advice is appreciated!

'Corv, buddy, I shudder to think what the Forum’s going to say to you (if anything). My personal opinion is: if you’re really 5’7" (I assume that you’re not 57 years old) and 168 lbs with 19% BF, you are neither big nor cut. To put things bluntly, your “diet” sucks shit. Start eating right and you’ll start looking better. And yes, it’s too late for Spring Break this year. Get your eating habits squared away and look forward to next year instead. Tough love, man, but them’s the facts.

The bulky look you speak of is not a function of what kind of lifting you do (bodybuilding versus powerlifting) but rather, of what your caloric intake is compared to your maintenance level. I doubt just cutting out cokes and ‘excess carbs’ will get you shredded; for that, you’ll need a stricter and more controlled diet. Search the archives for ‘The Diet Manifesto’ by Chris Shugart.

ok…i definitely think that it is possible to shred off pounds quick just to look good…im not talking anything about the physique you developed or your routine or past diet. i am just gonna tell you how to “appear” more cut for spring break. what you want to do is hit up the MD6 nice and hard first of all. then between now and break, eat a bagel for breakfast, maybe with some butter. try to curb your hunger using the MD6 or drinking a lot of water to keep your stomach full. then for lunch eat two non fat yogurts. then try to hold off and eat something not too huge for dinner, and try to get to bed early so you dont get hungry again. then…in the gym…wear a belly burner under your shirt to eliminate some water weight that way…and you dont need to run for 30 mins or anything, i suggest jogging for about 7-8 minutes, and then sprinting for as long as your body can sprint. then do tons of reps for your abs, hitting them everyday, overtrain them jsut for this time period. then right before spring break, make sure you buy a ton of water pills and use those over the course of the week before break, then over the break to eliminate any water weight. last year my friend did this and dropped off 16 lbs in a month. it may have not been true weight loss, but hey, did the girls notice, nope. he appeared thin and cut…too bad he blew right back up after break. but…itll work if your looking to get that ass down in spring break, haha. hope this helped.

Hows it going. I too am going on break and have adjusted my workout and diet for it. I’m curious what the water pills do exactly. I’ve never heard of them. Also, isnt bagels and ogurt throughout the day kinda high in carbs if trying to shred. I was using the T-dawg diet during January with Meltdown. Saw decent results. I think I’m down to 10% bf but like you said its about getting ass on break and the girls just care if you’re cut so I’m going pretty much no carbs for Feb. This gives me 4 weeks(I leave March 2 for 8 nights). I was thinking no carbs mon-fri and some good carbs on sat and sunday. I started this yesterday(monday) and had about 20 carbs all day probably. Dose this sound like it will also work. ALso anyone have advice about how many carbs I can eat during the break itself or the week before. I obviously dont want to be in ketosis on break for breath reasons. I’ll be kicking back some beers everyday and I here as soon as you have some carbs after this diet it just stays on you. Any help is appreciated.

Yeah, hehe, sorry 'bout that post…it was kind of late over here and I probably came off as pretty ignorant. I didn’t say I was big–just bulky…in a kind of barrel-chested way. Also, I don’t think that 19.5% could possibly be correct…last year I was 17.5% and I have cut a ton of fat since then. Also, I read all the T-Mag articles on diet and understand all of it, however I’m still in highschool and the nearest grocery store isa few miles away. My very fat parents buy microwave pizza, ice cream, pop tarts…whatever keeps the kids happy. Don’t have a car. Today, though was a decent day I think: Breakfast–3 servings Skim Milk, 1\2 cup of oatmeal with brown sugar, banana, yogurt. Lunch–5 servings of Skim Milk. Dinner and snacks–3 servings of peanuts, 5 servings of skim milk, and some spaghetti. I like the milk.

I'm confused about something though--very confused. Before I discovered T-Mag, I was eating 800-1000 calories a day. Small stomach I guess, since I was never hungry. It would be shit food too, like Tostitos w\ Salsa. I got fat. Why did that happen? Now I'm bumping my calories to around 2000-2200. Is this too much of an overload for someone whose been on the diet of a prebuscent girl? How can I lose fat like this??

Vanity is a female trait. Try not to be so damn vain, it makes you look like a queer.

K, well thanks for those replies, as harsh as some of them may be, they’re probably true. I’ll swallow my pride and store those away as good life lessons. Note to self–vanity=bad.

Okay, Korv, you sound a lot better in your responses than you did in your original post. Judging from what you’ve written, i can offer a couple of comments. First, no one gets fat on 800-1000 cals per day. Won’t happen, especially if you’re a teenager. Somewhere in there you forgot to list some calories, pure and simple. Second, as for your current problem, you need (a) a lot more protein and (b) a lot fewer carbs in your diet. Start thinking about macronutrient breakdown - try a 40p 30c 30f ratio to begin with - and monitoring your diet accordingly. Sounds to me like you’re probably carb sensitive, like a lot of people out there. Try replacing the spaghetti with some salmon steaks, etc. Ask your mom to buy them for you, tell 'er you’ll cook 'em yourself. Here’s the recipe: 6 oz of salmon filet, one pat of butter, some pepper. Nuke the butter in the microwave, add pepper, pour over salmon. Put buttered salmon in a preheated (about 350 degrees) toaster oven for app. 15 minutes. Take out and eat. Yummy. 40g Protein, lots of good fats, no carbs. (This recipe is courtesy of Bodz, BTW. Credit where credit is due…)

Char, I know people that are quite fat and eat nothing at all, being hypocaloric could have caused him to keep the fat on, especialy eating carb-rich junkfood. But I do have to agree that 800-1000 calories sounds a bit low. 1kcorv, definatley add those healthy fish oils as written above, try to get as much protein and fat as possible along with plenty of veggies(t-dawg diet). If you must have carbs the best time to get them is pre/post workout, especialy right before/after cardio. Your calorie intake should reflect your level of activity, not just how much weight you want to loose. Your metabolism could poop out if you cut calories too much and add cardio. I hope your not as inaccurate with your calories as you are with your bodyfat guess. :wink: Accuracy will definitley come in handy, if your dieting, good luck!

P.S you already got a condo with two chicks so you aren’t doing too bad…

yeah, the bagels and yogurt are a little high on the carbs, but…what they do is make you feel a little satisfied, enough to not have to eat much while not adding many calories. if you could keep carbs and calories low, go for it, im sure it will work even better, i was just giving an example of what i have used in the past. but…try to eat as little as possible everyday. your gonna cut a little muscle by taking in so little food, but hey, its for a purpose, youll gain it back. water pills are used for bloating in women during their period, im not quite sure how they work, but they pretty much strip the excess water from you system. they can dehydrate you, so i wouldnt use them until about 4 days before your trip. they do work to give you a temporary cut look. by the way, a neat side effect is they sometimes make you pee bright green, hahaha. i suggest taking diurex, they work well. and to everyone else, remember, im not suggesting anything for permanent results or anything, im just trying to help a fellow ass hunter in need. happy munching.