Definetly NO strength loss, but a little bit of LBM gone, wierd situation if you ask me. I can see it but others cant because of me just getting leaner, inwhich causes those illusions. I am still hoping on getting the results that i wanted, until I hit that plateau i’ll keep giving myself more motivation everytime i wake up lighter. Plus all the motivation I have recv’d from the T-Nation family. Still…any feedback on the sauna issue?
sounds like you are losing too quickly. from april 3rd to 17th losing 13.5lbs just seems like too much. i mean, youre practically losing a pound a day…wouldn’t you think that its not a pound of fat that you are losing each day? Im curious to see what your bf% is at now.
remember, there is a difference between being ripped and being dehydrated. sure, when you get on stage at a BBing contest, youre going to want to be at some level of dehydration, but that is a state that these guys are in less than 24hrs, thats partially why they seem to gain weight so incredibly fast after a contest.
as long as you are shedding the fat from your body, you will look ripped enough, the water INSIDE of your muscles makes them look bigger and fuller (read: better), so be careful that you are not losing too quickly.
as far as the sauna goes, id say it is definitely a bad idea, for the reason that i just mentioned. the sauna is going to make you sweat the water out of your body, its not going to melt the fat off of you like butter. i guess the sauna can be a relaxation thing, but for me its only use is for boxers and such to cut weight very quickly, which should not be your goal if you are trying to preserve as much LBM as possible. good luck
[quote]nuhuhhjhill wrote:
We have a badass sauna at our gym. Would that be an option like 2-3 times a week to do to assist on losing more weight. Also help remove some lactic acid as well! Question is…Before or after work out, and how many times a week?>[/quote]
Using a sauna to lose weight is ludacrous. You aren’t expending any additional energy by sitting in a sauna, and any weight you do lose would be due to sweating. Being dehydrated actually impairs fat loss and recovery. Thomas Incledon wrote about this somewhere, I’ll try to find it and post it here.
As far as helping to remove lactic acid accumulation, I’m not sure about that. I don’t see how sweating would help you excrete lactic acid. Even so, lactic acid does provide some benefit to your body. While being able to quickly clear it from your body by processing is good, actually excreting it through sweating (which is what I’d assume you meant in your post) would not be good.
I would agree with others here that you are losing weight too quickly. Unless you can very accurately measure your body composition and see that all/most of the weight you’re losing is in fact fat, I would suggest that you’re losing more muscle than desired. I know you’re looking to get below 12% by a certain date, which, while it is completely attainable, should be done a bit slower. You’d be better off having more fat with all/most of your muscle than you would being a little leaner but with much less muscle.
JC
Forgot to add this in my previous post. Using a sauna can be good for recovery. The heat increases the blood flow throughout the body, and helps loosen up the muscles. Because of this the effects stretching and self-massage in a sauna are enhanced compared to when your body is at normal resting temperature.
JC
ok for the ones curious of the muscle loss, here is a pic as of 4-19-06 of the upper body, before a workout! First thing in the morning this morning!
I am stalled at 246 right now for 3 days so that can be good, in a way!
Keep in mind that I am 6’5"
[quote]nuhuhhjhill wrote:
ok for the ones curious of the muscle loss, here is a pic as of 4-19-06 of the upper body, before a workout! First thing in the morning this morning!
I am stalled at 246 right now for 3 days so that can be good, in a way!
Keep in mind that I am 6’5" [/quote]
just so you know, i think this picture sucks. but, since this shitty picture is all i have to go off of, im going to offer my opinion based on it. i dont see why youre cutting in the first place. BASED ON THIS PICTURE, i dont think you even look like you lift. this picture shows nothing even close to impressive as far as muscle mass goes. im sure being 6’5" there are people that consider you “big,” but i doubt there would be many that would consider you to be “muscular” Sorry bro, id put the cut on hold and put some muscles on first.
just in case anyone thinks im being unfair here, im going to say a little more. >>your chest and your stomach are practically flat, on the same plane. if i were you id want my chest popping out further than my stomach before i considered myself ready for a cut. also, this shoulder looks tiny! what are you doing for shoulders? looks tiny and imbalanced! do you have rear delts? seriously, if i were you id start lifting some heavy ass weights hitting shoulders, back, chest, legs hard.
also, i personally think these cals are way too low. i mean, it may “work” but doesnt it just suck the life right out of you? after you get all ripped consuming 2000 or so cals a day, especially at your size, what happens when youre hungry sometime and you eat a ton more than that? or what happens when you go off this diet?
i think it would make you more prone to putting fat on. i dont know, no real advice about that, i just think it sucks. i typically eat 3800-4200 cals a day and i dont gain weight on that, at 205lbs. i can lose 1-1.5lbs a week on about 3200 or so. i dunno, id rather have my body more efficient on higher cals.
You don’t look anywhere near 250.
WOW…some very powerful responses. Thanks for the feedback!
I will still keep everyone informed soon, I have to take a 2 day trip out of state. I will weigh when i return… Thanks again T-Nation!
i wasnt so much trying to have a powerful response as an honest one, because i feel like that would help the most. anyway, i feel like i should add another thing to my reason for you not cutting. i dont think you need to. again, based on this picture you dont look fat or anything close to it. you just look soft. if you goal is to just have a ripped six pack for the summer then by all means do what youd like.
but, if this is you ~250lbs, i would suggest looking for 280lbs or so before even thinking about cutting. perhaps you have big legs and the upper body just needs to be brought up? i dunno, maybe the picture just sucks. being 5’9", 205lbs, perhaps its hard for me to visualize what someone of your size would look like. best of luck anyways
I think my main goal as of now sad to say is just get ripped regardless…Ive never had ripped packs before in my life, when i was younger i was 320-350 of pure fat and over the years football and weightlifting changed me over. After all this cutting is done i look to clean bulk for about 6-8 months like yall are saying and maybe next year at this time we can have better results in fact this trip is a yearly trip.
Hopefully i can get some really good and detailed help when this time comes. Weighing myself in on monday morning. Doing tons of cardio this weekend (2 a days)! so we will see how it goes!
Thanks dez6485 please keep in touch for you and james cain sound very knowledgable with the things i need to learn for i am only 22. So maybe getting ya’lls advice as well as others on this board maybe I can meet my goal. My full goal is 260lbs with a 6-pac at 6’5" in about 2-3 years. Which is not huge but definetly nice size! I was talking to a few guys and they said push 6 to 7k cal on bulking. But bad thing about that is my RMR is only 2420. So ill be eating 4,500 cal over, wont that store as tons of fat. If i do that everyday?
[quote]nuhuhhjhill wrote:
I think my main goal as of now sad to say is just get ripped regardless…Ive never had ripped packs before in my life, when i was younger i was 320-350 of pure fat and over the years football and weightlifting changed me over. After all this cutting is done i look to clean bulk for about 6-8 months like yall are saying and maybe next year at this time we can have better results in fact this trip is a yearly trip.
Hopefully i can get some really good and detailed help when this time comes. Weighing myself in on monday morning. Doing tons of cardio this weekend (2 a days)! so we will see how it goes!
Thanks dez6485 please keep in touch for you and james cain sound very knowledgable with the things i need to learn for i am only 22. So maybe getting ya’lls advice as well as others on this board maybe I can meet my goal. My full goal is 260lbs with a 6-pac at 6’5" in about 2-3 years. Which is not huge but definetly nice size! I was talking to a few guys and they said push 6 to 7k cal on bulking. But bad thing about that is my RMR is only 2420. So ill be eating 4,500 cal over, wont that store as tons of fat. If i do that everyday?[/quote]
best thing is to go and read everything John Berardi has written on this site.
Use his 2 week method with 90% compliance strategies. Start at 4500 calories and chart your progress every 2 weeks - in a couple of months you’ll be able to figure out what your individual bulking level is.
good luck
UPDATE
Weighed in this morning @ 244.3
Gotta run though monday back to work!
[quote]nuhuhhjhill wrote:
UPDATE
Weighed in this morning @ 244.3
Gotta run though monday back to work![/quote]
I think you are losing too fast. I would shoot for 1-2lb a week. The goal is to maintain what muscle you have and that is impossible when you are losing that fast.
I think i am going to keep this post going all the way through my bulking stage too, because alot of you all have alot of knowledge…and I need alot of advice as well. But yes Viking, i know i am losing too fast for I am trying to meet a goal regardless of muscle loss as of now. I know alot of you all dont support what im doing but I’m sure there is a select few that are not where they want to be and will sacrifice what ever it takes to get that way.
Definition is what I am trying to get. Since I have small love handles, (The only thing that is making my eyes see my stomach fat). I have seen a few people in the gym that wear those wraps around there stomachs. Supposely they claim that it keeps the heat around your stomach area, if your body is heated it will heat your body fat as well to burn. Am i hearing this correctly? I need some feedback on this? Possibly helping reduce in excess skin around the adominal area?
Lord save my soul. That thing you’re talking about does diddly squat. I have no right to talk (according to Prof X I believe, since I’m a) a newbie b)15 and c) weak) Really, I appreciate your dedication but why are you pushing through with this…regardless of LBM loss?
ok guys
sorry i havent posted in several days.
I promised to keep this thing going…
I weighed in today at 239 lbs.
I havent lost any strength yet either. still benching & squating good amounts…
So time is coming near. I only have 1 1/2 more months.
Ohh yeh for got to mention, I have been wearing that sauna sweat band around my waist, and YES for some reason it is starting to really take the water out of my stomach giving the illusion of being more ripped in that area…only bad thing is where the band doesnt wrap like upper abs, the skin seems a little lose, of course inwhich will come off eventually.