Supps/Fat Loss: What Worked for You?

I feel like Im pretty caught up on what works to lose weight and get ripped. Im curious what has worked for others. Cardio 5 days a week? Fasted cardio in the mornings? No cardio, just reduced calories? The more details the better. If there is already a thread just like this, please point it out to me so I dont waste anyones time.

Also, does anyone follow the “slowly add stuff in” concept? For example, start with cardio until fat loss stops, reduce calories until fat loss stops, supplement with a fat burner etc. Basically, I theoretically know what works, just want to hear some first hand experiences.

I like fasted carido in am and another short session at night

[quote]bwilliamsr89 wrote:
I feel like Im pretty caught up on what works to lose weight and get ripped. Im curious what has worked for others. Cardio 5 days a week? Fasted cardio in the mornings? No cardio, just reduced calories? The more details the better. If there is already a thread just like this, please point it out to me so I dont waste anyones time.

Also, does anyone follow the “slowly add stuff in” concept? For example, start with cardio until fat loss stops, reduce calories until fat loss stops, supplement with a fat burner etc. Basically, I theoretically know what works, just want to hear some first hand experiences.[/quote]

ive found these to be important to lose fat the fastest.

  1. fish oils up to 30 grams a day
  2. trainig that produces high levels of lactic acid. heres a general circut that ive done b4
    A1 Step Ups
    A2 Pull ups
    A3 Dips
    B1 Cable Crunches
    B2 Calf Raises
    only rest 30 sec between sets and perform 3-5 sets a per exercise
  3. no fasted cardio. cortisol is already high in the morning doing cardio in the am just raises it more leading to more belly fat
  4. 2 grams per pound of body weight of protein
  5. no fruits, only greeen and no starchy veggies, thing leafy greens

try that for 2 weeks

whats worked for me:

  • consistent kcal deficit
  • heavy lifting, lowered volume
  • abandoning the fear of overnight muscle loss
  • fasted cardio, as necessary

I did the slowly add stuff in approach, but it was more because I was learning more about fat loss, I had never actually done it and had been bulking for my entire lifting career.

I started with a low carb diet and a fat burner, moved to adding in fasted low intensity cardio, move to adding in Pulse Fasts, moved to intermittent fasting.

Combining all of those and heavy lifting I’ve managed to lose a fairly appreciable amount of weight in a reasonable time-frame while maintaining almost all of my strength.

-Maintain muscle mass at all costs via heavy training (this keeps your BMR high!)
-Slight cal deficit, and let time do the work
-Interval cardio for better EPOC cal burn, and more muscle retention (and less boring!)
-Bump up Cals as needed to avoid body readjusting itself

S

What the others said…

…plus coffee and green tea.
They really helped me get through the low carb days.

thanks for the input everyone. I know everyone is different; just gotta see what works for yourself I guess. Would any of you recommend using a fat burner? Ive been avoiding it to try and see what Im capable of without it. I read in Shelby’s post the other day about his clients doing cardio between 1 and 2 times a day. I just started adding cardio daily(AM fasted walk on treadmill uphill), and sometimes additionally after my workout. It seems to be working.

I wouldn’t copy those guys Shelby has been posting. I think they have pharmassistance if ya know what I mean.

-Fasted cardio is good
-Huge carb up in the morning followed by low/no carbs all day works for me and helps maintain energy
-Adding in more and more fat loss tactics slowly is good. After you’ve made some progress in the fat loss department, try having a day or 2 where you go back to “bulking” with no fat burners. Then go back to fat loss.
-Most of what people said above is also true, I repeated some of it

If Shelby and his guys are natural, I’m sorry for being an asshole and you guys are very impressive naturals.

[quote]toots27mkc wrote:
I wouldn’t copy those guys Shelby has been posting. I think they have pharmassistance if ya know what I mean.

-Fasted cardio is good
-Huge carb up in the morning followed by low/no carbs all day works for me and helps maintain energy
-Adding in more and more fat loss tactics slowly is good. After you’ve made some progress in the fat loss department, try having a day or 2 where you go back to “bulking” with no fat burners. Then go back to fat loss.
-Most of what people said above is also true, I repeated some of it

If Shelby and his guys are natural, I’m sorry for being an asshole and you guys are very impressive naturals.[/quote]

Ya, those guys are pretty impressive. Im always cautious about “following” someone elses program, training, etc. But after reducing calories, I think cardio is up on deck for me. I dont think I want to lower calories any more than where they are at(~2300-2400 @193 lbs)

In order of importance:

  1. diet – you have to have control of your calories (i.e., you can’t out train your diet)
  2. training (preserve what muscle you have, add muscle if you are a beginner, may even be able to add muscle in the right circumstances)
  3. aerobic activity – this is probably not as important – depends on how much calorie deficit you can maintain/sustain with your diet.

This log isnt really supposed to be about me, but a little update on what seems to be “working for me”. Ive been doing fasted cardio 4-5 times a week in the morning, treadmill walk at fast speed uphill. This as well as a sort of carb cycling. Im doing a 5/3/1 program to maintain or increase strength with some higher rep accessory lifts. I have 4 lifting days: Press, Deadlift, Bench, Squat, with one day off between dead and bench. The way I “cycle” my carbs is basically only eating carb sources on deadlift and squat days; I figure I can push through press and bench ok and so far so good. Calories remain about the same on all days, I just swap more fat in through peanutbutter on non carb days. ~23-2400 calories.

But to the point. I am starting to see some ab definition. By definition I mean I can tell there are abs there; no six pack yet, or even the top two, but you can tell something is going on there. Weight started out at 207, cut carbs and dropped to 200ish. Down to 190 as of today(6’ btw). If anyone cares for more info as far as diet/workout I can give that info. Just feeling good after my morning cardio and decided to share.

[quote]toots27mkc wrote:
I wouldn’t copy those guys Shelby has been posting. I think they have pharmassistance if ya know what I mean.

-Fasted cardio is good
-Huge carb up in the morning followed by low/no carbs all day works for me and helps maintain energy
-Adding in more and more fat loss tactics slowly is good. After you’ve made some progress in the fat loss department, try having a day or 2 where you go back to “bulking” with no fat burners. Then go back to fat loss.
-Most of what people said above is also true, I repeated some of it

If Shelby and his guys are natural, I’m sorry for being an asshole and you guys are very impressive naturals.[/quote]

I think Shelby is natural. Who knows on the folks he posts about.

Either way, I think that regardless of whether or not someone is taking Vitamin S, a couple of principles Shelby advocates seem like good ideas, especially carb cycling. I don’t remember where it is, but he has a Spill that gives a basic template for the way carb cycling works, and it might be worth reading up on.

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:

[quote]toots27mkc wrote:
I wouldn’t copy those guys Shelby has been posting. I think they have pharmassistance if ya know what I mean.

-Fasted cardio is good
-Huge carb up in the morning followed by low/no carbs all day works for me and helps maintain energy
-Adding in more and more fat loss tactics slowly is good. After you’ve made some progress in the fat loss department, try having a day or 2 where you go back to “bulking” with no fat burners. Then go back to fat loss.
-Most of what people said above is also true, I repeated some of it

If Shelby and his guys are natural, I’m sorry for being an asshole and you guys are very impressive naturals.[/quote]

I think Shelby is natural. Who knows on the folks he posts about.

Either way, I think that regardless of whether or not someone is taking Vitamin S, a couple of principles Shelby advocates seem like good ideas, especially carb cycling. I don’t remember where it is, but he has a Spill that gives a basic template for the way carb cycling works, and it might be worth reading up on.[/quote]

Very true. Guys like Dorian and Big Ron took their physiques to insane heights. Maybe they had some special help in the way of steroids, but it would foolish to ignore what they had to say about training because of it. Take everything with a grain of salt; apply the knowledge acquired to your individual needs.

Heres a link to a good article by CT on carb cycling:

If your not into fat burners, you should try Soya Lecithin (Fat emulsifier) and sea kelp (Essential component of the thyroid hormone, helps with growth and the metabolic rate), they work for me and are natural so might be something to consider.

Gareth

Ephedra used to work wonders for me. Than they had to screw that up, for all of us.

HOT-ROX has always been my fav when it comes to fat loss supps

take a look at spirodex

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
-Slight cal deficit, and let time do the work
[/quote]

This is the hardest and truest fact. Marathon, not sprint.

[quote]WW3General wrote:
Ephedra used to work wonders for me. Than they had to screw that up, for all of us.[/quote]

Not sure if this is totally true, but i’ve heard from multiple people that are active on the site that ephedra will no longer be a regulated drug.