Thread: cutting below 10%

6% is pretty damn low your gonna have to eat increadibly cleanly to acheieve that. your gonna have to get rid of the mayo, the salad dressing and chedder cheese is a definate no, i think should should split your four meals into 6. drop the red potato in the last meal and add some more efas to your diet.

You only eat 550 cals a day? What are your stats..that sounds waaaaaaaaaay too low, you could be damaging your metabolism, hence why your fat loss has stagnated.

My questions are...why are you wanting to get so low? Are you male or female, what is youf height, weight etc????

Your only have 4 meals...Your body is starving. Add in another meat/veggie meal.

Originally Posted by squanto

hi, my goal is to get to around 6% bf.
currently, as of last week i'm at about 9.2% according to electrical impedence i think it's called.
i'd been losing about 2 pounds per week until last week, when i only lost half a pound. i think it's because i'm getting so low.

my diet used to be isocaloric, at about 550 cals total.
i'd go for around 175 cals from fat, carbs and protein.
my plan is to take out around 50 cals from fat and add it to the protein in all my meals.

i dont use whey protein powder, because it messes up my appetite. i know this is unusual, but whatever. i only use it right after a workout, and i only use isopure. any more than this and my appetite starts getting seriously suppressed.

does anybody eat anything besides chicken when going this low? i was eating salmon, cottage cheese, and red taters as one of my meals, but i'm cutting out the cc and the salmon's too fatty to eat alone as a protein source. it seems all other meats are just too fatty, and id have to sacrifice any salad dressing or fats of any kind, which id rather not do.

thats where you guys come in :P. any meal suggestions? i'd be willing to sacrifice some taste in some areas just to have variation. right now, i'm only eating 3 different meals.

breakfast:
7 whites, 1 whole egg
1 1/2 ww bread
1 tbsp butter
sometimes a little cheddar cheese and some veggies to make an omelet
8 oz 1% milk (i can get away with it in the morning)

other meals:
#1:
5 oz red potato
6.1 oz chicken breast cooked in safflower
1 tbsp newman's own balsamic vinaigrette

#2: (not as tasty)
1 1/2 tbsp mayo
2 cans wholefoods tuna and celery
5 oz red potato

i sometimes trade the red potatos for 8 oz sweet potato. also sometimes use half the salad dressing in meal one and add 4 olives. i used to eat this meal too, but i dont want the fat in the salmon, and i'm cutting out dairy.:

#3:
1/4 lb salmon, baked
6 oz cottage cheese
3 oz red potato
1 tbsp salad dressing (newman's again)

i'm determined to at least lose another 2-5 pounds. i'll see how it goes in a week or two. i just want to get the bottom of my abs defined. any help would really be appreciated...

Find it hard to believe that is only 550 cal. Heck the mayo vinagrette and salad dressing must be 300.

I'm guessing he/she forgot the '1' in front of 550!!

no, the meals are EACH 550 cals. no way could i get away with eating 550 in a day! i eat about 3000 a day to maintain, maybe more. well, i got this low eating even dirtier than this, so i figure if i clean it up a bit i'll be fine. i eat about 4 meals of this a day, but i try to just eat every 3-3.5 hours, so sometimes i eat 3 meals, sometimes 5. depends on my work schedule and when i get to sleep. i'm pretty dedicated to eating this much tho, and i work at a gym so i can get away with it. (but it's surprising how much the personal trainers make fun of me)
the salad dressing is 45 cals per tablespoon. the mayo is 90 cals per tbsp. i just bought some safflower mayo which i might switch to, depending if i like it.

i don't feel that my body is starving, because i'm getting slightly stronger every week. my diet used to be much worse than this, which is why i think im getting such good results. i never kept track of my food till about 2 months ago. i'm naturally really skinny, so maybe that's why i cut so well.

my stats are this:
male, 19 years old
5'10" tall
174.75 pounds weight
bench 190 for 4 reps
deadlift 215 for 6 reps
squat 195 for 6 reps ( i havent maxed out any of these in a while)
i started at 183.5 on 10/25/04. my bench stayed the same, my squat's gone up about 20 pounds, and my deadlift has increased a lot, but i wasn't doing it at the beginning of my plan.
i'm doing just the power and rep-range part of gopro's workout. my split is this:
monday chest/tri/shoulders, tuesday abs, thursday legs, friday back/bi/forearms.

also the numbers in front of the meals are just meal number, not the order which i eat them... sometimes i'll have the same meal 4 times in a day.

i just wanna see if i can do it. if i find i can't lose weight any more, i'm gonna go to a clean bulk. i just wanted to lose as much fat as possible, then start a bulk at a very low bf%. so i'm trying to push the limits. as long as i'm not getting weaker, or losing weight really slow, i'm gonna keep pushing it. i'm not looking to compete or anything, i'm just insane. i'll post some pictures of my cut when i'm done... my girlfriend has some pictures of me on a disposable camera that i'll scan when im finished.

i know my meal plan might be weird... with the mayo and dressing and all. but does anyone have any suggestions staying within those limits? like a good 550 cal meal they eat or something? i'm just getting a bit bored with the same meals every day.

Congrats on your success at your diet so far and good luck the rest of the way. If your body is used to eating that little (550 cals/day) to maintain or cut a little, that is fine but I think that is way too little to eat to keep up LBM. I currently weigh 160 lbs +/- 3 lbs dep. on water weight, etc. However, I am right now at 7% bf and usually maintain 5-8% body fat for months at a time.....as I eat very healthy as diet is 90% of fitness or so-called "body building/sculpting" The salmon although has fat, has very clean and healthy fats that are essential to aid in fat loss. Remember, it takes eating good fats to lose fat. I find that on weeks when my animal protein is salmon or fish, by bf drops to its lower levels. Protein meats great for cutting are chicken, salmon, white fish and tuna. To drop really low, make most if not all of your fat intake EFA's such as flax seeds (ground as your body cannot digest the whole seeds properly), fish oil, and olive oil is very healthy. When really cutting, keep carbs restricted to only before w/o, immediately after workout and in the morning if you need the energy. I can cut better when i don't eat carbs in the AM, but that is just me. Generally if you are consistently strength training, consuming 30-40 grams of protein every 3 hours is optimal, with a weighted amount of course before/after workout. Maintaining low body fat levels is not difficult by any means if you train yourself to eat the right foods at the right times and workout properly around oyur diet schedule. Hope this helps,


Matt

thanks for the input matt. i'll see how it goes with my current plan, and if it isn't working i'll take those thoughts into consideration. and i'm eating 550 cal's per meal, not per day... eating closer to 2200 per day. maybe i'll throw one or 2 salmon meals in a day, as all i'm eating right now are eggs and chicken.

Mikey, I really don't think you are at 9.2%. I think you are at like 13% or so. You should try using calipers. As well, you should post a picture of yourself.

Anyway, to overcome this plateau, you should try doing more cardio or lowering your calories further. If you drop your calories by another 5% or so, then you will probably pick up some fat loss again. Either that, or you're lacking enough carbs, and your leptin levels are decreasing.

You may actually have to incorporate a refeed day once every 4-7 days or so to keep the fat loss going. Basically, this is where you load up on carbs for the day. Don't binge and eat 6000 calories, but get quite a bit more than your cutting calories in there, and make those extra calories carbs. This will raise get your leptin levels back to normal and take your body out of starvation mode. Lipolysis can begin unabated once again.

bah. i seriously doubt im as high as 13%... could be tho. i don't have a digital camera, so how am i gonna post a picture of myself? i tried just taking a little fat out and adding a little protein, i'll see how it goes this week.

Originally Posted by squanto

bah. i seriously doubt im as high as 13%... could be tho. i don't have a digital camera, so how am i gonna post a picture of myself? i tried just taking a little fat out and adding a little protein, i'll see how it goes this week.

I could bring one to your place. I'll try to find it in a little bit. It should be buried in my brother's room somewhere. I want to take new pictures of myself anyway.

Why are you only eating 3 meals a day? It would be better to eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day.

im eating 4 usually. i know i should be eating 5-6, but this works for me, so i'm stickin with it

If your hitting a stand still...are 4 meals still working??......

well, i lost half a pound last week. so i'm not exactly at a standstill. i just wanna speed things up a bit so i dont have to cut for more than 2-3 more weeks. i'm into getting away with as much as i can :P. if i still only am losing half a pound a week, or if it gets even slower/stops, then i will definately consider that. but it's worked for the past 9.5 pounds.

if i was really dedicated i'd eat 5-6 meals a day, but if i can get to the point i want to be at with 4 meals, i'd rather not sacrifice the time in my day. i do appreciate everyone's input tho! i know im not doing everything i'm supposed to be doing, but i'm glad that i have an idea of what i need to do when i do stop getting results.

i also want to change what i'm doing slowly so i know what's actually giving me the results i want. if i change like 3 things at once then i dont know what was necessary, and i'm doing extra work when i really don't need to.

so please dont ignore me just cuz im not doing everything right... i really appreciate everyone's constructive criticism.

Why do you want to be so thin? You're a growing boy, it's not healthy for you.

Well, interesting hearing that from you jaim.

if you ever want to get down as low as 6% you NEED to cut your meals down from your 550 cals to about 300-400 cals, and eat them 6 times a day! not 3-4 times a day thats being lazy bro! also you need to look at tapering down your carb intake throughout the day and look at taking some eph. as a workout boost and to help raise your metabolism, also you'll need to be working out with weights/HIIT everyday - this is what i had to do and i got down from 17% to 9% in 6 weeks and lost hardly any muscle, losing fat is easy man! you just got to go about things the right way and it'll come off, it ain't like bulking... you should never be at a standstill while cutting

peace

Originally Posted by young d

if you ever want to get down as low as 6% you NEED to cut your meals down from your 550 cals to about 300-400 cals, and eat them 6 times a day! not 3-4 times a day thats being lazy bro! also you need to look at tapering down your carb intake throughout the day and look at taking some eph. as a workout boost and to help raise your metabolism, also you'll need to be working out with weights/HIIT everyday - this is what i had to do and i got down from 17% to 9% in 6 weeks and lost hardly any muscle, losing fat is easy man! you just got to go about things the right way and it'll come off, it ain't like bulking... you should never be at a standstill while cutting

peace

nice said

Originally Posted by young d

if you ever want to get down as low as 6% you NEED to cut your meals down from your 550 cals to about 300-400 cals, and eat them 6 times a day! not 3-4 times a day thats being lazy bro! also you need to look at tapering down your carb intake throughout the day and look at taking some eph. as a workout boost and to help raise your metabolism, also you'll need to be working out with weights/HIIT everyday - this is what i had to do and i got down from 17% to 9% in 6 weeks and lost hardly any muscle, losing fat is easy man! you just got to go about things the right way and it'll come off, it ain't like bulking... you should never be at a standstill while cutting

peace

That's nonsense. Cutting isn't easy for everyone.

Originally Posted by CowPimp

Cutting isn't easy for everyone.

its only tough for people who lack the will power to say no to fast food and sugar, as soon as you take control over your diet it is very easy!

Originally Posted by MTN WARRIOR

Well, interesting hearing that from you jaim.

I'm not happy like this though. I don't want ot be 8% bodyfat. I want to get up to at least 12

im not having trouble losing weight.... thats not why i started this thread in the first place. people need to stop criticizing my diet because IT'S WORKING. i dont care if it wouldnt work for you, it works for me. i'm losing weight at 2 pounds a week, (i did for 4 weeks in a row), and i've been gaining strength. so my body isn't starving. and im eating enough meals. and ive been eating clean, i'm not eating sugars... i rarely ever cheat.
it's not about willpower, it's about working 4 hours a day for 8 hour a day pay. why work the 8 hours if youre getting paid the same either way? no, i wont eat 6 meals a day, because i don't have to. until im losing strength or come to a serious standstill, there's just no reason to change. why is everyone in denial that this could be working for me?

the REASON i started this thread was to get some advice on maybe some meal variation... i'm just getting sick of the same meals, thats all. but everyone is in such disbelief that it could actually be working for me that they don't even see the original point of me starting this thread. don't get me wrong, i appreciate all the constructive criticism, but you're missing the point.

Originally Posted by squanto

im not having trouble losing weight.... thats not why i started this thread in the first place. people need to stop criticizing my diet because IT'S WORKING. i dont care if it wouldnt work for you, it works for me. i'm losing weight at 2 pounds a week, (i did for 4 weeks in a row), and i've been gaining strength. so my body isn't starving. and im eating enough meals. and ive been eating clean, i'm not eating sugars... i rarely ever cheat.
it's not about willpower, it's about working 4 hours a day for 8 hour a day pay. why work the 8 hours if youre getting paid the same either way? no, i wont eat 6 meals a day, because i don't have to. until im losing strength or come to a serious standstill, there's just no reason to change. why is everyone in denial that this could be working for me?

the REASON i started this thread was to get some advice on maybe some meal variation... i'm just getting sick of the same meals, thats all. but everyone is in such disbelief that it could actually be working for me that they don't even see the original point of me starting this thread. don't get me wrong, i appreciate all the constructive criticism, but you're missing the point.

But dude, you posted your diet/schedule and asked for input or ideas....Thats what ure getting....What people are telling u isnt that ur habits are all that bad, just that if you wish to speed things up as u say, spread your caloric intake on 5-6 meals...!!! s-i-m-p-l-e!