> Anyway enough rambling, who has implemented what techniques to successfully
> reach BF%'s below 7-8% (besides Ed, although any comments are appreciated)
It's just not that difficult: create a caloric deficit by eating less
moving more or a combination of the two, repeat until ripped, dead or
clinically insane. When I hit 7% last year (or was it the year before?),
that's all I did: set up a basic hypocaloric diet (mod carb, not keto
FWIW and I don't know the percentages becaus I don't give a shit: I got
enough protein, got my EFA's and the rest of the calories came from
wherever they came from), moderate amounts of cardio, lifting, refed
every so often, stuck to the goddamn plan for once in my frickin' life
and kept at it for long enough for it to work. I was already clinically
insane so that wasn't an issue.
Seriously, the dynamics of losing fat (i.e. what is physiologically
required for fat loss to occur) don't magically change once you break
some abstract bodyfat percentage. Your body will be fighting you
harder, true, but you still have to create a caloric deficit and
maintain it for long enough for your body to mobilize and burn off
stored fatty acids. The same schema (eat less, exercise, repeat) that
got you to 10% will get you below 10%. It just sucks more as your body
fights you harder.
Beyond that, get sufficient protein, get sufficient EFA's, refeed every
so often depending on bodyfat percentage (once you're sub 10%, your
average male is probably looking at a refeed day once every 4-5 days or
so), be consistent and be patient (and, to quote someone from another
forum: don't be a spaz and do stupid shit like cut calories too hard or
do too much cardio). Alternately, or even in addition to the weekly
refeeds, take 7-14 days off the diet every 4-6 weeks at maintenance
calories to attempt to raise thyroid, leptin, etc. and try to reset
metabolism. Assuming you don't have a strict time frame (i.e.
contest/photo shoot) that's probably good advice all around: 1-2 weeks
off your diet every 4-6 weeks.
Be prepared to be hungry pretty much all the time no matter what you do,
it goes with the territory as your body tries to prevent you from
starving yourself to death. With low leptin, none of the normal hunger
blunting signals (CCK, ghrelin, all the rest) don't work very well if at
all. no matter what you do, high fiber, all the low GI foods on the
planet, moderate dietary fat, you'll just be hungry. Deal with it.
Ephedrine/caffeine is a lifesaver here; I wish Dexatrim was still
available, it was a great night-time non-stimulant appetite supressant.
Don't be surprised if you have to keep lowering calories or increasing
cardio as your body further slows metabolic rate as you get leaner and
leaner. There's really no magic or secret involved no matter what
anybody wants to think. It's more an issue at that level of being
disciplined enough to be hungry all the damn time and just suck it up.
Beyond that, what diet you pick (keto vs. mod carb/mod fat or even high
carb/low fat) has more to do with appetite control and personal
preference/physiology than anything else. There is research coming out
now showing that some people do in fact adapt to higher fat diets better
than others but I'm not aware of any good way to know ahead of time
whether any given individual is one of them. A very rough guideline: if
you generally feel fine on carb-based diets (no big assed energy swings,
indicative of good insulin sensitivity and glucose handling), you'll
probably do poorly on low carb diets, you'll feel like shit and just not
lose fat as effectively; if you generally feel shitty on carb-based
diets (wild energy swings indicative of shitty insulin sensitivity and
poor glucose handling), you'll probably do really well on low carb
diets, you'll feel great for once and lose fat really well. Some folks
seem to do fine either way.
As Dan pointed out a few years ago, a high carb diet will, in theory,
cause more fat loss because metabolic rate will be slightly higher (by
about 4% which really isn't that much, about 100+ calories for an
average metabolic rate of 2700 cal/day) but you have to weigh that
against eating more. In one of his last Ironman columns, he mentioned
that all the goofy diets didn't seem to really pan out in terms of
greater fat loss or anything else, it was more an issue of food/calorie
control by eliminating diet breaker foods (usually carbs). Ketosis
isn't protein sparing below about 15% bodyfat anyhow.
And here's why: most of what you lose (fat vs. muscle) is being
determined by your body, not by your diet or your training anyhow so
choice of diet beyond meeting some basic requirements and controlling
calories is really pretty irrelevant. Roughly 75-80% of the variance in
what's lost is determined by bodyfat percentage (and hence leptin
kinetics and everything leptin is controlling which is roughly
everything), there's some slop because of genetics, you can control the
small percentage otherwise by getting enough protein and a few other
things. So pick whatever diet lets you control calories the best, get
enough protein and EFA's, weight train, do your refeeds, get used to
being hungry and be patient. Beyond that, it's in the hands of almighty Grog.
Or take drugs. Drugs work great. As one pro supposedly told a friend of
mine "There's no secret to dieting, buy as many drugs as you can afford
and starve yourself for as long as you can take it." That's cutting
edge contest prep in the pro ranks.
Lyle
" smilie!
