Hey guys,
I'm an 18 year old freshmen college student. I've been a lurker on this forum for a while now, the posts have helped me a lot with learning about weight lifting and any questions I have. At any rate, I'm getting frustrated and impatient with the final pounds of fat I want to burn off, I'm looking for advice. Let me first give a quick backstory.
Ever since fifth grade, I've been overweight. It's has negatively affected me in a lot of ways, and so last summer I finally decided I was going to do something about it and get fit and healthy. So, starting from around August of '05, I set out to a plan of a healthy, calorie-watching diet plan with lots of cardio and lots of weightlifting. I did my homework and researched all that I needed to know about weight lifting (which I had never much done before). My goal: get slim and trim and add some muscle to be cut, essentially with the physique of a typical athlete (medium distance runner/basketball player). I'm not going for the bulkier bodybuilding look.
In any event, over the past 8 months, I've made tremendous progress. At 5'10, I've gone from 205 pounds to 180 pounds, gaining a significant amount of muscle along the way. At a minimum I lost 30 pounds of fat, probably more. My strength has gone up tremendously, probably doubling or tripling in most respects. And the cardio has made me healthier overall and greatly increased my endurance. I'm happy with this.
However, despite attempts at carb cycling, increasing exercise, and being more careful with the kinds of foods I eat, I've been stuck in a plateau for the past 2-3 months. I'm at a point where I'm not overweight, but I'm certainly not lean, and I want to get there. Here's my question: what would be a relatively safe and fully effective way to lose 10-15 pounds of fat over the next 2 months. I don't mind having to lose a few pounds of muscle, that's alright with me - I'll work on gaining it back afterward if I so desire. Maybe it's my history of being overweight, but the excess fat that I have bugs quite a bit, and my main goal is being lean and soon (8 months and still not there). At any rate, what caloric intake level (and protein/fat/carb combo) would you suggest given that I'm willing to lose a few pounds of muscle as long as I can lose a significant amount of fat without waiting another half year or more? Surely losing another 7 pounds a month for two months isn't unreasonable or unhealthy? I'm willing to now accept a small amount of muscle loss, the wait to get lean is taking simply too long for me.
Last but not least, I put up photos...two from the beginning of the diet from last summer (they are the last two in the batch), and the rest are from this month. You'll notice significant progress, but I still have a bit to go in terms of fat loss (which again, is my main priority). Note that some of the pics I'm not fully flexed because I was holding the camera myself for the photos.
Any advice would be appreciated.
(Btw, what would you estimate my bf% to be?)
I'm an 18 year old freshmen college student. I've been a lurker on this forum for a while now, the posts have helped me a lot with learning about weight lifting and any questions I have. At any rate, I'm getting frustrated and impatient with the final pounds of fat I want to burn off, I'm looking for advice. Let me first give a quick backstory.
Ever since fifth grade, I've been overweight. It's has negatively affected me in a lot of ways, and so last summer I finally decided I was going to do something about it and get fit and healthy. So, starting from around August of '05, I set out to a plan of a healthy, calorie-watching diet plan with lots of cardio and lots of weightlifting. I did my homework and researched all that I needed to know about weight lifting (which I had never much done before). My goal: get slim and trim and add some muscle to be cut, essentially with the physique of a typical athlete (medium distance runner/basketball player). I'm not going for the bulkier bodybuilding look.
In any event, over the past 8 months, I've made tremendous progress. At 5'10, I've gone from 205 pounds to 180 pounds, gaining a significant amount of muscle along the way. At a minimum I lost 30 pounds of fat, probably more. My strength has gone up tremendously, probably doubling or tripling in most respects. And the cardio has made me healthier overall and greatly increased my endurance. I'm happy with this.
However, despite attempts at carb cycling, increasing exercise, and being more careful with the kinds of foods I eat, I've been stuck in a plateau for the past 2-3 months. I'm at a point where I'm not overweight, but I'm certainly not lean, and I want to get there. Here's my question: what would be a relatively safe and fully effective way to lose 10-15 pounds of fat over the next 2 months. I don't mind having to lose a few pounds of muscle, that's alright with me - I'll work on gaining it back afterward if I so desire. Maybe it's my history of being overweight, but the excess fat that I have bugs quite a bit, and my main goal is being lean and soon (8 months and still not there). At any rate, what caloric intake level (and protein/fat/carb combo) would you suggest given that I'm willing to lose a few pounds of muscle as long as I can lose a significant amount of fat without waiting another half year or more? Surely losing another 7 pounds a month for two months isn't unreasonable or unhealthy? I'm willing to now accept a small amount of muscle loss, the wait to get lean is taking simply too long for me.
Last but not least, I put up photos...two from the beginning of the diet from last summer (they are the last two in the batch), and the rest are from this month. You'll notice significant progress, but I still have a bit to go in terms of fat loss (which again, is my main priority). Note that some of the pics I'm not fully flexed because I was holding the camera myself for the photos.
Any advice would be appreciated.
(Btw, what would you estimate my bf% to be?)
. 
