First Anavar cycle for female

[< <Samson> >]

With this kind of cardio regimen, what are you trying to achieve?

When I was losing a shit ton of weight, I did about as much. But, on the regular it's not necessary. Still good for you in one way or another, but your body just gets used to it.

Just depends on what you want

[KiwiG]

My goal is to drop bodyfat. I want to maintain a bodyfat percentage of 12% year round. When I started my 'bulk' I was 15%. I have gained a lot of fat and muscle so I'm going to estimate I'm currently at 18-20% bodyfat.

[< <Samson> >]

Gotcha

So are you trying to cut with the Var? Or trying to get a recomp?

[KiwiG]

Gotcha

So are you trying to cut with the Var? Or trying to get a recomp?

Yeah, cutting on var

[< <Samson> >]

What is your total cal intake per day?

[KiwiG]

Right now I've set my plan at 1500, 500 below my estimated maintenance level. When I was doing ultra low carb, I wasn't counting every calorie. Mistake number one.

[bass]

based on your activities 2000 cals maintenance seem too be low! I did some calculations and I came up with almost 2400. you need to ramp up slowly, up by 100 cals a day two weeks at a time until you reach 2000-2100

[KiwiG]

based on your activities 2000 cals maintenance seem too be low! I did some calculations and I came up with almost 2400. you need to ramp up slowly, up by 100 cals a day two weeks at a time until you reach 2000-2100

So you think I should start by eating 2300 per day for 2 weeks, then 2200 per day for 2 weeks, then 2100 etc etc?

That seems like a lot of calories for cutting doesn't it? I always look at figure competitors diets and they seem to be under 2000 to drop body fat.

[bass]

no, since you been on low calories you need to increase slowly, instead of 1500 you need to do 1600 for two weeks, then 1700 for another two weeks and so on until you get to 2000-2100 and stay there until you achieve your goal. of course keep exercising and maintain your workouts with less cardio as mentioned previously. the reason you want to increase slowly because you been doing it wrong, way too low and you put your body in starvation mode, that's why been hanging on to the fat!

[KiwiG]

I had some serious cheat days in there too though. That's why I'm so confused as to what really caused the fat gain. The low cals, the keto diet, the refeed/cheat days, just not sure. All I know is that the outcome has been undesirable and I'm scared I have ruined seeing the benefits that var should be giving me. I started taking the var on September 10th so not all is lost I guess.

[< <Samson> >]

According to my calculations your maintenance cals should be right @ 1,800


That's going by:

Weight 145
Bf% of 18%

145(.18)=X
X(15) = 1,785

[bass]

^^^ not based on her activates. she is burning about 2400 calks, 1500 or 1800 cals ain't going to cut it.

[< <Samson> >]

^^^ not based on her activates. she is burning about 2400 calks, 1500 or 1800 cals ain't going to cut it.

True, maybe a bit

[bass]

again my calculation are only an estimate, that's why I suggested to increase slowly so she can monitor her progress.

[KiwiG]

Holy duck sh!t.... 149 pounds!! Seriously?? If I don't start losing fat soon I'm gonna start looking like a fat bodybuilder.

Stength is increasing of course. Bicep curls 30's for 10 reps now. Have quads tonight so will let you know my squat weight.

I'm not losing inches, actually gaining inches. Yes it's prob the muscle growing and no fat loss yet or even maybe some fat gain.

[bass]

hey KiwiG, het one of those Omron body fat monitors to monitor your progress. its okay to gain weight and inches as long as they are muscles, but if you're gaining fat that's because you were starving yourself, that's why I recommend to up your cals slowly to get off that mode, it may take 6-8 weeks to get back on track and may gain some weight but don't worry about it too much, you'll will be fine. how sure are you its not water retention? again I recommend macros of 50/30/20. can you post your diet?

[KiwiG]

Good idea on the Omron body fat monitor. Even if they aren't 100% accurate, at least I'll be able to see change on them.

The thing with my diet is when I switched over to the Keto way, I wasn't eating 1500 calories. I was eating around 2000 and then on cheat days, which happened 3 times in 3 weeks, I would eat a whole pizza and ice cream and protein bars and chocolate chips etc etc. Yip, you know it... So I don't think I've been starving myself, that's why I'm confused. To be honest, I think I was over eating and my body missed the carbs, stored the fats, and then stored all the carbs on my ridiculous cheat days. Comedy of errors on my part.

Here's my diet from yesterday. I use My fitness pal. Total cals were 1762. Carbs 154g. Protein 189g. Fat 40g. Ratio 34c21f45p.

Breakfast - Pre HIIT
3 tbsp egg whites
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup oats
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (dymatize iso 100)
cinnamon
1/2 cup blueberries
1/8 cup 2% fat cottage cheese
(my protein pancakes)

Lunch - post workout
1 small baked sweet potato
4 oz baked chicken breast
2 cups iceberg lettuce
1/4 cup red onion
1/4 cup shredded carrots
2 tbsps hummus

Snack - shake
1 cup baby spinach
1 scoop cinnamon casein protein powder (dymatize)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tbsp all natural almond butter

Pre-workout
1 banana
2oz plain non-fat greek yogurt
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

Post-workout - dinner
1 small red potato
4oz roast chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1 cup cauliflower
2 tbsp hummus

Bedtime
1 scoop chocolate casein protein powder
1 cup spinach
1 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
1 tbsp PB2 (powdered peanut butter with dark chocolate)

[< <Samson> >]

Watch your measurements, or use the generic electronic scanner for Bf%. They aren't accurate worth a shit, but you will see the decrease or increase in Bf.

I always cross reference waist to my bi's(I doubt this will work for a female). But, I can clearly tell where the weight is going. i.e. My waist gets bigger, yet my bi's are the same size = me getting fatter


149 < Is pretty beast mode, even @ 5'5"

Watch the extra BS you may throw in your diet. The diet you posted up is like 99.8% perfect

[Zodiac85]

Just wanted to second your comment on the electronic fat monitor. Mine reads about 2% too low, but def tracks as I lose our gain weight. It's a little better for my wife.

[bass]

yes of course the monitor is only to monitor progress. the diet looks good, remember to increase your cals every two weeks or so by increment of 100 until you reach 2000-2100 and continue your workouts.

[KiwiG]

OK, so my new scales arrived yesterday and this morning was my first 'clock in'.

147 pounds
25.5% body fat (really? I don't think so)
38% muscle

So there's light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully that 147lb keeps heading downward.

Shoulder stats yesterday = 40lb dumbbell each hand overhead press for 10 reps, no spotter. Record for me. Next week I guarantee I'll bump that up to 45's.

Quad day on Tuesday = 95lb leg extension machine for 15 reps, slow on the negative. That doesn't really show my strength I guess. I should be recording my max lifts but my training doesn't always involve max. I like to do a mixture of isometric, eccentric, drop sets etc.

I'm at 2 weeks and 2 days in my cycle and feeling the strength gains immensely. Question, I have been getting insane pumps during my workout to the point that it actually hurts. Is that normal? For instance yesterday during shoulders, I was doing cable pulls for my rear delts, and when I finished each set my shoulder felt like it was going to explode out of my skin. Same thing happened on tricep day. I couldn't extend my arm fully because of the insane pump in my tricep. I know a little is normal but I'm talking I have to stop lifting because the pump hurts haha!

Side effects = acne is driving me INSANE! But lets not forget that I probably jacked up my hormones by doing Keto for 4 weeks and I have hypothyroidism which probably multiplied the harsh effects of the Keto diet. I was talking to my bodybuilder friend at the gym yesterday and he said that the Keto diet can mess with your hormones and metabolism so badly that when you introduce carbs back into your diet your body doesn't know what to do with them and stores them all as fat. He said he's known female competitors that have been doing Keto and then they go into contest prep and their coaches have them reintroduce carbs and then they can't compete because they won't drop the fat. Lucky I only did it for 4 weeks. Hopefully I'm reversing any bad side effects quickly and can get back on track.

I want to post some before photos before my body changes too much so we can really see the difference week by week. I'm pretty impressed by my front pose, except the extra abdominal fat I've gained through my bulk, so I will make sure to get some pics done today. My shoulders have really widened, it's wicked!

[< <Samson> >]

I dunno, your back already looks better than mine. Lol


Still sounds like you're holding water. Or throwing in filler in your diet. I always wind up doing the 2nd. Just need to limit the random crap eating as much as possible.

Either way, you'll b aight

[KiwiG]

OK here's a couple pics I took this morning before heading out to the gym. Just of my arms really but we'll get to see how I progress in that area over the next couple of weeks. I will get full body pics next week. We're moving states this weekend so have been super busy.

[KiwiG]

This is my transformation so far this year. The pics aren't in order so bare with me.

1st pic is April 2013
2nd pic is February 2013
3rd pic is May 2013
4th pic is June 2013 (started bulking)

Yes I got pretty lean but I wasn't as muscular as I needed to be and I actually lost muscle because I was doing far too much cardio.

Hopefully December 2013's pics will be fitness model/figure comp ready :-)

[bass]

looking good kiddo! based on the pic looks like you put on some weight but not necessarily fat, it could be water. just follow your diet and workout as you have outlined in your previous post and you should be g2g.

[< <Samson> >]

Agreed, 140++ But, you sure don't look fat at all.

Water weight, possibly within organs. Last time I went off the gear, I lost 10 pounds. No size, no fat no nothing. But, the weight was gone.

Focus more on strength & measurements. Weight(specially on sauce) is not 100% relevant.


From the looks of it you're not that far off from competition status.

[KiwiG]

Agreed, 140++ But, you sure don't look fat at all.

Water weight, possibly within organs. Last time I went off the gear, I lost 10 pounds. No size, no fat no nothing. But, the weight was gone.

Focus more on strength & measurements. Weight(specially on sauce) is not 100% relevant.


From the looks of it you're not that far off from competition status.

Oh trust me, a lot of it is fat. To give you an idea, when I ended my cut in June, I measured 96cms around the widest part of my butt. I'm now measuring 105cms.... Now its not all fat since I did increase my deadlifts from 170lbs to 225lbs, naturally, in 4 months. And my face has gotten fatter haha!

So I just really hope I can remove the excess fat and reveal the hard work in 8 more weeks. Is that pushing it you think? I'm hoping to lose 1.5lbs of fat per week. I just hope I haven't stuffed my metabolism.

[zodia]

Hey kiwi. I know you are taking var to cut, I'm taking to bulk, bit just curious what kind of results you are seeing on bench, squat, and dl.

[< <Samson> >]

1.5 a week I think us doable. You don't have much of whatever weight it is to lose.

Run something alongside like phenternine or a EC stack.

& b12