Cycle Diet Help

[trainhard82]

On my first cycle and have increased my macros but a lot of it is basically me just throwing together what looks like it would work. Was looking for some advice/tweaks. 29 years old, 235lbs, 15% BF.

[Back In Black]

What's the cycle and what are your goals?

[--->>405<<---]

hows it going man? welcome to the forum.. IMO u should be 10-12%bf when starting a cycle.. im assuming ur bulking? if so and ur ok with ur bf% now and would be ok with it going up higher than it is based on ur stats u should be eating 4000cals..

ur fats are too high IMO (approx 30% total cals).. id bring it down to 20% at least if not 15%.. ur protein and carbs need to go up to 400g a piece.. carbs r ur friend while bulking ..

id prob do:

4000cals
400g pro
450g carbs
67g fat

giving u a 40/45/15 pro/carb/fat split...

also 1/2 gallon milk per day is a lot of sugar.. id reduce it to maybe 16oz..

also what is "torrent"??

[trainhard82]

hows it going man? welcome to the forum.. IMO u should be 10-12%bf when starting a cycle.. im assuming ur bulking? if so and ur ok with ur bf% now and would be ok with it going up higher than it is based on ur stats u should be eating 4000cals..

ur fats are too high IMO (approx 30% total cals).. id bring it down to 20% at least if not 15%.. ur protein and carbs need to go up to 400g a piece.. carbs r ur friend while bulking ..

id prob do:

4000cals
400g pro
450g carbs
67g fat

giving u a 40/45/15 pro/carb/fat split...

also 1/2 gallon milk per day is a lot of sugar.. id reduce it to maybe 16oz..

also what is "torrent"??

Torrent is a post workout blend by Universal. Its just convenient to chug right after a workout and has a pretty decent profile. To be completely honest my goal is to decrease BF% but due to being on a cycle i figured it wouldnt make sense to go into a caloric deficit and waste the possible gains from the cycle. This is my first cycle so i am extremely new to a lot of this and could be way off in my thinking hence the thread creation ;-) I am currently cycling 300mg a week of Sustanon 250. Just a small starter cycle for 12 weeks. Today will be the start of week 5 and already seen a huge increase in strength. I do agree i should have gotten a little lower on the BF% before starting but i started at the same time as a buddy so it is what it is. I used to be the type to drink protein shakes all day long and maybe only have whole food for dinner so i am trying to go pretty much the opposite and eat all day and maybe only have like one shake. I work an office job so its not too tough to stick with the meal timing. The hardest thing i find is eating a lot in the morning. I added the milk to help increase the calories but really wouldnt mind bringing it down as a half gallon a day has been pretty rough to get down and continue to stay hungry all day. Ideally i would like to be around 215lbs at 10-12%.

[--->>405<<---]

300mg per week of sust is a smallish dose and not what id consider to be a good cycle dose.. im on TRT and at one point was taking 240mg per week of test cyp.. currently im on 160mg per week.. if u wanna reduce bodyfat then ur gonna want to cut.. in order to take full advantage of the sust for cycle purposes IMO u should at least be at 400mg per week but even better 500mg per week.. im not saying to increase it now just telling u what a good cycle dose is.. (which u prob already know)..

u could use the sust to maintain ur LBM while cutting and depending how long uve been lifting and how correctly uve been eating maybe add some muscle while dropping fat

[trainhard82]

300mg per week of sust is a smallish dose and not what id consider to be a good cycle dose.. im on TRT and at one point was taking 240mg per week of test cyp.. currently im on 160mg per week.. if u wanna reduce bodyfat then ur gonna want to cut.. in order to take full advantage of the sust for cycle purposes IMO u should at least be at 400mg per week but even better 500mg per week.. im not saying to increase it now just telling u what a good cycle dose is.. (which u prob already know)..

u could use the sust to maintain ur LBM while cutting and depending how long uve been lifting and how correctly uve been eating maybe add some muscle while dropping fat

The problem was i was only able to get 10ml of Sust at 300mg/ml so i figured 10 weeks at 300mg a week for first cycle. I now find out i can get another 10ml if i want so i was thinking of moving to 500mg starting this week and throughout until 12 weeks is done. I have been lifting since i was a teenager but "properly" lifting for over 5 years now. The diet has always been the concern though. it was so easy years ago to hit the gym hard and still go out drinking and eat pizzas and subs and whatnot and stay lean. Now that i am 29 not so much. Have since avoided the drinking to only special occasions and really tried to lock down a steady diet that i can stick to week in and week out. The top post is what i have been running now for over a month. Would you stick with that even for a cut or should i adjust even those macros? Do people really aim to cut while ON cycle?

[--->>405<<---]

i know what u mean about diet and leanness im 37..

ur situation is kind of interesting.. ur bf% is too high to run a cycle IMO and the amt of gear ur using is not really adequate IMO.. objectively my suggestion would be to stop the cycle now, pct, then cut down to 10%bf and during this time learn as much as u can about diet and gear..

the way i see it ur not in a position to take advantage of a bulk due to ur bf% and u may experience some negative sides as well.. and u also dont need the gear to successfully cut down to 10%.. it kinda seems as though ur really wasting the sust.. im not saying it would do u no good but i dont think the little bit of good itll do u rite now is worth the risk.. prob not what u want to hear but i believe its the situation..

a good rule of thumb is to start a bulk @10%bf and cut once u reach 15%..

i suggest u seek the advice of others as well

[trainhard82]

i know what u mean about diet and leanness im 37..

ur situation is kind of interesting.. ur bf% is too high to run a cycle IMO and the amt of gear ur using is not really adequate IMO.. objectively my suggestion would be to stop the cycle now, pct, then cut down to 10%bf and during this time learn as much as u can about diet and gear..

the way i see it ur not in a position to take advantage of a bulk due to ur bf% and u may experience some negative sides as well.. and u also dont need the gear to successfully cut down to 10%.. it kinda seems as though ur really wasting the sust.. im not saying it would do u no good but i dont think the little bit of good itll do u rite now is worth the risk.. prob not what u want to hear but i believe its the situation..

a good rule of thumb is to start a bulk @10%bf and cut once u reach 15%..

i suggest u seek the advice of others as well

I have been considering stopping as well but mainly due to research i have done since starting the cycle. I researched plenty about PCT and starter cycles and all that but really didnt know the low BF% rule of thumb. I figured gear would help you reach the low BF% quicker! Rookie mistake on my end. Also a friend was starting this at the same time so i figured what the hell can a light cycle really hurt...

The more I read forums on here it really seems as if the belief is diet is everything and that with the right diet you can easily get down to 10% and still have a great physique and then gear comes into play to take you to the next level ie. past plateaus.

If i were to stop now only a little over 4 weeks in at 300mg a week what would be a proper PCT? I have been taking liquidex as an AI and have Nolva on hand. What would be the proper way to PCT to not only keep the slight strength gains i have gained already but also to avoid any risk/sides?

I am curious as to others advice as well but i do appreciate everything so far!

[trainhard82]

Anyone else that can help me out? Really curious on peoples input with similar situations as mine.

[--->>405<<---]

train sorry it took so long dude i was off today and played golf with a buddy typically i believe pct is 4 weeks.. i suggest u go to the steroids Q and A forum to get better advice.. this is technically a diet forum.. other peoples' advice is def something i recommend.. i do stand behind what i said and dont think u could go wrong but im not extremely well versed in cycling.. im on TRT and have knowledge of test that way and understand the concept of cycling cuz i lookd into it myself but there are def people who know more than i do and i believe u will find them in the steroid forum..

most guys use nolvadex and clomid for pct.. the dosage u can get in that forum

also ur rite diet is @80% IMO.. my lifting routine and cardio didnt change a lot but when i changed my diet i went from a fat 213lbs 22%bf to a lean 185lbs 10%bf

[trainhard82]

train sorry it took so long dude i was off today and played golf with a buddy typically i believe pct is 4 weeks.. i suggest u go to the steroids Q and A forum to get better advice.. this is technically a diet forum.. other peoples' advice is def something i recommend.. i do stand behind what i said and dont think u could go wrong but im not extremely well versed in cycling.. im on TRT and have knowledge of test that way and understand the concept of cycling cuz i lookd into it myself but there are def people who know more than i do and i believe u will find them in the steroid forum..

most guys use nolvadex and clomid for pct.. the dosage u can get in that forum

also ur rite diet is @80% IMO.. my lifting routine and cardio didnt change a lot but when i changed my diet i went from a fat 213lbs 22%bf to a lean 185lbs 10%bf

What did you change about your diet to get some a dramatic BF% loss? Also what was the timeframe for that type of loss? Thats really impressive and definitely where i wanna be. The good thing for me is i have no problem eating the same thing day in and day out so once i have a plan laid out i should be able to stick to it pretty good. Just a matter of getting that plan correct.....

[--->>405<<---]

i changed everything! LOL..

read stickies:

dieting 101:cutting
tdee

also i ran a 950cal deficit from my tdee for about 4-5 months eating @2150cals at:
300g pro
100g carbs
55g fat

that got me to @ 12% ish and after that i went into a 7day carb cycle to get down to 10%.. from there i switched carb cycle styles to ud2.0 and (according to the calipers my wife does on me weekly) i went from just under 10% down to 7.8% at my lowest..

for u id suggest strait low carb (after pct of course) until it slows or stops and then switch to cycling carbs.. always wanna do the simplest thing first.. combine this with am fasted cardio and u should see good results.. i was and still am a bit anal when it comes to carb choices.. a lot of guys use many difft carbs and they may work fine but with myself i just went with what i knew was gonna work cuz i didnt wanna waste any time with trial and error.. all i ate was oatmeal and sweet potatoes and green veggies for all my carbs until i went on ud2.0..

[trainhard82]

Thats impressive in 4-5 months. Just goes to show what dedication to dieting can do! How did affect your results in the gym? Did your lifts stay the same/go down? I guess if the result in the mirror continues to improve who cares how much you can lift right?

[fatluke_nofx]

Hey 405, sorry to hijack this threat slightly. Can you qucikly explain carb cycleing- the hows and when to. Im interested and would like to see some rough numbers of a basic carb cycle.

Also trainhard82, I just breifly browsed the thread and saw you only were takin 300mg of sus a week and only for 6 weeks. That wont do anything helpful! Its recomended 500mg a week minimum and at least 12 weeks. And you never should start a cycle unless you have all of your gear and pct on hand dude! Id recomend stoping until you are fully equiped. (just my opinion though).

So carb cycling......

[--->>405<<---]

Thats impressive in 4-5 months. Just goes to show what dedication to dieting can do! How did affect your results in the gym? Did your lifts stay the same/go down? I guess if the result in the mirror continues to improve who cares how much you can lift right?

bear in mind i also started TRT 1month into my cut.. my test levels have never been superphysiologic (a doc term i kinda like )but im sure it helped me.. having low test levels causes ur body to store fat it wouldnt necessarily have if ur levels were proper.. so it helped my "handicap" so to speak but im sure it also contributed if for no other reason it enabled me to accumulate some muscle i was unable to accumulate prior due to the low levels i had.. xtra muscle = higher BMR..

as far as the gym goes i actially got stronger! i was unable to do 5chins before (although i could rep 275 on the bench 5 times) but now i can do 4sets of 10 on chins.. some of which are weighted

as far as low carbs goes i didnt really notice much diff in terms of being able to lift.. i think my body does fairly well on low carbs.. some people dont.. only way to know is to try.. one thing ive learned fairly recently is the process in which the body mobilizes fat into the blood to be burned.. according to the author (who is very knowledgeable and respected) ur body does best at mobilizing fat when carbs are kept to 20% of total cals or less.. hence low carb diets and their effectiveness.. the reason being: higher percentage of carbs cause insulin to be released into the blood to stabilize blood glucose levels.. insulin pretty much stops fat mobilization in its tracks...

[--->>405<<---]

Hey 405, sorry to hijack this threat slightly. Can you qucikly explain carb cycleing- the hows and when to. Im interested and would like to see some rough numbers of a basic carb cycle.

Also trainhard82, I just breifly browsed the thread and saw you only were takin 300mg of sus a week and only for 6 weeks. That wont do anything helpful! Its recomended 500mg a week minimum and at least 12 weeks. And you never should start a cycle unless you have all of your gear and pct on hand dude! Id recomend stoping until you are fully equiped. (just my opinion though).

So carb cycling......

hey man i have no prob talking to u bout carb cycling but i suggest u start a thread of ur own

[trainhard82]

as far as low carbs goes i didnt really notice much diff in terms of being able to lift.. i think my body does fairly well on low carbs.. some people dont.. only way to know is to try.. one thing ive learned fairly recently is the process in which the body mobilizes fat into the blood to be burned.. according to the author (who is very knowledgeable and respected) ur body does best at mobilizing fat when carbs are kept to 20% of total cals or less.. hence low carb diets and their effectiveness.. the reason being: higher percentage of carbs cause insulin to be released into the blood to stabilize blood glucose levels.. insulin pretty much stops fat mobilization in its tracks...

I have noticed in the past when i do low carbs i lose a lot of BF and stay a lot leaner. Almost everywhere you read though says when lifting heavy and getting stronger to take in more carbs than protein which for a guy my size ends up being close to 300g of carbs a day! I am starting to think a lifestyle diet with low carbs and high protein/fat may be the way to go. Maybe the high carb intake is for power lifters/bodybuilders looking to really lift heavy. A guy like me who is happy benching 315 and looking lean probably can get away with low carbs no?

[--->>405<<---]

low carbs isnt necessarily a lifestyle.. its a diet style to get to the level of leanness u want to be.. once there u add carbs back into ur diet.. some people can add more in than others.. i noticed with myself adding them back didnt cause me to gain fat.. the fat i had previously was from the ice cream and cheeseburgers and chickn wings

clean maintenance cals from carbs will usually not cause u to get fat.. getting slack and not working out and eating like crap will!

[trainhard82]

low carbs isnt necessarily a lifestyle.. its a diet style to get to the level of leanness u want to be.. once there u add carbs back into ur diet.. some people can add more in than others.. i noticed with myself adding them back didnt cause me to gain fat.. the fat i had previously was from the ice cream and cheeseburgers and chickn wings

clean maintenance cals from carbs will usually not cause u to get fat.. getting slack and not working out and eating like crap will!

To be 100% honest i would say my weakness is going out. It happens probably 2-3 times a week. Go out with friends to watch sports or just to hang out turns into eating out (which is always greasy food) and also usually leads to 5-6 tall drinks. My guess is each one of those nights alone adds in 2k+ cals of unhealthy/empty calories.

I hit the gym hard 5-6 days a week and eat clean the rest of the time but those nights out are probably what kill me diet-wise. In my head i get to the point though where i go through the "what fun is being low low bf% if i can no longer enjoy going out and having fun with friends" Not really the same being the guy sitting there drinking waters and eating salad. Maybe its just something i need to get over. I do have a kid on the way so i am sure those nights out are going to be few and far between soon...

[--->>405<<---]

congrats on the kid.. also u can still go out and have fun.. what id do if i were u is stop the cycle, pct, cut, then go to maintenance for a spell to see how u do staying lower in bf and instead of going out 3x per week cut it down to 1x per week.. then u can still have both.. 1 cheat meal per week is no prob to maintain 10%bf IMO..

when ur cutting if u can try to limit going out thru ur cut.. 12 weeks ought to be enuff to get from 15% close to 10% if u do it right.. tuff it out and focus on ur cut and ur future baby and prob after 12 weeks u may have settled in a bit and once per week wont sem that bad!

and ur rite it will be harder to go out as often once u have the baby.. itll be family time then which is a good thing..

[trainhard82]

I started reading a lot of the stickies yesterday and think i have a pretty good plan to lose BF%. I am going to research a little more and then i will post it up here. This will be the end of week 5 of my cycle and the 10ml bottle of sust I have is really only enough for around 8 weeks at the dosing I have been taking (300-400mg a week). I am just going to finish the bottle over the next 3 weeks, PCT, and then really focus on a solid cut diet. In the meantime I am also going to drop the carbs a little and only have complex carbs in the morning and pre workout. The rest of my carb intake will be fiborous carbs like veggies and some waxy maize post workout. I will keep protein high to keep the muscle building in place for the cycle so this should keep me in good shape. I havent been doing much cardio other than playing basketball with friends so once my cut starts I will probably look to do some first thing AM running a couple days a week.

[t-gunz]

mate no need for others input i agree with 405 110% will always back what he says. hes one of the best here that practise what he preachers

take the advice and get the ball rolling mate.

start a log so u can be accountable for. will help u from slipping off.

im at 15% and as much as id love to add mass im not happy with my bf%

best of luck

[--->>405<<---]

t gunz u give me too much credit!

train i dont think another 3 weeks will make or break u so do what u think u should.. be sure to get good proper pct advice and make sure u have a good diet while on pct to keep whatever gains u acquire.. the waxy maize ive heard of but never researched but see no advantage to it over oats or a good complex carb.. good luck!

will be looking for that cutting diet

[trainhard82]

Ok so after spending a lot of time in the stickies (watched all of the Milos Sarcev videos) here is what i have come up with. At 6'0" 240lbs and 29 years old my BMR is 2277.97 and my TDEE is 3530.8535.

Using the tips in Milos video I have come up with the following plan as I would classify myself as an Endomorph (hard to lose weight) and I work an office job and lift after work:



This is almost a 1k deficit which I am concerned may be too much but at the same time meets my protein needs (1.5xbodyweight) and is only adding starchy carbs in the morning and pre/post workout. 240 is too heavy for me at the current BF% I am at. I need to hit up a bod pod to get an exact reading but my guess is 18-20% at this point.

I also never do cardio and after reading your thread about your transformation 405 I decided this is a must add. I am going to look at adding fasted/morning cardio 3 days a week and some post workout as well. This along with the diet should melt the fat off and lower my BF% over time. Thoughts?

[--->>405<<---]

not familiar with kashi... have heard of it but dont know where it falls as far as how itll affect blood glucose levels.. u dont want spikes.. personally while cutting i stick to 3 carb choices.. period.. oats, sweet pot, brn rice.. thats it! boring? yes.. proven effective? yes.. same with the torrent.. dont know bout it..

other than that ur cals look good.. i think ur deficit is close to where it should be.. i ran mine @950cal deficit..

personally id have the peanut butter before bed with cottage cheese and add a protein pre workout and id have a sweet pot instead of bread..

fasted cardio 3x per week to start sounds good esp if ur doing none.. 5days per week would be better! id go 45mins

also with cardio throw in 2 sessions like this per week:

5min warmup
10min HIIT
5 min complete rest
30-40min moderate
5min cooldown

[trainhard82]

In my mind the deficit is only relative right? What i mean is right now it is about a 1k deficit because i weigh so much but lets say i get to 215 well then my TDEE would be 3288.7745 which is now almost 300 cals less a day which means my cut would only be 700 deficit. Of course i would then need to adjust daily protein to only 322.5g a day instead of the current 360 so this would change things as well. I guess its all just a constant cycle and making sure as you lose weight you update your TDEE and correct macros and everything should fall into place no?

[--->>405<<---]

personally i base tdee on the katch/mcardle formula and not the one in the sticky at the top (harris benedict i think).. they both tend to be close and the harris benedict actually has ur tdee lower based on ur projected bf% of 235lbs 15%bf..

if ur 240lbs @20%bf ur tdee drops to 3489..

id use katch and not harris.. LBM to gauge tdee is better than total weight IMO..

google katch/mcardle and use it from now on.. then even if ur total weight drops and ur bf% drops but ur LBM stays the same u will still eat the same amt cals.. i ate the same amt at 213 as i did at 185.. because my LBM actually increased slightly (but not enuff to warrant a modification).. now i cut at 2200 as opposed to 2150 which is where i cut weighing 25lbs more than i do now..

[trainhard82]

I will be away next week so it will be difficult to stick to a diet plan but starting 6/18 i plan on starting the new diet I posted. I will use this thread as a way to log and also have you guys keep on me and make sure i dont cheat/slack similar to what happened with you 405! I want to say every year I go through a phase like this where i get motivated but I want to make this year the year I actually stick with it and make the commitment. I can only imagine what a confidence boost 10% BF would be especially if i can get there by Oct 21 which is when I turn 30!

[JOCKSOX]

Great info for me here too. Thank you all for the help.

DUDE.

[trainhard82]

Cut Diet started yesterday. Went pretty well but i forgot to pack a couple things for work so i missed out on a couple macros. Macros for the day were 2448cals/180carbs/57fat/249protein . Only about 70g of those carbs were starch carbs (40 from cereal/30 from rice). My last starch carb was at 1pm and by 8pm I was starving despite continuing to eat throughout the day. This will be a little different on lifting days as my post workout shake will have a good 50 carbs in it and will be around 630pm. Scale weight was 235 in the morning but still don't have a BF% measurement yet. Looking to keep my macros at 2600cals/180carbs/60fat/350protein for this cut and looking to get down to 205 and then see how it looks. Also trying to make sure to get my cardio days in but at the same time i am a little weary of say 45min cardio days with the caloric deficit i am already on (a little over 1k a day) if i then burn say another 500 calories with cardio i don't want to be depleting my body too much. Am i wrong in this thinking?

[--->>405<<---]

^^ ur tdee takes into account weekly activity.. Including cardio.. Do it..

[trainhard82]

^^ ur tdee takes into account weekly activity.. Including cardio.. Do it..

I still plan on doing cardio just trying to do say 45 minutes of cardio after an hour lifting workout seems insane. Was planning on the following Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat weights Tue/Thu/Sun cardio

[--->>405<<---]

do ur cardio in the am fasted.. u can throw in pwo cardio for say 25-30 mins here and there but get in 4-5 days of am fasted cardio.. mix it up.. add in some intervals and moderate combined

[trainhard82]

Macros for yesterday were 2600cals/180carbs/65fat/340protein. At this point I feel like as long as I prep my meals the night before it should be simple to stick to this diet. We will see how the weekend goes though as that is what is going to be difficult with the wife always wanting to go out to dinner and also I usually sleep in later than a normal work week so that messes up meal timing. I felt a little weaker at the gym yesterday but i am sure that was due to taking a week off from lifting last week. Still need to add the cardio in but I am waiting until i get some running shoes so i can start getting into good running shape which is something i miss. Plus you cant beat running outside in this nice summer weather.

[trainhard82]

On a side note. I started looking up macros on foods i was eating before and not i know why i was having a hard time cutting down BF%. One meal out alone is easily 3-4k calories and a ton of carbs and not much protein. I am talking say you are with your wife and split an appetizer (calamari), then you order chicken alfredo for dinner with bread of course, and then finish it with some kind of dessert. Thats only one meal and your whole daily macros are destroyed. You maybe consumed 50g of protein if you are lucky and about 250g carbs lol. Scary to think how high in cals/fat/carbs pretty much any meal is.

[trainhard82]

Macros for yesterday were 2059cals/123carbs/57fat/281protein. Pretty low but this will be expected as i am skipping my PWO meal 3 days a week as i only lift 4 days a week. I should probably look at substituting my PWO meal with say another protein/veggie meal. In a way this would be like carb cycling because i am missing out on 50g of carbs on days i dont lift. Still a little concerned that my calories are a little too low but i guess as long as my protein stays above 1g per lb of body weight i should be ok no?

[--->>405<<---]

On a side note. I started looking up macros on foods i was eating before and not i know why i was having a hard time cutting down BF%. One meal out alone is easily 3-4k calories and a ton of carbs and not much protein. I am talking say you are with your wife and split an appetizer (calamari), then you order chicken alfredo for dinner with bread of course, and then finish it with some kind of dessert. Thats only one meal and your whole daily macros are destroyed. You maybe consumed 50g of protein if you are lucky and about 250g carbs lol. Scary to think how high in cals/fat/carbs pretty much any meal is.

yeh any time u eat out chances r the meal is gonna be loaded with fat and carbs and not much protein.. this is why u should limit it to one meal per week.. personally when starting a cut id go a couple weeks before having a cheat just to get in the habit of proper diet and establish eating for the rite reason (results not pleasure)

[--->>405<<---]

Macros for yesterday were 2059cals/123carbs/57fat/281protein. Pretty low but this will be expected as i am skipping my PWO meal 3 days a week as i only lift 4 days a week. I should probably look at substituting my PWO meal with say another protein/veggie meal. In a way this would be like carb cycling because i am missing out on 50g of carbs on days i dont lift. Still a little concerned that my calories are a little too low but i guess as long as my protein stays above 1g per lb of body weight i should be ok no?

personally i dont eat any different on "off" days than i do workout days except when running a carb cycle.. u need the nutrition to repair damage dun on workout days.. some people drop carbs but i dont.. the way i see it if im gonna carb cycle im gonna do it hardcore... (3days no carbs, 3 days moderate, 1 day high .. not in that order )

[trainhard82]

I have zero desire to throw a cheat meal in for a while. No events coming up that will require it either which is nice. I really want to stick with this and see where it can take me. 10 minutes after i devour a pizza or steak and cheese sub i feel miserable and its not worth it. Looking in the mirror and seeing a ripped physique to me is way more satisfying. I have almost had a couple moments of weakness this week when my pregnant wife is cooking pasta and other goodies at night and i am carb depleted and just want to eat it all but i have stopped myself and just ate my chicken and greens and felt fine afterwards. So far it seems to be all about just fighting the urges to cheat.

[trainhard82]

I also downloaded the MyFitnessPal app for my Android which works pretty well. Their database of foods is pretty good and even has protein shakes in it. It is also helpful if you were to think about say driving to McDonalds or something where you can look up the macros ahead of time so you dont cheat too bad. Plus it keeps you honest by having to log everything you eat and is helpful when comparing macros day by day.