My Food Plan for Constructive Criticism

[IronClydes]

222.2 pounds this morning. 2 weeks into this 1000 calorie cut while cycling low carbs at less than half my maintenance. I have also increased cardio to allow more consumption throughout. Still no noticeable visible difference from myself, my wife, or fellow competitors. 222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

Was shocked to weigh in less than the day before after that huge cheat meal last night. I was dehydrated and had used bathroom twice since, however.

I have to say i am not sure I want to maintain this difficult calorie restriction given the absence of any results so far.

Changes in training take about 6 weeks to be realized in growth or the lack therein. However, changes in diet have immediate effects and are generally noticed rather quickly. Especially when they are as drastic as cutting 35% of my calories and halving my carb intake while cycling. I really feel I should have noticed some visible changes and weight loss...but a 1-1.5 loss that may or may not be fat? Unsure.

I am looking forward to the results of increasing my blast dosage 40%, from 500-700 a week! I am, however, concerned with metabolic damage from an aggressive calories restriction. I am considering following Marcus's advice and cycling from maintenance. But, I am unsure of his approach and awaiting his response to my last response to him on this thread. There is a chance we are actually taking the same route, just using different directional cues.

I will repost my response for any who know his intent better and can clarify.

Also, any feedback on where I am is respected. Perhaps I am being too anxious and need to ride this aggressive restriction out longer? Just afraid of metabolic damage and also muscle loss. Plus, on this dose of a blast, I don't want to waste growth potential trying to cut without results in either area: no fat loss, no muscle gain. I prefer to cut fat right now, but if that's not working, at least gaining the muscle from the blast would be a win. Maybe I need to salvage this in that way and return to at least a maintenance dose via reverse dieting (increase 100 daily up to maintenance) in case damage was done to my metabolism.

Thoughts welcome. I have a thick skin. Don't worry about how I will take your feedback. I know I am impatient, inexperienced (read a lot though), and stubborn.

Thanks guys!

222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

[IronClydes]

Personally I wouldn't do anything drastic like dropping cals to harsh which will have a negative effect on your muscle tissue, ive seen it time and time again its muscle tissue suicide and imho these calorie restricted diets what many go on are disaster for retaining muscle tissue but great at cutting fat, now for me muscle tissue maintenance is the number one priority even in a cut or a bulk. Putting muscle tissue on is so fuking hard there is no way in hell I will waste it away with some of these stupid calorie restricted diets what someone posts or copies out of books. Everyone is different and responds in different ways so the first thing you need to do is see how your body responds and learn from this to contrast a plan to suit your goals but the priority is muscle reservation no matter what your goal. TDEE calculators are all over the internet so work out what yours comes in at and monitor yourself over the next 7-10 days if your not gaining or losing weight that's your sweet spot to work from, if things are moving in one direction or another change things up until you find your sweet spot of maintenance then work off that to suit your goals. First thing I would do is keep your cals the same but introduce a cardio regime what will put you in a deficit which will start the leaning process off while maintaining your tissue. Once you have come to a brick wall with your gains increase the cardio and slowly drop some of your cals, a carb cycling approach like ive shown you will do wonders IMHO and will also help to maintain your tissue which is key remember you don't want to lose all that weight and a load of muscle tissue which is very common that's why so many go around in circles of gaining and losing and never end up going any further forward because they are stuck or don't know how to cut properly, they just read out of book how you should cut but we are all different and that's why monitoring your response and how your body reacts is key.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge, Marcus. That means a lot. It appears that when you use cardio to increase fat loss, you don't consider those burned calories earned for re-consumption? I'm assuming then that you find your maintenance accounting for the extra calories burned weight lifting. Following this, if you are cutting at maintenance, then he cardio actually puts you into a caloric deficit. For instance, if I ran 45 minutes I'd then be in about a 700 calorie deficit. So, what I am currently doing is similar to your approach. I start with a 1000 deficit, but then I earn about 300 calories weightlifting and 5-700 doing cardio. This increases my consumption to my maintenance level. Seems we are just approaching from different sides and serving at the same result. My calculated TDEE does not account for weight lifting calorie needs, it is just my baseline without exercise. The only difference is that I've jumped right into carb cycling with a cardio induced caloric deficit. Whereas you recommend doing carb cycling after the cardio induced deficit has ceased to produce results. Am I following this all correctly? If so, it appears I could already be following your recommendations, just calculated the steps differently. 225, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

Since Marcus has been away and not on the forums much lately, anyone that knows his response to this, please chime in. Even through your advice and experience at me. I am learning.....slowly.

222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

[MR-FQ320]

Was shocked to weigh in less than the day before after that huge cheat meal last night. I was dehydrated and had used bathroom twice since, however.

I have to say i am not sure I want to maintain this difficult calorie restriction given the absence of any results so far.

Changes in training take about 6 weeks to be realized in growth or the lack therein. However, changes in diet have immediate effects and are generally noticed rather quickly. Especially when they are as drastic as cutting 35% of my calories and halving my carb intake while cycling. I really feel I should have noticed some visible changes and weight loss...but a 1-1.5 loss that may or may not be fat? Unsure.

I am looking forward to the results of increasing my blast dosage 40%, from 500-700 a week! I am, however, concerned with metabolic damage from an aggressive calories restriction. I am considering following Marcus's advice and cycling from maintenance. But, I am unsure of his approach and awaiting his response to my last response to him on this thread. There is a chance we are actually taking the same route, just using different directional cues.

I will repost my response for any who know his intent better and can clarify.

Also, any feedback on where I am is respected. Perhaps I am being too anxious and need to ride this aggressive restriction out longer? Just afraid of metabolic damage and also muscle loss. Plus, on this dose of a blast, I don't want to waste growth potential trying to cut without results in either area: no fat loss, no muscle gain. I prefer to cut fat right now, but if that's not working, at least gaining the muscle from the blast would be a win. Maybe I need to salvage this in that way and return to at least a maintenance dose via reverse dieting (increase 100 daily up to maintenance) in case damage was done to my metabolism.

Thoughts welcome. I have a thick skin. Don't worry about how I will take your feedback. I know I am impatient, inexperienced (read a lot though), and stubborn.

Thanks guys!

222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

Bro, I whole heartedly disagree with you here, when i first strted out and learning about dieting as a live human guinea pig, it took me 6 months for the penny to drop, and five / six years later I'm still mastering dieting techniquies. Have you been independantgly researching ANY of the terms and / or science behind any of this ? Anyway my point was that it takes three weeks to get into 'fat burning zone', you are being impatient and wanting instant results

[IronClydes]

Bro, I whole heartedly disagree with you here, when i first strted out and learning about dieting as a live human guinea pig, it took me 6 months for the penny to drop, and five / six years later I'm still mastering dieting techniquies. Have you been independantgly researching ANY of the terms and / or science behind any of this ? Anyway my point was that it takes three weeks to get into 'fat burning zone', you are being impatient and wanting instant results

I thought I was being impatient, just hearing a lot of other things. And, yes, you'd be surprised to know how many conflicting sources of information there is on what you are recommending. I have been researching, just hard to know who is right as they are so opposite.

Cheat meal : date with wifey - perfect. Order what you want, starters mains desserts, no or little alcohol.

The 100g is tough and it's something to aim for, I would be tempted to give you more slack on the 200g days.

Eat cheat meal and reassess after next workout.

I obviously forgot the alcohol part, two whiskeys...noted for next time!

What do you think about 3 days at 115 and 1 at 315, then repeat? This follows Marcus's advice of 3 days @ 40% below maintenance, followed by 1 @ 15% above maintenance and repeat. He then said you could lenthen the low days up to 5 as needed for results.

The science behind the refeed is basically ; reset hormones and metabolism to base values. Have faith. Watch what happens. Report back.

What did you mean by watching what happens? Felt great and could have ate more than that 3,400 calorie meal. lol

^^^^ ok Tduff, hopefully words are with me a little better today and I can explain more clearly and you the benefit of my experience.

Because you are on cycle, fat loss and muscle growth can and should be accelerated during carb cycling, the results are only limited by the numbers involved, I believe that 4*100 low and 3* 200 high could be more suitable for somebody who is not on cycle or on TRT dosages. Just my thoughts, let's get you in the groove and see what's happening. I just don't want to waste any time while on cycle.

So, what did you feel was more suitable for someone on TRT and currently at cycle dosages then? More I assume?

Back side

Attachment 156842

225, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

I actually don't look as cut or pumped as I did in this photo. Things are going the wrong way so far. Too soon maybe...

I start my cut usually around 210 215lba...i eat about 150gm of carbs and once a week refeed with about 600gm of carbs...when i get further into the diet i introduce the carb cycling and will do 100, 150, 200 and still one day of re-feed...my fat lose calories are about 2200cal per day...this works for me and has for a long time, but now that i am gettin golder i fid it harder to make progress at these numbers...

Man, these numbers sound much more appetizing. lol 100, 150, 200, then refeed 600 once a week.

[MR-FQ320]

I thought I was being impatient, just hearing a lot of other things. And, yes, you'd be surprised to know how many conflicting sources of information there is on what you are recommending. I have been researching, just hard to know who is right as they are so opposite.

Give me an example



I obviously forgot the alcohol part, two whiskeys...noted for next time!thats 48 hours of impaired liver and kidney function, you might as well not bother lifting for two days now

What do you think about 3 days at 115 and 1 at 315, then repeat? This follows Marcus's advice of 3 days @ 40% below maintenance, followed by 1 @ 15% above maintenance and repeat. He then said you could lenthen the low days up to 5 as needed for results. sounds plausible, I was going to recomend 5 at 100 and two at 250



What did you mean by watching what happens? Felt great and could have ate more than that 3,400 calorie meal. lol [b] you said you weighed less ? , i think you should have eaten more then, listen to your body[b]



So, what did you feel was more suitable for someone on TRT and currently at cycle dosages then? More I assume? I cannot comment on TRT, but i dont understand the conservative blast figures at all, i dont understand why its taken this long to nail a diet when your already on the juice



I actually don't look as cut or pumped as I did in this photo. Things are going the wrong way so far. Too soon maybe... you wont, youre in calorie deficit, cut, bulk, cut, bulk, cut bulk, cut , bulk



Man, these numbers sound much more appetizing. lol 100, 150, 200, then refeed 600 once a week. in the name of experimentation try it out, let me know how you get on

All parameters are infinitely variable, highly person dependant, my methods i advise worked for me, I am surprised you are seeing nothing, change something if you must, Plan , Do , Check , Act , repeat

[MR-FQ320]

If you didn't lose any fat in 4 days at 100g carbs, how can you expect to lose fat in three days at 115g ??????????????

[MR-FQ320]

How's it gone this week ? How many high / low days and what numbers did u shoot ? Is it cheat meal and weigh in tonight ?

[IronClydes]

How's it gone this week ? How many high / low days and what numbers did u shoot ? Is it cheat meal and weigh in tonight ?

I really thought it over and talked it over with my wife. I decided I'd rather make the best out of my blast focused on muscle growth. So, I'm on a slight bulk now until the blast ends. Then I'm cutting back to 20% below tdee. I'm currently 10% over tdee.

This cut with the carb cycling was overkill for me. Work, home, and gym life got to a point I wasn't comfortable staying at. Super irritable. I have never had a caloric intake that low and carb cycling on top of that for the first time just nuked me.

I am going to ease into the cut at less of a caloric deficit following this blast's completion.

Here are my progress photos as if yesterday:

Attachment 157201

[IronClydes]

I really thought it over and talked it over with my wife. I decided I'd rather make the best out of my blast focused on muscle growth. So, I'm on a slight bulk now until the blast ends. Then I'm cutting back to 20% below tdee. I'm currently 10% over tdee.

This cut with the carb cycling was overkill for me. Work, home, and gym life got to a point I wasn't comfortable staying at. Super irritable. I have never had a caloric intake that low and carb cycling on top of that for the first time just nuked me.

I am going to ease into the cut at less of a caloric deficit following this blast's completion.

Here are my progress photos as if yesterday:

Attachment 157201

And these are from 2.5 years ago; not a bad change.

Attachment 157202

[MR-FQ320]

What I don't get is this, you're on TRT, you don't even have to worry about PCt or recovery, so why just jump on 1250mg test a week until you've got the body you want? Use clen for cutting and another compound say deca to grow ?

[IronClydes]

What I don't get is this, you're on TRT, you don't even have to worry about PCt or recovery, so why just jump on 1250mg test a week until you've got the body you want? Use clen for cutting and another compound say deca to grow ?

These forums and some really awesome members have been my only source for determining my blast dosing and the like. As I am a police officer, and AAS and testosterone are all controlled and illegal to use at these doses without a prescription to do so, I don't have any other safe sources for information.

As such, Kelkel, AlmostGone, Marcus, Buster Brown, Bio Active, Nach 3, and several others have helped me figure this stuff out since last September. It has been the general consensus that I should not jump my test up so high so early in my cycle/blast experience. Mainly as I can make the same gains at the moderate dosages this early in the game. If I jump high I will be forced to stay that high or higher every time I blast/cycle for optimal results.

Furthermore, the consensus is not to jump into other AAS this soon as blasting testosterone alone will do well and I should make that work by itself as long as feasible for the same reasons as before: otherwise, I am starting with more and will need that level or better to repeat the results.

This has been my only advice on the topic. This is why I do what I do. That make sense?

Why don't you agree with them?

222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

[MR-FQ320]

^^^^ yeah I get what your saying now, I understand you now, I also understand where the older guys are coming from and I'm never going to disagree with any of their advice. Personally I think you're in no mans land with regards to your body, you want to lean out but not lose size, and you want tongrow too, all in seriousness this can take 2/3/4/5 years, although I perceive your perma TRT dosage to be a distinct advantage. I have a less averse opinion of risk vs health.

[IronClydes]

Not seeing how it's no mans land. I am bulking now. Cutting later. Not both at once. I know that's pointless.

222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

[MR-FQ320]

Not seeing how it's no mans land. I am bulking now. Cutting later. Not both at once. I know that's pointless. 222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

Turn of phrase that's all.

Bulk cut most effective.

It is possible to do both, I was disgruntled you didn't give it longer, ( that's what I mean about TRT , why not give yourself 24 hell even 36 weeks at 500/ 700 per week ? ) if time wasn't the answer then other compounds to assist certainly would have been.

Good luck man, I hope you get to where you want to be.

[IronClydes]

Turn of phrase that's all. Bulk cut most effective. It is possible to do both, I was disgruntled you didn't give it longer, ( that's what I mean about TRT , why not give yourself 24 hell even 36 weeks at 500/ 700 per week ? ) if time wasn't the answer then other compounds to assist certainly would have been. Good luck man, I hope you get to where you want to be.

Thanks MR FQ. I just feel I'd rather spend my blast optimizing gains in a bulk. I will return to the cut following this blast.

As I understand from the others I mentioned, going that long on cycle dose is not good for body as sides and the like become an issue. I am told that 14 weeks is the longer end of an acceptable cycle/blast length.

222.5, 6', 34, 13.8% bf, bench 320, squat 435, dead 465.

[MR-FQ320]

I also think you need to learn from personal experience and find out what works for you.

[IronClydes]

Right I have just read the first page again, you were asking advice on how to lose 4% bf as so far you hadn't succeeded because you were eating at maintenance. We came up with a plan to get you to lose this fat asap because you were on cycle and time was running out.

Have you started yet ?

Listen, Marcus' carb cycling thread opened new horizons for me, i started on his less 40% plus 15%, fat loss plateuxed, I modified macros, calories, high/low days, played about with the numbers, trialled things, no two weeks are the same - if I feel like I need a refeed then I will refeed, the more i do it, the easier the numbers are to manipulate, that's why I said don't bother with t3, it screws the numbers and you can't work out exactly what you need.

We have both shown you the door to the solution to your problem, both will work, to different degrees, it depends on you, your goals, and how YOU work it, make a start and run with it.

Re-reading old threads.

You guys really helped me out then and, as I re-read, I am still learning!

Thanks again fellas


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[Kay kay]

Iron Clyde just some
Advice IMO you don’t need a refeed until your sub 10% really, and a 1 day refeed does NOTHING to “throw off” the metabolism as some claim. A much better approach is 6-8 weeks into your diet taking 1-2 weeks at maintenance to reset metabolism. This is called a diet break. A one day refeed will not accomplish this in any way, all it accomplishes is refilling glycogen and mental benefits