Diet is key to achieving goals

[Sgt. Hartman]

Been wanting to post this for a while now for my own reference and accountability and to show people who don't believe it, how important diet really is.

My stats:
Height - 6' 0"
Weight - 190
BF% - 12%
Cycle History - Yes
Training History - 6 yrs
Consistent Cardio - 1 yr
Good Diet - 1 yr

Started weight training 6 yrs ago - always trained very intensely 5 -6 days a week but could never get below about 15% BF. I always got enough protein but other than that my diet was garbage with bad carb choices and too much alcohol. I thought that my training could make up for the poor diet and when it didn't I looked to magic supplements to make up the difference. Took a few AAS cycles, tried clen, ECA etc. and still couldn't reach by goals. Finally, after an AAS cycle that ended with terrible results in August 09, I decided to give the diet thing a try.

Started Jan 2010 at 215 lbs about 18 - 20 BF with 2k cal diet and cardio 7 days a week. In about 16 weeks I weighed 177 but lost a bunch of LBM due to excessive cardio and if I wasn't hungry enough to eat my arm off, I would just eat the protein portion of my meal or just have a whey shake. That would take me from 2k cal to less than 1600 cal if I did it twice a day. So, I jumped back up to 2600 cal, eating whether I was starving or not and got back up to 188 lb in about 12 weeks. I have been maintaining about 190 lbs at 12% ever since.

It has now been about 18 months since my last cycle ended, and I look better, feel better, have as much LBM, and much less BF than I ever did on AAS. I don't know why it took me so long to get it through my thick head the importance of diet. What a waste of time, money, and hard work. I am definitely not a diet expert - I am learning more about diet and food choices everyday, but what I have learned is that the importance of diet cannot be overstated.

I am planning on starting a clean bulk shortly with my ultimate goal to be about 215 and 12% BF or less.

The pic on the beach is on last AAS cycle summer 09 and the rest are current. It makes me want to vomit looking at the before pictures.

Comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions are welcome.

[gbrice75]

Bingo!!!

There isn't much I can say that you haven't already touched on.

Getting big is (relatively) easy; eat alot, lift heavy, rest. Not much more to the equation (i'm simplifying to make a point, but u get the picture). There are plenty of 'big' guys who look like sh!t without their shirt on. We see them everyday in our gyms. To achieve a NICE physique - i.e. a good bit of well developed muscle AND a low bodyfat - that's another animal and doesn't come about haphazardly.

And for those of us who aren't metabolically gifted, reaching or maintaining a low bodyfat once attained can be a real struggle.

Great job!!!

[FireGuy]

Great info and progress, the only thing I would recommend is to set some smaller goals along the way. Adding 25lbs of pure muscle is a long and painful task.

[Sfla80]

damn if you 12%....im must be close to 16 lol....i would have guessed 10 max!

[MACHINE5150]

great work man.. people underestimate diet and it's effectiveness on not only your physique but your general sense of well being..

as the old addage goes.. "you are what you eat"

[gbrice75]

damn if you 12%....im must be close to 16 lol....i would have guessed 10 max!

He's closer to 10%, that's not 12%. What you see are undeveloped abs, leading to the illusion of higher bodyfat because they lower ones aren't poppin'.

[charcold]

Great info and progress, the only thing I would recommend is to set some smaller goals along the way. Adding 25lbs of pure muscle is a long and painful task.

Great progress OP.


What Do you think are realistic LBM gains? For a solid diet, all natural builder?


Defined in some time interval... 6 months etc...

[Sgt. Hartman]

Thanks for the kind words guys - it helps motivate me that much more. Don't know how to repost someone's response so I will comment to each.

GB - I hear ya on the abs thing. I used to hear everyone say that everybody has abs underneath their layer of fat - so I never did much ab work. Then, I stripped away the fat and big disappointment, no abs!! I have been killing them the last few months but have made very little progress.

Fireguy - 25 lbs is my ultimate goal and 10 lbs will be my immediate goal on my upcoming bulk. I do realize that I probably can't achieve either naturally.

Charcold - Not to sound arrogant, but I feel like I am coming fairly close to reaching my genetic potential which means that every pound gained of LBM will be a real struggle. I think that 1 - 2 lbs per month would be amazing results and really don't see me putting on more than 10 or so naturally. That's why my clean bulk will definitely include AAS.

Machines - Unfortunately, "you are what you eat" is such an overused phrase that most people fail to realize the truthfulness of it.

Goode - I was just estimating at 12% - I have been tested with calipers when I was at 18% and then at 15% and figured with no lower abs and some pinchable fat at my love handle area, I couldn't be lower than 11% - 12%.

[yannick35]

Diet is everything being unable to train and losing 30 pounds on a high protein low carb diet is what convinced me. We did this in a group at my job.

So yes diet is everything and i would say has much as 95% of the equation, great work and great progress.

[gbrice75]

GB - I hear ya on the abs thing. I used to hear everyone say that everybody has abs underneath their layer of fat - so I never did much ab work. Then, I stripped away the fat and big disappointment, no abs!! I have been killing them the last few months but have made very little progress.

I hear you bro, I was always told the same thing, never worked them either, and am suffering the same consequences as you are right now! One tip though - when you say you're 'killing them', how much are they getting worked? People have this idea that they need to do 500 crunches and a million leg lifts - abs are still a muscle group, only need to be stimulated enough to grow and then need time to repair, just like any other muscle group. I wouldn't recommend more then 2x a week, short intense sessions.

[Sgt. Hartman]

I hear you bro, I was always told the same thing, never worked them either, and am suffering the same consequences as you are right now! One tip though - when you say you're 'killing them', how much are they getting worked? People have this idea that they need to do 500 crunches and a million leg lifts - abs are still a muscle group, only need to be stimulated enough to grow and then need time to repair, just like any other muscle group. I wouldn't recommend more then 2x a week, short intense sessions.

I guess "killing it" is a relative term when my previous ab routine was nonexistent. I work abs Mon and Thurs. Mon is mostly weighted sets in the 8 - 12 rep range and Thurs is just body weight with high volume and high reps. Neither routine lasts more than 15 minutes total.

I would love to hear someone chime in that has actually had success at adding muscle tissue to their abs as what I'm doing currently obvoiusly isn't working.

[gbrice75]

I don't know specifically WHAT you're doing exercise wise, but what you said above sounds good to me.