Struggling to find a diet for my Anavar/Test E cycle

[foxtr0t]

I’m a 25 year old male, 5’11”, current weight of 175 lbs. I recently lost 20 lbs through utilizing the ketogenic diet. My primary goal through using keto was to lose fat while maintaining muscle and it seems that I’ve lost a significant amount of muscle too. I don’t feel comfortable at any weight lower than 175 so I need guidance. I was finally able to get my hands on anavar and test (2nd test cycle) for a summer cut but I’m afraid now it’s too late. Losing the weight did not make me ripped, it made my body look flat which is disappointing because I was lifting the entire way though keto. I do have more ab definition but I was hoping to get more ripped considering I had a muscular frame to work with (6 years weight training). I am an extremely disciplined dieter and have been weighing my foods and counting macros for years so whatever needs to be done diet wise I can accomplish.

What do you guys think I should do to make my gear work best for me? Should I start bulking on a carb based IIFYM diet? Should I stay in maintenance calories on a carb based diet? Should I stay keto in deficit/surplus? I honestly don’t know what to do and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve never ran anavar before so I don’t know what to expect. Someone please show me the way

[Eduke93]

You should follow the macro counting approach but NOT the IIFYM approach, eating ice cream all day to meet your daily intake requirements is not going to support you in getting the best results...

But yes, workout your macros so that your in a slight surplus, that combined with clean food/training/drugs and you will see some results...

[foxtr0t]

You should follow the macro counting approach but NOT the IIFYM approach, eating ice cream all day to meet your daily intake requirements is not going to support you in getting the best results...

But yes, workout your macros so that your in a slight surplus, that combined with clean food/training/drugs and you will see some results...

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry I should’ve elaborated. When I meant IIFYM I just meant that I track my macros. I eat clean whole foods no ice cream or pizza or anything lol. So you think a slight surplus from my TDEE will get me good results with var? Should I transition into a carb diet from keto?

[Eduke93]

Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry I should’ve elaborated. When I meant IIFYM I just meant that I track my macros. I eat clean whole foods no ice cream or pizza or anything lol. So you think a slight surplus from my TDEE will get me good results with var? Should I transition into a carb diet from keto?

Absolutely, and yes. Keto doesn't have its place in bodybuilding (my op). It does for overall weight loss and sometimes as an approach to use for a couple of weeks pre contest but apart from that... stick to your body's number one source of energy. Carbs. 200-300 calories over TDEE will be adequate for some strong lean gains.

[Windex]

Going to be very blunt,

From your post I don't think you should be using gear whatsoever. I would invest more time into dieting, learning more about your body, testing how carb sensitive you are, and achieve your results naturally. A couple of year of disciplined dieting at 25 years old is honestly not that long in the big picture. Using gear to get abs just means when the cycle is over you are going to bounce right back to being flat and you will not be any further ahead.

Also, you need to not get hung up on what the scale says for weight it's just a mental roadblock. Maybe your body needs to go from 175 to 170 lbs to shave 1-2% Bodyfat before doing a slow bulk up. You would never know if you are just "not comfortable going below 175".

Gear is not magic, there is no such thing as "making gear work best for you". Nutrition and feeding your body will make your body work for you, not the gear.

I'm not trying to take away from any of the success you've had, and I congratulate you on losing 20 lbs, But being ripped is just a game of bodyfat %, which is from nutrition and diet, not gear.

[KittyO1]

For starters keto depletes the glocogen stores in your muscles making you look flat. Hence why many lifters cycle and carb up every 7-14 days. It sounds to me like you’re on the right track since you’ve lost 20lbs. I’d say wait on the gear 1 bc you’re 25 and 2 bc you still have room for substantial progress before going down that road. You can choose to take and 6-8 week break at eat at maintenance or (very) slightly above allowing your body to recover from the deficit and restore natural hormone/leptin levels. Then you could decide from there if you wanted to increase in muscle mass or cut fat. There are many variations on timing with macros that would allow you to get the effects of keto without having that full on flat effect if you do enjoy keto. But I don’t suggest full on keto for extended periods of time.

[FloydForbes]

Keto doesn't have its place in bodybuilding (my op).

You mean to say those who are trying to add muscles and lose extra weight must avoid keto diet?

[Eduke93]

You mean to say those who are trying to add muscles and lose extra weight must avoid keto diet?

Using keto to gain size is not an impossible task but you will massively hinder your progress by using this approach.

[MACKATTACK]

If you dont have a good amount of muscle mass using keto will not make you look "ripped." Aka shredded with big muscles. Keto is good for fat loss, not recomp with little no muscle mass.

This is a lifestyle not a race. Also if you were that good with your diet like you say you are you wouldnt need to lose 20lbs. So stop kidding yourself.

With that being said, for what you want Carb cycling diet will probably be best. It will keep you lean, burn fat and aid in adding muscle, especially with Gear which I am assuming you are not willing to wait on, which you should............

Btw most males grow and mature till age 26........

[MACKATTACK]

And besides not having a diet, how much cardio are you doing on a weekly basis and what type?