My 12 month Natty Tranformation--Any good?

[DPTUK]

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[bass]

any transformation toward the good side is good. congratulations! keep up the good work. how much weight did you lose in one year?

[DPTUK]

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[DPTUK]

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[kelkel]

Huge improvement. Nicely done!

[DPTUK]

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[Back In Black]

Excellent progress buddy. Shaving that beard has really paid off

Do you suffer with loose skin at all?

[DPTUK]

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[DPTUK]

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[Gaspaco]

Impressive

[DPTUK]

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[Gaspaco]

1. 14-15%
2. Lean bulk IMO
4. Try to bulk naturally, learn how to eat and lift first.

[gbrice75]

Thanks buddy, I have been lucky not to suffer from loose skin, the only loose skin that annoys me a little bit is between my shoulder and chest tie ins (but its not very noticeable) and a little bit on my butt which no one can see (although again its really not that bad).

Having said that I am far from happy.

My main problem is either I get kinda skinny lean when I diet hard and end up looking like a runner, or when I up the calorie I put on size but end up getting fat around the hips.

I know this is gonna sound weird but if I wanted to I could put on easily another 10lb of muscle but I will also get fat, and when I try to cut the fat I will end up losing the muscle, I thinks it cos of my shitty genetics

I feel your pain brother, you and I share the same struggles. How tall are you? I was almost identical in weight at my heaviest (254lbs) and have gone back and forth, struggling to add muscle without fat, struggling to cut the fat without losing muscle, etc. You may be (like me) insulin resistant and/or suffer from metabolic syndrome. It's not easy for guys like us. Low/no carb dieting is a good approach that we may need to implement long term.

I will say though that you've made way better progress than I did in a shorter period of time, congrats!!!

[DPTUK]

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[DPTUK]

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[Brett N]

Good motivational thread for me. Progress is impressive, keep up the good work and the progress pix. Good stuff DPTUK!!

[DPTUK]

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[JinNtonic]

I have the same problem. I am type 2 diabetic so I keep carbs to a minimum. I allow carbs once a week. Buy the end of the week my muscles are flat because of low glycogen. After a carb day I swell back up for a few days. It's very frustrating. I feel my gains are held back from low carb.

[JinNtonic]

Incredible transformation man great job.

[bass]

BTW DPTUK, that little line going across your eyes doesn't hide your identity! we know who you are, where you live, where you work.....

[DPTUK]

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[gbrice75]

Thanks Gbrice, you look awesome dude.

Thanks brother!

I have been reading some of your nutrition posts so I am glad you replied, been meaning to prick your brains on a few things.

I am 5.9 and very interesting what you said about being insulin resistant etc. I am convinced (although I have no actual proof of this) that I may have been pre-diabetic when I was obese. I mean I was probably eating and drinking as much carb's as Jay Cutler would in his off season. I am not kidding when I tell you I used to drink like 6-8 cans of coke a day, not to mention the ridiculous amounts of alcohol.

lol, I feel ya. I was never big into drinking, but my diet was horrendous. Any given day would be either a bagel and cream cheese, buttered roll, or taylor ham/bacon egg and cheese sandwich, pack of mini-donuts, and a pint of whole milk. Lunch was either a huge sub, chinese food, pizza, etc. plus some kind of snack and huge soda or Snapple, dinner was usually fast food - McD's, Wendy's, BK, Taco Bell, etc. In between all of that, it was chips, cookies, ice cream, brownies, etc etc. In hindsight, it's amazing that I only ever got up to 254lbs. I probably should have been a lot fatter.

I started of by doing the Atkins diet and then I learned about the Keto diet and the Intermittent Fasting (probably my favorite diet). I weigh and track everything religiously and try to keep as informed and up to date as possible and was following Lyle Mcdonalds Ultimate Diet 2 for a while.

*shivers* Tough diet!!!

I have asked my doctor so many times if I am insulin resistant and every time he has done the test its always come back fine. I think last time my insulin levels were like 4 or something.

Get a second opinion. In my experience (not with specific regard to insulin resistance/sensitivity), the majority of doctors are absolutely clueless when it comes to this kind of thing.

Anyway there is absolutely no question that when I drop carbs, I lose a whole bunch of weight but the problem is that I lose tons of muscle too.

When you drop carbs, are you adjusting fats to compensate for lost calories?

When I up the carbs I put on alot of muscle, I actually think carbs are more important for muscle building for me than protein. I mean it makes no difference if I eat 150g protein or 300g protein, but as soon as I up the carbs its like BOOM, suddenly I put on muscle, but literally within a week I feel my waistline and hips expanding, it sucks soo much.

It's not a matter of which is more important; they both serve their own function. Protein is the building blocks, carbs are nothing more than an energy source (which happen to trigger the release of insulin to a much greater degree than the other 2 macros). Bear in mind though that carbohydrate is *not* essential; if you never touched another gram again in your life, you'd survive. Not the case with protein or fat.

Conversely as soon as I drop carbs down to say like 75G or less and I start leaning out at a crazy rate but muscle starts disappearing too. This has always been my problem. I have played around so much with macro its unreal.

If you're increasing fats to compensate for the lower calories via carb restriction, this really shoudln't pose a problem. Your body might respond differently (usually favorably), but you shouldn't be losing muscle, at least not at an appreciable rate. Were you incorporating carb refeeds?

Anyway I have decide i'm sick of natural bodybuilding, and I am going to start GH soon and see if that will make me lose fat while retaining muscle.

I am determined to bring a respectable package by next summer.

Good luck brother, please keep us posted!

[bass]

LOL! just yanking your chain man. the line across your face doesn't really hide how you look, I just though it looked funny trying to hide you face, but one can easily take that line off and see what you really look like and identify you. don't worry, no one is interested to know who you are except for the FBI, CIA and IRS of course!

[DPTUK]

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[DPTUK]

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[DPTUK]

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[cj111]

That's pretty incredible man, good job.

Do you have any weight training experience prior to when you started this huge cut ? If not, I would suggest laying off the juice for a while, and build some muscles naturally. You will be able to make some good gains without it , and I would say you are 13-14% bf just my 2 cents.

[DPTUK]

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