Awesome Body Comp Change

Hi guys!

So back in April 2013, I came to this message board for help. I was really stuck with my body composition. I was a stocky 203lb / 92kg, very active, followed a meticulous eating plan... But, I was still at 30% bodyfat and frustrated that my weight didn't move anywhere.

I want to thank you guys for helping me out. I got so much amazing advice - learning that I was seriously overestimating the calories I needed, and that despite eating lots of raw veggies my vitamin/mineral intake wasn't great.

I particularly want to thank the Slizzard - Josh Naterman - for suggesting I do some study in nutrition. That is exactly what I did. I found a flexbook called Fundamentals in Human Nutrition, released by Kansas State University and went through it very eagerly. After ten years of jumping from one fad diet to another, it was sooo good to finally get a good, solid grounding!

The one thing I took away from the study was simple, but very powerful: get your RDAs, and nothing more. I put together a simple meal-plan that gave me the macros, vitamins and minerals I needed in as few calories as possible. I tracked everything I was doing using a great, free online food tracker called Cronometer.

I started in May, and immediately began losing two pounds per week!

Yesterday, at 167lb / 75kg I decided to stop eating for fat loss and start eating for muscle growth. Goodbye fasted training, hello anabolic window!

The visual changes are also very cool to see, this is back when I asked for help compared to today:

Still learning to smile for photos...

In a store buying smaller clothes, shocked to see strange corrugations on my stomach.

Now, I am following Naterman's Perfect Workout Nutrition 2013 plan. This involves eating two-thirds of my calories in a four-hour anabolic window, and the rest of the day eating raw, mineral-dense vegetables, a bit of fruit, and some lean proteins (tempeh).

It has been a life-changing eight months, and I'm excited to explore what the next eight months will bring! (I'm going for beast-like strength gains.)

Thanks again guys!

Wow! Not a small change there!

Big congrats on your hard work and on doing it intelligently

Congratulations! That was an impressive 8 months. Keep working hard!

sick! 

hats off to you wheezer!

That's a really impressive change Wheezer. You say you did your workouts while fasted. Can you give us more details regarding your approach? I'm just interested as there has been quite a bit of controversy on this board regarding fasting. Whatever you did, it certainly seems to have worked. No one can argue with those results.

 Amazing results!  What an inspiration!

Serious change, well done Sir!

-MR said:

You say you did your workouts while fasted. Can you give us more details regarding your approach?

This was my food/exercise routine six days a week:

6:30am: wake up, light stretching

6:50am: 1/2 cup mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries etc.), calcium and B12 supplement

7:00am: 30min run

7:45am: 30g pea protein isolate, 5g creatine monohydrate

8:00am: Foundation and Handstand training

9:30am: 30g pea protein isolate, 1/2 tbsp flax seed oil (for omega 3), 1/4 cup almonds, 1/2 cup raisins, 1 Brazil nut (for selenium)

1:00pm: 1 cup red lentils, 1 stalk broccoli, 1 green apple, 1 cucumber, 1 cup green peas

5:00pm: 100g tempeh, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 100g mixed greens, 100g green beans, 1 banana, 1 red bell pepper, 1 cup green peas

Well done on your results!!! You should be very proud of yourself!!!

Well done indeed!  I'm feeling even more motivated so I thank you for that.

Awesome.  Definitely this will be inspiration to many other guys that are in a similar situation.  Keep on, keeping on.

.

good job!

How are you planning on tapering off the deficit? Great job man!

Thanks for the props guys!

Prometheus said:

How are you planning on tapering off the deficit?

With a crapton of maltodextrin, dextrose monohydrate and pea protein isolate before, during and after each session.

The functional gains from using Naterman's workout nutrition plan have been instant and amazing. This one element I've been stuck on for a long time, I've made more progress in the last three sessions than in the previous three weeks.

Great work. That shows real discipline and dedication to archive what you have done. Interesting that your muscles now look bigger than when you were 92kg. You must feel great compared to when you were 92kg.

Man I want to try that. I'm at 225 now. One time I was working really well for a few months and I hit 196. I was strong plus I felt so light and had abs. You've given me inspiration to get back there.

edit: I read it wrong. So you came up with a diet plan yourself? Is Josh's plan for gaining muscle/strength?

Mark Collins said:

Interesting that your muscles now look bigger than when you were 92kg. You must feel great compared to when you were 92kg.

Absolutely. I don't know how much the visual/functional changes are muscle growth vs. fat loss. I did a DEXA scan in June, and will do another one soon, so it will be great to compare lean mass.

EGordoAF said:

So you came up with a diet plan yourself? Is Josh's plan for gaining muscle/strength?

Yes, Josh's plan is for maximum muscle gain. My diet plan focused on vitamins/minerals and 2g/lb protein. It was easy for me because I didn't mind losing some muscle mass in the process. Whether I did or not, I don't know.

Oh ok. Have you felt a difference in your chin-ups or handstands? When I got to 196 lbs, my chin-ups went through the roof. Also windshield wipers were A LOT easier.

EGordoAF said:

Have you felt a difference in your chin-ups or handstands?

Ohhhh yes. At 210lb: half a pull-up, strain though 2 chin-ups. At 170lb: 4-5 pull-ups, don't even know how many chin-ups.

So are you vegetarian/vegan, or did you employ this diet for cutting bfat?

Thanks for posting the pics and details.  Its nice to see the results of theory and plans

IcedDante said:

So are you vegetarian/vegan?

Yeah, I've eaten vegetarian for 7 years and vegan for 3 years.

That's great man! I was vegan for a while. Now I'm in full-on omnivore mode while I try to rehabilitate and hit some fitness goals, but once i do I want to reintroduce the veg lifestyle. Thanks for the inspiration.

Good work! What calories were you eating at before when you were overestimating and what did you drop to when you were dieting?