# need help w/ cutting - calories - bf percentage - tips / tricks



## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

Hey guys,

I'm pretty pissed right now - my cut went 'okay' but now I'm a bit concerned because I do not really see a change in the mirror anymore.

Can anyone of you may help me with my cutting calories?

I'm 24 years old, currently at 90 kilos on 175 cm - working from 8 to 16 - mostly sitting.
I work out 4 times per week - usually around 90-120 minutes.

All the calculators I used say I should intake about 2200-2500 calories per day - last week I had about 1800 per day and now increased it back to 2500 because nothing real progress happened.

May I have to calculate my stack or something like that too?

*I'm currently running:*

100 mcg t4 ed
140 mcg liquid Clen ed
175 mg test e per week
700 mg tren a per week
50 mg stano oral ed
0.5 mg arimidex eod

edit: I'm also taking 20 mg of pharma yohimbine hcl prior my workouts. So I can't imagine, why the f**k my six pack is not getting through? Am I really "that fat"?

*I can't imagine what I'm doing wrong - this cocktail should help me lean out pretty fast, shouldn't it ?*
Maybe I'm just too impatient ? My plan was to reach about 8-10% bf on the 1st of March.

Any chance that will happen?

1. A picture of me before the start of the cut (8th of November) - *(((what was my approx bf there ?)))*










2. A picture of me about 1 month later - *(((what was my approx bf there ?)))*










3. A picture of me another month later - *(((what was my approx bf there ?)))*










4. A picture of me taken last Friday (29th of January - *(((what is my approx bf right now ?)))*










Sorry for the big input - I just need / want some help to reach my goal - I'm willing to do anything to get under 10% as fast as possible - so I can start to build up lean again and get HUUUGE!  ...

Hoping for some good posts here guys, I'm counting on you.

Any little help is so appriciated - I'm really thinking about the cut 24/7 right now - that drives me (and my gf) pretty crazy  ...
Sorry for my bad English - I'm from Germany.

Greetings

Xzavier

Sent from my iPhone


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## A1243R (Nov 2, 2014)

Keep going mate. Just because your weight didn't move one week doesn't mean it isnt going well. You've made massive improvements and look loads leaner!

I wouldnt change your stack AAS wise. Maybe up cardio mate? You arent that active if you sit all day.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

A1243R said:


> Keep going mate. Just because your weight didn't move one week doesn't mean it isnt going well. You've made massive improvements and look loads leaner!
> 
> I wouldnt change your stack AAS wise. Maybe up cardio mate? You arent that active if you sit all day.


 Thanks mate - I thought about adding 15 minutes of HIIT or 30 minutes of slow and steady cardio on the off days maybe? Would that be enough?

May I ask you (and all the others that may will reply) how would you rate my bodyfat on the Pictures? (1, 2, 3, 4)

Really appreciate your help! 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## A1243R (Nov 2, 2014)

Xzavier said:


> Thanks mate - I thought about adding 15 minutes of HIIT or 30 minutes of slow and steady cardio on the off days maybe? Would that be enough?
> 
> May I ask you (and all the others that may will reply) how would you rate my bodyfat on the Pictures? (1, 2, 3, 4)
> 
> ...


 Hey bud - I would probably do 30mins fasted first thing in the morning if you can? Maybe 2/3 times a week for now.

1 - 20+

2 - 20

3 - 16/17

4 - 13ish

Im s**t with BF mate. Your looking 10x better so thats what id be worried about. You havent got long to get to 10% now mate.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

If that is true I'm pretty happy - I mean yea, I'm already pretty happy when I see the improvements now by myself (after posting them I just realized the big difference myself again).

So I'll just keep going - if I'm not under 10 @1st of March I don't care and will go until I'm under 10 - but it would be cool to get there asap - so I do appreciate any tips / help of any of you.

Just getting a bit irritated with the cutting calories and so on, I would like to be already lean, stay lean and build up some serious size.. But that has to wait, I do not want to stop before I'm really lean.

Hope to be under 10 in March, at last in April - so I can get full for the summer and build up until I die ....

Thanks for your help ! 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## Pabloslabs (Feb 19, 2015)

Ehhhhh...what are you talking about about man - that's a tremendous amount of BF to lose in 8 weeks! High 20s in the first pic to about 15-16 in last. So you've lost about 12kg of fat.

Stack is way overdoing it IMO. I wouldn't have started to add the T3 YHCL etc till around now to get to your target - so you've nowhere to go there?

plateaued? You need to change something, diet or training. You don't say much about the diet, which is obv the most important part.

Have you started carb cycling and glycogen depletion and referds - that'll get to you were you wanna go fast.

YHCL needs to be taken fasted so mix that in with some morning cardio for full effect.

Nutrient timing is another tool - take the bulk of carbs around training before and after.

Increase cardio in increments over the coming weeks and do some high vol body part sessions.

by the way, you're already HOOOOOOGE


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## Little Keezy (Jan 21, 2016)

Keep doing what your doing. You must be able to see that it's working. Or is it a case of, not fast enough?

If you can add cardio first thing in the morning, before eating. That will speed things up.

That final picture, to me looks under 10% bf. You can buy body fat callipers on eBay for a few pounds.


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## Benchbum (Apr 20, 2011)

definitely made huge progress. fat loss is not linear, just relax and trust the process.


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## DLTBB (Jan 26, 2015)

You are rushing things. Seriously, you're being impatient, that's your problem. The progress you have made so far is fine and the rate you are losing body fat is good. Just continue to do what you have been doing, if your weight stalls for a couple of weeks simply reduce your calories or do extra cardio, it's as simple as that. Your drug protocol is probably a bit overkill, you certainly don't need to add anything to it.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

@*Pabloslabs* Thank you for your nice words my friend - I take T4 (just because I read somewhere that Tren slows the metabolism, so I just wanted to be safe, started the T4 just 1-2 weeks ago). And thanks for the HOOOOOGE - I just do not feel like that hehe.. By huge I mean something like Heath, Ramy or even Rich 'Synthol' Piana .. 



> Have you started carb cycling and glycogen depletion and referds - that'll get to you were you wanna go fast.


 May you help me with that one ? I never did something like that before and just kept the diet like it is at the moment - may you (or someone else) can help me with this to improve my fat loss a bit? 

My diet currently looks like:

*Breakfast : *100g 1.5% fat Milk mixed with water, 40g Whey and 100g Oatmeal

*Snack: *Green Paprika with 100 g chicken breast + 250 g potatoes

*Lunch: *100g chicken breast + 250 g potatoes

*PreWO Meal: *100 g chicken breast + 250 g potatoes

*PreWO Shake:* 6 g citrullin, 6 g Arginin, 2 g beta Alanin, 5 g creatine, 20 mg yohimbine hcl

*PostWO Shake:* 40 g whey, 40 g maltodextrin, 5 g creatine

*PostWO Meal: *100 g chicken breast + 250 g potatoes (edit: + a can of thuna, 150 g - I forgot about that @first)

*PreBed Meal: *40 g whey with water and psyllium seed husks (if this is the english word? just a fibre thing that gets thick with water) mixed too a thick Pudding

*Macros are around (according to FooDDB) :* 2442 kcal, 261 g carbs (17 g of it sugar), 254 g Protein, 30 g fat, 37 g fibre

Any suggestions to do it better?

@*Little Keezy* :

Thanks for your nice words too - after this post I see it is working - but maybe I'm just too impatient - I'll stick with what I'm doing, will built in the improvements I'll get by you guys tho  .. Will have a look for a caliper - thank you  ..

@*Benchbum* :

Yea, gotta get more patient again, I guess... yea, I made progress, just have to get more patient hehe.. Thanks ! 

Edit: @*DLTBB* :

Yea, I guess that is my problem - I know it always was (otherwise I would not have gotten so fat while bulking)... 

May you can give me an etsimated time to get below the 10 percent mark? Will it be possible in a month, or will it take most likely take 2 months? Just to have an ETA .. Hehe 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## A1243R (Nov 2, 2014)

@XzavierIf i was you just initially with that diet i would drop 50g of each serving of potato... so go from 250g to 200g... that will drop Carbs but not to noticable. Maybe drop the oats from 100g down to 75g too.


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## lukeyybrown1 (Jun 4, 2014)

I personally think your progress is on track you are doing fine - miles leaner so keep doing what your doing

dont over do anything and do be so impatient


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

A1243R said:


> @XzavierIf i was you just initially with that diet i would drop 50g of each serving of potato... so go from 250g to 200g... that will drop Carbs but not to noticable. Maybe drop the oats from 100g down to 75g too.


 So that would be an approx drop of 244 calories - so you would say that 2198 would be better than the 2442 I'm currently eating? 

@*lukeyybrown1* : thank you - I will try to become more patient  ..


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## A1243R (Nov 2, 2014)

Xzavier said:


> So that would be an approx drop of 244 calories - so you would say that 2198 would be better than the 2442 I'm currently eating?
> 
> @*lukeyybrown1* : thank you - I will try to become more patient  ..


 All im saying buddy is that when you look to drop your calories thats what id be doing... id take it from Carbs. Your fats are already very low.

Have you carb cycled? Lowered your calories on non training days and kept carbs higher around training and training days?


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

A1243R said:


> All im saying buddy is that when you look to drop your calories thats what id be doing... id take it from Carbs. Your fats are already very low.
> 
> Have you carb cycled? Lowered your calories on non training days and kept carbs higher around training and training days?


 Okay, thanks for your advice - I'll give it a try 

Hm no, I never did that - kept them constantly the same - even on non Training days (tho I skipped the PWO Shake for something like 1 or 2 cans of thuna).

So I'll drop the PWO Shake on non Training days (without eating anything else for it).

So I would end up with 2198 on training days and 1901 calories on non training days - is that better?

Greetings

Xzavier


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## AgoSte (Apr 14, 2015)

The only thing I have to say is that on pic 4 you already seem about 10% or so... Usually I have a good eye for bf and I can see your serratus, your abs quite clearly, the dentatus, the chest is clearly well shaped, vascularuty is visible... So no way it's more than 10-11%


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

AgoSte said:


> The only thing I have to say is that on pic 4 you already seem about 10% or so... Usually I have a good eye for bf and I can see your serratus, your abs quite clearly, the dentatus, the chest is clearly well shaped, vascularuty is visible... So no way it's more than 10-11%


 Thank you !  That is a quite good message, but I take it with a grain of salt, because why aren't my abs that visbile when I'm already around 10? 

I mean when I look at that picture here https://papabuffsblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/body-fat-percentage-men-1.jpg the 8-10% guy in the top right corner got much more visible abs, doesn't he?

May I need to get down to 8% to have abs like this? And may I ask you guys, what bf 'should' I stop cutting and start building up (lean)? And after the 'lean bulk' - at what bf I should start a mini cut to stay in shape?

Thanks in advance ! Thanks to everyone until now !  You guys truly motivate me to get more patient and keep doing what I do  !

Greetings

Xzavier


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## DLTBB (Jan 26, 2015)

Xzavier said:


> Thank you !  That is a quite good message, but I take it with a grain of salt, because why aren't my abs that visbile when I'm already around 10?


 People store fat differently. Some people might have a really visible 6-pack at 12% bodyfat whereas others, myself included, need to be below 8% for my abs and obliques to be properly visible.


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## AgoSte (Apr 14, 2015)

Xzavier said:


> Thank you !  That is a quite good message, but I take it with a grain of salt, because why aren't my abs that visbile when I'm already around 10?
> 
> I mean when I look at that picture here https://papabuffsblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/body-fat-percentage-men-1.jpg the 8-10% guy in the top right corner got much more visible abs, doesn't he?
> 
> ...


 It may also be your abs shape or can you be holding a bit of water, or also it's the last place where the fat goes away... How are your legs? If they're lean then I'd confirm you're about 10%.

And mate you seem big enough to know when to start lean bulking lol.

Anyway it's you that decide, if you're happy with 8%bf (and I would personally), you can start lean bulking.

And the same for the mini cut, when you feel you have too much fat, start cutting. There are no setstones.

Great improvements btw... You dropped a ton of fat in 3 months!!!


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

AgoSte said:


> It may also be your abs shape or can you be holding a bit of water, or also it's the last place where the fat goes away... How are your legs? If they're lean then I'd confirm you're about 10%.
> 
> And mate you seem big enough to know when to start lean bulking lol.
> 
> ...


 Thank you my friend  .. Your post made me pretty happy  !

My legs are somehow still a bit fattery / watery (imho) - pretty unsure - but in last weeks leg workout I could slightly see my veins coming through  - the first time in my life haha...

I don't know really - haha - I never tried to lean bulk - I was just a small ectomorph kid when I started Bodybuilding, I was like 58-65 kg and started to bulk (w/o gear) up to around 90 kilos, than shed a bit of fat and started with the gear, went up to 111 kilos (looked like spongebob), went down to like 90 kilos and bulked up (impatient) again - got around 102 kilos (like the first picture) and now I'm like the last picture.. at again round about 90 kilos - massive improved form vs the first cut.

I'll try to get my six pack fully visible and then start to eat maintenance for about 2 weeks and than start a slight surplus lean bulk until I think it's time to get in shape again  ... May I ask what surplus you would advise for a lean bulk (like I said, I never did something like that before - I just ate 6k - 7k and hoped to get huge...  But I only got fatter and fatter.. )

@*DLTBB* : Thanks for your advice my friend 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

@AgoSteHere is an instagram Video of my legs -

__
http://instagr.am/p/BBDma25R_wN/
 - what do you think, is my bf still around 10%? 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## AgoSte (Apr 14, 2015)

Xzavier said:


> @AgoSteHere is an instagram Video of my legs -
> 
> __
> http://instagr.am/p/BBDma25R_wN/
> ...


 I'd say yes, especially seeing the other photo before the video on your insta... It seems just that you're holding a bit of water/fat on your abs still... But in general 10% is pretty accurate...


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## Pabloslabs (Feb 19, 2015)

@Xzavier

Yeah so on the carb cycling, it's a common contest prep protocol for getting really lean for competition.

I won't go into n great detail but the basic premise is that you would taper down carbs thereby deplete the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver that to a point where the body turns to fat stores for energy. Insulin sensitivity greatly increases during this phase. Then when nice and flat, throw in a day or two of heavy carb loading and bam, the sugar is sucked into the muscle again giving a dramatiy fuller look and fat will have been burned in the process. Repeat the process until happy with results.

Be prepared to look depleted (flat) during the carb depletion stage - this is fine, your muscles have been stripped of the water the carbs had been holding - you are not losing muscle (certainly not with your AAS protocol). Be prepared to turn into a moody bastard also and this is no understatement. The whole process requires a certain mindset and extraordinary discipline and in many people's opinion, is why the average gymrat will never step on stage. This form of dieting is not for the weak willed and you hear of many relationships suffering as a result of it.

Summary - taper carbs down and taper fats up while keeping protein the same. Refeed carbs when you feel fully depleted. Repeat. Watch when adding in fats not to go overboard on the cals. Fat 9 Carb 4 /gram


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

AgoSte said:


> I'd say yes, especially seeing the other photo before the video on your insta... It seems just that you're holding a bit of water/fat on your abs still... But in general 10% is pretty accurate...


 Thank you mate  I'm pretty excited now - may you have a tip for me how I get rid of the water ? So I can check if its water or if its fat - if its fat I will just keep cutting and if its water I would be soooo damn happy  ...

@Pabloslabs sounds pretty hard - I can go a longer way without this protocol and reach the same, can't I? Would prefer to keep my diet like it is now - maybe a bit carb / cal drop here and there - but not that LowCarb thing - did low carb in my last cut, I where the devil walking on earth - my gf hated me - my parents hated me - my schoolmates / workmates hated me - everyone just hated me - and I hated everyone.. Haha - that was the thoughtest time of my life  ... Maybe I'm just an average gym rat   ...

Greetings

Xzavier


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## Pabloslabs (Feb 19, 2015)

Yeah mate, it's probably not necessary if you don't have aspirations of being on stage. It's a pretty selfish endeavor and requires patience and understanding from those close to you.

Anyway, good luck with the rest of the cut and your lean bulk endeavors of the future. You're doing doing the average gymrat proud


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## AgoSte (Apr 14, 2015)

Xzavier said:


> Thank you mate  I'm pretty excited now - may you have a tip for me how I get rid of the water ? So I can check if its water or if its fat - if its fat I will just keep cutting and if its water I would be soooo damn happy  ...
> 
> @Pabloslabs sounds pretty hard - I can go a longer way without this protocol and reach the same, can't I? Would prefer to keep my diet like it is now - maybe a bit carb / cal drop here and there - but not that LowCarb thing - did low carb in my last cut, I where the devil walking on earth - my gf hated me - my parents hated me - my schoolmates / workmates hated me - everyone just hated me - and I hated everyone.. Haha - that was the thoughtest time of my life  ... Maybe I'm just an average gym rat   ...
> 
> ...


 I'm not very expert mate... It's not a long time since I use roids. If I have to give an advice I'd go for the typical advices:

Remove sodium, up the ai.

Btw, IMO,it's more probably a bit of fat.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

Running 1900 on off days and 2200 on training days now  lets see what I can do in February !

Want to be around 6-8% and start building up until 13-15% max. and stay in shape year round !

Anyone has a guess what a lean bulk surplus should be? 300 ? 500 ?


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## AgoSte (Apr 14, 2015)

Xzavier said:


> Running 1900 on off days and 2200 on training days now  lets see what I can do in February !
> 
> Want to be around 6-8% and start building up until 13-15% max. and stay in shape year round !
> 
> Anyone has a guess what a lean bulk surplus should be? 300 ? 500 ?


 You got it right for the lean bulk. Now a question by me. Since IMO you did very well... Can I ask you how you played with your kcals from the beginning of the cycles until now.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

What do you mean by kcals from the beginning ? Of my cut or of the bulks before and the cuts afterwards? 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

To just answer your question the best I could :

In the first bulk, I was more into powerlifting and just ate whatever had a good taste (imho) - it was most likely huge bowl of rice, 4-6 krakow sausages (i love them, so nice and fatty haha) and much much much brown ale - so I ended up at around 1000 g carbs per day with like 300 g of protein and almost 200 g of fat - 7000 calories - that time I was using 1 g deca and 1 g test per week - had 111 kilos, but looked like spongebob or mr. aquaman.,.  lol

After that I just jumped into a cut - the worst thing I ever did - around 2000 calories and without any carbs .. Keto s**t that made me binge on cheat days and I fcked up the whole cut - I was lighter than now and looked sooo flat and depleted - worst time of my life.

After that I started to bulk up again - more into a Bodybuilding style - but even then I ate 5000 - 6000 calories per day because I chased the scale too hard - ended up at 102 kilos like you can see on page 1 (first picture) - and I felt like sh*t again - so I started to cut my weight again and now I'm here - picture 4  ...

So I never ever want to feel that sh*t looking / bad again and will try to stay in shape all year long - at lets say max. 13% bf - with some mini cuts and slightly surplus - lets see what the future brings 

Sorry for my bad english again :x

Greetings

Xzavier


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## DLTBB (Jan 26, 2015)

Get lean as f**k and then next time you bulk make sure you control your calories and use a reasonable surplus. If you get down to 6-8% like you want to and then bulk using a 500 calorie surplus and track your calorie intake accurately there's honestly no reason for you to ever go back above 12% body fat again. It's pointless bulking too hard and giving yourself a lot of hard work to do to get lean, you don't need to do that.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

DLTBB said:


> Get lean as f**k and then next time you bulk make sure you control your calories and use a reasonable surplus. If you get down to 6-8% like you want to and then bulk using a 500 calorie surplus and track your calorie intake accurately there's honestly no reason for you to ever go back above 12% body fat again. It's pointless bulking too hard and giving yourself a lot of hard work to do to get lean, you don't need to do that.


 That is a good message to me - happy to see some advice here 

A friend of mine told me, it would not be possible to get "HUUUUUGE" (something like cutler / heath etc.) w/o massive bulking - I mean, I will not get that massive because I do not have the Money for the GH - but wouldn't it be possible to get (via lean bulk) just as huge as someone who is massive bulking and cutting everytime?

I've read when your body needs 500 calories to grow new muscle, it would not be helpful to intake 1000 calories, because 500 will be build muscle and the rest build fat.

Isn't it that way? Sounds pretty obvious to me. So it should be possible to get as huge as possible with either lean bulk and bulk / cut, or not?

Greetings

Xzavier


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## DLTBB (Jan 26, 2015)

Xzavier said:


> That is a good message to me - happy to see some advice here
> 
> A friend of mine told me, it would not be possible to get "HUUUUUGE" (something like cutler / heath etc.) w/o massive bulking - I mean, I will not get that massive because I do not have the Money for the GH - but wouldn't it be possible to get (via lean bulk) just as huge as someone who is massive bulking and cutting everytime?
> 
> ...


 It's not possible to get HUGE like Cutler and Heath without using more HGH than a regular working class fella will be able to afford. :lol: But if you look at people like Bradley Martyn and Calum von Moger, they both stay lean year-round, I've never seen either of them higher than 12% body fat and they are both massive, 6'2 260+.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

Umm cool, yea I'll try to go for that ! Thanks mate.

@the moment I cannot afford them because I'm a Trainee (learning a Job, so I get more than the half of the cash the real workers here become).

Pretty sure we do not talk about pharma HGH here right?  ... *EDIT: Oh, nvm - forget that - I've read you can get as huge as them - I overread your 'NOT'  maaan I hate it.. I want to be fcking Rich so I can get even bigger than Ramy haha..*

The guys look good - will try to stay in that shape too - but at first I have to get rid of my lower belly fat... It just enrages me I can't get rid of that - it ruins my whole look haha.. Lets see if it works in february!

Greetings

Xzavier


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## A1243R (Nov 2, 2014)

DLTBB said:


> It's not possible to get HUGE like Cutler and Heath without using more HGH than a regular working class fella will be able to afford. :lol: But if you look at people like Bradley Martyn and Calum von Moger, they both stay lean year-round, I've never seen either of them higher than 12% body fat and they are both massive, 6'2 260+.


 You can Almost guarantee that that they didn't keep abs to get to that size. There is an interesting thread on Tmuscle at the moment about this.

people get massive because they eat massive... Not because they eat 200cals above maintenance.

People have t stay lean year round now to look good on social media where as years ago people only ever saw you on stage day... It didn't matter how fat you were in the off season.

@Incredible Bulk has some good ideas on this.


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

That sucks... I want to be as huge as possible - like Ruhl, Cutler, Ramy, Heath - can't afford the HGH - and do not want to do a big cut ever again (without HGH at least, I read it magically burns off the fat) ... My life sucks.. 

Greetings

Xzavier


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## A1243R (Nov 2, 2014)

@Xzavier @DLTBB worth a read

http://www.fitnessandpower.com/nutrition/eating-for-size-dante-trudel/2


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## Xzavier (Mar 24, 2015)

A1243R said:


> @Xzavier @DLTBB worth a read
> 
> http://www.fitnessandpower.com/nutrition/eating-for-size-dante-trudel/2


 You see now you got me again..

One says 6-12% bf build up and cut down and Dante tells me to eat huge to get huge.. -.-

I'm so confused haha.. !


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