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I thought I´d share a very good dieting strategy with you guys, which has helped me get to single digit bodyfat in 3 months. Now I work part time in a gym and have tried different dieting startegies, a lot of them work but are a pain in the ass to adhere to because they require an inhuman amount of willpower. This one is quiet easy once you got the hang of it and have certain basic habits down (Exercising regularly with weights in an intensive fashion, knowing basics about nutrition).
http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html

Agreed.

Started (short) intermittent fasting about a month ago, and going heavily into Lean Gains now, with a few modifications I'll try out.

I lost about 5 pounds and (I didn't have much to lose to begin with) + all my kettlebell lifts went up. So I'm losing fat, and not muscle. I'm almost the same weigh I was in high school. This is big because I was trying to lose these last 5 pounds and get my highschool body back for the last 3 years - half marathons and regular super long distance runs didn't cut it.

Right now I'm not in the single digits, but I'm pretty close, probably in the range of 10-12% bodyfat now (12 being the absolute highest), from about 14-16% from a month ago.

The biggest modification I'll thinking of doing is replacing the gym with kettlebells, because if I do the heavy, heavy lifting that Martin recommends, there is no way I can do Muay Thai in tandem - or any other physical martial art for that matter. Plus I don't want to think that I spent the cash on the kettlebells for nothing.

As of now, I haven't found anyone that hacked leangains with kettebells, but I'll play around.

My target is 6-7% bodyfat by around December. Given that I don't drink, it's feasible.

Good job on your gains Matt. New to leangains itself, but short Intermittent Fasting has already worked wonders for me. Looking forward to where this thread goes. It's good stuff.

I'm going to take a look at this. I've been trying to get rid of my last little bit of pudge for over a year now to no success.

Mark,

These will get you started:

http://www.justinowings.com/a-low-carboh...ith-inter/

http://www.leangains.com/2007/12/wrappin...t-was.html

The first guy does a 24 hour fast twice a week and low-carb. The second guy does an easy version of fasting everyday but lifts heavy (the one Matt recommended and that I'm trying).

I dropped all my last weight in the month without having to go low carb at all, so it's an option and not a necessity depending on what you're used to.

Enjoy man

Yeah I started at about 14% bodyfat myself and got to 8% pretty easily. I am an experienced dieter and normally gettimg that low is quiet a hassle, Food cravings and low energy and shit. But with Leangains it was astonishingly simple. I got to enjoy life mich more whilste on it. A good Bonus for me was that in the fast I felt very energetic (Talk about something being counterintuitive) and social.

Yeah, I've been stuck in the 13-15% range for quite a while now. Low carb seemed to help, but it was hard to maintain it over a long period of time, especially with all of the traveling.

I'm actually about to bulk again for three months. But this winter when I want to cut again, I'll definitely do some of this IF stuff. It looks like it's the way to go. Is IF possible (or recommended) while bulking? Or does it inhibit muscle growth?

Quote:Is IF possible (or recommended) while bulking? Or does it inhibit muscle growth?

Theoretically, it is possible to bulk on IF. I did put muscle on while on IF, but then again I was super skinny so I'd put muscle on regardless of being on IF or not. Your case may be different, but you should be fine as long as you don't go for Olympic class lifts.

Aside from the anecdotal evidence below, you'd want a second opinion for sure, but the good news is you can actually try it out right away. A 16-hour fast is easy to implement stat.

A few of Martin (the Leangain guy's) clients did "bulk" while losing fat, like this guy:

http://freetheanimal.com/2010/10/leangai...ns-it.html

That's the first of 3 posts he wrote on the program. You can get through all 3 in one sitting and it should give you a lot of ideas on Leangains.

If I were you, I'd start with easy 16 hour fasts 2-3x a week and change nothing else first. If you party once a week, that's cake. It's basically stopping to eat at 9pm, sleeping, then, skipping breakfast the next day and resuming to eat like normal at 1pm for lunch. That's 16 hours fasted. I accidentally did this on the weekends when I stopped drinking and I dropped shit quick and it stayed down, which got me curious about IF in the first place.

That said, if this minor change gets you to where you wanna be, there's no need to go all-out on the program anyway.

The one thing all IF regimens have in common is that they use night time/sleep as a big portion for the fasts. So what I don't know is if the fasted state is a zero sum game per se. I'd still like to go out at night, party up, knock Schweppes and Canady dry's back without breaking my fast.

No one has really given a straight answer anywhere to this question. Personally, the Schweppes and Canady Dry's at night haven't hurt my results, but I'd like a second opinion on the zero-sum thing just to know. And for anyone with a social life for that matter.

Here's a quote from one of his comments, Mark:

Anon,

"how can I apply leangains if I want to add muscle mass?"

You need a weekly calorie surplus and the surplus should mainly be added to training days (i.e eat maintenance + X amount of calories).

This really works. I can finally see the top row of my abs. I've also managed to put on a few pounds of muscle.

Also, he has good posts on carb refeeds, which also help a lot. Good to see people like this too.

(08-02-2011 08:49 AM)Traindom Wrote: [ -> ]Here's a quote from one of his comments, Mark:

Anon,

"how can I apply leangains if I want to add muscle mass?"

You need a weekly calorie surplus and the surplus should mainly be added to training days (i.e eat maintenance + X amount of calories).

This really works. I can finally see the top row of my abs. I've also managed to put on a few pounds of muscle.

Also, he has good posts on carb refeeds, which also help a lot. Good to see people like this too.

I am currently switching over to bulking with this. I am having a hard time fitting all the calories in the feeding phase and I get a massive food coma afterwards lol. Will see my body might just need to adjust to this.

Hey great thread guys, just a question before i dedicate myself to any of the proposed dieting methods. Obviously the way to lose fat is to eat less calories and all these methods aid you with that in some way. I'm a college student so to count calories is quite impractical but to add on top of that im a collegiate sprinter. I've always naturaally hovered around 7-9% bodyfat but am looking to get down to 4 or 5%. Has anyone gotten down that low on any of these proposed methods, and in general have you found that you've lost strength. Not saying muscle mass but have you gotten weaker, because though getting more shredded is a bonus for my sport losing strength is the difference between first and second. I'ld appreciate you guys insight.