northernmusician's Journal, 01 Jul 16

Northern, just do what I am doing man. No need to do all the crazy carb loading and screwing up your insulin. Just do 23:1. You WILL lose weight. And if you are lifting, its ok to do TARGETED carbs. Just don't get crazy with it. I wouldn't even do that though. 

Calipers at the moment are saying I'm at 10.5% bf. My body responds quite differently than I ever would expect it too. 23:1 might cut weight, but I'm not sure it would preserve muscle mass for me at this point. Thanks for the thought. It's sure working for you. That's awesome. 

No worries brother, its a tool at your disposal if you need it. But can I ask, why are you wanting to go below 10% You are already Bodybuilder lean as it is? Trying to tickle anorexia? 

Nope. At close to 3000 calories per day, I do not have an eating disorder. As you say, it's a tool. I have no vision of myself as fat. I have no visual issue. It's a goal. Climb the mountain because it's there. I would like to hit about 8% and then attempt to stay below 10% while doing leangains. That's the plan. As Lyle McDonald say, 'And even though some readers might disagree, getting a male to 12-15% bodyfat, or a female to 18-22% bodyfat, isn't that difficult... It's when folks start trying to to achieve the lower extremes of bodyfat percentage that other problems start to occur. Ravenous hunger, severe muscle loss, metabolic slowdown and screwed up hormones are a few of the usual problems." I'll stick with the knowledge of someone who's been through it and shows others how to do it. I love these kind of discussions by the way. It helps me sort things out in my mind. 

He's vain. I can relate. lol 

Ahhhh, now I understand. Proud of you brother. 

lol 

Rock on my friend - I only compete with myself every month to be a better version of myself! I am going to get to 20% or less eventually...just becuase it is there! 

As Bruce said "climb the mountain because it's there"...short answer "because it is a challenge", each 1% drop in BF under 15% is SO MUCH tougher than the one before (for ladies each 1% under 20% BF)...not many people at any age, let alone over 50, get to 10% BF. 

Ditto HCB, for me I'm happy where I'm at but am still looking to shave a few pounds of fat over the next few months...for me it is all about sustainability though... 

I didn't lose health fasting. If you're healthy, I believe it resets your metabolism. It was a challenge.  

I suppose the biggest gain for me will be to actually be able to check what needs the most work to improve my physique. I'm not really a body builder, but I do enjoy gaining more strength. Muscle mass has definitely come on (my lean mass is now equivalent to my leanest weight 2 years ago at 165) and muscle mass is the fountain of youth. I don't expect to be immortal, but I do want to be healthy and strong as long as I can and try to keep the end of life process of illness as short as possible. I suppose that's my biggest goal. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of dying slow. 

What I learned from fasting April is that after the first day the hunger starts to taper off. On the other hand, sleeping tends to be more fitful. I did lose weight, but I think it was too long and I probably lost muscle. That was a long time again prior to my big weight gain that had me in the neighbourhood of 240 pounds. I enjoyed it from the standpoint of an accomplishment, and I do believe it gives a lot of the system a rest.  

Thanks, Oliver. I agree with what you said there. In fast, Ultimate diet seems to kind of take that approach on the cut side of it. 50gr or less of carbs on the 'cut' days. It's set up kind of like keto days vs carb load days, a kind of calorie cycling with no carbs/massive carbs. The concept is essentially cutting hard, which hits the endocrine system hard in a negative way, followed by the excess calories/carb load that push the endocrine system back where it should be. I'm thinking it's worth a try. One more cycle of what I'm doing now would take me to a Saturday/Sunday off with the cut and first glycogen depleting exercise day being on Monday. I should have the reading done and have the concept down by then. I think I'll give it a go. 

2.0 Beast mode diet sounds good and lots of fun (yes diet that's actually fun hahaha) I think that's great you're going to join in! 

Smarty. What is 2.0 Beast. This is something different, I'm assuming. 

Hi Northernmusician, sorry I was mistaken, I saw the 2.0 and thought it was Beast mode 2.0 challenge! Either way, best wishes on your new plan!