I've decided to prioritise conditioning for the next 5 weeks before I go away. I'm going to continue on my current split, training 4-5x a week, and I'll throw in a little PWO cardio as I see fit. I'll probably change rep ranges slightly to avoid CNS burnout, but otherwise should be fine as I am. Reckon I'm about 12% at the moment, and would like to get down to around 8% by the time I go away in the first week of March. Definitely achievable.

It's not long to be dieting, but that should mean that it's easy to stay focussed. I think the fat will fall off really easily, as I've stayed fairly lean just be eating clean (and whilst gaining mass) and will be reducing kCals as well as introducing some cardio, so I think it'll work well - I've not really cut cals like this for 18 months at least, so I'm hoping for pretty dramatic changes.

Plan is to eat 10 kCals/lb, so I'm going to start at 1,900Kcal and go from there. Haven't calorie counted for ages, but I'd estimate that at the moment I'm eating around 3,000 - 3,500/day. Pretty dramatic difference but over 4-5 weeks and with proper supplementation it shouldn't be a problem. I've always found BCAAs to make a big difference when dieting, so will be using 20g/day over 4 servings. Otherwise it'll be very simple - pretty much all protein will be from whole foods, and I'll be using greens/fish oil/multi vits as usual. That's about it.

Macro split will be 35/15/50 P/C/F - all carbs will be from veg and a little fruit (berries, grapefruit etc), so all fibrous.

Just sorting out my exact diet plan today, then I'll be ready to go as of tomorrow.

Just started to slip a little too far into my comfort zone, and think this will be a good way to challenge myself for a short period and get myself sorted out for some steady gains over the rest of the year

Do you think that cal reduction is necessary? 2500cals would be perfect imo, at least for the first 2-3 weeks.

From 3000-3500 straight to 1900cals? Isn't that going to cause too much of a crash on your system?

Up the cardio and reduce rest between sets and supeset

Karlos wrote:Do you think that cal reduction is necessary? 2500cals would be perfect imo, at least for the first 2-3 weeks.

I agree, no doubt you've got the discipline to do it Ollie but I reckon your metabolism will spit the dummy. If you're plan hard-out training sessions anyway then I'd drop cals by 500 to start with, and reassess after two weeks; otherwise I don't think you'll have enough gas in the tank to do the training justice, or worse may end up hurting yourself. And we can't have that, those Romanian ski bunnies need you!

If you do insist on going through with it though then I insist you at least add the phrases 'ripped abs!' and 'skin-splitting pumps!' to the journal title.

I thought the same as Karlos and Will mate. Is there any need for such a drop in cals in the first week? Wouldnt a drop of just a few hundred and the introduction of a little cardio/ shorter rests be enough to get the ball rolling?

Five weeks you say...8% you say...this is exactly what i want to achieve in the very save time frame!

Go hard or go home is the approach I'm taking. I don't really think a 4.5 week diet is long enough to have the 'luxury' of making gradual changes. Over 4.5 weeks the drop in metabolism is going to be miniscule - I'll have a refeed after a fortnight (valentine's weekend), and go from there.

My rests are already pretty short and cardio bores me no end. I definitely think my short rest times have contributed to me staying reasonably lean year-round. Plus if I want to sleep and have a social life, I don't really have time for it on top of training and work.

If this turns out badly, then it's totally my fault. But I reckon I'll be fine - I think I've got enough experience behind me to know what works for me and what doesn't by now. Not that I don't value your opinions of course - I appreciate that it looks a bit extreme and unnecessary, but I feel like a challenge. Not really being stretched in any other area of my life right now...work is far too cruisey and I'm looking at my options...so a good time to do it I feel.

Cool - well good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Fair enough. Before and after pics would be sweet?

Perv!

I will do that - best way to check progress.

Journal whore!!

1900 kcals is plenty. As long as you stay above 10kcal per lb LBM you should be just fine.

I'd have a re-feed meal every 5 days to keep leptin stable. Nothing extravagant though.

Like the approach ollie, doing it that way you'll go into good fat loss and stay anabolic for afew days too. One thing I would suggest is that you have a planned re-feed every week just up the carbs on that day maybe a cheat.
Any fat burners like clen/ eph and t3?

Na, steering clear of fat burners Max. I'm much more health-oriented now and they don't really sit well with that.

cleaver wrote:Journal whore!!

1900 kcals is plenty. As long as you stay above 10kcal per lb LBM you should be just fine.

I'd have a re-feed meal every 5 days to keep leptin stable. Nothing extravagant though.

More frequent refeed meals rather than a full day may make more sense - thanks for the suggestion. Planning a big meal on Valentine's day, otherwise I should be able to keep things very clean. Will just mean abstaining from booze altogether which I don't really have a problem with.

cals are too low for what you are doing - your body will just regulate to make it harder and youll lose more muscle.

Even over 4 weeks with 1/5 days of slightly higher calorie intake?

Ollie - Id say so. ive just dropped near enough 20lbs and I learnt something - dont put it on in the first place lol and also dont cut calories too much - use cardio and activity to increase the deficit but not the reduction of food...id say working at 12-13/lb would be good and then manipulate the activity

kp1512 wrote:Ollie - Id say so. ive just dropped near enough 20lbs and I learnt something - dont put it on in the first place lol and also dont cut calories too much - use cardio and activity to increase the deficit but not the reduction of food...id say working at 12-13/lb would be good and then manipulate the activity

I agree - don't put it on the first place. I'm not exactly fat so I don't need to diet for long. 4 weeks will definitely do it if I'm strict enough.

As I say I don't really have time for much extra cardio without sacrificing sleep and lifestyle. I'd also question which is more catabolic - lots of steady state cardio or an equivalent deficit created by dropping kCals. Not sure what the answer to that is.

Maybe I'll taper down to 10kCal/lb but I think it will be fine. No doubt I'm likely to use strength but it should come back quite quickly. Comes down to the old 'chasing 2 rabbits' analogy.

I don't doubt that it will work but I would be worried personally about the loss of strength and lean tissue that you are dicing with on such a dramatic drop.

I think you are being a fud Ollie. A real Fud! You are already in good nick mate. There is no need for such extremities (imo) for the sake of being a whole 1-2% less for going on holiday. Especially with the risks stated above. Why not aim for 10% in 4 weeks time and achieve that with a modest and "safe" reduction in kcals? Guarantee that way you will keep al the cracking gains you have made over the last quarter or so?

You train as consistently and as hard as anyone on here and could argue that you are the strongest and most consistent of us all. That said your a fud! Simple as that!

PS - If you take pics be sure to include some glute

Rab wrote:I don't doubt that it will work but I would be worried personally about the loss of strength and lean tissue that you are dicing with on such a dramatic drop.

I think you are being a fud Ollie. A real Fud! You are already in good nick mate. There is no need for such extremities (imo) for the sake of being a whole 1-2% less for going on holiday. Especially with the risks stated above. Why not aim for 10% in 4 weeks time and achieve that with a modest and "safe" reduction in kcals? Guarantee that way you will keep al the cracking gains you have made over the last quarter or so?

You train as consistently and as hard as anyone on here and could argue that you are the strongest and most consistent of us all. That said your a fud! Simple as that!

PS - If you take pics be sure to include some glute

I agree with Rab Ollie. There's no need for you to do something this extreme.

But do get the glute pics. xxx

His strength will drop yes, but whats does that matter? He won't loose any muscle.. just glycogen and look a little flatter. When he's on hols all that glycogen will be all filled in easy and he'll look ace. Nice and lean and full

Be a great little rebound imo. Ollie knows his body at the en of the day. Also its how I would do it hence why I'm agreeing lol buuutt maybe add in some var and eca / clen

lol. Bit pointless before a skiing holiday perhaps but I like being lean so have to give it a good go as I'd like to be able to come back and go straight into some gains again. We'll see how it pans out. I've gone as low before without losing muscle and I can deal with some temporary loss in strength. That said I've loved lifting more week in week out for the last few months, so maybe I'll crack. It's a bit of an experiment but a calculated one...

I'd say you're less than 12% unless you hold very little fat on your arms.

Personally I think 1900kcals is a bit low and you'll be in danger of losing muscle mass as well as fat. I'd stay at 2500 but swap macros around so less carbs, more protein and more fats if the numbers allow.

I'd also look to get at least 1-2 conditioning sessions in, even if it means 6 days a week of training.

I reckon 12% is about right...abs and serratus are all visible but I'm a bit soft here and there.

Perhaps I'll go a little higher to start with - say 2250, and go from there. 4 weeks really isn't long though, and I'd like to strip off as much fat as possible in that time. Anything I do lose (which I think will be minimal) will come back pretty easily anyway.

You shouldn't lose much strength if you're careful as I'm doing similar currently with strength and energy levels remaining good.

Rab wrote:I don't doubt that it will work but I would be worried personally about the loss of strength and lean tissue that you are dicing with on such a dramatic drop.

I think you are being a fud Ollie. A real Fud! You are already in good nick mate. There is no need for such extremities (imo) for the sake of being a whole 1-2% less for going on holiday. Especially with the risks stated above. Why not aim for 10% in 4 weeks time and achieve that with a modest and "safe" reduction in kcals? Guarantee that way you will keep al the cracking gains you have made over the last quarter or so?

You train as consistently and as hard as anyone on here and could argue that you are the strongest and most consistent of us all. That said your a fud! Simple as that!

Can tell that you are hanging around with BB'ers these days I think people get too paranoid about lean tissue loss.