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Knowledge expansion quest here.....


I know a few of you have given Leangains IF method a crack and similar radical diet methods. What were your experiences overall?

Also, is getting to single digit BF a goal for anyone here? Are you already there (how did you get there)? I'll freely admit, being shredded is a goal of mine, but its far far...far off.



Specifically with anyone who has smashed lean gains for a decent stretch.... how did you organise your refeeds? How often were they, and what did you change? Obviously smashed the carbs, but did you do it on a training day at the end of the week? How much over your maintenance did you go etc etc?


Personally, I am going at a "eat 24/7" bulk currently... but I see leangains as a viable method for me personally in the future... or maybe i'm just mesmerised by the before & afters??


Like I said, this is just a knowledge expansion quest... always appreciate personal experience from others, especially when every sentence doesn't end in brah... even though I do enjoy using it in real life with my "brahs" ... tongue firmly in cheek.

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You'll never walk alone, safe in the wide open arms of hell.

I did leangains for a while, saw good weight loss initially (lost 2 notches on my belt pretty much overnight) but it plateaued quickly. I probably could've cut down further by decreasing my carbs, adding cardio etc but meh, I was already pretty lean so I didn't bother

As for refeeds, I just did what I usually do and have a ridiculous cheat day one day at the weekend. Dominos pizza was the staple. I chose weekends because it meant that my girlfriend and I could order takeaway or go out for dinner or something.

I'm not such a good person to offer advice as my genetics keep my in pretty much the single digits anyway, but I enjoyed leangains and will do it again in future. I actually think I might go for a more Warrior Diet type approach where you basically eat small, carb-less snacks over the course of the day, then have a huge meal with a ton of carbs at night.

Intermitant Fasting, in general, definately works but as a means to get ripped, it may have limitations. Once you get to a certain point, and that point varies for each person, you do lose muscle if you don't stay stoked with protein. IF doesn't allow that. Of course, everyone is different, and it may work for some. A similar method, that doesn't involve fasting, per se, involves cycling carbs. By restricting carbs for an extended period, while maintaining your fat and protein intake, followed by a carb refeed, you can get the benefits of IF without the muscle loss, even muscle gain, theoretically. Carb Back Loading is one way of doing it. Having all your daily carbs in one meal/day will also work. You can also go low carb all week and pig out on the weekend. Eggs are your friend.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

:-o

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You'll never walk alone, safe in the wide open arms of hell.

You let your missus eat Dominos???? You mad dogg!@#! Thats sincere admiration btw, I wanna bust my own balls after I smash dominos on cheat days ( I went through 2.5 pizzas on Saturday) still hating on myself!

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You'll never walk alone, safe in the wide open arms of hell.

I'm taking the piss in a banter style way... I hate how my character is misinterpreted over the internet sometimes... 'avn a larf

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You'll never walk alone, safe in the wide open arms of hell.

No one is offended.

No one understands a thing you say, so how could they be offended?

:)

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

I'm currently doing an Anabolic Diet/Lean gains sort of hybrid but only the last few weeks have I been reducing meals for a last minute holiday coming up. I have 16 hour fast during the week and no carbs, but at weekends just eat whatever really. It doesn't affect my training at all but I think I've adapted to training low carb now, a couple of years ago it used to kill me, made me feel sick and weak. Now I can train after a 16 hour fast and a protein shake to the same intensity.

The best thing about it is maintaining weight, if I want to I can pretty much eat as much food as I want during the week (protein/fat) and eat junk all weekend but seem to maintain my body fat levels and lifts increase. My weight can fluctuate a lot though which must be due to water retention, I was 171 lbs this morning when last weekend I was 178 lbs. I also drink heavily on weekends to accompany my takeaways. If I cut drinking out I could be 10% bodyfat in 6 weeks or so easily at this rate, but I like drinking and would rather look defined over ripped to carry it on!

My muscle to fat ratio is the best it's ever been at the moment though, which is also backed up by my strength. I have a tiny bone structure by the way and although I'm not naturally ripped like robertscott, I can generally eat a lot of crap and stay looking "average". The heaviest I've ever been is 190 lbs but I wasn't lifting as much as I am now and was eating anythign and everything, I was padded out a bit then.

haha, she's 5' 8" and 115lbs. If anything I'd want to fatten her up, but she's perfect the way she is*


*had to add that in case she sees this...