"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, page 42.
Hello! First, some stats and history about me: 45 years old, a year of consistent lifting (a couple decades of inconsistent lifting). Lost 70lbs over the last year. Started at 300lbs over 45% bf and now am at 233 and about 19-20% (last DEXA says 17.5… but I think that’s fake news… pics and DEXA results to follow). Been on TRT for six months. Have completed one mini cycle of 400 test 200 primo to test the waters. Making a shift in my current cycle as is explained more below.
I just finished a short stint with… Tren… and 250 test and 140 primo (for E2 control). Started Tren Ace at 25mg a day for a week and then moved up to gauge tolerance. Ended up at 350 a week and I have to say, I get why people love the stuff. I also didn’t have many of the sides you hear about, but I also wasn’t on it for very long. Sleep took a hit, cardio capacity tanked, and HDL dropped through the floor even with the fairly aggressive supplement/medication stack I put in place in an attempt at mitigating the damage. Libido also went nuts. I have to say, even in the four-ish weeks I ran it, size and strength went up, fat went down, and scale didn’t budge. I have another DEXA scheduled next week, which should give me some additional insights.
Real talk - I have an epic beach vacation starting in 9 weeks. For the first time ever, I have a chance at something approaching abs for my beach vacation. They will be mine, oh yes, they will be mine. So, that’s my deadline and it will happen.
- Math and physics are the true enemies.
My TDEE is about 3,000. And my goal is 12% body fat. Based on the math I had ChatGPT do for me, I need to lose 20lbs to hit 12% body fat assuming I am currently 20% body fat. To lose 20lbs, I need to have a deficit of 70,000 calories over the next 9 weeks, which comes out to ~7,700 calorie deficit per week or ~1,100 per day, which is pretty aggressive. Doable, but aggressive. What is certain is that it a near impossibility that I would gain much if any muscle on that steep of a daily deficit. Which got me thinking, is there a better way?
- Transitioning to a more rational approach (I hope).
So, I actually seriously considered running Tren at a 1,100kcal deficit and hope the recomp gods smiled on me until I came across this amazing thread:
Thread 'Why fasting helps you live longer, helps build more muscle. and my prolong fast LOG' By
stevesmi
This got me thinking, could I design a fairly aggressive cut that also had the potential to allow me to add some muscle mass? So, my idea is to run two 36ish hour fasts a week, which would do most of the caloric deficit work for the week allowing me to eat at a modest deficit on my eating days. The fasting days would be my active rest days.
Now, enter the math again (I’m so sorry). Assuming my TDEE is 3000, then I get to a 6,000kcal deficit per week just by fasting two days. That means I would only need a 2,700 calorie deficit the remaining days, which comes out to ~500kcal deficit the other 5 days a week.
Given that math, the schedule will look something like the following:
Monday - 500kcal below maintenance (first meal 5:30am);
Tuesday - 500kcal below maintenance (last meal at 7pm);
Wednesday - Fast (active rest);
Thursday - 500kcal below maintenance (first meal 5:30am);
Friday - 500kcal below maintenance (last meal 7pm);
Saturday - Fast (active rest).
M, T, Th, Fr, Su, are lifting days. Z2 cardio three days a week and minimum 12k steps everyday.
500 Test E per week (pinned EOD);
300 Primo E per week (pinned EOD);
25mg Pharma Anavar per day (12.5 AM and PM);
300IU HCG 3X a week;
2 IU HGH a day before bed.
I considered continuing running a lower dose Tren (~150 a week) instead of Var for its nutrient partitioning/recomp magic but I also understand that Tren and fasting do not mix. Open to anyone’s thoughts on this.
Other items on hand:
Mast - but greatly prefer primo unless the consensus goes the other way significantly.
T3 - Considering 25mcg a day
Cardarine - Considering 10mg a day
- Ancillaries/Supplements/medications:
Things I have on hand just in case:
AI (primo does the work of E2 control for me); and
Nolvadex (haven’t ever needed it, but when you do, you do).
My medications and supplements are divided into a four time a day schedule AM (pre-workout), Lunch, Dinner, PM (pre-bed).
AM:
5mg Tadalafil;
100mg P5P (may discontinue or go EOD if no Tren);
5,000 IU Vitamin D;
NAD+ (100mg Nicotinamide Riboside Chloride);
Green Tea Extract.
Lunch:
1,000mg NAC;
100mg CoQ10
1g Fish Oil
Multivitamin
20mg Telmisartan (for both BP and longevity purposes)
500mg Metformin (for insulin control and longevity purposes)
Dinner:
500mg TUDCA
1g Fish Oil
500mg Niacin
500mg Metformin
1g Citrus Bergamot
Injectable Glutathione 100mg (5 on 2 off)
PM:
5mg rosuvastatin
Gorilla Dream
25mg DHEA
5mg Pregnenalone
As needed:
CBD and Ashwaganda for any anxiety or overstimulated issues;
25m Hydroxyzine for sleep management
Would be interested in seeing what I can get rid of from the above if I went N2Guard as everyone on here recommends it). I value control, but I also value simplicity.
Diet:
Maintenance calories ~3,000
Maintenance macros: ~220p, 350c, 65f
Sample day of eating/schedule:
5:00am - Wake up
5:30am - 3X coffee with 1x tsp half and half per coffee; 1/2 cup rolled oats in almond milk (overnight oats), 1 tbsp chia seeds, either 200g of 0% Fage Greek yogurt or casein protein shake. Pin AAS.
6:45am - 30 minute walk with wife/dog
8:00am - ~60 minute workout (PPL 5x a week), intra workout shake (two scoops whey, 2 tbps maple syrup) - drink 1/2 during workout, finish post workout.
9:30am - work
10:30 am - chicken breast, farro or rice, vege (for all meals my go to sauces are A1, chalula, siracha, soy sauce, or mustard)
12pm - lunch (slightly bigger version of 10:30 meal). Sometimes this becomes a half cheat meal due to work but I still hit my overall macros-just make adjustments elsewhere.
2pm - snack (protein bar/protein chips/small 100kcal bag of jerky - my one big non “clean” indulgence).
6pm - dinner (same as the above meals)
8pm - casein shake if I need the protein macros still. If not, skip.
9:30pm - Pin HGH
10pm ish - sleep.
——
Tracking - I have been getting DEXA scans once a month and will post the last three here (first two pre-cycle, third one was 2 weeks into low Tren mini-cycle).
I will post the following as I go:
Heavily redacted progress pics;
Food journal and meal pics; and
Redacted DEXA scans from end of December, end of January, end of Feb, end of March, and (soon) end of April, May, and June.
Thanks in advance for reading (or skimming) this wall of text. Happy to hear any constructive comments folks have.
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