I grew up fat but luckily after a suggestion from my father decided to lose weight at a relatively young age. By 8th grade I was skinny but continued to almost anorexic levels because despite being thin I was not actually lean...couldn't see my abs which is all I wanted at the time.
Anyway fast forward to today, 22 years old. Nothing special in terms of development but probably intermediate level compared to most gym goers.
In any case, I have never been below 10% body fat. Every summer for the last 3-4 years the plan was to finally get shredded and I stopped because of muscle loss. I just couldn't stand mentally to lose all the muscle and strength I worked for, and the losses became significant when I got close to 10%. Every time, even when working with a coach. Even this year, I resorted to using gear but then 2 vacations got in the way. I want to go back to being natural though and will relatively soon.
So to any formerly fat guys (NOT guys who aren't naturally fat but let body fat get higher in the off season) or coaches of formerly fat guys, how did you go about getting shredded (~6%) or getting your clients there? Were you able to hold onto most of your muscle and not look too thin? Being 6'1 it is very easy for me to look too skinny. Even in high school I remember getting up to 6-12 hours of cardio per week (swam 2 hours most days for the school team) while weight training and still couldn't get below 12% or so. Just got skinny.
Also, did it get easier? I often hear it gets easier to diet to contest condition once you've already done it. Maybe only because mentally you have a reference point to compare size/strength to?
I have a friend who worked with Skip and went from formerly obese to shredded but he did lose a ton of strength (he probably hired Skip a bit too late and things had to be more extreme to get him ready for his contest in time). I feel like he only didn't look too thin because he's 5'5" so it's hard to look lanky.
Any thoughts on the process are greatly appreciated. Even once I get to 6% eventually I would love to stay sub 10% but I don't know if that is realistic for someone who puts on fat so easily. Hugo Rivera has a very similar story to mine but he is 5'4" and I don't know if he's really grown much since getting shredded and staying sub 10%
Thanks!
Anyway fast forward to today, 22 years old. Nothing special in terms of development but probably intermediate level compared to most gym goers.
In any case, I have never been below 10% body fat. Every summer for the last 3-4 years the plan was to finally get shredded and I stopped because of muscle loss. I just couldn't stand mentally to lose all the muscle and strength I worked for, and the losses became significant when I got close to 10%. Every time, even when working with a coach. Even this year, I resorted to using gear but then 2 vacations got in the way. I want to go back to being natural though and will relatively soon.
So to any formerly fat guys (NOT guys who aren't naturally fat but let body fat get higher in the off season) or coaches of formerly fat guys, how did you go about getting shredded (~6%) or getting your clients there? Were you able to hold onto most of your muscle and not look too thin? Being 6'1 it is very easy for me to look too skinny. Even in high school I remember getting up to 6-12 hours of cardio per week (swam 2 hours most days for the school team) while weight training and still couldn't get below 12% or so. Just got skinny.
Also, did it get easier? I often hear it gets easier to diet to contest condition once you've already done it. Maybe only because mentally you have a reference point to compare size/strength to?
I have a friend who worked with Skip and went from formerly obese to shredded but he did lose a ton of strength (he probably hired Skip a bit too late and things had to be more extreme to get him ready for his contest in time). I feel like he only didn't look too thin because he's 5'5" so it's hard to look lanky.
Any thoughts on the process are greatly appreciated. Even once I get to 6% eventually I would love to stay sub 10% but I don't know if that is realistic for someone who puts on fat so easily. Hugo Rivera has a very similar story to mine but he is 5'4" and I don't know if he's really grown much since getting shredded and staying sub 10%
Thanks!
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