Fellas,

I just wanted to let you know that my new blog is finally ready for prime-time! So, go, have a look, and let me know what you think:

www.mrlowbodyfat.com

Don’t worry, I’ll update my training blog with my new routine before the week is out.

All the best,

Muata

OK guys, here are the pics I promised to post. I’ll be upfront and honest with you and say that I don’t see that much of a difference, which is kinda what I expected. What the pictures don’t show is how soft my stubborn fat areas became. It was really an odd feeling, and I’m glad I did this. Why?

Well, I knew that I was going to be on a mission to gain mass and that after doing a PSMF like the one Lyle has laid out in his book would put my body in a very “anabolic” ready state. So, as long as I train, eat more calories than my body needs, and time my nutrients, I don’t see anything wrong with me gaining 10lbs of muscle over the next 5 months. Yeah, to build quality muscle it takes a lot longer than it does to pack on the body fat.

OK, here are the before and after pics:

Day 1 - Front View

Day 1 - Side View

Day 10 - Front View

Day 10 - Side View

Hey Fellas, I’m sorry to leave you hanging on Day 9, but I woke up on Day 10 and was sick as a dog! I had a fever, the chills, and was throwing up for the majority of the morning. After spending the majority of the day in bed yesterday, I decided that making it to day 12 was not an option.

Let me be clear about something. I don’t blame Lyle’s approach for making me sick. I actually attribute it to leaving the AC on all night, which doesn’t seem to work well when you have a bald-head! Anyway, I started my carb-up yesterday with a big plate of 3 day old spaghetti and meat sauce. While my energy is returning, as my muslces’ glycogen stores are being replenished, I still don’t feel as energetic as I should.

I’m just hoping that it was simply a 24hr bug, which is something that I usually get now and then. Since I’ve lost the weight and have been working out, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been sick for more than 24hrs. Let’s just hope this time is no different! Hell, I plan on going to the park and “practicing” with my sandbag.

OK, so what did I learn from this 10 day experience? First, doing low-calorie, low-carb, and low-fat, even for a short period of time, f*cking sucks!!! I have a new found respect for all types of athletes who use similar diets to get down to low levels of BF%. In my case, what is really killing me is that I can feel that the fat in my stubborn areas (lower abs, lower back, and thighs) are getting soft and very “squishy”–hey, is that even a word? Nevertheless, it seems that my body just wants to hold on to these fat spots like a wino clutching his bottle!

If I were to say that it’s not a bit frustrating, then I would be lying because it is! Well, it just goes to show you that sometimes your body likes to fight back, and trying to confront it head on is not necessarily the key. As I was eating all that god-awful chicken breasts, I had to think back to an email exchange I had with one of my early nutritional mentors–Dr. Gregory Ellis.

Greg wrote Ulitmate Diet Secrets, which was the first book that really opened my eyes up to how the body gains and loses weight at the cellular level. It was an eye opening read that lead me on to other like-minded authors such as Anthony Colpo, Lyle McDonald, Jamie Hale, and Alan Aragon, to name a few. Well, when I was asking Greg about my stubborn fat areas, he flat out told me to get some sort of liposuction or the less invasive procedure on the market today! Yes, a diet author who purposely went from 260lbs (mainly muscle not fat) to 160lbs to experiment on himself and who walks around at 8% BF told me that trying to get to the level I wanted to was just “too hard”, especially since it was my first time!

Well gents, I have to say that while I’m not giving up on my ultimate goal, I can appreciate what Greg told me. However, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, which is an expression I probably shouldn’t use since I’m a cat owner and Sissy is lying right next to the keyboard as I type this;) After talking with Anthony Colpo, he suggested that since I’m very insulin sensitive right now that I should focus on gaining muscle then return to trying to lean out later on this year. He assured me that I’ll find leaning out a lot easier after gaining mass, which makes sense.

So, I’m going to accentuate the positive and use the fact that my body is more than primed for growth since I’ve been eating way below my body’s daily caloric needs. I want to add no more than 10-15lbs of muscle before I start another cut, and I’m ready for the fact that gaining muscle is not as easy as gaining fat! LOL!

I want to thank all of you who followed me over the last week or so, to see how my experiment went. I’m going to post my pics this weekend to see if there was a noticeable difference. I haven’t even checked them out yet. Oh, my ending weight was 188lbs, which is only a net loss of maybe 6 pounds; however, when you are already lean, it’s more about how you look in the mirror than the number on the scale because I’m already at a size that I’m more than comfortable with (size 34-36 pants). It’s just about getting leaner and a bit more muscular!

A luta continua … (the struggle [against FAT] continues)

Thoughts on Day Eight:

Weight - 192

Today, I did my third workout since I’ve been on this cut. I did ladders with hindu pushups, rested for 90 seconds and then did a clean, squat, press with my sandbag using ladders too. I followed my rest period with walking across a large yard shouldering the sandbag. I did two rounds of this and that’s all I could stomach. I took a glucose pill before my workout, but I wished I had another one to finish a third round, or at least some gatorade to sip on, but I didn’t. So, I took my partially wiped out ass home.

After drinking a protein shake, I felt a little back to normal. I had chicken breasts and veggies with protein shakes pretty much all day, and will probably repeat the same tomorrow with egg beaters–oh what fun!

Physically, I don’t know. I look in the mirror and I “feel” leaner, but I don’t know. I’m simply going to wait until the end to look at the pictures. My wife has taking my pictures in the morning. It takes her less than 5 minutes to snap my front, back, and sides. Oh, and I’ve decided not to look at the pictures until the 12 days are up!

What I’m really looking forward to is when I carb up because I want to show you guys how you can actually eat more calories than your body needs and the excess calories won’t go to fat storage, but first to refill your muscle’s glycogen stores. I know it may sound unbelievable, but I’ve experienced this and it’s a trip! I can’t wait to do it to take pictures of how I look after I carb up on some good Mexican food.

I’ll check in with you guys tomorrow …

Thoughts on Day Seven:

Weight - 194 (I hadn’t had a liquid or solid elimination as I usually do before weighing myself)

Went for a nice stroll around our rather enormous block a couple of times. My energy levels are fine, but I do find myself being a bit irritable. I know it’s because I’m doing low calories, so I just hope my wife doesn’t kick my ass before the 12 days are up. Hey, she may look small, but she made me tap out from a triangle choke the other night!

No, seriously, she’s flexible and I always wondered how it felt to have someone use your own arm to choke you out. So, we watch enough MMA for her to know how to do the hold, and once I made sure it was tight, I told her to squeeze. It was uncomfortable, of course, but I didn’t think it hurt enough to tap. That’s when it happened …

The right side of my head started to get numb and dark, and I could feel the sensation was quickly going to the left side of my head. I was literally on my way to being put to sleep, and it was the craziest feeling. I found a brand new respect for guys who tap in this submission hold and the guys who fight through to get out. If my 106lb. wife could do this, I can’t imagine how it’s going to be when guy my size wraps his muscle bound legs around my neck …ouch.

Sorry for the off topic rant, but at least it kept me from thinking about how freakin’ boring this damn diet is. To those of you reading this who are or close to the size I was when I started my journey and you want to achieve a low BF% (under 10%), you are going to have to experiment with your body like you wouldn’t believe. Oh, and it’s unfortunately true that you lose weight the fastest and easiest the larger you are! God, I really miss those days of dropping 7 - 10 lbs a week. RIpping through my wardrobe having my clothes fall off of me. Yeah, those were the good ole’ days, and then I got the crazy notion that I wanted to have a six pack.

Well, those easy fat loss days are long gone guys, and I have to settle for incremental changes in my BF%, and it ain’t easy . . .

OK, enough of me bitching . . . I told you I was irritable

Thoughts on Day Six:

Weight - 190.5

Alright fellas, my energy is finally back! I’m starting to feel pretty lean as the veins in my arms are starting to show more. Also, I’m starting to feel my obliques a bit more too. I only have 7 more days of this program, and I can say that I’m starting to get use to my homeade chili over a salad and snacks of beef jerky. Oh, I cooked some well seasoned chicken breasts on the stove today and added frozen veggies for a decent meal! I was actually a bit surprised that it tasted so well. On another note, the calorie-free Grape drink from Walmart ain’t bad at all.

Well, I’ll check in later today …

Thoughts on Day Five:

Weight - 192.5 (Gotta love the way your weight fluctuates, eh?)

OK, today wasn’t too bad because my energy levels are back to I would say 80%. I basically chilled today and worked on the computer. I did some deep stretches with my resistance bands and some ab vacuums, but I didn’t feel like going for my 30 minute stroll today, and guess what? I didn’t

No worries guys, I’ll go for one tomorrow. Well, I’m off to the Super Walmart that’s open 24/7 to store up on some more frozen chicken breasts, lean ground beef, and, my favorite, FAT FREE shredded cheese! I kinda enjoy shopping while most folks are asleep.

Check in with you guys later …

PS Bless the person who invented Crystal Light and other calorie free drinks!

Thoughts on Day Four:

Weight - I forgot to weigh myself in the morning … sorry about that.

My workout pretty much sucked as I knew it would since I’m operating in a severe calorie deficit. Taking a glucose pill 10 mins before really helped me get through my routine. Once I started to feel my energy levels drop again, I knew it was time to call it quits.

Today’s menu was what I’m going to call homemade chili. My wife sauteed onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms using Pam Spray. Then she thawed out those god-awful turkey burgers and broke them up to cook them along with the sauteed veggies. She added a couple of spoonfuls of salsa to the mix, topped it with fat-free (yeah I know ) cheddar cheese and voila–homemade low-calorie, low-carb chili! This actually tasted pretty good, and I think I’ll do a repeat of it tomorrow with my extra-lean ground beef.

My energy levels are returning, and as I write this early on day 5, I feel energetic since I’ve been taking afternoon naps that have allowed me to stay up later and get work done on the computer. I’m experimenting with breaking up my sleeping hours into 3 and 5 hour shifts. It works out great while doing this 12 day experiment because you don’t think about eating when you’re asleep . . .

Check in with you guys a little later on today …

Thoughts on Day Three:

Weight - 192lbs (loss 2lbs. of water weight)

OK, I can tell that my body’s making the switch because my energy levels are returning. So, today I decided to , literally, take a walk in the park with my wife, which was pretty cool because we were able to see women who just had their babies pushing around their strollers for cardio.

At first, we thought that they were random women who just happened to show up at the park to workout. Then, they got in the middle of the field and formed separate stations. One group was doing forward lunges, the second group was doing bodyweight squats, the third was doing upper torso twists, and the last group was doing jumping jacks. They worked in each group for one minute before changing stations. Then, they went to a nearby fence to do a combo wood-chops and squats with the attached rubber bands.

I just shook my head in amazement because there are so many guys out there that want to believe that complex programs is what it takes to lose weight and sculpt a great body. And, here are these women trying to lose their baby weight doing bodyweight exercises only. I just wish I can get more guys to get in the middle of the field with me!

Today’s diet wasn’t so drab because I had extra-lean ground beef which taste better then those flavorless turkey burgers. I’ve also found the right mixture of water to put in my protein shake, so it’s actually tasting a bit like chocolate now;)

I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll have more energy as I do a light full-body routine @ the park. It’s time to pull out and play with my sandbag and pushupboard. I’ll let you guys know how it goes tomorrow …

Thoughts on Day Two:

Weight - 193lbs (loss 1lb of water weight)

Well, it’s actually the beginning of Day Three as I type this, but who’s counting?

Today pretty much sucked like yesterday because my body is still transitioning from burning glucose to fat as fuel. So, yeah, I feel pretty crappy. My wife, pobrecita, keeps asking me if I’m OK because I’m usually a pretty upbeat guy, and not this mundane and boring couch potato. I really can’t wait until Thursday because I know that my energy will return and then some.

OK, I know that yesterday I told you guys that I was going to walk on the treadmill for 30 mins, but I just couldn’t bring myself to walk indoors on a treadmill when I live in sunny Southern California! So, Crystal and I decided to take a nice, leisurely stroll for thirty minutes. I set my gym boss for two rounds of 15 minutes. So, when it went off after the first round, we simply turned around and walked back home. I didn’t over exert myself or even feel as if I was exercising. I was taking in some sun and enjoying a walk with my lovely wife . . . then reality smacked me in the face: It was time to eat!

While I no longer have an unhealthy relationship with food that I once did, I still enjoy eating. It’s no longer my favorite past time, but I still look forward to certain daily treats like nuts, REAL eggs, and some sort of pork. Well, not today. I had a healthy dose of guess what? You’re right: chicken, chicken, beef jerky, chicken, protein shake, salad, salad, veggie, etc.

I know that once I get my energy back, I won’t care so much about the mundane, drab, and flavorless diet I’m following right now. I have to admit that Lyle did mention in his book that this diet wasn’t luxurious because it was meant to be effective more than tasty. We’ll see . . .

I’ll talk to you guys later on today.