Been on this site a while now, and have been plagued by bouts of laziness, cheating, illness, and the like. However, having bought new trainers, and a non stick anodised aluminium saute pan (concentration on food) I will be cutting seriously from now on.
I have a deadline, in that in one month I have a second taekwondo competition to make weight for, the previous one, only just having made weight by unhealthily eating severely low calories, and dehydrating. Naturally all the weight went straight back on, and more besides. Hopefully avoiding such things, I need to be 62kg or less. As it is, I'm currently about 65kg, so 3kg in 4 weeks. And with any luck keep the weight off.

Here is my current pictures, what body fat percentage do you think I am? I should invest in calipers, but have neglected to do so yet. I'm guessing around 15%? (I'm 5"4 ~ 5"5)

First 2 relaxed, then 2 tensed.

not a bad start, did you say you bought trainers? what did you mean by that.. like personal trainers?

not a bad start at all! In a few months your bf% should drop severaly and you'll be cut to shreds!

adam

Over the easter break, I had planned to go running in the mornings, then on my move back home, I forgot to take my running shoes. On my return to uni, I look at my running shoes, and the rubber at the bottom, unbeknown to me had worn right down to an angle.
So new shoes, new cutting cycle :)

Having had an absolutely grueling 2 hour taekwondo session in a sauna hot martial arts room, I must have lost huge amounts of water weight, as for some reason I look more cut than the previous pictures. And this is after a 2 cheat days. *scratches head*

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/260405/front.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/260405/back.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/260405/traps.jpg

Dude, your starting picture looks better than my current...*cries*

Mate, these aren't starting pictures per se....
Its the start of another cutting period, as I lapsed.
Just under a year ago I was terribly unfit, and all that, found this website, improved myself unimaginably. Of recent times I've been battling with university social life and cravings, and now have the need to cut down to 10% bf or less, for summer, and for a taekwondo competition where weight categories are very strict.

I would be at my target ages ago, if I was as dedicated and had strong willpower like many of the people here. Thats something I'm going to have to work at.

Your abs are faintly perceptible in that flexing pic already, I think you could be 13% bf or less already, especially cause of the position of leaning forward/lurching. Should be a quick cut for ya :tu:
I struggle with that will power thing also, curses to cardio, but I can't seem to cut bf without it.

Dang, you are pretty low bf to begin with, should not take you long to cut to shreds if you stick to healthy nutrition and some solid workouts. Besides the need to get down to a weight for TKD comps I would say you could probably stop cutting and begin maintenance and then begin a short bulk. However if you need to CUT weight that certainly is not the route to go. Also, drink lots of water especially when cutting to get all the junk out of your body...that has worked incredibly for me. In fact I think it is what has helped me get over this last plateau. :tu:

I like to think I'm pretty fit already, a fair amount of taekwondo training, cycling as a primary mode of transport and all that, so its a case of loosing excess baggage.

I'm actually planning to start a short bulk after I get down to a ripped weight. I need to be under 62kg before the 22nd of may. I don't think I'll be that ripped by that stage, so continuation of the cutting till i'm between 60 and 61kg. Then the bulking starts, get back up to 64kg, and then cut back down to 62. Thats the plan anyway.

I'm drinking about 2 litres of water a day, i'll bump it up to 3-4.

So having recovered from alcohol poisoning at my university athletic union ball, I found out today that there were professional photographers there, which I don't remember, and photos were taken. And they're pretty cool :)

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~sutkd/images/auball/cool.jpg
http://solentstudios.com/shoppingcart/016sports/photos/stairs_093.jpg

I'm the one doing the kick, and the splits. Shame I remember so very little of the evening...

looks like you're making good progress already! Keep it up! Wow. I wish I was that flexible to kick like that! You must have some pretty solid core muscles!

It wasn't actually the highest I could have kicked, but that was the extent of balance I had after a fair quantity of alcohol.
I guess after thousands upon thousands of kick repetitions will build those core muscles quite well, in addition to regular stretching. I guess it helps if you find stretching a relaxation technique, even though some stretches hurt a great deal...

07/05/05 update pictures:
Completely cold, different lighting... despite this I think I'm more defined than before... or I might be imagining things.

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/070505/front07.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/070505/back07.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/070505/pose07.jpg

No your not imagining things, I see it too! But you seem to be doing a decent job even with the umm..."set-backs." Keep up the good work and GL at your competitions.

Thanks for the support :) Bit of a cheat day for me today, should keep me focused for a further 7 days. I'm currently at around 64 kg after pints of water, dinner and wearing a jumper, so I think I have a pretty good chance of making weight.

In the mornings I do fasted cardio, but I'm going to have to do high intensity interval training at some point to train me for the taekwondo match rounds. However, I don't want to lose any muscle at all...

You look great man. Gives me hope that one day I'll have a body like yours.

Its only been 3 days, but took photos for curiousity's sake. Especially since I had 2 cheat days since the last set of pictures.

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/100505/front.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/100505/back.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/100505/flex.jpg
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~cl2103/vain/cut/100505/side.jpg

What do you think my body fat is at the moment? I'm hoping that with 3-4 weeks more cutting, I should be quite ripped. I'm about 141 pounds at the moment, do you think getting down to 135 pounds while retaining my muscle will be enough?

i think your at maybe 11-12% now you look really good, hopefully when I cut after my bulk I look half as good haha.