Hi, hoping that someone could help me with letting me know what my body fat is...I began the summer at about 175 lbs and an estimated 15-16% body fat. After 7 weeks, I am currently at 160 lbs. I hit the weights two to three times a week with a full body workout. I ride a bicycle 12 miles per day every weekday to get to work (about 45 mins total on the bike).

My eating has been fairly clean. During the week I tend to stick to a pretty regimented diet consisting of ham/turkey/provolone sandwiches, chicken breasts, trader joe's breads, bananas, apple juice, pineapple, milk, and whey. On the weekends, I tend to let myself go a little bit, not to the extent that it is really counter productive, but more to the extent that I eat based on how hungry I feel and how hungry I think I should feel based on my meals during the week. This keeps me withing 200 calories of my diet during the week, although the calories tend to come from different (less clean) sources because I tend to eat out on weekends. Overall, though, I aim for around 2600 calories per day.

Here is my current picture...I don't have any before pictures because I just got this camera phone recently...

http://web.mit.edu/tristan2/www/072806b.jpg

Here are some images of me from a year ago when I underwent a similar transformation, albeit a little more drastic in my opinion...perhaps you guys could comment on my body fat there or on how I have changed (if at all) from then...

These are from mid-June, mid-July, and mid-August, respectively:

http://web.mit.edu/tristan2/Public/061405.JPG http://web.mit.edu/tristan2/Public/071305.jpg http://web.mit.edu/tristan2/Public/080705.JPG

The reason I lost everything I worked for last summer was because of laziness during the school year...and some alcohol related stuff...but I plan on not letting it happen again and I plan on keeping up a little better with my cardio and weight training this time...

Got any comments for a guy who wants to look bigger, but leaner come new year's when he's taking a trip to the dominican republic? Thanks.

Hit the weights harder and more often. Shoot for 3-4 days/wk. Stick with the fullbody routine with large compound lifts, but make sure you have enough volume. Eat more food.

Post your workout.

TB's advice is good. Full-body isn't necessary (though it's fine) but more focus and intensity on weightlifting is necessary at this point I think. Cardio should be kept to a minimum for now.

Please post your diet and routine for more replies.

Workout:

Squats 3 sets of 8-10 reps
BB Bench 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Lat Pulldown 3 sets of 8-10 reps
DB Incline 2 sets of 8-10 reps
Seated Row 2 sets of 8-10 reps
DB Shoulder Press 2 sets of 8-10 reps
BB Upright Row 2 sets of 8-10 reps
Tricep Push Down 2 sets of 8-10 reps
Incline Curls 2 sets of 8-10 reps
Weighted Incline Situps 2 sets of 20 reps
Weighted Leg Lifts 2 sets of 15 reps



Typical Day's worth of Food:

6:30 am -> banana, apple juice, peanut butter: ( 550 calories, 18g fat, 72g carb, 15g protein )

commute to work...

9:30 am -> 7oz chicken breast, 1/3 of a baguette ( 500, 8, 37, 69 )

1:00 pm -> 2 slices of wheat bread, 2 slices of provolone, 4 oz of lean ham/turkey ( 540, 24, 43.5, 38 )

4:30 pm -> same as 1:00 pm

commute back home...

7:30 pm -> milk, whey ( 455, 6, 35, 58 )

TOTAL ( 2585, 80, 231, 218 )

So I'll head to the gym 3-4 times this week doing the full body workout for now. I have to keep doing the amount of cardio I'm doing right now because it's the only way for me to get to work.

By the way, the three pictures at the end are from last year.

Can anyone comment on what my body fat might be? Thanks.

and are you saying eat more food in order to make up for the energy i'll be using during the extra workout days? or are you saying to start bulking?

and keeping cardio to a minimum? how does that fit in if my goal is to lose maybe 5 more pounds?

Yes, bulk. Be smart about it. Work hard. Eat well. If that no-head abs shot is most current, you're probably around 12-13%. I would say you don't need to lose another 5lbs.



and are you saying eat more food in order to make up for the energy i'll be using during the extra workout days? or are you saying to start bulking?

and keeping cardio to a minimum? how does that fit in if my goal is to lose maybe 5 more pounds?

So you really think I shouldn't worry about those last 5 lbs? You think I should go for a clean bulk?

Ok, well, if I start bulking, it'll probably be after 2-3 weeks of slowly ramping my calories up. I think what I'll do is go up by 200 calories every 3-5 days until I am at my maintenance level. Then I'll increase my calories by 500 and then in 100-200 calorie increments until I find that I am increasing my weight by maybe 1-1.5 lbs per week and not increasing my body fat by too much at all.

I will stop this bulk after 10 weeks or if I reach 14% body fat. Then I'll cut myself back down to 10% for my vacation in January. Mind you, my long term goal is to be around 165-170 lbs with 8-9% body fat.

How does all this sound in terms of ramping calories, bulking, and long term goal?

Got any comments for a guy who wants to look bigger, but leaner come new year's when he's taking a trip to the dominican republic? Thanks.

Yeah. Go find some heavy things and lift them. I would go with big compound exercises first. Pick either squats or deadlifts, and go on a program of increasing that lift. Use the rest of your lifting program to maintain healthy muscle balances.

So you really think I shouldn't worry about those last 5 lbs? You think I should go for a clean bulk?

It's going to be easier to knock off the extra five pounds when you have increased your muscle mass than before you have done that.