Bodybuilding Forums

So here's the deal... i first started lifting when i was a sophomore in college (i'm a first year grad student now). In high school i swam, so i was quick, but had no strength. after high school i ate a lot of crap food, and didn't exercise at all, cuz my metabolism was helping still. that stopped real fast... (i gained like 20 pounds). At this point my stats were 5'9", 170, about 20% body fat. i worked at Lowe's for the summer, and lost some decent weight, got back to about 160. for a while i lifted, and made some gains, but was still eating like crap, and never learned anything about bodybuilding

to make the story shorter, i learned a lot, started doing mma, and then got food poisoning, which takes me to the beginning of this summer. i was pretty lean, and pretty strong. i weighed about 165 at 12% bf. I had been eating clean, but not nearly enough calories, and my lifts hadn't gone anywhere for a couple YEARS...so i talked to a personal trainer, and he suggested a carb cycling diet, really high protein, moderately low carbs (~80g a day), and no fat... and i mean none at all... i couldn't even have pork. I tried this for about 7 weeks, worked my ass off at the gym (twice a day, ~3 total hours), and cut down to about 10% bf, but was still not gaining muscle. i actually lost some strength. thats when i stumbled across this site.

at first i was really skeptical, due to the fact that my brain was programmed to think fat=BAD, but after reading Total Anabolism, and a little prodding, i decided to start the MANS diet to bulk. what did i have to lose? i put on a little fat, i can go back and cut it out fast. if it worked, i was gonna look great, and be stronger than ever

Well it's the end of week one, and i'm actually pretty surprised at the results. i haven't added any bf, as a matter of fact i think i lost some... i'm just as strong as ever, and i'm happier... i know it sounds weird, but i love to eat, and the MANS diet has allowed me to eat almost anything i want. my muscles have deflated some, due to glycogen loss and some water loss, but i know as soon as i do my first carb up (a week from today), they'll explode with new size

i plan on keeping everyone posted as to how my progress is going...for now, here's some starter pics



the first is relaxed and second is tensed... til next time!