Advice solicited/welcome

[monster70k]

Current:
40 Yr male
5'9"
220 lb
17% BF

I was almost 300 lb Feb 2012. Got into gym routine cardio 4x / weights 3x a week. Cleaned up my diet, changed my life 180 degrees.

1.5 yrs later, was at 220, 21% BF and had hit a wall for 3 months straight trying everything. Taking weekly body comp analysis this entire time to track things, muscle not building (ridiculously slowly), ICW wouldn't budge (TBW ratio stuck at .37), arms/legs shredded but fat refusing to move off torso - rooftop-shaped booby chest. Started taking Erase Pro - instant results - skin tight, movement in fat began to happen, then stalled again after a couple of weeks. So I went for the real stuff after doing my homework and finding a clinic I liked/trusted.

Currently 3 weeks into 1st 12-week cycle:

200mg Cyp .5ml 2x week
200mg Deca .5ml 2x week
100mg Prop .5ml 2x week
40mg DBol ED (1x every 4-5 hrs I'm awake)
.5mg Anastrozole EOD

My initial BW had Test at 434 <gasp> and everything else perfect. My BP 128/71 (take it nightly- it has gone up about 5-6 pts since starting) and my resting HR is 48-52.

Water gain is ridiculous, fluctuates 5-8 pounds. If I don't drink 2+ gal water/day I feel it - it gets worse - most of that I assume is the DBol.

I've lost 1.2% BF / wk (body comp analysis is using InBody 520) since I started the cycle. Diet hasn't changed, I eat every 3 hrs from the time I wake up. Daily macros are 315P/135C (<20g sugar)/20F and sodium <2000mg/day for total of 2000 cal, my BMR is 2200, and I try to burn 600-900cal/day in the gym 6 days/week - low cardio 3 days / weights 3 days / Sunday off.

I am already seeing hardness increase 10x, my ICW has jumped and size has already increased dramatically in arms and fullness of chest/shoulders. Skin all over has tightened dramatically and finally, not since college, my chest is taking a beautiful shape and coming around. I feel 'weird' - sort of not all here all the time but my body feels... Well, I'm happy/sad because I now realize how old I am because I feel so f-in' good (yet I never realized I wasn't feeling good due to the slow-age-creep).

So... My question. I've laid it all out and would love for a vet to look at this and tell me if what I am doing is looking ok with the goal of 10% BF by end of cycle. That is really the goal here - I want that body in the mirror. My dr says he will add some Anavar my last 4 weeks if I keep handling everything ok and I want it.

With that goal (10% BF little as possible LBM loss), I would love any feedback re: diet/gym work/gear mods that you guys have.

I've been lurking on the forums for a while - thank you guys for all your sharing/help - hopefully I can get some time/cycles under my belt and give back as well.

[Bouncer]

Get rid of the dbol bro, that shit is doing nothing for you but make you look soft.

You seem to have a good idea of what you are doing. The only thing I would ask is what exactly does your diet look like? It's a red flag for me when you say you were dieting before you took steroids and couldn't get shredded. To that I would simply say you just werent dieting hard enough. The steroids you are on do not burn fat.

[monster70k]

Diet for the last year:

6:30a
Oatmeal
Date
Whey shake x2

8a gym every day

9:30a
Whey shake x2

12:30P
Chicken 10oz
Green veggie
Jasmine rice or red potatoes

3:30p
Whey shake x2

6:30p
Chicken 10 oz
Green veggie

9:30p
1 egg
5 egg whites
Or egg protein shake x2

On cardio days I skip my 6:30a meal and have it at 9:30a so I cardio empty.

For 3 months I went lean beef instead of chicken/white fish. I know this is silly, but I was using one of those Jawbone Up bands to track my activity - to keep me motivated. Well, their food database was jacked - the beef I was logging was wrong - I was actually taking in 2.5x the fat. For 3 f-in months. I was just plodding along, started getting concerned 60 days in when I stalled. Figured it out the following month. I am a creature of habit - if I find something that 'works' I can/will do it (exactly) over and over again. I've had the _same_ breakfast for the last 18 months - exact same. So when I say this is my diet, this is my diet 99% of the time. I just had my first cheat meal in 4.5 weeks tonight - 2 Clif Kid's bars, a handful of granola, and a handful of sunflower snacks (Somersaults). That's what I waited 4.5 weeks for - believe me I am **on** re: my diet. I do not have any carbs after 2p unless it's a leafy green. I have no more than 20g sugar a day - and the date I put in my oatmeal in the morning chews up most of that. My phone goes off at those set times every day, and I eat the same stuff - different seasonings or variations - but I am on the money with my macros every day. I will have a rice cake or an ostrich stick if I need to bump it 15g in one direction or the other if my routine gets thrown off and I have to eat out or adjust on the fly. Close isn't good enough.

I think I had an estrogen prob from all the fat I carried around so long. My arms look like 6%, my legs are great (size and cut), but my torso... Whoa... My boobs and gut were sagging. Since starting 3-4 weeks ago my skin has tightened and my chest is taking visible shape. I still have a gut that hangs over my shorts - but it has tightened up and shrunk to a couple of grapefruits. I've seen more progress in last 3-4 weeks than I have in 6 months. I have pictures and body comp reports.

Ok re: Dbol - but I only have 1.5 weeks left. I just realized I didn't lust it above - I am only taking 4 weeks of DBol and started it after my 1st week of IM cycle. I know it's a lot of water - I gained 3.5 lb the last WEEK on my ICW - but it looks so much better than how I did 3-4 weeks ago. I'll be off it the last 7 weeks of my cycle - should I finish 1.5 weeks left of it or still think I stop it cold now? I started it late b/c it was not from dr but from a friend - I cleared it with dr - he said we'd watch it. I know gains are temp/short-lived but... It is really nice to see something happening, and I'm weeks away from getting rid if this gd stomach. I'll heed your advice if you veto my appeal :)

Thanks.

[monster70k]

One other thing - I was keeping my daily calories = to my BMR until the last few months. I started to see some movement when I cut down to 1800-2000, but muscle was so hard to add that I was afraid to keep them that low even with my protein so high. That was one of the things about the fear - I was hoping to keep at a caloric deficit while burning the fat in the gym and the gear would help me hang on to the muscle while in this process. Is that a valid assumption?

Thanks.

[Bouncer]

Diet for the last year:

6:30a
Oatmeal
Date
Whey shake x2

8a gym every day

9:30a
Whey shake x2

12:30P
Chicken 10oz
Green veggie
Jasmine rice or red potatoes

3:30p
Whey shake x2

6:30p
Chicken 10 oz
Green veggie

9:30p
1 egg
5 egg whites
Or egg protein shake x2

On cardio days I skip my 6:30a meal and have it at 9:30a so I cardio empty.

For 3 months I went lean beef instead of chicken/white fish. I know this is silly, but I was using one of those Jawbone Up bands to track my activity - to keep me motivated. Well, their food database was jacked - the beef I was logging was wrong - I was actually taking in 2.5x the fat. For 3 f-in months. I was just plodding along, started getting concerned 60 days in when I stalled. Figured it out the following month. I am a creature of habit - if I find something that 'works' I can/will do it (exactly) over and over again. I've had the _same_ breakfast for the last 18 months - exact same. So when I say this is my diet, this is my diet 99% of the time. I just had my first cheat meal in 4.5 weeks tonight - 2 Clif Kid's bars, a handful of granola, and a handful of sunflower snacks (Somersaults). That's what I waited 4.5 weeks for - believe me I am **on** re: my diet. I do not have any carbs after 2p unless it's a leafy green. I have no more than 20g sugar a day - and the date I put in my oatmeal in the morning chews up most of that. My phone goes off at those set times every day, and I eat the same stuff - different seasonings or variations - but I am on the money with my macros every day. I will have a rice cake or an ostrich stick if I need to bump it 15g in one direction or the other if my routine gets thrown off and I have to eat out or adjust on the fly. Close isn't good enough.

I think I had an estrogen prob from all the fat I carried around so long. My arms look like 6%, my legs are great (size and cut), but my torso... Whoa... My boobs and gut were sagging. Since starting 3-4 weeks ago my skin has tightened and my chest is taking visible shape. I still have a gut that hangs over my shorts - but it has tightened up and shrunk to a couple of grapefruits. I've seen more progress in last 3-4 weeks than I have in 6 months. I have pictures and body comp reports.

Ok re: Dbol - but I only have 1.5 weeks left. I just realized I didn't lust it above - I am only taking 4 weeks of DBol and started it after my 1st week of IM cycle. I know it's a lot of water - I gained 3.5 lb the last WEEK on my ICW - but it looks so much better than how I did 3-4 weeks ago. I'll be off it the last 7 weeks of my cycle - should I finish 1.5 weeks left of it or still think I stop it cold now? I started it late b/c it was not from dr but from a friend - I cleared it with dr - he said we'd watch it. I know gains are temp/short-lived but... It is really nice to see something happening, and I'm weeks away from getting rid if this gd stomach. I'll heed your advice if you veto my appeal :)

Thanks.

Yea just finish off the dbol then.

As far as the diet and eating the wrong thing for 3 months etc.. Bro this whole thing is about experimentation. if you dont see changes in the mirror each month its time to reevaluate and change shit up. now that you are on steroids, cut the cals. the steroids will keep the muscle on. if you have a belly hanging over your shorts you simply need more diet and cardio.

IF you have an estrogen problem, you could always get on some low dose adex with your test. that will change your test/estro ratio a great deal.

[monster70k]

Taking .5 EOD of Adex now - going to do BW again in 3 weeks midway to check.

Diet is on-point now - that 3 month waiting fuck up was a lesson - just putting in time/sweat now -1% BF/week is target, 4 down, 8 to go and I'm on track.

I'll cut to 1800 until I'm there. I was at 2000, so I will just cut the 200 proportionately to my 60/30/10 macro split.

Thanks for input/advice.