MJ's high fat diet progress

**MJ.23** · 30-01-2011 07:55 PM

Third attempt writing this!! Not sure what was going on with the MP file attachment system yesterday.

Been on the high fat diet for a fair old time now. (Just looked on fitday; 6 months!) Time flies quickly. Decided to make a progress thread before the body comp.

I decided to take the high fat diet road for a few reasons. One was to try and reduce the huge number of carbohydrates i was intaking. (400g+ a day) The second being linked to the carb vs fat debates which were all over the forum. Ive always been one for testing things out so i did!

Very glad i decided to take the high fat approach and ive never looked back.

My average macro intake looks like this:

(Per day)

Calories: 4467
Fat: 251.6g
Carbs: 153g
Protein: 221g

It usually works out as fat = 59% carbs = 18% and protein = 23%

The only supps i use are wheatgrass and alpha men (For general health reasons)

I recently switched to strongman training and the diet has held up brilliantly with the intense training (especially the events day!)

So lets get to the progress pics!!

Left is before and right is after:

Sorry about the picture quality but my sister took the digi cam to Canada so im stuck with a webcam.

Weight before ~ 75-76kg (Should have noted down weights more consistantly during the early days)

Weight after (Now) 85kg at 6'3 (and rising steadily at ~0.5 pounds a week. Been a bit more recently so going to drop the calories a tad)

(Relaxed front in second pic here)

Comparison pic.jpg

Comparison pic 2.jpg

Untitled.jpg

If i can find more pics ill put them in here. I had a lot more before pics but 90% of them have vanished. I must have saved them in different places

Im not training for hypertrophy or looks but for power and strength (Life is too short to be weak haha!) so im not overly concerned with bodyfat. Of course i want to keep it at a minimum though

Lifts have consistantly gone up every session and training intensity hasnt dropped.

Ive noticed most mass gains around legs, traps and back. Couldnt get any back shots as theres no timing mode for the webcam so it would have been a very difficult shot to take!! (Ill try and get some leg shots up; i took some but the quality is even worse than the above pics!!)

The traps are courtesy of Jtwigg with his recommendation of power shrugs. Saw great results using them.

Chest has always been my trouble area (strength and size) and i dont really do much chest training. Weighted pushups is probably the only one.

Goals now are simply to get the lifts as high as they can go and to improve on all strongman events.

Very very long term goals are a 400kg DL and to enter BSM or WSM. (very long term!!)

The main things to take away as usual are consistancy both in the gym and with diet but especially with the diet. Imo diet is 70% of the bulking process. The extra 30% is made up of your training and the sleep you get. As the old saying goes:

"You cant out train a bad diet."

I used to jump around training programs a lot and wasnt seeing results as well as not taking diet seriously enough. I decided to really stick with a program until fully exhausting its potential. The main program i used was WSFSB3 and im using a hybrid of it now for the strongman training.

Cliche time; but its simply down to diet and training. Since starting deadlifting (pretty recently) I noticed amazing gains in the back as well as great carryover to the strongman events. I was always afraid of my form for deadlifts so avoided them for a long time. I finally thought, "If i never do them ill never learn the form" so i just got stuck in and the form eventually got there. I would say the DL is the queen of exercises with the squat being the king (Just my opinion though)

My training is all in my log if anyone wants to have a gander at it.

I think that pretty much sums it up. Lots of people are scared of fats (Most likely down to media intervention) and it needs to be made clear that consuming fats will not make you fat. Excess calories make you fat.

Also any estimations on my bf% I have no clue haha. Im not sure how much i gained during the bulking process.

Thanks to all people who have commented on my log with advice and general stuff. Also thanks to Nu, ATZ and others with helpful posts which got me onto the right "path" with the diet itself.

Onwards and upwards now. Head is in the right place, knowledge is there and training is there so just got to keep pushing with it now.

Time for the bodycomp now!

**dope540** · 30-01-2011 08:04 PM

looks like you've done your research.

what about b-balling?

**MJ.23** · 30-01-2011 08:12 PM

Quote

Originally Posted by dope540

looks like you've done your research.

what about b-balling?

Heart isnt in it much anymore. I dont like what the game is becoming. Its all attitude and no teamwork. I realised im not much of a fan of team sports. I love the 80's-90's basketball but nowadays its nothing! Players are lazy and arrogant. The team i played for was a mess in the end; everyone was blaming everyone else and it was going downhill fast. Its why i love the strongman stuff; if you fail its all your fault and you need to try harder.

Combined with the fact it was getting incredibly hard to find times and places to actually play it.

I started lifting weights to get stronger and faster for bball and as time progressed the weights took over!

Strongman is a great hybrid of what i like. Competing and weights. Its a great sport with great guys in it. Hopefully i can make it to the top someday!

Hows your trad going by the way matey? Whens your next trophy coming in?

**dope540** · 30-01-2011 08:27 PM

fair enough. things change. everyone always want to be the mvp, the one that scores the most. it's a team sport for a reason.

trad is ok. just farting about with it at the moment, aint competing till april/may. so in no rush. don't see the need to compete if i dont have to. might turn up to the nationals in a few weeks, find out the winners of my division, then burst a few bubbles. as current world champ, i get auto spot on the team. only 2 more guys get to join me.

**MJ.23** · 31-01-2011 09:38 AM

Quote

Originally Posted by dope540

fair enough. things change. everyone always want to be the mvp, the one that scores the most. it's a team sport for a reason.

trad is ok. just farting about with it at the moment, aint competing till april/may. so in no rush. don't see the need to compete if i dont have to. might turn up to the nationals in a few weeks, find out the winners of my division, then burst a few bubbles. as current world champ, i get auto spot on the team. only 2 more guys get to join me.

Excellent mate! So is the main goal now to just protect the world title? Theres nothing really past that is there?

True about everyone wanting to be the mvp. I was in it for the team aspect of it; apparently the others werent,

**dope540** · 31-01-2011 12:48 PM

Pretty much. Become invincible.

**sendos** · 31-01-2011 01:07 PM

Impressive progress mate, even though you are the worlds worst poser haha. What sort of numbers are you putting up at the moment?

**MJ.23** · 31-01-2011 06:29 PM

Haha thanks buddy! Im not one for posing.

Lifts at the mo:

Squat: 182.5kg
DL: 160kg
Yoke: Frame + 160kg
Frame carry: Frame + 90kg
Conan circle: Frame + 200kg

Main goal at the mo is to get my weak deadlift up. Been Dl'ing for about 2-3 months and have seen good results from doing so. Ive been training for about 2 years now and the first year was completely wasted being a gym brah haha!

**Maximi11ion** · 01-02-2011 01:08 AM

Nice work Mj. You obviously haven't got fat and you've definitely got stronger! Poignant that you can maintain intensity without higher ratio of carbohydrate. Doubt the pictures do your physique justice. Thanks for all your advice since I joined. Onwards and upwards mate.