OcUK Health Seekers: Post your progress pics

JamesU2005 · 23 Apr 2011 at 13:39

kai said:
Im 5ft 9''

What was your diet like to get down to this?

Much cardio?

kai · 23 Apr 2011 at 13:46

I lived on

7am oats and Pharma whey
10:30 100g chicken breast an steam veg
1pm as above and Udo choice
4pm Synergy ISO 7
7:30 chicken breast sweet potato and veg
10am Pharma Whey

Yes there was lots of cardio involved but on average 30/40 mins a day and I pushed myself hard as I was really unfit!

BennyC · 23 Apr 2011 at 13:57

A 10KG drop is usually what's required to start getting good results. I managed similar a year ago. Once you're in to the swing of things it's quite straight forward and just a waiting game really. Not that it's easy. Doing it for the first time is great though as you know you're capable of it

kai · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:10

Benny, could i have some advice then as you have been in this predicament before, ideally it appears a good week of muscle gain on a clean bulk diet could result in a more realistic 0.5lbs a week? 2lb a month i think i would be ideal.

I hope i have done it the right way! The picture where i am at my heaviest i carried a fair amount of fat. If i can build up to that weight again while maintain a fairly low b.f. i should look a lot bigger this time around and fuller but less chunky?

I think my goal is to sit around the 72kg range

I have tweaked my diet slightly and hoping I can go along with the following;

7am PhD Pharma Whey
7:15 Porridge Oats & Udo Choice
10:30 chicken breast or Tuna and steam veg
1:00 chicken breast and steam veg & large sweet potato
4:00 PWO PhD Pharma Whey & Jack3d
7:15 PWO USN Muscle Fuel Anabolic
8:00 Chicken breast or Steak or Salmon, steam veg & large sweet potato
10:00pm PhD Pharma Whey

BennyC · 23 Apr 2011 at 17:36

.5lbs of muscle gain a week would see you gain 26lbs of muscle a year. More realistically 10-12lbs is achievable. About 1lb per month.

You'll fill back out quite nicely when you start to eat more carbs again and be holding more shape etc.

How many calories and what sort of macro breakdown does that give you? It looks a little on the low side. No eggs? and quite low on carbs. Carbs are important for energy and growth, you can't eat very little and grow well. Sub 200grams per day is plenty when on a lean bulk.

Don't be afraid to eat.

milgo · 23 Apr 2011 at 20:17

Cristian said:
milgo: for someone who only trains for general strength you seem exceptionally well shaven. Nice proportionate physique, good looking quads there.

Thanks, although on the shaving front i'm naturally that bald. People always rip me at work and ask if i wax my arms etc.

Kai thats a nice improvement there! Probably helps that your pose is more open and spreading your chest a bit as well.

Cristian · 23 Apr 2011 at 23:54

you lucky bugger.
I've got a rainforest on my chest that's only got bigger since I've started lifting.

JamesU2005 · 24 Apr 2011 at 09:10

kai said:
I lived on

7am oats and Pharma whey
10:30 100g chicken breast an steam veg
1pm as above and Udo choice
4pm Synergy ISO 7
7:30 chicken breast sweet potato and veg
10am Pharma Whey

Yes there was lots of cardio involved but on average 30/40 mins a day and I pushed myself hard as I was really unfit!

What cardio did you do Kai? Same thing everyday? Three day weights split too?

And what time you work out?

kai · 24 Apr 2011 at 09:26

BennyC said:
.5lbs of muscle gain a week would see you gain 26lbs of muscle a year. More realistically 10-12lbs is achievable. About 1lb per month.

You'll fill back out quite nicely when you start to eat more carbs again and be holding more shape etc.

How many calories and what sort of macro breakdown does that give you? It looks a little on the low side. No eggs? and quite low on carbs. Carbs are important for energy and growth, you can't eat very little and grow well. Sub 200grams per day is plenty when on a lean bulk.

Don't be afraid to eat.

this might be a little on the low side, but i think im going to struggle to get this down me!

2112 Calories
48.3g of Fat
228.8g of Protein
196.5g of Carbs

Thats a massive increase thats almost double my calorie intake was on my cutting phase. I was thinking i could add a few calories in there e.g. when having tuna add a table spoon of Mayo or add a little cheese to the sweet potato etc...

BennyC · 24 Apr 2011 at 09:53

Add 3 or 4 scrambled eggs with a little olive oil and some SS milk and that's probably a good amount to be clean bulking on. You're about an inch shorter than me and my BMR was around 1900 calories so you're barely 200 calories over at the moment.

toxic · 24 Apr 2011 at 16:10

50g cheddar cheese and 50g peanut butter every day for an instant 500cals...eveyone can eat that. Thats my choice usualy. You need to get your fats up too. Id drop some of the carbs....add 4 eggs, EVO, cheese and peanut butter. Easier to eat if your struggling to get the food down.

kai · 25 Apr 2011 at 19:39

JamesU2005 said:
What cardio did you do Kai? Same thing everyday? Three day weights split too?

And what time you work out?

I liked to mix things up same thing every day gets borning, ill be honest i was totally unfit, to the point where i could not run on a treadmil more than 10 minutes. To combat this i did a mixture of either HIIT, Hill Sprints, Rowing or long long long bouts on the X-trainer. I would say i averaged out 30 minutes per day.

I would do my weight split. Mon, Wed and Fri and a full body Sunday. However i would be doing the cardio before each weight session and Tues and Thur soley concentration on Abs/Cardio

I would work out after work so 6 - 8 and mid morning on weekends.

Like i say it was down to a STRICT diet and everything else followed; i would maybe have a cheat meal now and again!

shifty_uk · 6 May 2011 at 14:37

Couple of images in the usual fashion, it's been a while. Currently sitting at 77kg, 5.9".

Old image for comparison:

Any difference? Probably none around my chest, again!

cheets64 · 6 May 2011 at 16:07

Left was 25th March 14 stone 4lbs
Right today 6th May 13 stone 11lbs

No big changes but feel stronger, when I flex I can feel muscle again. Diet has been good but drank all day on the royal wedding and the bank holiday weekend before that. 7 years ago I was 12 stone 12lbs BMI then was 27, so another stone off I should be looking good.

icecold · 6 May 2011 at 16:13

Very visible changes, well done!

Delvis · 6 May 2011 at 16:14

kai said:
And here for Benny finally, I post a back shot!!!! (cant get a decent back shot for toffee)

Might sound odd...But look up how to actually 'do' back shots...Need to get the lats involved more

And potentially traps?

EDIT: Oh and well done matey, you wasn't exactly bad before, but its definite progress! Look great

shifty_uk · 6 May 2011 at 16:52

Just updated my post with an older image.

nitram100 · 6 May 2011 at 19:28

shifty_uk said:
Couple of images in the usual fashion, it's been a while. Currently sitting at 77kg, 5.9".

Old image for comparison:

Any difference? Probably none around my chest, again!

Hard to tell with the image quality mate, is there a time difference between the two side bicep shots? You have good mass on your tricep, lateral head of the tricep looking good. How long u been training?

Vegeta · 6 May 2011 at 23:35

Can defo see some difference there Cheets64 especially in the gut. Keep at it mate good work.

shifty_uk · 7 May 2011 at 11:20

nitram100 said:
Hard to tell with the image quality mate, is there a time difference between the two side bicep shots? You have good mass on your tricep, lateral head of the tricep looking good. How long u been training?

None between any of the black and white photos. The colour photo was taken and uploaded in January. Between the two, I think I look ever so slightly bulkier. As you said, hard to tell! I suck at taking progress shots

Been training for 1.5-2 years.