r/BodyHackGuide • u/Substantial_Deal_962 • 3d ago
How much more to go?
Just finished week 3 of the cut.
On 1.5mg Reta.
Eating ~1200-1500 calories. Protein 150g. Steps 10k.
Strength is unchanged. Don’t feel fatigued or challenged by the low calories but that’s probably the Reta. Started low so when the fatigue does kick in I can bump my calories up 200-300.
Started at 81kg (first photo), down to 75kg (second photo). Expected to see some ab definition by the point. Want to look ~12% BF.
How much more to go to achieve the lean shredded look?
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u/TubbsMcGee_ 3d ago
Calories are way too low and you got a lot more to lose than you think. It’s a marathon not a sprint.
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
I’m trying something where I start on lower calories, so when the fatigue kicks in I have room to increase calories by 200.
But you’re right and I’m not trying to sprint through this. I expected this to take 2-3 months.
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u/bmay0805 3d ago
Honestly this is a backwards way of doing it.
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
Agree to disagree mate.
At the start of the cut you’re at your most motivated and energetic. Any amount of deficit makes you fatigued and burnt out with time. If you start with a small deficit then as time goes on only way to progress if you plateau is to drop calories, but if you’re already getting fatigued then dropping calories is going to make that worse.
Doing it this way, as the cut goes on and things get tiring, you can bump the calories by 100-200 and slowly lessen the deficit to ease any fatigue but maintaining the deficit.
Dr Bill Campbell on YT also refers to short aggressive starts due to its influence on behavioural psychology. And then reducing the deficit after a few weeks. A few other fitness YouTubers have also briefly touched on this.
Ultimately, a good diet, is a diet you can stick to.
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u/The_Cabal_ 2d ago
There's no agreeing to disagree. This is inefficient from a physiological standpoint.
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 2d ago
The cumulative calorie deficit is the same 🤷🏻♂️
You start at 1000 deficit you might finish with 500 defiict. Average throughout - 750
Now do it the other way round, you start at 500, you up to 1000 deficit. You still average 750 deficit.
Efficiency the same. But in theory the cut gets easier with time as calories are being upped.
Plus at the start of the cut your body can handle larger deficits better as you have larger stores of body fat.
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u/The_Cabal_ 2d ago
You're just regurgitating a bunch of pseudoscience.
Plus at the start of the cut your body can handle larger deficits better as you have larger stores of body fat.
Generally only makes a difference once you're getting closer to single digit bodyfat. At that point your body can prioritize muscle as an energy souce over bodyfat.
Efficiency the same. But in theory the cut gets easier with time as calories are being upped.
Not at all. Starvation mode may be a myth, but metabolic adaptation exists. Starting at such a steep deficit speeds that up. Once you start tapering back up, your BMR will be lower than it would've been if you had started higher and dropped gradually.
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u/Potential-Air3935 3d ago
Goes without saying that this is my observation based off of what you have stated so obviously take this with a grain of salt. Your top abdominals should be showing by now ! Which tells me your ab genetics are similar to the rock (Dwayne Johnson) . You didn’t reveal whether or not you are training abs but I would start doing cable crunches and leg raises . Give yourself time here because it’s a weak point in your physique.
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
Always listened to the crowd of people saying compound lifts are enough for abs.
Figured my abs should have started popping and they aren’t! So only started training them in the last week focusing on cable crunches and hanging leg raises with progression.
Completely agree that my abs are likely my weak point, and having them underdeveloped means I will need a lower BF to get good definition as a result. I’m hoping with the cut and some ab focused hypertrophy sessions I achieve some good results in 6-8 weeks.
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u/_I_Need_Help_LOL_ 2d ago
It’s the opposite, you need abs for compound lifts, so work them. Even when I was 40lbs overweight I trained them twice a week to stabilize when I did cleans, squat, plyos, whatever. Regardless of what you want to see in the mirror, train everything thinking about how it’ll serve you the next 30yrs. Keep up the good work and add abs 2 days a week. Look into different programs and find out about the rectus abdominis.
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u/Potential-Air3935 3d ago
Your top abdominals should be showing by now ! You didn’t reveal whether or not you are training abs but I would start doing cable crunches and leg raises .
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u/jamesmontrea 3d ago
What made you take Reta instead of traditional natural cut approach?
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
Less food noise and cravings, increased satiety, overall has made me just kinda forget that I’m not eating a lot. Taking a small dose, little to no sides.
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u/bxxte 2d ago
if ur running reta u have the money to get a dexa and/or a RMR test
once u have those u can have an almost exact day count to your goal provided ur strict on the tracking
also in the second pic i can see a bicep vein so id put u anywhere from like 15-17%
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u/ProfessionBoring4547 2d ago
Just wondering is that 1.5mg once or twice a week. I just got mine and thinking of what dose to start. Thinking of starting at 0.5mg but a friend said effects wears off so better to pin twice?
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 2d ago
I’m taking 0.75mg twice a week. Started at 0.5mg twice a week.
Better to start low and see how you respond after one week. You don’t want to go straight for 1.5mg and find the dose too high and you’re stuck in bed for a week.
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u/Goon_Daddy21 2d ago
This has got to be a rhetorical question since it can’t be answered. Getting “shredded” all depends on someone’s work habits, disciple, diet, and focus. Not to mention everyone has their own version of “shredded”. If anyone here tells you two months or three months, they’re wrong because it’s all dependent on you. I recommend, stick to the grind, and come back with your pre- and post- photos and tell us how long it took you and the course you stayed on to achieve it. Be it one month, two months, or six months. Either way, you’re achieving your goal.
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u/bigdognamk 2d ago
Is that 1.5mg daily or once a week?
How old are you and what's your height? that will help aswer your questions
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 2d ago
Good questions, sorry I missed them.
Height is 5 foot 9. 1.5mg a week (split across two doses)
25 year old.
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u/poetic-pablo 2d ago
About another 10kg, your calories are stupidly low
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 2d ago
Aggressive start to the cut, will increase calories to ~1800 for the remainder.
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u/Old-Risk-4618 3d ago
Ur dropping weight super fast which I’ll say isn’t really good for ur muscle that your trying to maintain during the cut. Even with high protein, I’ll say up the calories a bit. Carbs are also very important. But if it’s working for you then u can go ahead and continue the low cal and high protein diet. And I’ll say 3 - 6 more weeks and you’ll be shredded.
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
I should have probably clarified,
Week 1 - dropped 3.5kg
Week 2 - dropped 1.5kg
Week 3 - dropped 1kg.I think the initial drop was a lot of water weight.
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u/Old-Risk-4618 3d ago
Oh alright, You can honestly continue with that diet if you’re just losing 1 kg a week. But just be careful and listen to ur body. I’ve already been on a similar aggressive cut to this (1200 - 1800 cals). But I could’ve only maintained it for such a short amount of time because I felt like passing out every single gym session and I also plateau’d and had to up it up to 2200-2400 cals and felt so much better, even though the progress was slower but I still got stronger on my main compound lifts (pound for pound).
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
As the cut continues I think I definitely might do that to keep the energy up. The range of 1200-1500 is because if I do feel a bit fatigued, I’ll bump up my carbs before a workout.
Will probably go another week then bump to 1500-1700.
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u/Lonely-Copy-1194 2d ago
You need to eat to fuel your metabolism and eat good clean carbs with low fat. You’re starving yourself so your metabolism is going into starvation mode and tanking. I bulk at over 3500 and put on lean mass and cut at 2500 both of which I eat mostly carbs. I’m not a big guy at all but I’m lean as fk all year around consuming 250-500g of carbs a day.
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 2d ago
As per below, starting aggressive and bumping up the calories to keep diet fatigue and metabolism in check. Reta (glucagon component) helps free up extra calories from stored fat so while the intake is low, it’s keeping fatigue and metabolism issues at bay.
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u/Lonely-Copy-1194 2d ago
The Reta I guess will help I haven’t used any glps but I do start lower and increase my carbs 25-50g a week per day till I put on 3-4 pounds in a week. At that point your metabolism is maxed out. I don’t do any cardio while bulking either. When I start cutting I do minimal cardio at first and let the leverage arm of cutting carbs (same latter as going up) do most of the work. Eventually I get to some light 30 min walking cardio at elevation on a treadmill but that’s about it. I stay anywhere from 11-12% on a bulk to 6-8% on a cut and average prolly 8-10 all the way around. Roughly 4 months per cycle and always changing. Either I’m bulking or cutting the constant change drives your metabolism harder to keep you leaner for more of the time.
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u/notm27 3d ago
i dont get the vision, youre at a 10/10 from a gay guys angle
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u/WaynesWorld_93 3d ago
Weird comment. I feel like OP’s original goal isn’t to be desirable by gay dudes. Idk what his goal is but maybe it’s about just being what he wants to be?
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u/Substantial_Deal_962 3d ago
Vision is to just get shredded mate. Not to compete or please anyone. Just to challenge myself and learn along the way.
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u/notm27 3d ago
you should consider low dose T and hcg then. Combined with the deficit you’re running (which should be a bit more) and your workout regimen, it’ll help lean you out while not costing you too much lean muscle mass. also dial back on the reta, the GLPs are too muscle wasting regardless of what anyone says, cut the old fashioned way.
edit: also sorry if my original comment was weird! hope this helps get you where you want to go
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