My progress - non-vegan and vegan.

[z0rzz]

Very unfortunate that before I started to seriously train near the end of fall last year I never got a shirtless picture of myself : / . Making do with these before pictures.


Taken at Lollapalooza 2011. Omnivore at this point.
Weight: 185 lbs
Needless to say, there are no abs and no pecs underneath the shirt. Very flabby/disproportionate.


February 10th. About two weeks before I became vegan.
Weight: 195 lbs


April 20th.
Weight: 206 lbs

The end of my bulk. If I was smart I would keep bulking through this summer, but I'm vain and want to look good on the beach, so cutting instead. Haha.

[Baby Hercules]

How fortunate that you have friends who care enough to give you bunny ears. You're lucky, MY evil friends give each other devil horns.

You seem to have a good mesomorph frame to work with, makes you perfect for Men's Physique. Height? You have good symmetry side to side, so unless you want more bulk, I agree with you that all you've got left is cutting for lines. Other than weight lifting, what sports benefit from your work outs? If you step them up, it'll make cutting more fun. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that nothing shreds you faster than two on two sand volleyball--so long as the Men's Physique judges don't look at the bottom of your feet....

Baby Herc

[z0rzz]

Unfortunately school and work keeps my schedule tight so I don't really do a lot of sports nowadays. : ( Every summer all of my old high school friends and I would play some backyard football and ultimate frisbee, but I'm working in my college town all of this summer and most of my friends here are bums who's idea of a nice day is staying inside and drinking, haha. I'm definitely gonna have to kick them outside outside for some ol' frisbee tossing sometime soon.

I leave for South America for a few weeks at the end of this month for a medical trip - and trust me, whatever water weight I have now will disappear instantaneously from the heat down there. I will be sure to take more before/after photos. : )

Thanks for the compliments! Deep down I wish I was a skinny ectomorph, but I've learned to have fun with the body frame I have.

PS: I'm about 6' tall to give you a height reference for the pictures.

[Baby Hercules]

bums who's idea of a nice day is staying inside and drinking

I hear ya, and to me a nice day is a day when I have bonus energy, regardless of the weather. Here in Portland, Oregon, there are two kinds of people: the ones who look out the window and say, "Aww, crap, it's raining!" and the ones who look out the window and say, "Where's my waterproof shell?" I have three shells.

I wish I was a skinny ectomorph

God, why? It's so much more fun as a meso, way more leeway, lots of choices. We're like an athletic buffet!

Enjoy all that fresh fruit down in South America, I'm jealous as hell.

Baby Herc

[robert]

Looking solid.

All the best with your goals to lean up.

You've got great shape and some nice size to start from.

What will be your primary approach to fat-burning training as you lean out?

[z0rzz]

Right now my diet is at a 500 calorie deficit 6 days a week, with a refeed (I simply eat my maintenance caloric intake) of a higher proportion of carbohydrates on my full body compound day since that day absolutely kills me if I'm not pumped full of nutrition.
I also do HIIT training on the quarter mile track at my college three times a week - each time I aim to burn 350 calories, but really I just keep going until I can't sprint anymore. I also bike with my friend any day we can.

I've never been a huge fan of cardio, partly due to my natural heaviness and partly due to my legs simply unable to handle the stress, so it's made the cardio portion of my cut difficult. Nonetheless my endurance is increasing, and it was thoroughly missed. : )

So far I'm down 9.6 lbs in 4 weeks. There was a week where I couldn't watch what I was eating since I was on vacation, so I tried keeping the deficit anyway I could and lost some strength as a result... But I'm getting back up to snuff now.