Justin Morgan

I used photo bucket and then just copied the url, should I have done something differently there?

Umm, I can take criticism and all, but I don't think I was able to get the images to go through.... Were you somehow able to see them?

I decided to cut my calories back to around 3000 and add in some cardio. My weight fluctuates a lot from day to day (week to week), sometimes 10 pounds or so in one day. So using the scale to monitor progress isn't even as reliable as it is for most people (where it's still not very reliable). So I'm going to use the before/after progress photo's to keep myself accountable. After my first week of cutting back my cals it was really tough to see my lifts stop progressing almost entirely. I've still managed to add in a rep or two here and there, but my heart kind of sinks every time I do a workout and don't see any measurable progress at all. I plan to cut through December. In January I'm starting a strength class where I'm going to be focusing on learning more about power lifting, so I'll likely be taking in at least 4000 cals/day again at that point. So regardless of how lean I am when January comes around the cals/day are going to sky rocket again. This is after 3 week of cutting. I'll probably wait another 3 weeks or so before I check back to see if there is any progress. http://s1306.beta.photobucket.com/user/jmorgan721/media/cut1001.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 http://s1306.beta.photobucket.com/user/jmorgan721/media/cut1002.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

I did kind of point that out. But I went and asked my physiology professor about muscle fibers/growth, and her response was "Muscle growth is complex and is still not fully understood but it is believed that the number of muscle fibers is fixed and they increase in size with exercise." So I'm not arguing or disagreeing with you except about the statement, And for that matter I wasn't entirely sure either which is why I asked my teacher.

That is a lot of specificity. That would really narrow down the search for a mate though. Good luck, those seem like criteria that women usually look for in men for the most part, but you might want to specify if you a male/female. Also here is a link to a raw food kitchen that also does personal training in Long Island you might check out if you aren't already familiar with it. I talked to Chris Califano on another site once and he seemed like an alright guy, or as much as people can seem over the internet anyway. http://www.thefirstsupper.com/home.html

I disagree, I don't think it looks like you are losing definition, and I agree that you also look like you're getting bigger. That's great progress Chris.

Oh, but I agree that bench press and dumbbells are way better than machines. I wonder what the differences between dumbbells verses barbell presses would be though.

When you say that you are not making "gainz in mass", what are you basing that off of? If you are getting stronger you have to be making mass gainz. There is no way for you to get stronger without adding some degree of muscle to your body. Some people might have much denser muscle fibers, where as some others might appear to be growing by leaps and bounds, but if both individualizes are getting stronger then they are both growing muscle. I've only studied human physiology at a very basic level, so I don't necessarily understand all the components that go into one verses the other, but I think strength is a much better indicator of muscle growth than the mirror. Body weight and appearance leave a lot of variables, especially when adding just 2 or 3 pounds of lean muscle can be a massive undertaking.

You started out as a hottie, and then you became a hottie with muscles. Good progress.

My general inclination when I stall on progress is just to take in more calories over all and keep the same ratio of 80% carb, 10% pro, 10% fat based around fruit. I used to fear carbs would make me fat, but if anything I think a high carb/low fat diet has made me much leaner than I once was. But if you have ever followed Mike Mahler, he follows a high fat and is doing great. If you take a look at the from page of veganbodybulding and see Avi Lehyani he follows a 60/20/20 diet. But the common denominator is that (assuming you have a good training schedule) you have to ingest enough calories to support muscle growth. I wouldn't go crazy on that though. If you're getting 3000 cals per day, kick it up to around 3500 for a week, and see if you start seeing more progress. That's just what's worked for me though, I'm probably not your goal.

Awesome job man, I love it when I see other people making progress. I just finished a leg workout that almost made me throw up, but seeing this still makes me want to train. I should visit the before/after section at VBB.com before every workout.

1500-2000 cals/day = you ain't NEVER gonna have huge muscles on any diet. LOL, good luck man.

Fruits have fiber. 1 serving of fruit (1 banana, or 1 apple, 1 cup of grapes etc) typically has 3-5 grams of fiber. 1 serving of most legumes (1/2 cup) has around 6-7 grams of fiber. Since on 811 you are generally having like 10 bananas (30 grams of fiber) in a sitting I'm guessing that fiber is not the problem. Ben made some excellent points. How do you like the diet so far? I follow 811 too. I've gone months without eating cooked food, but I like to have a high carb cooked vegan meal one or two nights a week. rice/vegetables, or potatoes and beans, or spaghetti and grape tomatoes. The only problem is that I've become more sensitive to foods now. My ears will get red and start itching the day after if I eat some foods (usually the beans or the wheat in the spaghetti I think). I don't know, but that's pretty much my only complaint. Hope you enjoy it and it works for you. Do you use cronometer, or anything that shows you your daily nutrients?

Now that I see this again, you look a lot like Carrie-Ann Moss (trinity from the matrix) only with better hair and more muscle. And that's saying something, because she has some pretty great hair as it is.

Wow, you made some progress, AND you really cleaned your room up. Congratulations, both took a lot of work.

I eat around 4000 cals/day and 80% or more of them come from carbs. mmmmmmmmm, carbs.

nice progress dude. Whenever we go out I usually get steamed rice and vegetables. We only go out once or twice a month though. At home I usually do the high carb low fat raw diet.

Wowsa!!!!!!!! You look excellent from every angle, and your hair is beautiful.

Why do you think that a low carb diet would be beneficial in fat loss? China, Kenya, Ireland and Isreal are known for diets based around Rice, millet, potatoes and bread and yet they don't suffer from being over weight. USA's staples though are mostly based around fat and protein and when we experience obesity the "NON" experts tell us to eat a lot more fat and protein to lose weight. Consequently we are also the fattest nation on the planet, yesterday 9/18/12 the newest reports were released with 60% of all Americans being overweight or obese. Neither nutritional science nor the USDA advocates low carb diets for fat loss. A carbohydrate is Carbon and water (CH2 I think). But when we lower carbohydrates our bodies lose a great deal of water (no matter how much you drink), and therefore we lose a lot of weight very quickly. Unfortunately the "weight" that we lose is mostly water with little or no fat lose. So if you want to burn fat than you need to exercise which you are clearly doing, and eat a diet lower in fat with a calorie base that fits your needs. I generally get about 4000+ calories a day with less activity than you when I'm trying to build muscle. If I wanted to cut fat I might go down to around 3000 cals/day. NO junk food is good for you. If you need it for emotional needs or whatever then that's fine, but don't eat cheat/junk food day's thinking that they are "good" for your body, they aren't. I personally don't think much of multivitamins. If you ever have the chance to experiment between getting nutrients from a vitamin verses trying to equal the same nutrients just with food, I think you'll agree that there is a profound difference with the winner being food. But still yet, a multivitamin is better than nothing I suppose. So I guess I don't really have anything further to add beyond what I said above really. Your cardio looks fine to me for the moment. Make sure you push yourself hard in your workouts and track your progress. You probably won't lose more than a pound of fat/week. That's the honest to God truth. Our bodies just don't give up fat any quicker than that. And if you start supplying your body with the needed carbs for energy then you will probably gain weight first for the same reason I mentioned above. Your muscles will be further supplied with water/nutrients. If you lose more than a pound (maybe two)/week then it's probably not fat lose. For now if I were training you I would try to get a bass level for what you can do on a healthy diet and eating program. If you're eating sufficient calories (around 3000) and getting essential nutrients and you are not gaining muscle(getting stronger) than I would bump your calories up a little. If you are putting on more than a pound or two in a month then I might bump your calories back a little. Everyone has different needs and until you establish a base line for where you are at right now then you really can't say what does and doesn't work.

LOL, I saw that and was like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't hit "submit" fast enough.

Actually I'm sorry, but after taking another look at cronometer, it seems like your amino acids (proteins) are really high on non-essential amino acids (ones that are manufactured in your body), and low on amino acids that are essential. the foods I mentioned above have those essential amino acids, though not in quantity, so adding them into your diet will help, but not solve the problem unless you eat them in much larger quantities than you probably desire. So, if I'm trying to leave your diet exactly as it is, the only thing I would add to what I said above is maybe add some beans, lentils, or even whole wheat spaghetti w/tomatoes. But I love what Stcalico said above about whole foods, foods that have not been manipulated from one form to another. If you are even remotely interested in adopting a whole foods diet, that is IMO the best thing for all humans, maybe even than abstaining from animal products. I just say that because I've seen sickly looking vegans, but I haven't seen a lot of people, even meat eaters that stick only to whole foods in sufficient quantities that looked to too bad of health. Of course, one could argue that the long term effects of a heavy meat eating diet are worse than the long term effects of an unhealthy vegan diet, but why compare. Eat a healthy, whole foods based, vegan diet and give your body the best.

Hey man, I'm also a music teacher, I teach piano. I just plugged your diet into www.cronometer.com and it looks like you are only getting around 1600 calories/day. Only about 56% of your diet comes from carbs (174g), 25% comes from fat (44g), and 18% comes from protein (75g). The amount of protein seems fine, the carbs seem pretty low, and I would say your fats might be a little on the high side at 155ibs, but you could probably leave it alone for now and see how your training progresses. The real negative side though is that you are lacking in a lot of vitamins and minerals. (B1, B5, folate, C, D, E, K, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc). You could take care of this problem very easily though by just adding in more fruit, potatoes, rice and green leafy vegetables.

LOL, Chronic masturbation? J/K man, you're obviously right handed and probably just do more non weight/workout activities utilizing that arm. That's just a guess of course.

Somebody's looking pretty incredible with 9 weeks left.

If your routine is causing you to get stronger at all, even by a lift or two from week to week while you are also dropping fat than I would just stick with what you are doing. To give you perspective though, Arnold Schwarzenegger competed at around 235 ibs. So if a BBer using steroids that was training for around a decade by the time he reached his pinnacle has a competition ready body at 235, then that tells you that you're going to need to drop down to well below 200 before you really start seeing definition at all. If you continue training smart and eating a good diet you might get near 200 ibs with low enough Body fat to see a little definition in around three years (just a guess). That's assuming you can put on around 10 ibs of lean muscle your first year, and 5 ibs the two following years. And those are realistic numbers, not the made up hollywood crap where you build 30 ibs of muscle in a few months, all natural. *Generally you won't just put on muscle, you'll put on a combo of muscle and fat. Eating a great diet can help you minimize that fat to a very small amount, but "generally" it's going to happen.