It was NUTS. I realized I was eating over a POUND of nuts every week. While I’m sure Grok came across nut bearing trees in his travels, he had to pick them (possibly climbing the tree) and then he had to crack open the shells one at a time. That is an entirely different proposition from the 1 pound shelled, salted, roasted goodness available at Trader Joes. It’s a lot easier to over-do it that way.

I also started sprints on Friday. But only 2 for my first go at it. Two 800 foot dashes. That’s not much. It probably helped. But I think it was ditching the nuts mainly. I’m pretty sure I ate MORE food overall. But it was more fruits/veggies/meat, less nuts. I don’t do cheese, because it’s not primal.

I have not had to incorporate IF yet. But we’ll see, I’m still a ways out from 9% bodyfat. I kinda’ want to save that one for when I REALLY need it. …like being stuck at 10% bodyfat. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” So this week, I’m going to do exactly what I did last week. Primal, no nuts, no cheese.

Oh, for all the cardio-holics, I did ZERO cardio this week. None. Na-da. Don’t cardio off the fat, DIET it off.

Exactly. Primal man was not fat and did not have unlimited fat reserves like we do now for the reason you mentioned, however, 1 day is not famine. The body will resist using precious fat stores and will use a more metabolically expensive tissue (muscle) until it is perceived to be in a real famine.

“I think the body WANTS to burn fat in a time of famine, not hoard it and burn muscle”

Agreed but again one day is not a famine. I am not saying IF is bad or useless. I am saying to get down to single digit BF IF is counter productive.

“A day of fasting will do far more good than harm, burn far more fat than muscle”

Agreed. Only if your body is primed to burn fat ie. less than 50g carbs per day for several weeks. The brain uses approx 100 g of Carbs (glucose) a day. It takes several days for the brain to start using ketone bodies as fuel. The brain cannot use free fatty acids for fuel period. This is CW but like “smoking is bad m’kay” CW. To get 100g of glucose for the brain, the best way is to break down amino acids in the liver. The amino acids come from “stored protein” aka muscle tissue. Do a google search on ketosis. Very, very interesting stuff.

“..and I don’t need to ask a body-builder anything, I’m asking Mark.”

I only mention this because bodybuilders do what you are trying to do 1-3 times a year. Also I don’t think Mark was 26% BF at the time of developing PB if ever.

“he REAL threat to muscle mass is cardio. When I surfed hard…”

By aerobics I mean “low to mid intensity steady state activity” like marathon running, marathon cycling, and shivering in the ocean for 4 hours a day. So again agreed.

“Why do I want single digit bodyfat? Are you kidding?! I’m….”

Agreed! Again! Haha I see a trend. Anyway, my goals are also single digit BF (again). I am 34 just divorced and was at 26% BF only 4 weeks ago. I am down to 22% since applying the PB to my lifestyle. I also want to be Hot! I am doing a 4 week stint at ketosis levels starting this week to see how fast I can drop the fat.

I don’t mean to offend or come off as a know it all. I just thought I would add my 2 cents since we seem to be in the same boat striving for hottness!

I hope Mark reads our little Necroposts and chimes in to see if I am off base here.

Good luck! I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing if you have any other views!

Sounds nice, but I don’t agree with this at all. Primal man had times of feast and times of famine. The whole REASON humans and other animals store bodyfat in the first place is for times of famine so we can LIVE off our bodyfat without food and not die! In modern society there is no time of famine. If it’s all FEAST 24/7, of course you’ll get fat. I think a day of fasting makes perfect sense. This “OH don’t do THAT or you’ll catablolize muscle!” is conventional wisdom rubbish. I refuse to believe our precious metabolisms are THAT delicate. I think the body WANTS to burn fat in a time of famine, not hoard it and burn muscle. A day of fasting will do far more good than harm, burn far more fat than muscle.

…..and I don’t need to ask a body-builder anything, I’m asking Mark. Mark has the medium build muscle mass and “elite level” low body fat I aspire to. It sounds like he achieved that at least partly through the use of IF. And in the “success stories” part of the site I can find 4 or 5 other guys with similar builds.

The REAL threat to muscle mass is cardio. When I surfed hard for a month I lost 4 pounds of muscle. Look at marathon runners and tour de france cyclist. Excessive cardio is kryptonite to muscle mass.

Why do I want single digit bodyfat? Are you kidding?! I’m shallow. I want to be HOT. The same reason everybody wants it. At least I admit it. I’m a single man. Single women are THROWING themselves at me now -Vs- 7 months ago at 26% bodyfat. …turns out they’re shallow too. I don’t feel bad about that at all. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to LOOK good. That’s the image conscious world we live in. ….why would you want to? Jeeeez! You crack me up.

ohhhhhh! I was using greater than less than symbols and the post deleted every thing in between.

Last time… promise.

You will have to get into eating less than 50g of carbs per day for several weeks or you will not get ripped. Ask a bodybuilder.

You will have to eat greater than your LBM x 1-1.25g in protien or you will not get ripped either. Ask a bodybuilder.

… and please work post.

What? (post got srcabmled)

You will have to get into the LBM x 1-1.25g in protien or you will not get ripped either. Ask a bodybuilder.

No amount of exercise is going to help. It is way easier to consume 1000 less calories than it is to burn 1000
calories through exercise.

Also, IF is going to do you harm if your in a healthy range and still trying to drop BF. You will end up catabolizing muscle to feed your brain. It takes 3 days for you brain to switch to ketone bodies for fuel. It takes another 3 weeks for your muscles to switch to stored fat for the majority of energy needs.

You will have to get into the LBM x 1-1.25g in protien you will not get ripped either. Ask a bodybuilder.

If you are doing aerobics you will not get ripped but you will catabolize your hard earned muscle. Ask a bodybuilder.

Lift weights 1 time per week for to failure keeping the total work out to less than 20 min and that will be the only amount of exercise your body will be able to handle on a calorie deficient diet.

I haven’t broken this plateau, so I can’t tell you for sure what works, but I have an idea. First off, I think it’s just a whole lot harder to go from normal —> ripped, than it is to go from fat slob —> normal.

Secondly, I’ve tried I.F. but never for a full day. Just skipping the first 2 meals of the day. BUT… what I think is happening is I just make up for it with dinner and then another meal after dinner. I’m probably eating way more than I realize in those 2 meals. Probably a full day’s worth of calories. Doh! I have not incorporated HIIT yet.

So this week I will try sprints on the beach one day, and a full day of fasting on another day. I think I have to do a full day, because if I do partial day, I just over-eat in the afternoon and wind up nowhere. I’ll post back here and let you guys know if these 2 things help!