Cutting from 14% to 10% body fat — is 4 weeks realistic?

Omxxl

Omxxl

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This is a challenge I've set for myself — getting down to 10% body fat. Whether I can hold that level long term I honestly don't know; mostly I'm curious what it looks like on me, since I've never been that lean.

Right now I measure 14% (there's a photo with this post). The approach: a strict diet run over 4 weeks, and I'll be putting new photos up every week so the progress can be seen.

The scale says 88 kg at a height of 181 cm, which means 4 kg of fat has to come off while I hold a 1,000 kcal deficit every day. I'm just coming out of a hypercaloric phase.

For compounds I'm running Retatrutide at 4 mg — hoping to push that to 5 mg/week, with omeprazole on hand because of the reflux it brings — plus TRT at 150 mg/week, possibly raised to 200 mg so I don't shed muscle, and HGH at 3 IU daily.

I'll post updates on how it goes as I go along.

If anyone has suggestions for doing this better, I'm listening.
 
A sane deficit spread over 8 weeks is the other option, and you'd hang on to more of that weight instead of burning it off your muscle. You're not starting from 40% — the leaner your bodyfat gets, the bigger the share of what you lose will be muscle. A cycle would help you there, sure, but the moment you're at 200 test with 3IU of HGH you've left TRT behind and you're enhanced (nothing wrong with that, just don't kid yourself). Speed running down to 10% isn't worth it. Take the slow route and do it properly.
 
Omxxl said:

This is a challenge I've set for myself — getting down to 10% body fat. Whether I can hold that level long term I honestly don't know; mostly I'm curious what it looks like on me, since I've never been that lean.

Right now I measure 14% (there's a photo with this post). The approach: a strict diet run over 4 weeks, and I'll be putting new photos up every week so the progress can be seen.

The scale says 88 kg at a height of 181 cm, which means 4 kg of fat has to come off while I hold a 1,000 kcal deficit every day. I'm just coming out of a hypercaloric phase.

For compounds I'm running Retatrutide at 4 mg — hoping to push that to 5 mg/week, with omeprazole on hand because of the reflux it brings — plus TRT at 150 mg/week, possibly raised to 200 mg so I don't shed muscle, and HGH at 3 IU daily.

I'll post updates on how it goes as I go along.

If anyone has suggestions for doing this better, I'm listening.
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Turning it into a timed challenge is not something I would advise. Get there gradually instead of rushing at it. What I would aim for is shedding fat while the scale barely moves. Right now I sit at 70 kg and have only just begun to lose the fat around my middle. It was a long road, and my goal throughout was to keep every kilo of muscle intact - which I managed. Even so, the drop from 74 down to 70 kg has clearly cost me strength. I eat plenty of protein, inject HGRH every day and train consistently, and my lifts still feel heavier: the same load for the same reps is harder now than it used to be. Listen to what your body tells you rather than letting your head issue the orders. This is not a race
 
Weight gets progressively harder to shift the leaner you get, because the body clings to what's left that much more stubbornly. Throwing more test at a cut doesn't automatically help either — it can work against you, driving appetite up and adding water retention. That's the reason bodybuilders reach for fairly extreme measures (clen and similar stimulants, or the nasty orals like winny and var) when they want to get into single digit territory. With a full month of commitment I'd say you might get close, but I doubt it happens without the sort of harsh, unhealthy cutting tricks nobody should be using
 
Certain steroids would get you there. Run tren acetate for 4 weeks and it could happen with your muscle intact — but if you try to do it that fast without it, I can't see how you'd avoid losing muscle.
 
Omxxl said:

aepower2016 said:

Not to pry, but where does the 4-week deadline come from?
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I have a photo shoot.
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What I was getting at is that chasing maximum leanness inside such a short window is the problem. More muscle than you'd want will come off either way, and there's a good chance you won't be happy with how the result looks.

Could the shoot be moved back by another 4-6 weeks? I get that you're keen for it and happy with how you look. That's a good thing — but forcing it through quickly tends to produce pointless mental strain, where you spend all your time picking your own physique apart instead of enjoying it.
 
aepower2016 said:

Omxxl said:

aepower2016 said:

Not to pry, but where does the 4-week deadline come from?
Click to expand...
I have a photo shoot.
Click to expand...
What I was getting at is that chasing maximum leanness inside such a short window is the problem. More muscle than you'd want will come off either way, and there's a good chance you won't be happy with how the result looks.

Could the shoot be moved back by another 4-6 weeks? I get that you're keen for it and happy with how you look. That's a good thing — but forcing it through quickly tends to produce pointless mental strain, where you spend all your time picking your own physique apart instead of enjoying it.
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The complication is that I'm shooting for a brand I already work with, the shots need me without a shirt, and for that I want my body fat percentage as low as I can get it.
 
For a drier appearance there are other things I'll add in: a carb depletion followed by a loading phase across the last week, and a pump-up with bands and weights immediately before I'm in front of the camera.

I'll come off HGH for the final week before it, since it leaves you holding a lot of water under the skin.
 
Omxxl said:

For a drier appearance there are other things I'll add in: a carb depletion followed by a loading phase across the last week, and a pump-up with bands and weights immediately before I'm in front of the camera.

I'll come off HGH for the final week before it, since it leaves you holding a lot of water under the skin.
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Another angle is pulling the water out of your system over the 48hrs leading up to the shoot. Look into how bodybuilders prep for a show. It's hard on the body, but dropping water can leave you looking very lean.
 
Cardio, and more cardio, then still more cardio ? lift heavy with plenty of protein ? stay in a calorie deficit...as Redz said above- tren will do it - if you're up for that and can lay hands on it...good luck !
 
If you genuinely want to go that route...

Clenbuterol would be one way to go. Some liquid versions get around the stomach trouble that the usual oral doses cause. It acts quickly too — for me it stripped off an extra few lb each week. Currently into week four and moving up to 80mcg.
 
lastresort said:

If you genuinely want to go that route...

Clenbuterol would be one way to go. Some liquid versions get around the stomach trouble that the usual oral doses cause. It acts quickly too — for me it stripped off an extra few lb each week. Currently into week four and moving up to 80mcg.
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Clen is unpleasant stuff — the side effects it handed me were awful. I shook so violently and so constantly that I couldn't even pee without hitting the toilet. Because of that, I genuinely rate tren as the safer of the two, and it delivers far more for muscle hardness and that dry, vascular appearance.

Honestly I don't understand how anyone tolerates Clen. Worst thing I've ever put into myself. Plenty of people get on great with it, I realise — it just wasn't the one for me.
 
Redz said:

lastresort said:

If you genuinely want to go that route...

Clenbuterol would be one way to go. Some liquid versions get around the stomach trouble that the usual oral doses cause. It acts quickly too — for me it stripped off an extra few lb each week. Currently into week four and moving up to 80mcg.
Click to expand...
Clen is unpleasant stuff — the side effects it handed me were awful. I shook so violently and so constantly that I couldn't even pee without hitting the toilet. Because of that, I genuinely rate tren as the safer of the two, and it delivers far more for muscle hardness and that dry, vascular appearance.

Honestly I don't understand how anyone tolerates Clen. Worst thing I've ever put into myself. Plenty of people get on great with it, I realise — it just wasn't the one for me.
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That's odd! From my own experience the only thing I noticed was a bit of sweating, nothing beyond that. My RHR climbing was rough for the first stretch, but these days I'm so used to it that I wouldn't know my HR had gone over 90 without checking the monitor.
 
The cardiac side of stacking clenbuterol, yohimbine, or anything else that pushes heart rate bothers me, given that I'm on retatrutide and combining those compounds isn't really advised.
 
Omxxl said:

The cardiac side of stacking clenbuterol, yohimbine, or anything else that pushes heart rate bothers me, given that I'm on retatrutide and combining those compounds isn't really advised.
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Retatrutide has been part of my routine for months — 9mg at the moment, since I dropped it down from 15mg to check whether it still does anything. I added clen 3 weeks back starting at 20mcg, and the early HR problem settled within a week.

The call is yours.
 
lastresort said:

Omxxl said:

The cardiac side of stacking clenbuterol, yohimbine, or anything else that pushes heart rate bothers me, given that I'm on retatrutide and combining those compounds isn't really advised.
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Retatrutide has been part of my routine for months — 9mg at the moment, since I dropped it down from 15mg to check whether it still does anything. I added clen 3 weeks back starting at 20mcg, and the early HR problem settled within a week.

The call is yours.
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I'm guessing that should read mcg…. 20mg would be lethal.
 
Redz said:

Omxxl said:

For a drier appearance there are other things I'll add in: a carb depletion followed by a loading phase across the last week, and a pump-up with bands and weights immediately before I'm in front of the camera.

I'll come off HGH for the final week before it, since it leaves you holding a lot of water under the skin.
Click to expand...
Another angle is pulling the water out of your system over the 48hrs leading up to the shoot. Look into how bodybuilders prep for a show. It's hard on the body, but dropping water can leave you looking very lean.
Click to expand...
My suggestion would be to get into a sauna for a while, or find a hot yoga class, at some point in the last 24hrs beforehand.

I do a hot yoga session every Saturday and it takes up to 4lbs of water off me. At 5'7" and 143lbs that's a decent amount. Afterwards I look pretty shredded.
 
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