Here's my ht/wt/etc. 6'3" 250ish (male, not an amazon)(varies 1-3 lbs daily) BF 23.5% (bod pod)if you're like me and hate math 191.25 lbs LM 58.75 lbs fat (WOW, is it really that much?) I'm 27 years old (if you truly are as old as you feel I'm 49) Former football guy with 1 helpless knee and 1 hopeless knee. My peak condition stats were 245 at 12% BF (underwater weighing) after things didn't work out with football they suggested I lose some weight to extend the life of my knees, so I figured it was a great chance to get extremely lean. 6 mos of eggs oatmeal and chicken breast later I'm 225 lbs but no leaner. BF 13% 195 lbs LM 30 lbs Fat. My legs had shrunk considerably due to not being able to do anything hardly with them. I didn't know anything about nutrition but figured that muscle was made out of protein so I should eat mostly just protein, not enough carbs and kind of gave up.

Got married, wife got pregnant and put on 30 lbs. (I'm super competitive and not to be outdone I put on 35 lbs) Sadly when the baby was born the next day she looked as if she'd never been pregnant in the first place, but I still looked pregnant. Anywho, I discovered boxing and gave that a professional go, went 5-1 4ko's. My trainer was focused on getting my skills up and said we'd worry about the weight later, ( I guess you need to have a decent body to get on T.V.) Years went by, I learned how to cook, and cook well, boxing didn't work out so here I sit back up to 250.

I have attempted many changes in diet over the years, all mostly rooted in a bodybuilding lifestyle type diet and found out that I am the "one" The "one" true person that if I can do it, anybody can...only thus far I haven't been able to do it. I got a part time job at a GNC (laughs at the scrunching of faces) but get this, the manager there was a lean 175, I learned he weighed a whopping 250 when he started working there. I of course picked his brain on nutrition, I'm always looking to learn even though I don't always practice what I preach. This wasn't a franchise GNC so they had to carry only certain products. The manager at GNC with the 40% off discount had lost all of his weight with a strict diet and top of the line supplements, you guessed it, Beverly products. He got the NNN monthly and utilized the savings that came with it. He would bring in crepes all the time made with I think UMP or Ultra Size I can't remember, but they were indeed tasty. Me being a full time student, part time employee and full time father/husband, chose the cheaper route and bought from the store.

I did get back in the gym and shed 20 lbs, but that manager moved on, the next one I didn't like so much so I quit. I started getting the NNN through the first manager and kept saying eventually I'd give Beverly a try. I been visiting the board a bit and kept seeing the "beverly diet" which I haven't seen any definitive definition of, and talk of the mystical "workshop manual" To my suprise, I see in my monthly savings/NNN that if I order X amount I get not only supps, not only a groovy T-shirt, but also the holy grail of bodybuilding, the workshop manual. I got my order and excitely tore it open, which consisted of 1 Cookies and creme UMP, 1 chocolate UMP, 1 chocolate Muscle Provider, 1 Glutamine Select, 1 Ultra 40 (seriously, beef liver tabs? but who am I to question?) and 1 Mass Aminos. I pulled out my snazzy Beverly T-shirt, but realized I wasn't one of the first 200 to get a hard copy of the NNN. Off to check my email... no Manual... oh yeah, check the spam filter... and there it was. I planned out the week following Plan C. Things went smoothly enough the first week. 6 meals a day, UMP wasn't mixing well in the shaker cup so I switched to a blender for that one. The MP was just as delicious as advertised. So after 1 week of feeling great thinking Finally I'm gonna get lean. Week 2 I didn't have the meals prepared and fell off the wagon...again.

In college it was easy, I had no money, (I liked to blow my scholarship checks on stupid stuff, that PS 2 was more than worth it at the time) I bought like 20 cans of Tuna and 2 4lb bags of chicken and more eggs than the normal human being. I ate it all blandly tastelessly and happily. Now that I discovered cajun cuisine, it's much easier to pass up the brown rice and tuna for Jambalaya.

I guess here is my question, I have the knowledge, have the plan, willing to work hard, why do I fail at the diet aspect? What corner need be turned to make it a lifestyle change as opposed to a temporary evil I must endure just for a time? How do I eat to live instead of live to eat? I have yet to adorn that Beverly T-shirt waiting until my body is worthy of it. Today, I picked up my food/exercise journal and crossed out the dates, I should have been back down to 220ish by now based on my schedule, instead I'm starting over. I researched quitting smoking as a reference, (I'm not a smoker) I need a support team, my friend...yeah I said friend, isn't exactly great support in this area, one of the blessed mesomorphs that gets leaner and bigger eating anything and just looking at weights. My family, aren't exactly fitness enthusiasts, understanding and helpful, but not nutritionally helpful. (2 of the finests cooks I know..where do you think I learned how to cook?) Accountability, my wife bless her soul, she was the food police for me for a while, I miss hearing "is that on your diet?" every time I reached for a swiss cake roll, or a helping of fried chicken. She was a classic ectomorph 5'10" never an ounce over 120lbs no matter how much garbage she shoveled down. I speak of her in past tense not because she is dead, just dead to me, she thought the grass was greener over there, time will tell, nuff' said.

I'm hoping with her and her bad food buying habits, (cakes and pies! cakes and pies!) no longer in the house to tempt me, and hopefully with this board acting as my support and accountability team? I will finally be the if I can do it anybody can story. Thank you for reading, hope you were at least entertained.
Bonus points for grammar and spelling?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JamesS,

Wow James? Thats a **** of a story? I laughed, I cried, I got concerned. Entertained? Yes, but not at your expense! Any questions you may have about diet and training, just shoot. This is THE BEST BOARD for that kind of advice!! Cheers.

well I read it, but try paragraphs next time, you'll get more reads, lol.

We'll try to help as much as possible, welcome.

Question 1, with all the plans in the manual I see no deviation for LBM? Should I stick with it as written, or is it necessary to do all the macro nutrient breakdown to ensure it is enough calories for me? I would rather not do that but it's not like I'm very busy and I'm ******d for time, I'm just lazy. I do have a snazzy diet program from one of my classes where you punch in your foods and amounts and it breaks down everything, by the way, if my instructor is right, with all the chicken breast I eat I should have died from a niacin overdose years ago, and I'm sure many of you are eating "unhealthily" based on her standards. She's the head of the dietics department at _____ University.

Here's my diet template

Meal 1: 4 egg whites 1 whole egg, 5 oz 98% fat free beef, 1/2 cup dry oats

Meal 2: 2 scoops of UMP with heavy cream

Meal 3: 10 oz. Chicken 1/2 cup brown rice, 2 cups frozen broccoli

Meal 4: same as 2

Meal 5: 10 oz chicken 4 cups salad

Meal 6: 2 scoops Muscle provider

This comes out to be about 2622 kcals

Carbs 98 grams = 15%

Fat 80 grams = 28%

Protein 373 grams = 57%

With a lean body mass of around 191 lbs and overall weight of 250 lbs should I eat a little more carbs? So far I'm Starved outta my mind and watch the clock constantly waiting to eat. Also I have some CLA caps, Fish body Oil caps, Mass Aminos and Some Ultra 40, was gonna save the protein pills for later when I move onto a more strict diet, phase 2 from the workshop manual. Any advice as far as adding some Kcals or not?

Oh yeah. This type of diet, you can expect to be hungry and miserable. That takes a few weeks to get used to. But it will work! The carbs are VERY VERY LOW for you and your size so you have to make sure you have a High-Carb Cheat Meal every 3rd and 4th day so you don't kill your metabolism altogether.

There are better ways to do it I think than to diet this way, but now that you've started it, don't stop. Something you could do is bring down your protein, bring up your carbs and maintain your fats. Get your percentages closer to 50/20/30 rather than what you have now at 60/15/25. The results will still be the same and you may be a little less miserable.

Good luck!

Here is my philosophy dont use a SLEDGE hammer where all you need is a hammer. Sure you will lose fat on that diet, but use that when fat loss stalls and you are trying to get that last bit off.

For now for someone of lbm of 191 here is what Id do.

Trainind Days:
PRO: 285
CHO: 360
Fats: 55

non training drop 50 carbs from diet and keep fats and protein the same.

Cardio 30-40 mins PWO to begin moderate, I like a walk on treadmill around 4 speed. 110-125 hear rate.

Anyways....divide carbs evenly over 6 meals, same for proteins...6 meals daily...

Good Luck!