Because of how difficult it is to get lean, I try to keep my bodyfat within narrow bounds all year long. Because I like costume events, these scheduled events provide the perfect motivation to drop to the bodyfat where I think I look best which is about 7%. I am not happy with my 9% bodyfat level in these photos taken at the costume events last month. Muscle gain is simply not an option at my age and my yearly goal is to make the decline in LBM as small as possible. Gotta make the best with what I have and getting to an optimal bodyfat is the best way to do this. My fitness plan was messed up before the cruise by a freak intercostal muscle pull and I was actually lucky to be able to do the trip at all. I get another chance to nail the bodyfat in Palm Springs in late April for another costume event. This is a cutting meal plan that I will be using about 3 days a week. You will note from the bodyfat chart that I will achieve my desired 7% bodyfat after 30 days but its 60 days until the event. The reason I need to start cutting now is that I will be doing a two week bike tour in Thailand before this and from experience I know that it is VERY difficult to cut while biking in Asia because of the difficulty in getting food with high protein density.
The interesting thing is that when most people think “fat loss” they think about endless hours on the treadmill – not me. I love my cardio and I actually am going to reduce my weekly cardio so I can lose fat easier. With the awesome spring weather I was doing 10-12 hours of cardio a week and now I will cut down to 5-6 hours a week of climbing up mountains on my bike. Please read “Want sixpack abs, skip the cardio!” if you do not understand why I am doing this.
For all those experts out there who will start telling me that my bodyfat is not 9% in these photos but X.yz%, please read why what you think does not matter. It’s not that I don’t value your opinion, its that it does not matter because bodyfat is just an arbitrary number and all that matters when cutting is that you be able to calculate with precision the optimal caloric deficit to achieve your target bodyfat exactly on time. I know my optimal look is 7.0% bodyfat when measured by the three point skinfold method. Knowing this, from any given starting bodyfat I can calculate with +/- 3 day accuracy when I will achieve my optimal 7% look. Remind me again why I need a DEXA scan :)