How I Got to 10% Body Fat and Gained 12 kg of Muscle Without Restriction

I baked my full fat, granulated sugar with white flour cakes and ate them too while I underwent dramatic body recomposition and you can, too! I mean this quite literally. I did this and continue to do this while I develop a baking cookbook which means baking and testing via my mouth and stomach all the cakes and cookies and pies and pastries.

If you’re tired of reading article after article and forum after forum with nothing but what I call the “Absolutely Unnecessary Sad Bodybuilder Diet” on your journey towards body recomposition or bodybuilding or weightlifting or general fitness, I hope that a series of posts I’ve planned will help you to push through the noise of diet culture and figure out how you can make food fun and enjoyable while supporting your goals.

You do not have to be disciplined but you do have to be dedicated. Because it is work. But it doesn’t have to suck. When I say it’s work, I’m talking about creating habits such as meal planning and keeping a food log and cooking the majority of your meals. I’m not talking about looking at your food or exercise schedule and going UGH I HATE THIS BUT I HAVE TO DO IT BECAUSE DISCIPLINE! If it isn’t enjoyable, it’s wrong for you.

I will also note that I did start off with what I consider an advantage. I already had a health relationship with food and had a higher-than-average understanding of nutrition when I started my natural competitive bodybuilding journey 18 months ago. I already cooked most of my meals. I’ve never been one to drink my calories. All this made for easy dietary changes when needed.

Also, I have the advantage of metabolism. It is also a bit of a hinderance. Once I hit 12 per cent body fat, my metabolism becomes way too efficient which makes maintaining a low body fat percentage easy. But it also makes gains in size very difficult.

While I cannot cover all aspects of how I approach food and bodybuilding in one post, this post will introduce some basic concepts to help you decide if what I have to say is something you want to hear. And if it is, then use the handy dandy form at the bottom of this post to sign up to receive posts directly in your inbox.

My Goal Wasn’t Weight Loss

Chances are you don’t want to lose weight either. You want to lose fat. Or you want to gain muscle. Or you want to do both. Or your goal may be what my goal is: Generally feel good in my meat suit. Seriously. That is what it says in the app used with my trainer.

I’m not sure I can underscore this enough: Stop hyper focusing on that number. In one group I’m in, it’s far too common to see someone freak out because the numbers on their scale are going up and not down. I gained a lot of weight during my first stage of my journey. But because I was gaining muscle as I lost fat, the numbers of the scale went up as my body got smaller. I’ll write a post specifically about this. Because too many people get hung up by numbers on a scale when those numbers are only one very small part of the bigger picture.

I Approached Everything in Stages

Yes, it is cliched to say, it’s a marathon and not a sprint. But this really needs to be underscored. Especially in a world where everything is about fast results. Fast results are not sustainable results. You are setting yourself up for failure if you want results in 90 days, as an example. Success means creating habits. And you can’t create habits without first creating routines. And you cannot create routines until you have a good understanding of what you like and don’t like; what can you do that are easy wins.

Phase 1: Observation and movement

My first stage was about seven months long. During that phase, it was all about figuring things out. It was about paying closer attention to macros but without tracking anything in terms of food. I only paid attention to help me easily jump into the second stage. I started to get into the habit of eating on a regular schedule instead of letting some of my autistic things tell me I wasn’t hungry only to find myself hangry late in the afternoon. While I was figuring stuff out, I just ate food.

The main thing I figured out during the first stage was movement. More specifically, what is my joyful movement, how much movement can I easily sustain, and how can I increase my Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis with my disabled body.

It wasn’t until all of this became habitual that I moved on.

Phase 2: Slightly Reduced Calories Without Restriction

The second stage was also about seven months long. The goal was to get down to 15 per cent body fat while still feeling generally good in my meat suit. This is when I made dietary changes.

To be clear, I’m not talking about how diet is used in terms of diet culture and restricting foods. I’m talking about diet as in what I eat in a day. I did go into a slight caloric deficit, but it was never drastic. I tried to maintain 2000 calories a day. On days where I was very unwell and it was just about getting me fed, I tried my best to shove 1800 calories a day into me.

My big change during this phase was all about paying attention to and meeting my macros. If it fit my macros, it fit in my stomach. There are lots of ways to fit yummy desserts into your meal plan while hitting a 30 per cent protein goal, and meeting all your micronutrient goals, too. Getting down to 2000 calories was super easy with some very small food swaps. Calories and deficits and macros and meal planning, all of this will also be a series of posts.

Phase 3: Slow Caloric Increases to Former Maintenance

The third stage was about three months long. The goal was to get me down to 11 per cent body while still feeling generally good in my meat suit, with maybe stopping at 12 per cent depending on how I was vibing, while slowly getting me up to what was my old maintenance calories.

I did this very slowly and methodically to not upset my IBS, reactive hypoglycaemia, and some other health concerns. Bodies need time to adjust to big changes. I’ll have posts about this, too. Figuring out new macro balances that your body can digest and metabolise can be challenging.

Phase 4: Figuring Out New Maintenance

I’m currently in the fourth stage. This stage is about figuring out what my true maintenance calories are and stopping the fat loss that refuses to stop as I find myself now at about 10 per cent. On paper, I’m at maintenance. But I’m still rapidly losing fat despite a huge increase in calories. We absolutely need to get my fat loss stable for a couple months before we move onto the fifth stage. I’m hoping that I’ll be at my new maintenance by mid-July, but it could take longer. There are lots of tools that I use to figure this piece out. There will be a post.

Phase 5: Caloric Surplus

The fifth stage will be going into a slight surplus to gain even more muscle while maintaining my current body fat, and maybe even gaining some fat depending on how much more I lose while we get to my new maintenance. For best hormonal support, I need to be at around 10 per cent. I also need to gain some size in terms of muscle for competition. I have a lot of very strong muscle. But it’s very long and lean. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about that, too.

Phase 6: Back to Maintenance and Maybe a Very Small Deficit

This stage still is still a big TBD for when it will start and how long it will be. This decision will be made at the end of this year. This phase is what is commonly known as the “cutting phase” when preparing for competition. It involves terribly unhealthy caloric deficits.

I recently watched a video with a trans competitor and trainer who was talking about his tiny 1400 calories a day during his cut phase. OH HELL NO! For me, that would be an over 50 per cent cut in calories in what I’m currently eating! Never mind what I could be eating once I find out what my true maintenance is! This whole ugly part of the bodybuilding world will also be addressed in the future.

There is no reason for anyone to go under 1500 calories if their primary hormonal makeup is estrogen, and 1700 calories if their primary hormonal makeup is testosterone. For people who have a non-typical hormonal balance, then maybe somewhere in the middle. And if you go this low, then you’ll have to give up on the fun food to meet both macro and micronutrients and why do that when you don’t have to?

Anyway, back to me. A decision will be made at the end of the year regarding how long I’ll be in a deficit again and when I’ll start, depending on how much body fat I have then and what I need to get to for competition.

I Keep a Physical Health and Fitness Journal, and a Meal Planning Journal

Yes, there are a hundred of apps to track things. And I use many of them to gather data. But you’ll lose the forest for the trees with data being in silos, even if you use something like Google Fit or Apple Health to amalgamate some of it. Keeping a health and fitness journal allows you easily see how Change X leads to Result Y and make changes before things get off the rails. You can also easily see the amazing progress you are doing.

Keeping a physical food journal also helps alleviate a lot of the stress that can accompany the work and dedication required to eat to fuel your body for how you do it and make lots of room for fun foods.

I’ll have a post about this, too.

My Priority Was Always Keeping Me Fed and Healthy

This was the most important thing I did to get to where I am now.

I cannot count how many times I DoorDashed during the last 18 months. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was well over 100 times. And it wasn’t all “healthy” restaurants. I ordered McDonald’s and Wendy’s and Dairy Queen and White Spot and A&W and Burger King, I ordered it all! Many days it was simply about getting me fed and I did that no matter what it took.

I didn’t think of it as a setback or cheat day or whatever. I’d go over my budget but who cares because it doesn’t matter in the long term. I met my goals. And they are sustainable. Sure, I could have been disciplined and killed myself to reach my 15 per cent goal at the end of December instead of February like I could have, but why do that to myself? It isn’t good for me.

There were also many days when a workout was scheduled, and I just didn’t. Because my health dictated that I don’t. And that is that. This makes me more dedicated to my health than people who will tell you they are disciplined. Because those disciplined people are often hurting themselves.

And this too deserves a post or two.

Anyway, this very long post is the short introduction into how I got here. Want to hear more? Use the form below!

Is there something specific you want me to talk about? Leave a comment!