The tenth week of my 16-week challenge to drop from ~20% to 10% body fat has been one of steady progress.

I decided to ultra-protein my days, while remaining at about ~1000kcal input – this means that I have a whopping 144g of protein (in the form of protein shakes), plus three fruits (or comparable vegetable portions) throughout the entire day. The goals are to 1) feel fuller; 2) have three meals, like I do on maintenance days, which seems to reduce the mindshare I pay to eating during lean days; 3) have better athletic performance and growth.

I also implemented a visual system: I cut down a number of pieces of papers, each representing a 1500kcal. When I’m done with a lean day, I move it from one bowl to the other, to mark my progress. This week, I moved three papers from one bowl to the other, but then I overate on Sunday, so one paper went back to the first bowl.

Even by conservative estimates, I’m already halfway there. My lean mass is around 62-63kg; currently I stand at 73kg, which yields a range of body fat between 13.5-15% (compared to 18-20% when I started). I still have to lose about 3.5kg of fat to get to 9-10.5%. I will aim to maintain 3-4 lean days per week, and avoid regressions on weekends. Towards the end of the challenge, I will ramp this up, but not before – I want to see how close I can get to the goal without having to do things that will require too much willpower and missing on social events.

I did 3 out of 4 lean days, and maintained my caloric balance the rest of the days except Sunday.

Ongoing summary:

• Week 1: 0/2 lean days, 0/5 maintenance days. 76.7kg -> 76.2kg (-0.5) 93.7 -> 92.5cm (-1.2).
• Week 2: 1/2 lean days, 2/5 maintenance days. 76.2kg -> 75.6kg (-0.6) 92.5cm -> 93.1cm (+0.6)
• Week 3: 1/2 lean days, 2/5 maintenance days. 75.6kg -> 75.7kg (+0.1) 93.1cm -> 92.5cm (-0.6)
• Week 4: 2/2 lean days, 4/5 maintenance days, 75.7kg -> 75.2kg (-0.5) 92.5cm -> 91.8cm (-0.7)
• Week 5: 1/2 lean days, 3/5 maintenance days, 75.2kg -> 75.4kg (+0.2) 91.8cm -> 91.7cm (-0.1)
• Week 6: 4/4 lean days, 3/3 maintenance days, 75.4kg -> 73.7kg (-1.7) 91.7cm -> 90.8cm (-0.9)
• Week 7: 2/4 lean days, 5/3 maintenance days, 73.7kg -> 73.2kg (-0.5) 90.8cm -> 90.2cm (-0.6)
• Week 8: 2/4 lean days, 4/3 maintenance days, 73.2kg -> 73.5kg (+0.3) 90.2cm -> 89.7cm (-0.3)
• Week 9: 2/4 lean days, 4/3 maintenance days, 73.5kg -> 73.5kg (0.0) 89.7cm -> 89.7cm (0.0)
• Week 10: 3/4 lean days, 3/3 maintenance days, 73.5kg -> 72.8kg (-0.7) 89.7cm -> 89.1cm (-0.6)

Will report again next week!