Hi there,
curious to know how you sub 10% BF guys made it. I’m 172cm / 64kg / 11-12% BF but still have that stubborn fat on my belly that allows only the “top four” abs of my six pack to be seen. I’m at a build phase, so I wouldn’t like to experiment with carb restriction.
Tips?
Depending on age, diet, workout regiment, really a million factors, getting below 10% to most people means going extremely serious with your diet including carb cycling and things like that. Think a complete lifestyle change.
I just cracked the 10% barrier this week (scanned in at 9.3%)
A few tips:
I’ll be honest though, if you are in build, I wouldn’t suggest trying lose weight at this point. The window for high ROI fat loss is probably closed.
I’m about to transition into build in the next few weeks and I’m already starting to add calories back in.
What deficit do you recommend for lv base?
I am same height and 63kg. For me, it is a constant and never-ending obsessive watch of what goes into my mouth each day. I’m around 255 FTP and do about 400 tss/week in the winter and ~500-600 (unstructured) in the summer.
None of it is healthy - physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Frankly, its exhausting.
Another 172cm/63kilo guy here.
If you’re in a build phase, you can add an extra 3hr+ endurance ride during the week. This is what used to work for me in the past and allowed me to stay under 58kg for around 2 years or so.
So why do you do it?
…Because seeing old photos of myself at 85kg is even worse.
Oh, and I can share clothes with my middle-school aged son.
Interesting…I don’t feel the same. I don’t find it that bad. But we may be different ages.
Nice tips here, thanks for sharing. Not in an eating disorder, still looking healthy and strong (love the gym, can squat and deadlift well over my bodyweight and have decent numbers on torso as well). It’s just that I think I could be leaner.
Used to track with MFPal, but it’s just too exhausting and stopped it after about 2 months, believing that I could do the mental math from what I learnt. Nevertheless, seems like I plateaud and it doesn’t matter whether on the weekends I have cakes, cookies and beers or I follow a clean diet.
I’m thinking of just removing some foods: I love dairy and feel like it’s been the only constant in my life. Have you tried sth similar and found results? As I said and someone reinforced… build phase is not a phase for carb/calorie cutting. Slight deficit in non-intensity days (2-3x week) + removing dairy could be an interesting option?
Fair, just sounds tho the last percent is a bit of a struggle, and it’s good for the soul to stuff yourself from time to time 
same here, I am 27 year old, 1.77cm and 67-68 kg.
I want to lose some weight, maybe 1-2kg.
I started to cut 1 meal per day and now I have only 2 main meals:
-1 imediatly after getting out of bed, around 6.45 am
-2 at around 12 am.
maybe at 3 or 4 pm have a snack.
At work I drink a lot of water(because I dont want to feel hungry :)) )
My program for over 1mounth until now is: 3 days per week I go to gym, 2 days on trainer(minimum 1h - easy ride) and in the weekend off gym, off bike.
any suggestion here?
Thanks !
I rode with one of Bora’s nutritional consultants not too long ago. We had a nice chat about what they do and what their weight strategy is. Especially for the last few grams. They create fairly large deficits (>1000-1500kcal) on single days during the week. Always make sure that the more demanding days are fueled properly. No chronic calorie deficit at this stage. HOwever, even before they don’t go with chronic deficits. But of course, these guys are always lean, even with 3kg “overweight”
But it’s a dangerous territory. Can easily backfire. He told me that one of the reasons why not all of Team Ineos outperformed at this TdF was that they failed in this last weight shedding phase. You walk a thin line there.
Yeah I think there is a difference between being in range for Ineos off season and my race weight 
I’m pretty sure at 9.3% I’m just knocking on the door of their “off the course” bf levels.
That being said, I agree with the idea of when you are that low, you have to stay neutral and keep the stress focused.
Carb cycling is a good idea. So, higher carb on workout days, lower on others.
Alternatively, you might try nutrient timing a bit more strategically. Mainly, put your carbs right before and right after your workouts. And then eat low carb the rest of the day. You’re still getting the carbs but in a more purposeful way.
Both of these approaches have worked for me.
-Hugh
You might need a bodybuilding diet approach which is not very compatible with endurance training. Insulin control through carbohydrate restriction and cycling, six small meals, cut most fats and simple carbs. The leaner you get the more your body doesn’t want to get leaner and the strategies get more complicated. I got down to 4.9% several years ago.
Would this be Keto or something along those lines or something entirely different?
Not Keto, no.
Stick to research papers within the past five years in the training realm and it should be pretty obvious.