WVCR-V

The good news is you have been very lean before so you know what it takes and what just won't cut it. That's more than most people understand. This past winter I reached an all time high body weight of 240 at 6'2" (yeah the S2000 is tight...lol). I have always been between 200-220. I once got down to 196 and did a bodybuilding contest with about 5% bf or so. That was 20 years ago but that understanding of what it really takes to get there has stuck with me to this day. Three months ago I decided to clean up my junk diet and get back to working out and now I'm back to 220 and planning to get to 210 at hopefully around 12-14% bf which I'm happy with. Now that I'm 42, I realize that eating better means more than just vanity and lower bf%. Its about overall health, blood pressure, heart disease, mobility etc. I no longer think of the clean meals and veggies as a sacrifice or punishment. It really is what we should be eating most of the time to take care of our long term health. Once your weight and bf is where you want it an 85% adhearance seems to work. You can still enjoy beer and junk a couple evenings a week and not relapse.

s2000Junky

I'm a 42 year old body builder as well (but at 5' 11" 192-197lb between 12-14%) and agree thats the formula ive come to find for myself to keep moving forward or maintaining depending on the week. Still operating mostly under the vanity aspect, I never let myself go long enough to get beyond a place where I cant at least make it back on point by 5-7days but I really dont like/ do that to myself often. I have a sugar tooth and do enjoy drinking a few times a month, but paying attention to my macros i manage to find ways to cheat without cheating myself out of my gains.