Hi there-

First, I'm really impressed by this board.

I am more an adherent of Lyle McDonald than Dan Duchaine, but there still seems to be a ton of relevant information here for me.

Question - and while I look forward to Trainer Dan's advice on this matter, input from anyone would be appreciated.

I'm 28 years old, 6ft, 2in. I'm currently 170 pounds with between 7.5% and 7% body fat (damn those calipers!). I'm using the CKD with great success so far (I'm one of the lucky ones in that ketosis makes me feel great). I'm on a regimen of supplements, but no heavy-duty witchcraft like pro-hormones or anabolics. My goal is to get to between 5.5% and 6% body fat, and 180 pounds. You can guess what my question is.

My body doesn't seem to completely agree with this idea. It really does not want to drop below 7%. It's wised up to a lot of the things that I was doing, so I'm doing everything from changing my routine to even backing off of cardio for a while, in an effort to put on more muscle mass, thereby 'backdooring' my metabolism into speeding up by increasing the amount of muscle.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to break this fat-loss plateau? Mind you - I've tried an awful lot of things, so any suggestions that are made I might have worked already. I suspect that I'm nearing a point where I'm simply fighting my genetics. Dan, if you don't mind, would you please elaborate on this nic-patch trick that you mentioned? I'm really intrigued.

Thanks, everyone. To be blunt, when I first stumbled onto this forum, I just expected a lot of urban legends and misinformation being traded by gossipy housewives (not that I have anything against housewives, but you know what I mean). Instead, I have found a forum of highly informed and experienced people that have had at least some effect on my thinking (not the least of which, I might add, is to no longer cycle my fat burners - thanks Nat & DrumLib for that). Hope you are all having a great holiday season. ~ Mike