After my best friend's last year 5 month transformation,

he chose to stay on his diet and just deflated after his short cycle. The goal was to find a diet, a volume of workout and cardio that could be maintained and incorporated as a normal way of life.
After much tinkering, I think we figured it out. So now, he is effortlessly maintaining 8% bodyfat at 184lbs at 6' and half an inch.
His diet is very simple: 500g of meat, 100g either raw almonds or cashews or pistacchio, 100g of oats, 100g of fruit and greens. This is every day.
He really likes it and does not feel it's a chore.
Works out 6 days a week, 4 days with weights, 1 hour of high intensity spinning and 1 hour of swimming. Stretches daily.
There you have it folks..
