little confused about how many cals i need / day

[Gators]

I'm 5'8", 180, around 17-18" bf, 42yo, very active (own a nursery, so i'm in the heat all day, moving around all day), lift 4 days a week, cardio 5 days / week. Currently in week 3 of Var cycle (40 / day), and backing down to 80mcg of T3 / day. I'm confused how hard should i cut, or should i be doing more of a lean bulk. Also, looking seriously at a 300 / week test e cycle...

I've plugged in my data to a MBR calc, and came up w/ 1762 to maintain (doing nothing) and w/ the HB multiplier for activity, about 2800c / day to maintain. That seems like alot, is this right? If not, what cal / day should i be at, and i could search and find the ratio of macros.

I have 3 daughters and a wife of 18 years, so i have no feelings left,so don't pull any punches, i like truth over harmony.

maybe i should have posted this in the over 40 forum?

[xlxBigSexyxlx]

I'm 5'8", 180, around 17-18" bf, 42yo, very active (own a nursery, so i'm in the heat all day, moving around all day), lift 4 days a week, cardio 5 days / week. Currently in week 3 of Var cycle (40 / day), and backing down to 80mcg of T3 / day.I'm confused how hard should i cut, or should i be doing more of a lean bulk. Also, looking seriously at a 300 / week test e cycle...

I've plugged in my data to a MBR calc, and came up w/ 1762 to maintain (doing nothing) and w/ the HB multiplier for activity, about 2800c / day to maintain. That seems like alot, is this right? If not, what cal / day should i be at, and i could search and find the ratio of macros.

I have 3 daughters and a wife of 18 years, so i have no feelings left,so don't pull any punches, i like truth over harmony.

maybe i should have posted this in the over 40 forum?

What exactly is your goal?
Taking that your 17-18% BF, I suppose you would want to cut correct?

[Gators]

What exactly is your goal?
Taking that your 17-18% BF, I suppose you would want to cut correct?

long term goal - 12% bf, 180-190#, 3 foot dick. That's where i'm confused on where to go, re buling, cut, clean bulk, etc... Sometimes this place can present too much info and cause one to brain freeze

[Oki-Des]

Since you have a family, why not just go to an HRT doc and get some blood work done? You could probably get nearly that amount of test prescribed to you. Im 38 and was prescribed 250 every 10 days. It sure eases the mind knowing your name is on the bottle of test in the medicine cabinet.
You can also tie a 20lb anchor to your wiener for 8 hours per day while at work to lengthen your manhood. Unfortunately it can become somewhat difficult to work and you may wish to increase the weight and shorten the time.
(for all the noobs: Do not tie any weights to your wiener! It was a joke.)
Also, you should be losing fat from the workload and lifestyle you are now living. Have you been doing this long?

[Oki-Des]

Sorry, it double posted.

[abbot138]

I think your number for maintenance calories sounds about right. It sounds like your job requires a lot of manual labor and and Im sure your fam keeps ya busy, and your lifting 4 days a week and cardio 5, I used the Katch-McArdle formula to get your maintenance and even using 1.6 as an activity multiplier which might be even be a little low for you, I came in around 2900 for maintenance. That being said if you are more concerned with fat loss than muscle preservation at the moment you could go into a calorie deficit and see how your body responds, start at around -400, so aorund 2500 calories or so. Try that for a couple weeks and see how your body responds....Oh and def 100% agree with what Oki-Des said about HRT, changed my life, look into it.

[Gators]

Any idea how much the lab work costs, one of the downsides to being self employed is health insurance, only have catastrophic for the wife and I (5k deductible), so it's all out of pocket. Are the 'send off' Test. kits any good? I am having some of the symptoms of low test, although libido is cranking as usual, but feeling tired and not able to burn the fat like i used to could. Leaning toward getting some test e in and giving it a go, if it does what i think it will, then i'll prolly shell out the $ to get it done properly.

I don't do alot of manual stuff, i have too many acres to manage to do much labor, but i'm in and out of tractors, my vehicle, fixing equipment, stuff like that, so i am on the move, but somedays i might spend 8 hrs in a ac'd tractor, so maybe the 1.6 is generous?

I guess what i'm looking for mostly is what direction should i go: calorie defecit and burn off fat before i go on test e, or eat maintenance, eat clean, and continue to do plenty of cardio and slowly burn off the weight.

As far as how long have i been doing this lifestyle? been slowly increasing exercise over the past 2 years, and for the previous 10 years before 2006, was a road warrior (platinum medallion w/ Delta for 8 straight) so spent alot of my time on my ass, eating badly, and a big helping of stress every day. Best thing i ever did was walk away from quite a bit of $ (equity in the business when it sold) to have a normal life, and keep my family together.

Been doing alot of reading here on what to eat, and over the past few weeks really changed how i look at food. People are saying i look like i'm losing weight, but the scales don't really show it. I'm bound and determined to get it top physical shape, i think this is a turning point in my life: either continue to get healthier, or like so many our age, give in and turn into a fat sloth.

thanks very much for your help

[abbot138]

dont worry so much about the scale, if you can look in the mirror and tell that your leaning out then who cares what the scale says, thats actual the ideal situation, burn fat, retain muscle. My blood work is free, test can get a little expensive, my insurance sucks and also doesnt cover it ($600 every 3.5 months or so)....I like to go slowwww when cutting, so I would say stick with maintenance and kill the cardio, but to each his own, a lot of guys on here will tell you different. I can only say what seems to be working for me. I have a hard time gaining significvant amounts of LBM, so when I do I go out of my way to preserve it, even if that means it will take longer to lean out.