wanna burn the fat, but please help me stop the muscle loss!

[Guyr62]

Greetings members!

Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated! Cutting fat must be my primary objective right now as my body fat percentage is around 28%. I have lost 30 Lbs in the last 6 weeks. The problem is that my LBM has also reduced by 5 lbs. For every 5 Lbs of fat, I lose about 1 lb. of muscle. Obviously, I am in a calorie deficit so it is hard to maintain let alone gain muscle. Right now I would be happy losing about 5 or 6 pounds of fat per week and maintaining or maybe even gaining a half a pound of muscle or so. Anabolics are currently not an option for me. Below is my my nutrition and routine breakdown. Any constructive suggestions would be really appreciated.

47 years old/ 5 ft 10 in./ 239 lbs. 28% body fat/ LBM 171

Intense 5 day split routine, 15 sets per muscle group, each muscle group once per week, calves and abs get hit twice per week.

Cardio 30 min. 3 times per day M-F (Morning, Lunch, Dinner) / 1 hour Sat morning. 16 cardio sessions per week.

2000 calories per day (M-F) 2500 calories per day (Sat, Sun)

60%protien/ 30% carbs/ 10% healthy fats.

6 well spaced meals per day/ 250 grams of quality protien per day.
Peptide bonded Isolated Whey 3 times a day plus 3 other meals that include egg whites, chicken, fish, some quality beef, oats, sweet potatoes, veggies and some small portions of fruit. Multi vitamins, fish oil sup and additional c, e and b vitamins.
Even did a month of creatine in Sept.

To burn the fat, I am currently doing an ephedrine HCL, caffene stack 3 times per day. (25 mg HCL/ 200 mg Caf x 3)

I sleep 7 hours per night.

So there you have it....How can I keep losing 5 or 6 lbs of fat per week, but maintain the muscle or maybe even gain a little?

Thanks in Advance!

Mike

[Twist]

Greetings members!

Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated! Cutting fat must be my primary objective right now as my body fat percentage is around 28%. I have lost 30 Lbs in the last 6 weeks. The problem is that my LBM has also reduced by 5 lbs. For every 5 Lbs of fat, I lose about 1 lb. of muscle. Obviously, I am in a calorie deficit so it is hard to maintain let alone gain muscle. Right now I would be happy losing about 5 or 6 pounds of fat per week and maintaining or maybe even gaining a half a pound of muscle or so. Anabolics are currently not an option for me. Below is my my nutrition and routine breakdown. Any constructive suggestions would be really appreciated.

****Very hard to lose fat and not muscle, and especially when you are losing weight so quickly. 5-6lbs a week is a lot. way too fast. Since you are at such a high bf % I would not worry about muscle loss, i would just try to get back into the healthy bf range.

47 years old/ 5 ft 10 in./ 239 lbs. 28% body fat/ LBM 171

Intense 5 day split routine, 15 sets per muscle group, each muscle group once per week, calves and abs get hit twice per week.
***You are overtraining. 15 sets for legs is one thing but 15 sets for biceps is way too much.

Cardio 30 min. 3 times per day M-F (Morning, Lunch, Dinner) / 1 hour Sat morning. 16 cardio sessions per week.
***Empty stomach? of course you are losing lbm.

2000 calories per day (M-F) 2500 calories per day (Sat, Sun)

60%protien/ 30% carbs/ 10% healthy fats.

6 well spaced meals per day/ 250 grams of quality protien per day.
Peptide bonded Isolated Whey 3 times a day plus 3 other meals that include egg whites, chicken, fish, some quality beef, oats, sweet potatoes, veggies and some small portions of fruit. Multi vitamins, fish oil sup and additional c, e and b vitamins.
Even did a month of creatine in Sept.
***whey is half of your protein intake and you don't know why you are losing lbm...

To burn the fat, I am currently doing an ephedrine HCL, caffene stack 3 times per day. (25 mg HCL/ 200 mg Caf x 3)

I sleep 7 hours per night.

So there you have it....How can I keep losing 5 or 6 lbs of fat per week, but maintain the muscle or maybe even gain a little?
***tren... Don't do it, it was a joke. there is no way imo.
Thanks in Advance!

Mike

look for the ***

basically you are doing cardio in a catabolic state in the morning, overtraining in the evening, and the only staple in your diet appears to be whey shakes... From where I sit you are doing a great job at losing fat and since you are severely overweight, I see no problem at all.

[LionsGate]

i gota give you credit. your post is well thought out. much better than the typical "i need a diet to lose fat help me" posts. nice job.

your in good hands here. my only question is what kind of cardio are you doing?

[Guyr62]

Thanks,

My cardios consist of a mix and match of incline treadmills and eliptical machines, usually depending on which are available. It is pretty close to a 50/50 split between the two machines. 16 sessions per week.

Mike

[FireGuy]

a 5-1 ratio of fat to lbm is not bad at all. You are going be dropping a ton of water weight at such a high bf% and that is going to register as a loss of lean mass. Dont stress just keep doing what you are doing.

[Guyr62]

I appreciate the feedback! "Twist" indicated that my whey protein isolate intake is too high as I utilize this for 3 of my 6 meals. I always add 1/4th cup of egg white to these shakes. In addition, this is a low carb, low fat formula. My thought process here is that this whey isolate has a very high protein to calorie ratio which allows me to keep the carbs and calories in check while consuming high quality protein. I thought whey isolate and egg whites were the best protiens for muscle mantainance and growth. Is this incorrect? To further minimize muscle loss in this extreme fat cutting phase, would I be better off incorperating a few more amimal protien meals and less of the whey and eggwhites? I would be adding a few more calories and fats, but maybe that would help a little bit with the LBM loss. Any members thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Mike

[nonotone]

----

[Twist]

I appreciate the feedback! "Twist" indicated that my whey protein isolate intake is too high as I utilize this for 3 of my 6 meals. I always add 1/4th cup of egg white to these shakes. In addition, this is a low carb, low fat formula. My thought process here is that this whey isolate has a very high protein to calorie ratio which allows me to keep the carbs and calories in check while consuming high quality protein. I thought whey isolate and egg whites were the best protiens for muscle mantainance and growth. Is this incorrect? To further minimize muscle loss in this extreme fat cutting phase, would I be better off incorperating a few more amimal protien meals and less of the whey and eggwhites? I would be adding a few more calories and fats, but maybe that would help a little bit with the LBM loss. Any members thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Mike

Eggs are a great protein, the best, however they digest very quickly and shakes are just downright shit. I would make all of your meals food except pwo shake and then follow that with a real meal. I know you are trying to keep your calories low but for muscle maintenance and repair you also have to provide your body with protein WHEN IT WANTS IT, not just for the 20 minutes after your workout. Egg Whites and Whey protein are in and out of your body in about an hour (I have seen this in real life with glowing eggs and an xray machine), so unless your body only needs nutrients for a small amount of time, I would add some different proteins. Your progress is great right now so honestly although you could make improvements I would hold off on changing things until you either plateau or start dropping muscle. then maybe consider my advice.

also for your cardio I am a strong believer in doing stairmaster or treadmill for the first 30 minutes before any lazy machines (elyptical etc)

[Guyr62]

I will basically stay the coarse. I will probably reduce the powder a bit for a better quality protein meal and I will taper the cardio to a slightly slower and less intense pace.
I will keep you guys posted!
See ya at 10%!
MIke

[elpropiotorvic]

Keep ur heart rate between the 65 to 75% max and get BCAA's during ur workout.... I would supplement with alpha lipoic acid as well