just wanted to make sure I understand this correctly

[Nephets]

Hi guys, first off, this site is a great resourse for weight training and proper diet. I am 5'1 and I am currently 129lbs. Believe it or not I'm carring about 15lbs of extra fat around the mid section. About 5 years ago I had the desire to gain more muscle but I had always been a hardgainer. I took a weight-gainer and sure enough I got fat. It wasn't long after that I started looking at my diet in much more detail, once I descovered I'm not a hard-gainer, I just wasn't eating enough. As far as I can remember I could eat about 1700 cal a day and maintain my current bodyweight (118lbs). If I increased this number I gained, mostly fat. If I ate less, I lost. I got discuraged afer about a year of no real results and basicly made a pig of myself until 2 weeks ago.

I've done alot of reading on this site and I found some fundamental flaws in my previous attempt. First off, eating less than my maintenance when loosing fat. I was also mixing carbs and fats in each meal.

I'm now trying to lose this fat so I can, in a way, start over with a lean figure and start puting real muscle on it that will stay over the long term. Assuming my maintanance is 1700 (which Im not sure it still is) do I eat 2000 cal to create and protect new muscle and use the 1hr of cardio before my first meal to deal with the fat. I'm not in a rush to lose the fat, I just want to do it right.

thanks for any help

[gbrice75]

Welcome!

Congrats on making the decision to transform your body. It's hard work but well worth it. Ask any of the guys who were carrying around a bunch of fat 6-12 months ago and are now gearing up for the beach this summer, ready to show their abs.

There's nothing wrong with eating lower than maintenance as part of a plan to lose bodyfat. Going TOO low can be a problem with LBM, but being a couple hundred calories below maintenance shouldn't have much of an effect on that. Also, don't get the wrong idea about having carbs and fats in the same meal. To a degree, it's fine. What you don't want is the meal to be too heavy in both macros. Simply put, glucose is your body's preferred energy source, so when carbs are present your body will make use of them, break them down into glucose and burn it for immediate energy. It will also store it as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells (and fat cells if there's too much and/or simple carbs are consumed at the wrong times). When fat is also present, your body has no use for it as it is already burning the carbs as fuel, so it stores the dietary fat as new bodyfat. That's why we try and make meals predominately one macro, or the other. But having a meal with 30g of carbs and 7g of fat isn't going to kill you. 30g carbs and 25g of fat will.

Remember what I said about a caloric deficit being one part of a way to burn fat? Well, I like your way better. Eating above maintenance, and relying on cardio to burn the bodyfat. However, when you're eating above maintenance and looking to burn bodyfat, you have to be certain that cardio is SPOT ON, or you can wind up gaining weight as you are in a caloric surplus.

1 hour of fasted cardio in the am is great. Keep intensity low-med, not high or you risk burning up LBM.

What is your current BF%? If you don't know, you can post up some pics for guesstimates. Some of us are pretty accurate most of the time. Also, I suggest you post up your current diet so we can have a look.

[Nephets]

in three weeks I've adjusted my diet 3 times, just tweeking it. The first week I just tried to eat clean. Second week I started eating carb and fats at specific times and amounts. After reviewing my week 2 diet im not eating near enough calories. I'm almost done my last revision but I have a question about the simple carbs you need post workout. I'm not getting these carbs through a shake, so what exactly are you guys eating. Should I use fruit ok or does it not breakdown fast enough. Should I just drink a can of soda, or is this too sh*ty for a diet. Let me know and I'll post the new diet.

thanks
steve

[tbody66]

Nephets, glad you are here, some important information please, age and sex, also years of training experience and type of training, maybe even an ideal goal of bodytype. I would guess that you are very young and quite possibly would even have some growth left in you that could make all of our advice need to be changed and adapted quickly and frequently. I would be of the opinion to simply add muscle on a long term plan while sticking with maintenance calories and adjusting those monthly, something like a 6 month plan should allow you to drop half or all of your excess bodyfat and replace it with an equal amount of muscle, then continue to add quality muscle for the rest of your life while maintaining a low bf%. Again the possible gains will depend on your stats and experience, as well as your willingness to stick with the diet and exercise programs and the more intense the weight training and nutritional building blocks put in place properly the more effective the program and the better the results.

I am of the opinion that the best way to burn fat is to add muscle, especially with your ht and wt it should be no problem at all. Meaning you don't need to lose the fat then add the muscle, add the muscle and it will help lose the fat, you just need to make sure that you use a tape measure, your clothing, a mirror and us here on the boards as your progress meter, not the scale only! We are here for you and you will accomplish more with our help and support than without.

Oh, and most here aren't proponents of the simple carb post-workout requirement. A protein drink post workout is what I'd recommend and absolutely no soda pop, ever, for the entire rest of your life, period!

[Nephets]

I am a 32 year old male. I just have a small frame with narrow sholders. I'm not looking for anything unrealistic when it comes to weight gain, just trying to look a little bigger. If I could be 130lbs with a much lower bf % I would be very happy. As for training, my background was powerlifting. When I was in my early 20's and eating correctly I weighed about 110 and had a 225 squat, 250 deadlift and 150 bench. Not great weight, but for my size, I was happy. My dad was a powerlifter and was canadian champ for many years. So I've seen what lifting naturaly with a clean lifestyle can do. I think he weghed 145 or 155 and squated 555. So a short frame is handy when you can throw some muscle on it. I will put the new diet on here soon.

steve

[Damienm05]

I don't think guys realize what a disservice they are doing to non-gigantic members when they act as though any state of recovery requires a ton of calories. Unless your on PCT or really fvcking big, eating 500 below maintenance with a good macro ratio is better than 90% of people making gains in gyms all over the world. #getreal.

OP, do light cardio, get 1g of protein per lb. of LBM, 1.5g carbs, at least 50g of fat and a moderate deficit. Wait till you're healed and get back in there hard. Muscle memory is great.

[Nephets]

I don't think guys realize what a disservice they are doing to non-gigantic members when they act as though any state of recovery requires a ton of calories. Unless your on PCT or really fvcking big, eating 500 below maintenance with a good macro ratio is better than 90% of people making gains in gyms all over the world. #getreal.

OP, do light cardio, get 1g of protein per lb. of LBM, 1.5g carbs, at least 50g of fat and a moderate deficit. Wait till you're healed and get back in there hard. Muscle memory is great.

So I should eat just under my maintenance with the cardio before breakfast to lose this fat. And once at my desired bf%, increse my intake to just above my maintenance to put on lean muscle.

[Damienm05]

Shit! That was meant for the "surgery in 2 weeks" thread. My bad.

Stupid iPhone. You're in good hands

[Nephets]

Ok guys, this is what I've come up with. Let me know what you think. For simplicity I have chicken in most of the meals, but I plan on swapping these out with red meat and fish when I get board. Oh, and I didn't put anything in for blueberrys for breakfast because I put about 6-8 in my oats to break up the taste. Couldn't find the macros on 8 blueberrys.


time meal p carb f cal
6-7 cardio

8:00 AM 1egg/2 whites 14 1 104
2/3 oates 4 16 2 98
blue berries
8oz skim milk 16 12 80
total 34 29 2 282

10am whey shake 34 2 3 180
flax seed 1tbls 2 3 4 55
36 5 7 235

11:30 chicken 22 0 2 110
large sweet potato 4 38 0 162
26 38 2 272

1:30 work out


2:15 whey shake 34 2 3 180
1\2 sweet potato 2 19 0 81
8 oz milk 16 12 0 80
52 33 3 341

5:00 PM chicken 22 0 2 110
greens
flax seet 1 tbls 2 3 4 55
24 3 6 165

8:00 PM chicken 22 0 2 110
greens
flax seet 1 tbls 2 3 4 55
24 3 6 165

total 196 111 26 1460

[Nephets]

Any thoughts on the diet. Your input would be extremely helpful.