Fat Newbie Needing Advice

[SomeFatAss]

I've spent the better part of a week reading a bunch of stuff on this forum and am coming to the conclusion that I know just enough to be dangerous to myself, so I am hoping some of you who know a lot more than I do will kind enough to impart some wisdom.

I am 31, 5'11", 290lbs. with a lean body mass of 176-180. So yes, I am fat and well aware of that. My long term goal is to add 40-50lbs. pounds of muscle while dropping 100lbs. of fat. I'm not concerned with getting a bodybuilder look, it's more toward feeling better and having functional strength. The closest thing to steroids I have ever done is to cycle ephedrine (I drink tons of tea so no need for the ECA stack) and generally feel more energized when on cycle, but I wouldn't say it makes a huge difference. I use it more for the energy boost than the pound of fat it might burn in a month.

I was a pro wrestler in my early to mid 20s, so my body has a history of recovering from a good amount of punishment and being in considerably better condition than I am now. I've always been fat, but in shape for being fat, if that makes sense.

That (finally) gets me to my reason for coming here. For the last 3 months I've been training to get in shape, and not making the progress I used to. My body is not recovering. This used to be normal for the first month after I'd taken a break from regular training, but I'm now approaching the 3 month mark. My training routine is as follows:

-45 minutes of rowing machine and 45 minutes of recumbent bike 6-7 days a week (both supposedly boost HGH, which is why I'm doing this over the better calorie burn of a Stairmaster)

-Super Squat routine (looking only to gain muscle mass to aid in getting rid of all the fat, not concerned with bodybuilder results, all lifts increased by 5 pounds each training session):
Press behind neck 3 x 12
Squat 1 x 20 supersetted with Pullover 1 x 20
Bench press 3 x 12
Rowing 3 x 15
Stiff legged deadlift 1 x 15
Pullover 1 x 20

This routine is definitely building muscle mass. I can feel the difference on my body. The problem I am having is that the Super Squat routine is supposed to be done 3 times per week, and I am needing a week to recover from it.

I also want to work up to adding 1000 kettlebell swings a day (another routine that burns fat and builds lean mass), but my muscles are not recovering fast enough for me to make any progress with that at all. Adding 10-20 swings everyday to slowly build up to 1000 used to not be a problem. Now it is.

When I was wrestling I trained harder than this so it is not a physical impossibility for me. I'm not looking for a shortcut that will do the work for me; I know I have a lot of work to do. The only benefit I am looking to gain from a potential steroid is decreased recovery time that will allow my body to train as much as the mind wants to. Nothing sucks more than wanting to get another workout in but sitting at home because your muscles refuse to cooperate. Anything beyond that is considered a bonus.

I'm considering Test-600x, pGH, Deca 200 and D-Anabol 25 from buysteroids.com. Since I have never used any steroids, should I start with a cycle of Test-600x? I got the get one bottle free coupon from joining the forum I was thinking about doing a 30 day cycle with Test-600x, taking 30 days off and then doing 30 days of pGH. Would something else make more sense based on what I've said here? Despite doing a ton of reading my biggest problem is that I still don't know what I don't know so even "go read this asshole" could be very beneficial at this point.

I apologize if something like this was asked before. I searched for a few keywords and didn't come up with anything similar, so if it was covered on here somewhere, please direct me to the proper thread.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice.

[king6 II]

Ok, I think I read everything. Is your goal to be a powerlifter or to be all around in good shape? As far as building 40 to 50 lbs of muscle while loosing 100 lbs of fat, it ain't gonna happen. You have loose fat or build muscle generally not both. If you want to loose fat then focus on diet and cardio until you are at the point you want to be at. Just remember when loosing that much weight be prepared to loose some strength and muscle mass. As far as the "cycle" you are considering, are you aware that they are not anabolic steroids? They are just supplements.

[SomeFatAss]

For now my goal is to be healthier and feel better. 1.5-2 years from now once my fat and muscle mass are more toward what I'd like I'll consider getting into mixed martial arts (already have kickboxing experience and a BJJ brown belt), but that's more of a cross that bridge when I come to it thing. Maybe consider bodybuilding if my body doesn't feel up to it at that point, but again it's not an immediate concern.

My experience has been that I can both gain muscle mass and loose fat at the same time, despite most people saying it doesn't work that way. I got one of Omron's body fat scales a month ago (an inexact science to be sure) and since that time I've lost 9 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle. There are a couple studies done on people doing 1000 kettlebell swings a day both gaining muscle and losing fat doing only that. They can't be only newbie gains either - if you can swing a 53lb. kettlebell 1000 times you are already in decent shape.

I have done both simultaneously in the past through lifting and cardio, but the fat loss always outpaces the muscle gain.

In any case, I want to get to the point where I can do 1.5-2 hours of cardio, the 1000 kettlebell swings and do 3 super squat workouts every week, then evaluate where the results get me in 6 months. It's not getting there with no steroids or supplementation, and the way I'm feeling I don't think it's going to change anytime soon.

I thought I read that buysteroids.com were supplements on here, but in that case, why the need to cycle them? Would that also mean you would always test clean on drug tests?

[redz]

You did not lose 9 lbs of fat and gain 5lbs of muscle in a month. Gaining 5lbs of muscle cannot be done in one month period.

[scotty51312]

best advise I can give you. Meet me in the Nutrition/Diet forum.

The "steroids" you're considering running aren't going to help you. I would say theres a 95% chance there is room for improvement in your diet.

Steroids aren't going to allow you to "train as much as you want to" They might however give you enough strength to tear a rotator cuff or a ligament in the process of your overtraining.

Gaining muscle loosing fat can be summed up in my 3 legged bar stool analysis. Its supported by 3 legs

1. Training, (the spark that intiates it all)
2. Diet (you can't build a house without the right materials or at least not one you want to live in)
3. Rest (your body only grows durring a state of rest. A large part of fat loss happens after your workout due to elevated metabolism)

So if you're not doing all 3 theres not point in doing just one or 2

You take any one of these out of the equation the bar stool falls over.

No one is giving you the "go read this asshole" approach. All the answers are right here in the forum. Every question you've asked has been asked repeatedly.

I will also tell you that at your bodyfat% you run a much higher risk of estrogen related side effects.

Read this forum everyday for 30 days I promise the answers will come.

Until then lests see your diet

[SomeFatAss]

My diet is built around maximizing testosterone production. Breakfast is 3 scrambled eggs, including the yolks. Lunch consists of a stir fry of beef, spinach, broccoli, black olives, black cumin and some red jalapenos and teriyaki sauce for taste (homemade, half organic soy sauce/half sake). I'm usually not hungry enough to get a third meal down at night, and instead eat a few handfuls of peanuts or walnuts. I drink a lot of green, white and black teas. Force myself to drink 2 gallons of water a day. I've been relatively clean for awhile so corn syrup and zero calorie chemical sweeteners make me sick. One cheat day every 10 days, usually Chinese, Thai or pizza.

[scotty51312]

Ok, Do you know how to figure out your TDEE (average calories you burn in a day)? There are formulas u can google for it. Do you know what your macro split is? (what percentage of your diet is protein? Carbs? fats?) Unless your lunch portion is huge it looks like youre starving yourself. And if it is a huge meal then its more of an intermitent fasting diet.

Starving yourself will only force your body to go into conservation mode. Meaning your body will see more value in keeping fat than keeping muscle. We are programed this way to avoid starvation.

Your calorie deficit (the amount you eat less than your TDEE) shouldn't be much over 500 calories. This puts you at a 3500 calorie a week deficit which is coincidently close to the cals in a pound of fat. Commonly why most professionals will say a pound a week is a good pace for weight loss.

Even while you're trying to cut fat you need to be in my humble opinion getting .75 to 1 gram of protien per lb of lean body mass per day. so you should be shooting for 140-180g a day if you're trying to preserve muscle. Figure the rest of your diet on that.

try starting with diet and rest before thinking AAS

[Cuz]

Two meals a day? Did I read that right?

[jdc91gt]

Welcome. You can do it, but it will take some time. Scotty's 3 legged bar stool is dead on. And, you will have to eat more often to lose weight. Yes, you read that correctly. Eat more often to both lose weight and to gain muscle. You will have to keep your body out of conservation mode. Set small, intermediate obtainable goals. Right now consistency in working out, eating and resting are the key - not aas. Your undertaking is going to put a strain on your body, no doubt. Work on getting your weight down. You might be surprised at the muscle underneath and not need to add 40-50 lbs. as you state. We here on the board believe you can do it, so be consistent, set obtainable goals and read a lot of research, but remember there are very few shortcuts. Stay in touch and don't lose faith brother!

[SomeFatAss]

My TDEE is 3457.

I'm definitely not starving. I feel full most of the day. The stir fry is about a pound of ground beef, 0.5-1 pound of broccoli and spinach (each, depending on the size of the bunch), a handful of olives and 2 or 3 red jalapenos. I feel full after eating it.

Intermittent fasting is probably a fair description of what happens, although it's not by design. I eat when I'm hungry, and don't when I'm not.

Since I'm using fresh ingredients I'm relying on the internet for nutritional information. Google brought up nutritiondata.self.com so I used those numbers for consistency. My intake seems to vary a LOT based on how much snacking I do on peanuts. According to Self they're loaded with calories, protein and fat. No peanut snacking, an estimate of average day peanut snacking and heavy snacking totals are below.

calories protein carbs fat
1600 145 28 62
2200 180 48 97
3324 225 72 138

[scotty51312]

Youre tdee is 3457?

Did u calculate it using lean bodymass? What multiplier did u use?

[gold43]

^^ Very nice Scotty!! Standing applause!

[MuscleInk]

That would put your LBM at about 230, meaning 60lbs of fat, or about 21% based on your weight of 290.

[MuscleInk]

Scotty's original post is the ideal approach. With a high bf, estrogen won't be your only enemy. Anabolics will negatively effect your BP and cholesterol. Hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, and prostate disease would be risk factors and at 20%+ bf, the added cardiac strain from steroids would not be in your best interest.

Best to cut the fat. Decrease your intake, spread out your meals (you're consuming too much in two few meals) and bring your bf down to 15% or better if you want to cycle.

[SomeFatAss]

I went here to calculate using Mifflin St.-Jeor. I selected 6 days/week exercise and put my weight in where it said weight. Was that wrong?
iifym com/tdee-calculator/

Thank you MuscleInk. Those are important details I hadn't seen in anything I've read yet. So that's definitely off the table completely until I get my bf down to 15%.

Are there any suggestions to speed up recovery time after a day of lifting? At this point I should be recovering fast enough to lift 3 days a week without issue based on prior personal experience.

[gold43]

Scotty's original post is the ideal approach. With a high bf, estrogen won't be your only enemy. Anabolics will negatively effect your BP and cholesterol. Hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, and prostate disease would be risk factors and at 20%+ bf, the added cardiac strain from steroids would not be in your best interest.

Best to cut the fat. Decrease your intake, spread out your meals (you're consuming too much in two few meals) and bring your bf down to 15% or better if you want to cycle.

Take that serious. It's no joke or a maybe. I'm healthy, cycling now at 14% BF and struggling with very high BP.

[NaturalUN]

Don't do roids brother. And the site you listed... Well look a bit closer and you'll realise it's not even the 'real' stuff. You'd benefit from a balanced low calorie diet more than anything at your current size, it'll fall off you, few lbs a week training & eating less. You'd notice some epic results within two months. Stick to that & train your ass off! Think about the bigger picture, personally I always look for that guy in the gym in best shape and do extra reps thinking I want to be the guy everyone wants to be, and that won't happen by not working bloody damn hard!!