My Weakness... the Diet

[Big EZ]

Hey everyone,

The hardest part of my training regiment is easily diet. Some background:
I'm 6'5 and I played offensive line in high school (300 lbs at one point), by the end of my senior year, decided to shed the weight- lost 100 lbs but the problem was I did it so rapidly I lost all my gains. 2 years later, I was 225-230 and in the best shape of my life. I was roughly 25% fat (I don't really care to be shredded, just healthy), squatting 650 lbs, 7 minute mile run, benching 275 (still couldn't bench lol) and 400+ deadlift (depending on my back, I worked on a loading dock so I didn't push the envelope on that too much). After college, IT desk job strikes and the weight problems begin! I know it's 99% diet for sure (especially booze, but I've decided to drop that), but I can definitely tell I cannot eat what I used to anymore even in smaller portions. I still usually train 2-4 times a week unless something crazy happens and that includes weight training and hiking in the AZ mountains..

Now that I'm back up to 250+ (I've fluctuated between 230 and 270 for the past 5 years or so since college) and I've struggling to the right ratios. My idea of a diet is one that promotes energy, anti-inflammatory (to help recovery so that power lifting and hiking is optimal), and boosts muscle; however, I would like to shed some body fat..

My latest attempt was keto - so you guys know that drill, but I love my starches. I can live without other sugars tho (and yeah I know starches turn to glucose if not burned off..) And I'm cutting out booze so that's a help, no brainer there.

And honestly, I'm in no rush to get down to a certain weight. Just want to maintain as much good mass as I can while slowly shedding fat.

Having said all that... any suggestions, thoughts, snide remarks?

[MuscleScience]

Hey everyone,

The hardest part of my training regiment is easily diet. Some background:
I'm 6'5 and I played offensive line in high school (300 lbs at one point), by the end of my senior year, decided to shed the weight- lost 100 lbs but the problem was I did it so rapidly I lost all my gains. 2 years later, I was 225-230 and in the best shape of my life. I was roughly 25% fat (I don't really care to be shredded, just healthy), squatting 650 lbs, 7 minute mile run, benching 275 (still couldn't bench lol) and 400+ deadlift (depending on my back, I worked on a loading dock so I didn't push the envelope on that too much). After college, IT desk job strikes and the weight problems begin! I know it's 99% diet for sure (especially booze, but I've decided to drop that), but I can definitely tell I cannot eat what I used to anymore even in smaller portions. I still usually train 2-4 times a week unless something crazy happens and that includes weight training and hiking in the AZ mountains..

Now that I'm back up to 250+ (I've fluctuated between 230 and 270 for the past 5 years or so since college) and I've struggling to the right ratios. My idea of a diet is one that promotes energy, anti-inflammatory (to help recovery so that power lifting and hiking is optimal), and boosts muscle; however, I would like to shed some body fat..

My latest attempt was keto - so you guys know that drill, but I love my starches. I can live without other sugars tho (and yeah I know starches turn to glucose if not burned off..) And I'm cutting out booze so that's a help, no brainer there.

And honestly, I'm in no rush to get down to a certain weight. Just want to maintain as much good mass as I can while slowly shedding fat.

Having said all that... any suggestions, thoughts, snide remarks?

Honestly I was going to say Keto. I love my steak and bacon more than I do bread and potato’s. For me, it’s been the easiest and most side effect freeand effective diet strategy I’ve ever attempted.

If Keto isn’t for you, you might look in yo intermittent fasting. You can still lose substantial amounts of weight but maintain muscle mass since your not really restricting calories, but restricting eating times. For example, if you fast for 16 hours and eat in an 8 hour window. Your body can go into ketosis just by doing that 16 hour fast AND you get the benefit of Highet HGH release. So for me, i will stop eating at around 6-7pm and not eat again until noon or 1pm when I’m doing 16 hour fasts. The biggest thing you have to get over is night eating and the brain washing that you have to eat at certain times of the day.

[charger69]

Most people call it a diet. In reality, it is a lifestyle change. Whatever method of weight loss that you use, you need to be prepared to make permanent changes otherwise you will be going back and forth.


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[Big EZ]

Yeah, I like keto much more than most diets for sure so I'll definitely be mixing that in for a few months at a time. You mentioned intermittent fasting- I picture mixing that with a high protein low carb diet might have some benefit. I feel like keto + fasting is overkill, but has anyone had any experience with it and/or a high protein low carb?

[Big EZ]

I agree 100%- I feel like a "diet" is just a tool for fine tuning your body. Having said that, I really think cutting out the booze will help me. The calories and sugar I was intaking from it on a weekend were probably more than most people eat in a day to put it bluntly and sometimes the binges were even worse. I'm looking forward to refocusing..

[Gallowmere]

Keto can definitely work, but is far from necessary. Hell, most (both natural and geared) bodybuilders still use the old fashioned chicken, vegetable and rice format during preps, and they get far leaner than 99% of people will ever aspire to.

As another poster said, it’s more about what will actually work for you.

Also, starches are just huge chains of glucose molecules. They are broken into individual glucose molecules before being burned. Most of the gripe against sugar actually pertains to the fructose portions of sugar content in various foods. It relies on a different pathway to be metabolized. I have yet to see anything other than sad correlation to demonize it though. Overconsumption of anything can make you fat. I’ve bulked on keto before. Heh.

[Big EZ]

Yeah, I've won bets on that.. "no way you can gain weight on keto!" my reply: "oh... try this.. eat a bag of pork rinds and a cheese dip jar 3x a day and give me a shout.. perfectly keto!"

[Gallowmere]

Yeah, I've won bets on that.. "no way you can gain weight on keto!" my reply: "oh... try this.. eat a bag of pork rinds and a cheese dip jar 3x a day and give me a shout.. perfectly keto!"

I didn’t even go the processed food route. I managed to make myself fat using eggs, chicken wings, beef and pork ribs, and ribeyes. Shit was way too expensive, I got fat and slow, and my lift performance levels sucked the whole time. I’ll never bulk without fruit, oats and potatoes again.

[tarmyg]

Yeah, I like keto much more than most diets for sure so I'll definitely be mixing that in for a few months at a time. You mentioned intermittent fasting- I picture mixing that with a high protein low carb diet might have some benefit. I feel like keto + fasting is overkill, but has anyone had any experience with it and/or a high protein low carb?

Intermittent Fasting has shown some great results if you eat within a 9-hour time window and make no other changes whatsoever. Exactly why that is I am not sure but it does seem to produce decent results.

[Clove1234]

IF and keto