...thee optimal meal plan

[JohnnyV85]

Please excuse me ahead of time for asking a question Im sure has been asked a million times before...

Is it possible to lost fat and gain muscle at the same time..??

I dont mean to either extreme. I mean if my goal is primarily to drop my bf%, is it possible to gain even the slightest amount of muscle at the same time?

Im 33 years old
6'3" 220lbs
I was at 19% bf about 2 months ago, Ive shed a very noticeable amount of fat just by dialing in my macros and eating at a 500cal daily deficit. Id say Im close to 16% now but thats just a guess... At the same time though, I appear to be harder and denser....

So when I start my first cycle here in the next 2 weeks or so, Ill be running 600mg Test Enanth for 12 weeks. What would my diet have to look like if I want to lose bf but gain some muscle at the same time?

My TDEE is 2610 cal per day and Im currently and will continue to be training 6 days a week throughout the cycle.

Am I being too ambitious here or is this possible?

[HoldMyBeer]

It's called a recomp (losing fat and gaining muscle)
2610 tdee seems quite low if you're hitting the gym. You may want to check out a different online calculator
A 40-40-20 (40% of your total calorie intake made up of protein etc) macro ratio is common. Make sure it's made up of complete proteins and complex carbs, split up into 5+ meals a day.

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[JohnnyV85]

It's called a recomp (losing fat and gaining muscle)
2610 tdee seems quite low if you're hitting the gym. You may want to check out a different online calculator
A 40-40-20 (40% of your total calorie intake made up of protein etc) macro ratio is common. Make sure it's made up of complete proteins and complex carbs, split up into 5+ meals a day.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk

Every calculator is giving me a different TDEE >.<
Im gonna bump it up to 2900 and see what happens.
Now do I do the 40-40-20 ratio off of my TDEE or from lets say a 500 cal deficit?

Thanks for your help btw

[HoldMyBeer]

Please excuse me ahead of time for asking a question Im sure has been asked a million times before...

Is it possible to lost fat and gain muscle at the same time..??

I dont mean to either extreme. I mean if my goal is primarily to drop my bf%, is it possible to gain even the slightest amount of muscle at the same time?

Im 33 years old
6'3" 220lbs
I was at 19% bf about 2 months ago, Ive shed a very noticeable amount of fat just by dialing in my macros and eating at a 500cal daily deficit. Id say Im close to 16% now but thats just a guess... At the same time though, I appear to be harder and denser....

So when I start my first cycle here in the next 2 weeks or so, Ill be running 600mg Test Enanth for 12 weeks. What would my diet have to look like if I want to lose bf but gain some muscle at the same time?

My TDEE is 2610 cal per day and Im currently and will continue to be training 6 days a week throughout the cycle.

Am I being too ambitious here or is this possible?

Idk how intense your workout are / how often. There's a sticky in the diet and exercise thread for calculating your TDEE.
500 cal deficit is pretty standard.
If your lazy like me and don't want to do math for the macro split. My fitness pal >> goals >> calorie carb protein and fat goals
You can set the calories and ratio and it will figure out the macros for you

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk

[JohnnyV85]

Idk how intense your workout are / how often. There's a sticky in the diet and exercise thread for calculating your TDEE.
500 cal deficit is pretty standard.
If your lazy like me and don't want to do math for the macro split. My fitness pal >> goals >> calorie carb protein and fat goals
You can set the calories and ratio and it will figure out the macros for you

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk

I sit on my ass for 8-10 hours a day and I lift 6x week (2x per body part). Usually lift for about 90 minutes, 3 or 4 sets per exercise, 8-12 rep range.

I can also just buy a a fitbit or someshit right? Wont that tell me my daily caloric expenditure?

I dont mind doing the math to determine macros, just need to confirm... the 40-40-20 macro split, thats based off my TDEE or TDEE-500?

[Windex]

I sit on my ass for 8-10 hours a day and I lift 6x week (2x per body part). Usually lift for about 90 minutes, 3 or 4 sets per exercise, 8-12 rep range.

I can also just buy a a fitbit or someshit right? Wont that tell me my daily caloric expenditure?

I dont mind doing the math to determine macros, just need to confirm... the 40-40-20 macro split, thats based off my TDEE or TDEE-500?

A Fitbit is not going to give you your TDEE it's just going to give a rough guideline of your daily steps, calories burned, and a few other things depending on the model purchased. The TDEE calculation is a combination of your BMR and activity level and a few personal measurements.

A macro split is based off the amount of calories you are eating in a day. 1g of Protein and 1g of Carbs each have 4 calories whereas 1g of Fat is 9 calories. I like not having such a big deficit on a recomp approach. However, trying to gain muscle + lose fat at the same time without introducing drugs (steroids, clen, T3, ECY, etc) is a very big uphill battle for those inexperienced / not advanced, resulting in a lot of tire spinning.

The diet sticky threads are extremely valuable so it will be beneficial to read through them as every nutrition plan is going to use information from them as the foundation.

A 40-40-20 split is a cookie cutter starting point. It's a baseline (Like HMB said) that needs to be customized to yourself over time as you understand more about your body, adjust your training, and pivot on goals. If there was an "optimal" meal plan then everyone would be eating the exact same 8-10 foods, at the same times of day, in the same quantities. The two most common reasons why people fail in nutrition are

(1) Compliance

Think of a good -> better -> best scenario when you pick foods and make sure it's something that can be incorporated into your lifestyle year round. Someone who follows an 8/10 nutrition program 100% of the time will always be more successful than a person who follows a 10/10 nutrition program 80% of the time.

(2) Tracking

A journal is important here so that you can go back and see how you've progressed. More than just weight and bodyfat, you wan't to be able to track body measurements and overall well being. Sometimes it takes a few minutes of reflection to realize - hey I switched to eating more dairy and I feel like crap since my last check in, I better pull back on the dairy and switch back to X. As well, in order to have a more accurate idea of your bodyfat % you want to use body fat calipers or DEXA scan. Over time you will be able to require less external tools as your experience level increases. Many members here can see a persons photo and know the bodyfat % in +/- 1%. To the point of measurements, the scale is very misleading at times. If you shrink your gut or waist and keep arms and chest the same size for example, then thats a huge win regardless of what the scale says.

[HoldMyBeer]

A Fitbit is not going to give you your TDEE it's just going to give a rough guideline of your daily steps, calories burned, and a few other things depending on the model purchased. The TDEE calculation is a combination of your BMR and activity level and a few personal measurements.

A macro split is based off the amount of calories you are eating in a day. 1g of Protein and 1g of Carbs each have 4 calories whereas 1g of Fat is 9 calories. I like not having such a big deficit on a recomp approach. However, trying to gain muscle + lose fat at the same time without introducing drugs (steroids, clen, T3, ECY, etc) is a very big uphill battle for those inexperienced / not advanced, resulting in a lot of tire spinning.

The diet sticky threads are extremely valuable so it will be beneficial to read through them as every nutrition plan is going to use information from them as the foundation.

A 40-40-20 split is a cookie cutter starting point. It's a baseline (Like HMB said) that needs to be customized to yourself over time as you understand more about your body, adjust your training, and pivot on goals. If there was an "optimal" meal plan then everyone would be eating the exact same 8-10 foods, at the same times of day, in the same quantities. The two most common reasons why people fail in nutrition are

(1) Compliance

Think of a good -> better -> best scenario when you pick foods and make sure it's something that can be incorporated into your lifestyle year round. Someone who follows an 8/10 nutrition program 100% of the time will always be more successful than a person who follows a 10/10 nutrition program 80% of the time.

(2) Tracking

A journal is important here so that you can go back and see how you've progressed. More than just weight and bodyfat, you wan't to be able to track body measurements and overall well being. Sometimes it takes a few minutes of reflection to realize - hey I switched to eating more dairy and I feel like crap since my last check in, I better pull back on the dairy and switch back to X. As well, in order to have a more accurate idea of your bodyfat % you want to use body fat calipers or DEXA scan. Over time you will be able to require less external tools as your experience level increases. Many members here can see a persons photo and know the bodyfat % in +/- 1%. To the point of measurements, the scale is very misleading at times. If you shrink your gut or waist and keep arms and chest the same size for example, then thats a huge win regardless of what the scale says.

Completely agree
Question. My Fitbit has a HR tracker and knows my stats. It should be able to calculate a fairly accurate TDEE should it not? I thought it was a know formula for average HR over time considering gender weight height etc. Should be easy enough to calculate.
(I turned off the step counter, stairs climbed, etc. Bc those are BS misleading stats)

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