This diet stuff is killing me...

[kingfish]

Hey all,

I've been lurking and doing lots of reading here (good info!) and have a few basic questions about dieting & working out. I'm 39, 6' 255lb and want to lower my BF% and bulk up, but I'm not sure if I should diet down a bit before a cycle, or will I naturally lose BF during the process. Ideally I'd like to get down to 225 with an acceptable BF%. I did a cycle last summer, but clearly didn't have the diet part down. I managed some decent gains, but this time around I want to be up to speed and get the most out of it that I can. The one thing I'm not looking forward to is AM cardio, but if that's what I gotta do then so be it.

[phenom1979]

get your BF down to at least 15% before you start any bulking cycle bro.

[mike954]

dude i know it sucks but you have to eat hight protein low carb low cal diet split into 5 small meals a day i droped 75 lbs of fat so far

[Chico Bandito]

How long did it take you? I found the hardest part was not knowing the length of time it actually takes to lose a lot of BF

[Ajc330]

the hardest part for me when cutting is i love food so much that i can't sit there hungry knowing i can't eat any more cals for the rest of the day

[kingfish]

I thought cyp is pretty lipotropic? Wouldn't raising the body's levels burn fat? Then again, I guess eating to bulk up is different than eating to cut up?

[High-roller]

Man I am with you, in 2 weeks I am starting my cutting, and it going to be hard to follow, cause trying to keep muscle mass and get cut is fvckin hard!

I will be eating, oatmeal, Chicken, FISH(Tuna), Flex seed, and eggs(whites), and get a protein shake with low carb and fat, and try to find some good amio products.

Anyways I hope you get her done!

[novastepp]

i'll throw in my .02 here.

in my honest opinion, if you aren't going on stage don't waste your money to cut with AAS. You can achieve results with consistent dieting and cardio. you will like morning cardio after you do it for a while. i hated getting up at 4:30, until i started to see more abs... get it?

plan out a diet and post it up. we'll all tear it up and help you make it work. find ways to stay dedicated. makes bets with people, including yourself. reward yourself for cutting.

also, bulkers are 100% more effective after a quality cut IMO. after I cut i can put on 30lbs and still see some abs. granted some is water and some is fat. but i'd like to think I at least add 8lbs of lean mass. take the time to prepare your body but cutting down for 12 weeks. get ripped my friend, and your body will reward you back when you're finished.

plus it gives you a lot of time to research AAS, diet, and training methods... everything will be better. but good luck with your choice.

[mike954]

it took me a year on and off i was off for like 4 mounths but back at it i droped 13% bf i was off it for a wile i was in the hospital i took some winny tabs might not have been real? and it messed up my intestans i could not eat or drink anything for 6 days just an I.V what a pain but now im back on diet alot of egg whits and tuna im use to it now so its not so bad some times i feel alil weak from no sugar but other than that all good!

[kingfish]

in my honest opinion, if you aren't going on stage don't waste your money to cut with AAS. You can achieve results with consistent dieting and cardio. you will like morning cardio after you do it for a while. i hated getting up at 4:30, until i started to see more abs... get it?.... plan out a diet and post it up. we'll all tear it up and help you make it work. find ways to stay dedicated. makes bets with people, including yourself. reward yourself for cutting.

Yeah, I'm psyching myself up for AM cardio - never done it & said I never would (also about counting calories, but look at me now...) but I gotta do something different because what I'm doing now isn't getting it done. I'll have to do some more reading up here and come up with a cutting diet to lose 25lbs then figure out a bulking diet & routine.
The one thing I can't seem to come up with is a consistent daily calorie requirement. I've gotten three different results from 2700 to 3500 calories to maintain my weight. I know to subtract 500 calories daily from that number, but I haven't been able to come up with a reliable starting # yet.
I asked about taking cyp during a cutting stage because I have some left over from the last cycle and thought it might help with BF metabolism, even if there was some water retention. I'll give the cardio by itself a try first to see how it goes.

[novastepp]

you don't subtract 500 daily. you subtract calories when you lose weight. if you are training, then just pick a number. one of the biggest downfalls i see guys make here is they get stuck in the planning phase in stead of implementation. pick a number, plan a diet. and put it to work. if your workouts start lagging or you feel like garbage, up the cals a tad. do it until you can maintain strength. and then concentrate on being dedicated to your cardio. it will work when you decide to start.

[kingfish]

Interesting approach. I was going on the assumption that once you know what your maintenance calorie req't is you start with subtracting 500 cal from that figure to lose 1lb a week (or so). What I'm trying to avoid is going too low and slowing down my metabolism to where I can't lose weight. This happened in January & February until I realized what was happening and added calories, which is where the extra 8 lbs came from. I need to come up with a starting figure which will be in the ballpark then I can tweak it afterwards.

I started the AM cardio today. It wasn't bad at all - I got to the gym at 6:45 and did 40 minutes on the elliptical machine. I plan to do this M-F and take the weekends off.

[novastepp]

keep it up buddy.