when to start with supplements?

[john2986]

i had a serious injury a while back and am now back to full health, the problem is i gained a lot of weight while i was down. currently 6ft, 275lb, 36% body fat, 27 years old. my question is what should my target weight/bodyfat be before i start taking anything for muscle gains?

any tips on diet/exercise to help with the weight loss also appreciated, thanks for any replies.

[Nephets]

What kind of supplements are you looking at? Are you thinking steroids or protien powders?

[john2986]

steroids

[Nephets]

I would say get all the fat off first. With your diet and lifting heavy, you will get bigger as you lose weight. You should get down to 10-12% bodyfat in my opinion before you start you cycle. you should also have a couple years of serious lifting under your belt before you start. use that time to get your diet in check and your body ready.

[calstate23]

i had a serious injury a while back and am now back to full health, the problem is i gained a lot of weight while i was down. currently 6ft, 275lb, 36% body fat, 27 years old. my question is what should my target weight/bodyfat be before i start taking anything for muscle gains?

any tips on diet/exercise to help with the weight loss also appreciated, thanks for any replies.

As for supplements, I would be taking multi vitamins, protein, creatine, bcaa's, glutamine regardless if you are cutting or not. If you are looking to take steroids I would wait until you are at least down to 15% bodyfat.

Tips on diet and exercise:

First off, protein is essential regardless if you are trying to cut or not. Therefore, you should always be taking in around the same amount of protein whether you are cutting or bulking. When cutting, the biggest factors are your carbs and fats and when you consume them.

For your weight I would suggest macros like this :

Protein 350 grams per day (Only extra lean meats - Chicken breast, egg whites, turkey breast or extra lean ground turkey, Extra lean beef (top round), fish tilapia)

Carbs 150-200 grams per day (The ONLY time you should consume carbs would be morning with breakfast, pre workout and post workout - Any other carb that should go in your mouth other then these times should be fibrous carbs (Veggies). Good carbs to eat OATS, yams, rice, grits, lentils, Ezekiel bread....

Fats 75 grams per day - These fats should be coming from essential fatty acids such as a Omega 3,6,9 oil blend

Cardio twice a day is possible but definitely once per day. Best time for cardio is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach because you will be carb depleted and therefore your body will have to start converting more fat for fuel since there is no carbs to burn.

Another good time is before bed and after that cardio session don't take in any carbs after

[gbrice75]

^ ^ good stuff, I wouldn't go over 150g w/ the carbs right now.

Honestly, at 36% bodyfat you don't need to worry about being dialed in. A sensible diet with a caloric restriction and plenty of cardio will do wonders for you.

And to echo the sentiment above - you have absolutely no business running any kind of steroid cycle. Steroid shouldn't even be in your vocabulary. Learn how to diet and train, you need the fundamentals in check. Steroids + poor diet and training regimen = big waste of money.

[john2986]

not going to start any steroids yet, i know there is a long way to go before i get to that point again. i was looking for a target to get back into lifting, before the injury i was 230 at 8% bodyfat and lifted 3 times a week on top of the everyday army pt. i would like to get back to that, but expect it won't be as easy as it used to be. thanks for the replies so far, all advice is appreciated.