LBM diet/advice please

I'm 33 yrs old 5'6 ~15%bf (I still have a solid 4 pack...just alil fat on the love handles.lol), been training for 10+ years.

I was always a little dude, so all of my eating and diet goals have been "bulk" orientated....I went from 150lbs at age 21 to 185lbs at 33. I've been going through the 'bulking diet' for so long now and have really NEVER done cardio, I kinda gained a little too much fat.

Not that I have always counted k/cals through out the years, but my diet has been pretty much the same. I always used a 40/40/20 split based on about 3500+ cals. I do understand macros and how to construct a diet from BB friendly foods. I just really need help with the following:

Starting two weeks ago, I began fasted low intensity cardio (walking .5hr) every a.m. and HIIT 3x week after workouts. Also, intead of eating carbs ANYTIME though out the day like I did in the past, I'm now cycling my carbs like so: 1. (after fasted cardio) 40g protein only shake. 2. protein and carbs 3.protein and veggies 4.(pre workout) protein and carbs 5.(post workout) protein and carbs
6.protein and veggies 7.(before bed) protein

On non workout days, I'm trying to reduce carbs even more, but keeping the carbs from veggies wide open.


What would be the best ratio, or split for me to run my macros to gain LBM/loose fat? ?/?/? I can figure out the total k/cals I need, I'm just confused on the best way to split them up.


Thanks so much guys!!

ratios are gonna be dependent on the individual.. for myself personally i like 60/20/20 pro/carb/fat when cutting.. however now that my bf is fairly low i prefer carb cycling over strait low carb.. but these cycles are day cycles not meal cycles like u posted above..

as far as gaining LBM and losing fat simultaneously.. good luck dude :) a better objective IMO is losing fat and maintaining LBM or minimizing the loss of it.. as far as fasted cardio goes i always have kept HR @ 135bpm and im 37 and currently weigh 191lbs @10%bf.. id do cardio 5days per week at this heartrate for 45mins.. (and throw some HIIT in there somewhere)

i think theres a carb cycling thread in here where a guy addresses me in the title.. if ur interested in it id recommend reading it :) ill bump it to the top for u

BTW.. keeping carbs @20% total cals or less is ideal for mobilization of fat into the blood for oxidation...

with ur weight and bf ur tdee is @3000cals.. if i were u id cut @2200.. if u carb cycle this is where u want to base ur diet.. then simply add carbs and subtract them for high days and low days.. keeping carbs @150g for ur moderate days at 2200cals :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AsEpSiS

I'm 33 yrs old 5'6 ~15%bf (I still have a solid 4 pack...just alil fat on the love handles.lol), been training for 10+ years.

I was always a little dude, so all of my eating and diet goals have been "bulk" orientated....I went from 150lbs at age 21 to 185lbs at 33. I've been going through the 'bulking diet' for so long now and have really NEVER done cardio, I kinda gained a little too much fat.

Not that I have always counted k/cals through out the years, but my diet has been pretty much the same. I always used a 40/40/20 split based on about 3500+ cals. I do understand macros and how to construct a diet from BB friendly foods. I just really need help with the following:

Starting two weeks ago, I began fasted low intensity cardio (walking .5hr) every a.m. and HIIT 3x week after workouts. Also, intead of eating carbs ANYTIME though out the day like I did in the past, I'm now cycling my carbs like so: 1. (after fasted cardio) 40g protein only shake. 2. protein and carbs 3.protein and veggies 4.(pre workout) protein and carbs 5.(post workout) protein and carbs
6.protein and veggies 7.(before bed) protein

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Your cardio regimen looks pretty solid although i'd try to shoot for 45 mins fasted in the am. Good deal with the HIIT PWO (how long are these sessions?).

Regarding your carb 'cycle' - I see no real benefit with what you're doing tbh. For maximum fat loss, i'd suggest carbs in your am meal (post LIC cardio), and in your pre and pwo meals only. Furthermore, i'd set up a true carb cycle based on days. My last carb cycle was as follows:

Mon/Tues/Wed - moderate carbs - for me, around 110g
Thurs/Fri/Sat - low-no carbs - negligble amount of starchy carbs, plenty of veggies
Sun - high carb (refeed) - about 250g for me

My workouts also followed a pattern to maximize the benefits of the carb cycle. My heaviest energy requiring lifts (deads, squats, etc) came early in the week. During my no carb days, my workouts were more cardio-intensive (shorter rests, higher reps, total body etc) in an effort to deplete glycogen stores. Sunday was a complete rest day and went hand in hand with the carb refeed - all to start the cycle over again Monday. It worked very well for me, I went from about 16% bodyfat to what you see in my avy (~9%-ish) in roughly 3 months... with strength increases in nearly all lifts, so no LBM loss to speak of.

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Originally Posted by AsEpSiS

On non workout days, I'm trying to reduce carbs even more, but keeping the carbs from veggies wide open.

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Veggies are always good, any day, no matter what. Low/no carbs on non workout days is one way to go about carb cycling, but IMO makes better sense when lean bulking. For fat loss, I believe what I laid out above is a better plan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AsEpSiS

What would be the best ratio, or split for me to run my macros to gain LBM/loose fat? ?/?/? I can figure out the total k/cals I need, I'm just confused on the best way to split them up.

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As stated, this really boils down to the individual. I think of it like this: protein high, carbs moderate, fats low. But that can mean different things to different people. Once I have my TDEE worked out, I start with my protein needs (generally 1.5g/lb of LBM) and then fill in the other macros from there based on the day (low/no/high, etc). Of course, monitoring and tweaking is always necessary as the program progresses.

Hope this helps, keep us posted.

Thanks so much you guys! Very informative suggestions and positive replies!