I am new to TNation and in need of some advice. I love to lift heavy and strength has now been my main goal in the past months. Problem is, is I followed the “See Food” diet thinking it would help my lifts go up. Big mistake on my part and now it has bitten me in the ass. I look like shit.
My stats now are:
6’2’’ 255-259 pounds around 22-25% body fat (I’m guessing)
Bench: 285
Squat: 375
Deadlift: 455
Pretty weak for someone my size I know. I am stuck at a crossroads. I do not want to compromise my strength but at the same time I need to loose some fat/weight. I would like to compete in the 242 class for powerlifting and I can live with being 14-17% body fat. I do not know what to do and in need of some advice. I am open to try anything and I am open to criticism and tough love.
If your current lifting regimen is safe and effective (ie, you’re getting stronger without sustaining injuries), continue to follow it.
Eat 3500 calories/day, making sure to get ~240 g protein. Monitor your bodyweight with a good digital bathroom scale. So long as you’re losing at least 1lb/week, continue eating @3500 cal/d. If/when your weight loss slows, cut cals by 200-500/d. Lather, rinse, repeat until you’re happy with your body comp.
I would absolutely listen to EyeDentist in regards to nutritional advice. He very much knows his stuff and walks the walk.
I just wanted to contribute that I had the same experience you did, where I ate myself to a higher total and then had some anxiety about losing the fat and keeping the strength. It will be a rough transition when you switch from such a massive caloric surplus to something a little more milder, and you may notice a slight drop in performance initially as you adjust, but after that you can very much continue to build strength while losing fat. The hightest total I ever set in powerlifting (before switching to strongman) was also at my leanest.
In this photo, I was 5’9, 217lbs and had a 425 squat, 365 touch and go bench, and 540 deadlift
[quote]jvella wrote:
Thank you for the reply. As for carbs and fat intake I am assuming moderate carbs (150-200grams) and low fat (25-35 grams)?
And the training program I am doing now is the power look program by Coach Thibaudeau. On week 6, seems to be going pretty well so far. [/quote]
Fat is a necessary precursor for certain hormones vital to muscle protein synthesis, so a low-fat approach to caloric restriction is not optimal for someone trying to get stronger.
That takes care of 2000 of your 3500 daily caloric allotment, leaving 1500 to come from fat. At 9 cals/g, that works out to be ~167 g. If you don’t want to eat that much fat, swap some fat cals out for carbs.
Just focus on making very clean food choices and follow these guide lines before cutting calories. Also fats, especially from stuff like olive oil are nothing to be afraid of…
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
If your current lifting regimen is safe and effective (ie, you’re getting stronger without sustaining injuries), continue to follow it.
Eat 3500 calories/day, making sure to get ~240 g protein. Monitor your bodyweight with a good digital bathroom scale. So long as you’re losing at least 1lb/week, continue eating @3500 cal/d. If/when your weight loss slows, cut cals by 200-500/d. Lather, rinse, repeat until you’re happy with your body comp.
[/quote]
This is basically what I have been doing. I do IIFYM, while avoiding food that would traditionally be called ‘junk’. I went from 250 (yikes!) to 216, as of today, and am slowly making my way down to at least 200. But seeing Th3pwnishers picture makes me think I’ll go more for 190.
My strength has suffered a little. Front squat is down 15lbs, bench is down 25. I don’t deadlift or back squat. ‘Accessory work’, did also go down e.g. DB rows went down about 5lbs and a rep. But I look and feel so, so much better. I’m also positive that once I switch gears to maintaining, my strength will return & then some.
OP, you should be able to get to below 220 without much trouble. You’re still relatively new, given your strength levels, so you may even gain strength along the way. I was sitting at 1530 gym total before cutting.
Yeah I definitely am right now. But I’m aiming for that way in the future. Thinking I should drop down to the 220s and just work on getting my strength up and not getting fat lol. I have a frame where I can hold a decent amount of weight so hoping one day I can get to that class and be competitive. My biggest problem too is sticking with a program as I get ADD and program hop. I used to just go to the gym and do whatever I felt like and never was able to track my progress or lack thereof. But I am learning and realizing my mistakes.
Also for cardio work I am going to start doing fasted steady state walks in the a.m.about 3-5 times a week and then doing more intense forms like sprints, car pushes, body weight complexes, barbell complexes, etc, about 2 times a week. As for strength as my main goal I feel the car pushes and sprints be my best options here. Thoughts?
[quote]jvella wrote:
Also for cardio work I am going to start doing fasted steady state walks in the a.m.about 3-5 times a week and then doing more intense forms like sprints, car pushes, body weight complexes, barbell complexes, etc, about 2 times a week. As for strength as my main goal I feel the car pushes and sprints be my best options here. Thoughts? [/quote]
I would advise against jumping into cardio/conditioning work at this juncture. You don’t need it (yet) for weight-loss purposes; in fact, it might even sabotage your weight loss by making you hungrier (and thus tempted to overeat).
Instead, hold cardio/conditioning in abeyance until progress at weight loss via calorie restriction stalls. At that point, add cardio gradually and incrementally–just enough to get the needle moving again.
