Goal: Fat Loss and Muscle Gain

Hey guys,

I’m currently about 180 lb and 5’8’'. I am looking to lose body fat as well as gain lean mass, and I would like some input as to what to change in my diet and exercise program.

Here’s the program that I am currently following; admittedly, I have only been doing it for the past few weeks.

It’s a 6-day program, with 3 days devoted to cardio (cycling, jogging, boxing circuit) and 3 days for weight training.

Day 1: Chest and Triceps
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Back, Shoulders, Biceps
Day 4: Cardio
Day 5: Legs, Abs
Day 6: Cardio

Along with this, I am trying to reduce the level of carb intake, except just after workouts. My diet is mostly composed of fruits, vegetables, eggs, tuna and chicken. For breakfast, I usually have wheat cereal for breakfast with low fat milk.

As this is my first post, I am aware that the structure may not be as expected, and lots of information may be missing. If you need any more information in order to help me, please let me know.

Pick one goal. Body fat loss or gaining muscle mass. Work towards that. Doing both may be possible, but you will most likely get better results focusing on one.

Also, you may consider actually asking a question to get help. What do you want us to say?

Post your actual diet and your actual training, not just an outline.

But in the end no one can tell you if it’ll work. That’s up to you to figure out.

What I meant to ask was: Is it realistic to think that body fat loss and muscle mass gain can happen at the same time?

As you have said that it would be more effective to focus on one, I will be focusing on getting my body fat percentage to below 10%.

With that being the case, I don’t think my training or my eating habits would be optimal for achieving these results.

I guess I would now be asking for tips, or for direction to more detailed articles I can read to create a new exercise and diet program.

Ok, there are so many amazing articles on this site it’s hard not to find what your looking for. I hope these help with your goals.

Merry Christmas Bob (You’ll need this for motivation :stuck_out_tongue: )

Nutrition for newbies part 1
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1793585

Nutrition for newbies part 2
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1795045

Training for newbies part 1
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1764218

Training for newbies part 2
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1765943

The Beast Evolves (Helped me a lot)
http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_diet_mass/the_beast_evolves

Refined Physique Transformation (I thought this was an improvement on The Beast Evolves)

Supplimentation for newbies
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1852816

For getting to 10% body fat, your diet is going to be crucial.

Ok, I’ve read all the articles provided by SinnerG.

As far as nutrition goes, I summarize it as follows:

At above 20% body fat, cut carbs to almost zero, only having green vegetables, and sometimes non-green vegetables.

Protein is important, and I should be having around 225g of protein per day.

Fat is the one that’s confusing me. I’m just confused as to what the ‘clean’ sources of fat are.

Also, let’s say I eat a piece of chicken - how do I know how much of it is protein, and how much is fat, so I can calculate my daily intake (which I also read is a very effective thing to do)

Thanks in advance.

Good fats are fish oil, natty pb, coconut oil, olive oil.

Just google a calorie calculator to get the macro breakdown for food.

I’m going to assume your over 20% BF, is that a guess, did you use a tape measure or did you use something like callipers?

You should be as certain as you can with that.

Your protein intake, well i’m no expert on it, but I aim between 1.5-2g/lb.

Clean fats are your omega 3 rich fatty acids, mono’s and poly’s found in red meat, nuts and oils such as: flax seed, canola, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil safflower oil and sunflower oil.

As for the chicken and amount of protein in it, your macronutrient breakdowns will be shown in fitday.com with the food log.

The very first thing i did when i started out, was eat big, lift big, with an ignorance to healthy food choices. Now though, food is the first thing that gets changed when i need to hit a goal, clean the diet up, even if you start and stick with a 40/30/30 (carbs, protein, fats) split, that is fine, you can refine it as you progress.

I can’t really give any solid advice on a program or nutrition as we’re all very different, but with plenty of reading and some tinkering with your own programs and diets, you’ll get it nailed down, just takes time.

For my body fat percentage, I used a tape measure and also looked at some pictures online for reference - it’s somewhere near 25%.

This is what I came up with after a day of solid reading:

I need about 315g of protein, few carbs and to bring up the remainder of the calories with fats up till about 2635 Cal (approximately 15% less than my calculated daily calorie burn)

Breakfast:
Weet-bix (3 biscuits) with 1.5 - 2 cups of milk.
450 Cal, 22g protein.

Snack:
100g can of tuna
200Cal, 29g protein

Lunch:
100g garden salad, 2 hardboiled eggs, Medium chicken thigh and wing
450Cal, 40g protein

Snack:
200g (2 cans of tuna)
400Cal, 58g protein

Post workout snack:
Protein Bar/Shake
324Cal, 14g protein

Dinner:
150g garden salad, 2 slices cheese, 1 hardboiled egg
300Cal, 20g protein

Snack:
200g (2 cans tuna)
400Cal, 58g protein

TOTAL: 2500 Cal, 241g protein.

With this, about 84% of the Calorie intake is equally divided between protein and fat, whereas about 15% is from carbs.

This seems to come somewhere close to the required goals of 2600 Cal and 315g of protein. A few cans of tuna should fix this, however, as you can see, it is a very boring nutritional plan (Yes, I know it’s not meant to be fun), but what are some substitutes I can use for tuna as my snacks? At mealtimes, I can just play around with different meats I suppose, like chicken, fish, beef, lamb, etc to go along with my vegetables.

I used FitDay to calculate these values for me. Now that I have a base plan, I would appreciate some feedback on the plan itself as well as some substitutes you have found along your way to help relieve the monotony.

Cheers guys!

Personally, I’d change your breakfast up a bit. Maybe some oats and cottage cheese, or some eggs. Instead of tuna you could try almonds, pb or some other type of nut/legume. But other than that it looks good, hope you stick to it.

Hectic! I hope i stick to it too. Wish me luck guys

I’d have to agree with chimera, change up that breaky.

It’s lookins almost like an AD nutrition plan, which is something I myself am on.

Your goal is to loose BF% so keeping up the protein will help to maintain the lean muscle mass, i’d also super dose yourself with fish oil caps, Flameout, what ever… I tend to take 6 regular fish caps with each of my 6 meals a day, don’t forget, suppliments add to the kcal total as well.

I see your post workout meal involves a shake, i take it that’s some sort of WPI or something… if so, add in some ground flax seeds or flax seed oil to boost up that fat if you have to. Shakes in general you can really do a lot with if your looking for kcals to add. I throw in a variety of things, including flax seed, EEVO, raw eggs, even natural peanut butter, anything.

Peanut butter is a good source of protein and fat to. But in all honesty, its looks like a good plan to start with, tinker later if you stall. GL!

Well, that’s nutrition more or less explained. Thanks guys.

As for training, should I continue with the cardio/weight training on alternate days with a one day rest (Sunday), or focus predominantly on cardio alone to achieve body fat loss?

I’m not asking for a very detailed answer, just a gentle push so I can go off and look for more information.

Thanks.

I’d say weight training trumps cardio hands down. But it doesn’t hurt to do both.

I’ll give my 6 day cardio/weight plan a go for another few weeks with strict adherance to my nutritional plan. If that doesn’t yield significant results, I’ll be back to bother you guys more :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for the help guys.

Best advice is to be patient, you’ll see results if you stick with it but don’t expect them immediately.

To emphasis what some of these guys have already said; give this thread a brief look.

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_beginner/for_those_who_want_to_loose_fat_while_gaining_muscle?id=2438600&pageNo=0

enjoy!

[quote]B rocK wrote:
To emphasis what some of these guys have already said; give this thread a brief look.

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_beginner/for_those_who_want_to_loose_fat_while_gaining_muscle?id=2438600&pageNo=0

enjoy![/quote]

Haha, nice plug.

Changes take time. Be patient and keep motivated.

[quote]chimera182 wrote:
B rocK wrote:
To emphasis what some of these guys have already said; give this thread a brief look.

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_beginner/for_those_who_want_to_loose_fat_while_gaining_muscle?id=2438600&pageNo=0

enjoy!

Haha, nice plug.[/quote]

Totally shameless. 100% True.