Help from the Pros?

[quote]Mega Newb wrote:
Im a pro, but Im not gonna help you.

WHAT NOW!?!?! BREAK YO SELF SON![/quote]

Seriously, if someone was to post that in “your” thread would you honestly be polite to said person ??
If it was me, id be more inclined to tell him f*ck off politely.
Give the guy a break
:slight_smile:

As for the OP,
Your still not helping us out here…

Ok to make it simple ok…
Write down EVERYTHING you ate yesterday
Write down EVERYTHING your going to eat today.

Is that clearer ?

As for your program, any special reason why your doing 10-15 reps an excercise ???
Have your ever tried anything other than that ??

If your cutting, usually it would be

A)Heavy Lifting (high sets/low reps)
To maintain your muscle mass while cutting

OR

B)Complexes
To maximise calories burned per workout.

Which one do you want to do ?

Also click on my name – profile and start reading all my saved topics.
Sort of the “best of” T-Nation articles :slight_smile:

[quote]Mega Newb wrote:
lol, it was a joke, a joke out of boredom at that.

Your right, the only thing I know anything about is being fat. Let me know if your goal is ever to be fat like me tho, I can give you some coupons for fast food or something.

[/quote]

haha hilarious

anyways to the op you can’t take comments, especially ones like that which are obviously sarcastic as serious. If you want more help post your diet-a typical day of food, also how many calories-, workout plan-nvm saw you did this-, and picture-since you might not be 10%, and getting to 5% and maintaining is pretty much not really possible naturally.- If you were 10% you would look pretty cut, so I doubt you are anyways post all those type of stats for more help.

To everyone else giving him shit for reacting semi harshly is bullshit too, he is new.

Augh, first rule about posting on a new forum - lurk until you figure out what’s going on.

But OP, you seem reasonable enough…

Seems like you’ve hit the point where you have to bulk for months, maintain, and then cut. Lots of articles on here that will tell you how to do that. If for whatever reason you are not willing to bulk, your road to reach your goals will be extremely hard. You must always be changing your training, keeping on the brink of overtraining. When you get used to a split, switch to total body. Get used to total body? Switch to a split. Try less cardio. Try more cardio. You’re going to have to fine tune everything to get your body to change.

Here is the picture, requested, it’s an older camera so I appologize for the shitty quality.

What I ate yesterday was: Supposed to be a High carb day, you guys can be the judge.

Breakfast: bowl of slow cooked oatmeal, 40 grams of whey isolate, 2 cups of coffee and 30mgs of ephedrine.

total of 342 calories

Lifted.

Got home, ate about 65 grams of carbs via brown rice and another protein shake of 50 grams, half whey isolate, half casein protein + creatine ee, serving of fruit with grapes.

total of 586 calories

2 hours later: 8 oz of 94% lean ground beef, 65 gams of carbs via brown rice, serving of fruit with grapes.

total of 710 calories

2 hours later: 8 oz of chicken breast cooked in peanut oil, 65 grams of carbs via brown rice, serving of fruit with grapes.

total of 650

Dinner: 8 oz of chicken breast with 2 cups of green beans, cooked in peanut oil.

total calories of ~300

Before bed: 40 grams of casein shake with 6 grams of fish oil.

total calories 240

total calories for the day: 2828
This is the day I by far eat the most in calories…on a no carb day for example I only consume around 1600 calories.

[quote]Hostile wrote:
A pro what…eater? Not looking for help from someone such as yourself anyway. Im not interested in being 350 lbs and ??? % body fat as you indicate. Quite happy being 190 and able to see my sausage and feet.[/quote]

Damn that made me laugh.

Not sure if it was called for, but a funny as hell response anyways.

Sausage and feet, lol.

Also, not a “pro” but I’ll take a shot.

First, your calories are way too low for a guy that is 25 and 194 pounds. I know this sounds counter-intuitive for losing fat, but you have to eat more. Your metabolism is very likely sluggish and needs to be ramped up. I can explain why this is in more detail if needed. You seem to be eating the right things, you are just not eating enough.

Secondly, you seem to have a lot of exercises in your training. Scale back and hit the basics really hard. Someone gave the advice of either doing heavy sets, complexes or both during this fat loss phase. I agree. So try moving away from the split routine for a while and go with total body. Pick 2 or 3 good multi-joint exercises and go for a 5x5 or 8x3 rep scheme. You can also do fat loss complexes a couple of times a week. And since you haven’t done any cardio, maybe add some in. So a training week may look like this:

Monday: Heavy lifting, multi-joint exercises (squat, bench, bent-over rows) 8x3
Tuesday: Fat Loss complexes (there are several routines on the site, I like the ones CT wrote about in his “Fat Loss Strategies from the War Room” or some title close to that). 30 minutes steady state cardio
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: Heavy lifting, multi-joint exercises (military press, deadlift var., weighted dips) 5x5. Interval Cardio training (2 minute jog, 1 minute run, repeat for 20 minutes).
Friday: Same as Tuesday (with or without the cardio)
Weekend: Stay out of the gym, do some outdoor activities (long walk, ride bike, beach volleyball, whatever).

The heavy lifting is designed to help you keep the muscle you have. The cardio and fat loss complexes help you burn off the fat. Don’t get wrapped up with iso exercises…they will benefit you more in a mass gaining phase than a fat loss phase.

When you want to get back into a mass gaining phase, change up the training. (back to body part split, 4x8, 3x12, utilize some isolation exercises, etc.).

Oh, and stay away from using words like “cuts” around here. It’s just gonna get you flamed. People are more likely to respect you if you say your are trying to lean out for a vacation. Saying you want “cuts” makes you sound like a newb.

Good luck.

Calories are way too low.

[quote]Hostile wrote:
total calories for the day: 2828
This is the day I by far eat the most in calories…on a no carb day for example I only consume around 1600 calories.

[/quote]

1600-2900 kcals? What are you trying to do, make the transition to a 120 lb anorexic girl? Start eating like a man and you’ll add muscle, then you can cut and have reasonably low bf with decent muscle. and from your pic, there is no way you are 10% bf bud. Check out some of CT’s stuff, you’ll see that 10% is much lower than you think. Also, 5% is not maintenance weight for anyone who’s natural. Heck, that’d be tough for someone on vitamin T. Either you have a slow metabolism, don’t have an accurate scale, are losing muscle as we type, or aren’t calculating food values correctly.

I’m eating over 5000 kcals a day on average, and am having trouble gaining weight. Methinks you need to bulk to 225ish, then worry about cutting. You ain’t gonna be gaining muscle while cutting fat naturally unless you’re a 130 skinny-fat kid, which thankfully you aren’t.

Recap: up the protein, up the carbs, up the fat, bulk to over 200, then cut.

Thanks for all the responses. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. My end goal is to be 200 and much lower BF than I am at right now. My intent of the post however, was because I am trying to get leaner for a vacation I have coming up in a couple week and feel like my fat loss has stalled out and even regressed a bit. Also, I can understand the concept that eating more is going to speed up my metabolism. What Im having difficulty with is, if Im trying to get more lean, I’m supposed to eat more…if Im trying to bulk up, Im also supposed to eat more. So what’s different with the diet, can anyone elaborate on this a little for me?

Personally, and I may get flamed for this but it is true from my experience, I believe training parameters are secondary when it comes to bulk/cutting phases. What I mean by this is that the amount of food and type of food I eat is much more of a determining factor than the type of training I do.

Again, it may seem counter-intuitive to have to eat more during a fat loss phase, but in your particular case your calories are so low for your weight and age that you have to eat a lot more just to get your metabolism going. If you were bulking you’d have to eat MUCH more.

I didn’t re-read the thread, but I believe you are getting 1-1.25 grams of protein per 1lb of bodyweight in. That’s good. Your fats are negligible, that’s bad. When I am looking to lean out, I really reduce my carbs and up the fat intake. I find that really works for me and from what I’ve witnessed and read it seems like a strategy that would work for a good majority of the population. So I’d recommend manipulating your fat/carb intake.

Also, a good thermogenic could speed up things if you are trying to get leaner for an upcoming vacation, but you certainly have to get your food in order. That’s most important.

I also think adding in cardio will make more of an impact than you think. I particularly like barbell complexes, DB complexes and circuits much more than traditional cardio machines, but I think either way has it’s merits.

So, I recommend attacking from all angles. Follow a combination strength/complex workout plan (like I mentioned in my earlier post). Get in some cardio. Get your food choices in order. Get your overall calories up. Maybe add in a thermogenic. You’ll see results. It’s really simple, just not all that easy.

Hope that is clear. Good luck.

So up my calories by way of increasing my protein and fats mostly, while keeping my carbs low is what you’re suggesting with respect to diet?

I recommend that only because it is what has worked for me and from what I have seen and read, that strategy seems to work for a lot of people.

Can’t guarantee it will work for you, but it’s certainly worth giving a try.

I’ll restate this again. If you up the calories (by adding more fats and/or protein), train for fat loss (strength days and fat-loss complexes, etc.), add in productive cardio and possibly add in a thermogenic (not necessary but will help), there is a very good chance you will see very good results.

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that your fats should come from good sources (nuts, oils, avocados, meat – not donuts, etc, but you already knew that).

I will also say that given your goal, I would abandon this fat loss strategy once your trip is complete and go into a longer mass gaining phase. Judging from your photo I would venture to guess that you could stay at around the same level of current leanness and put on more lean muscle which is aesthetically going to make you happier in the long run. Oh, and I agree with the guy who said 5% bf (unless dieting down for a contest or other short time frame) is not really a reasonable goal. Believe me, if you put on 20lbs of muscle and got down to 8 -10% bf you’d probably get more of the look you are going for.

But that’s just my 2cents. Obviously it’s your body, do whatever you want with it. Good luck.

Thank you very much guys. I feel like I was derailing myself for a while and I’m getting more organized again.

[quote]Hostile wrote:
Thanks for all the responses. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. My end goal is to be 200 and much lower BF than I am at right now. My intent of the post however, was because I am trying to get leaner for a vacation I have coming up in a couple week and feel like my fat loss has stalled out and even regressed a bit. Also, I can understand the concept that eating more is going to speed up my metabolism. What Im having difficulty with is, if Im trying to get more lean, I’m supposed to eat more…if Im trying to bulk up, Im also supposed to eat more. So what’s different with the diet, can anyone elaborate on this a little for me?[/quote]

You have to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat, so I don’t know why people are telling you to eat more. However, 1600…is a bit extreme.

Checkout these two articles:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1615551

The nutritional and training information in those two are exactly what you need to lose weight. Now, you’re not going to lose much in two weeks for your vacation. So the question is…

1.) Are you only trying to lose the weight for this vacation and then plan on bulking when you get back?

2.) Are you going to try and cut before and after this vacation until you get to single digit body fat and then slowly bulk back up?

If the answer is #1, then I suggest you forget about even cutting and just bulk up to 220 and then cut. If you the answer is #2 then you get the green light for the cut. It would be retarded to just cut for 2wks because not much will happen and then go back to bulking when you could have just used the two previous weeks to bulk up in the first place.

[quote]Sir wrote:
Hostile wrote:
Thanks for all the responses. I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. My end goal is to be 200 and much lower BF than I am at right now. My intent of the post however, was because I am trying to get leaner for a vacation I have coming up in a couple week and feel like my fat loss has stalled out and even regressed a bit. Also, I can understand the concept that eating more is going to speed up my metabolism. What Im having difficulty with is, if Im trying to get more lean, I’m supposed to eat more…if Im trying to bulk up, Im also supposed to eat more. So what’s different with the diet, can anyone elaborate on this a little for me?

You have to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat, so I don’t know why people are telling you to eat more. However, 1600…is a bit extreme.

Checkout these two articles:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1499282

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1615551

The nutritional and training information in those two are exactly what you need to lose weight. Now, you’re not going to lose much in two weeks for your vacation. So the question is…

1.) Are you only trying to lose the weight for this vacation and then plan on bulking when you get back?

2.) Are you going to try and cut before and after this vacation until you get to single digit body fat and then slowly bulk back up?

If the answer is #1, then I suggest you forget about even cutting and just bulk up to 220 and then cut. If you the answer is #2 then you get the green light for the cut. It would be retarded to just cut for 2wks because not much will happen and then go back to bulking when you could have just used the two previous weeks to bulk up in the first place.

[/quote]

Generally, people do need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat, but if he is only eating between 1600 and 2800 k/cals a day, even on heavy training days, he needs to get his metabolism back in order. He claims his progress has totally stalled and there is no way I would recommend reducing his calories even more

. Also, changing his training will also effect the amount of calories he expends. If he really goes to a strength training, complexes and cardio plan, he’d most likely be expending more energy (hard to say for sure as I have no idea how intensely he is working right now).

I must have missed the part where he said the trip was in just a couple of weeks. Not too much progress you can make in that time from where you are (that is not meant to be a dig, making significant changes in this amount of time is not really feasible for 95% of trainees). Maybe you want to reassess and make more of a long term goal at this point.

[quote]Sir wrote:

You have to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat, so I don’t know why people are telling you to eat more. However, 1600…is a bit extreme.
[/quote]

This 40 y/o client of mine went from before to after (the after pic is 1/2 way through here diet) eating 1,800 calories per day.

Keep that in mind when you diet down with 1,600 calories.


After

I said 1,600 was a bit extreme…didn’t I? Yes, I believe I did.

From what it sounded like people were saying that he needs to up his cals above and beyond 2.8k. That, in my opinion, is ridiculous, but then again I think those people were also telling him to ditch the cut and hit up the bulk.

[quote]Sir wrote:
I said 1,600 was a bit extreme…didn’t I? Yes, I believe I did.

From what it sounded like people were saying that he needs to up his cals above and beyond 2.8k. That, in my opinion, is ridiculous, but then again I think those people were also telling him to ditch the cut and hit up the bulk.[/quote]

Easy does it big fella!

I don’t think 2,800 is rediculous at all. Depending on his activity level and current bodyweight/muscle mass it may indeed be what it takes.