T Nation

In Desperate Need of Diet Help

Bodybuilding
#1

Hey guys,

my situation: I’m (by my amatuer calculation) about 20lbs over weight in terms of fat. Now 10 of these pounds have been with me my entire life and I’ve just accepted them, no matter what my diet was, or how much exercise i get (which normaly is a lot) they remain.

I’d like to get rid of all twenty, as that would make room for 10 more pounds of muscle (I have to limit my weight, and cannot go over 165 lbs).

In addition, I’m pretty broke and can’t really afford much in the way of supplements atm. I have some $10 low carb (3g) whey protein, and an equally cheap fruity creatine drink mix, which I think has like 30g carbs in it. That’s about as much as I can spend atm.

I’m completely lost on diets, I’ve assumed low carb high protein is good, but have been told low carb is bad for muscle building =(.

My schedule is horrible so I can’t reaally get into any set patterns, but that should be improving shortly as I take a new day job.

The diet/work out routine that I have done before with decent results and was considering going on again:

Breakfast consisting of eggs and turkey bacon/sausage, tuna and chicken in various combos along with protein shakes for the rest of the day. I usuallaly drink the creatine drink as I’m working out, and then down a protein shake post work out.

In order to drop 20 pounds of fat and add 10 pounds of muscle do I need more carbs, more fat, more or less of something else?

sorry for this post being so long.

#2

Man honestly I would start simple just clean it up a bit go for nailing these and youll be on your way 20lbs is not to bad.

7 Habit
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459493

Foods That Make You Look Good Nekid
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460638

After nailing those and making them your LIFE not a diet then see where you are and maybe move on to these.

The Carbohydrate Roundtable, Part 1&2
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=461157
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459360

Fat Roundtable I&II
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=461947
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=461093

Massive Eating
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460331
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460327
M/E Reloaded
http://www.T-Nation.com/...c.do?id=459429
http://www.T-Nation.com/...c.do?id=459431

T Dawg 2
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=473067
7 days to Ultimate leanness
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459329

and others

Hope this helps,
Phill

#3

Oh sorry a bit more as I read this again

First finish that Sugar laden Creatine and then save your money and buy PLAIN creetine monohydrate. Then a Bag of sugar if you must. You will spend a LOT less get More servings and really the sugar is not needed IMO.

Honestly it is like I said above and not about so uch the breakdown at first but about GOOD food choices. Take carb for instance you could have the same caloric value but there is a BIG difference in say a Muffin or poptart and an apple and veggies. the latter giving you the cals and carbs but also fiber and micro nutrients.

Clean it up. then take I from there.

Also I would try a w/o on here as well. Based on compound movements there are a TON. A personal favorite of mine for a bodycomp. change while NOT dieting but still eating would be EDT. Cleaning up your diet. still eating a lot and EDT will do some AWESOM<E changes to your body

Look up Compound EDT.

Also CW, CT, etc. all the coaches here have a TON of great info.

Come on back with any questions and we’ll be glad to help.

Phill

#4

Its extremely hard to put on muscle and lose fat at the same time unless you

  1. have access to some good drugs
  2. are a novice
  3. just started lifting after after not lifting for a long time

Personally I would just

  1. Count calories and protein
  2. eat more to gain weight
  3. eat less to lose weight
  4. get your EFA and veggies

People has gotten big and ripped without losing sleep over food combination. Get the basics right before anything else and quit trying to gain LBM and lose fat at the same time. Either cut or bulk or maintain, there’s no in betweens.

Fahd

#5

Food is important but sleep is also very important, how much sleep do you get every night?, i can see a difference in progress from sleeping 7 hours or 10, most need atleast 10 hours.

#6

[quote]SenseiMike wrote:
Hey guys,

…
Breakfast consisting of eggs and turkey bacon/sausage,…

In order to drop 20 pounds of fat and add 10 pounds of muscle do I need more carbs, more fat, more or less of something else?[/quote]

Regarding dropping fat, I think the bacon and sausage should go out the window. Some very cheap calorie counter booklets can be gotten now that list precisely hundreds of various foods with their macro/micro nutrient contents as well as types/amounts of fats within them. Extremely useful when calculating/fine-tuning your chosen diet for maximum goal results.

#7

[quote]Fahd wrote:
Its extremely hard to put on muscle and lose fat at the same time unless you

  1. have access to some good drugs
  2. are a novice
  3. just started lifting after after not lifting for a long time

Personally I would just

  1. Count calories and protein
  2. eat more to gain weight
  3. eat less to lose weight
  4. get your EFA and veggies

People has gotten big and ripped without losing sleep over food combination. Get the basics right before anything else and quit trying to gain LBM and lose fat at the same time. Either cut or bulk or maintain, there’s no in betweens.

Fahd[/quote]

Their is an inbetween, you can very definately gain muscle whilst keeping your body fat more or less the same. Infact, im now going to say something rather controversial. Its A MYTH that you cannot gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. But YES it is easier Bulking. I recently started a multi-tabata program, which is basically one four minute tabata workout X 5 for five different compound exercises, and I am pretty sure i am seeing more definition in my abs, yet my weight is the same.