Is 531 Good for a Fat Body?

I’ve been doing Wendler 531 boring but big for a few months to a year now. I’ve got my bench to 225, my back squat to 290, and my deadlift to 335 and my op to 155. I am 250lbs 28% bf. I have a side goal of being 20% bf or under (but I like food).

I lift four days a week. Bench on Monday. Deadlift on Tuesday. Overhead press on Thursday. Squat on Friday.

Are these numbers a good ratio for different lifts?

Should I continue with what I am doing if my goal is to break a total of 1000 and lose body fat?

Thank you from a 34 year old beginner

I like food too. I also like not being too fat. Pick which one matters more to you.

Don’t worry about ratios and just get all the lifts to go up. They’ll do that at different rates.

I don’t know, should you? Is what you’re doing effectively helping you achieve that goal?

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28% bodyfat of 250 pounds = 70 pounds of fat.

To be 20% bodyfat, you need to lose 8%, or 20 pounds. This should be pretty simple, but some people make it more difficult than it needs to be. I’m going to show you below how to make it difficult, and at the end, tell you how it’s simple.

Difficult (diet)

Basically, eat like a 230 pound dude would eat. I’m going to throw ballparks out here, but this is not science… just a rough figure - you’ll have to play around with your numbers and adjust. My recommendation is to try these macros below.

230 x15 = 3,450 calories per day
230 x1.5 = 345 grams protein per day (1380 kcal)
230 x40% = 92 grams of fat per day (828 kcal)
remaining calories = 1242/4 = 310 carbs per day

Simple (form habits)

If I were you (and I’m not), I’d continue to do 5/3/1 with a focus on conditioning. Pick a full body version of 5/3/1 and get at it 3 days a week. Do not lose strength, continue to push the last set and set PRs, Use the Triumvirate assistance template and do it as a circuit instead of straight sets. Jump rope before each workout - use the NOV jump rope template and if that’s too hard, do it anyway and get good at it. It’s a total of 450 jumps. After a week of dying and hating jump rope, the second week should be much easier. Just do it.

On the other 4 days a week, walk 2 miles.

Eat for strength. Just have 3-5 meals a day and each of them should contain protein from good food choices. If you must eat pizza and McDonalds 4 times a week, I’m sorry I wasted so much time explaining this to you.

It’s ok to love food. I watch football once a week and have a few beers and eat like shit (sometimes - not every time). But that’s like one day a week - I’m pretty good at eating clean the other 6 days a week and have formed habits around doing so. When I go out to eat, I enjoy myself, but try to only do this at the most once a week. When it’s not football season, I always give myself another day of the week to eat whatever I want. Pizza, fried chicken, ice cream, beer, get drunk, w/e.

The difference is, my conditioning is in order, I consistently go after the weights, and I have good eating habits six days a week. I literally eat the same eggs, cheese and vegetables every morning. I have a huge salad with olive oil and vinegar with 8 ounces of chicken every damn day for lunch, made myself. I eat a cup of oats and 4 scoops of protein every day. I eat 10+ ounces of beef, fish, lamb or more chicken every night at dinner with 2 cups of rice or potatoes, or pasta every damn day. I drink 80 grams of carbs every weight training session.

I’m 38 years old and formed these habits a long time ago and it’s paid off. I suggest you form your own now. Don’t get all jacked up about how much you’re lifting, just keep lifting and the results will come.

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Though not their primary aim a full body template like Beach body challenge or ‘Beyond’ tends to lean people out fast…

Obviously priority no1 is eat like an adult/ cut out all fast food,sugary crap etc

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