Lose Weight While Retaining Srength/Mass?

Is it possible? I’ve heard of many people gaining tremendous weight and strength in the bulking phase and then lose some of what they’ve gained during cutting. Is retaining or even gaining strength/lean muscle while losing fat doable? I’m slowly becoming downright fat and want to lower my percentage to about 10-12%. For some background info, I haven’t done any cardio for almost 6 months and followed no specific diet. So when I begin this journey, my allied guides would probably be WS4SB (or another similar program), barbell complexes and a real diet. I’m not sure about which diet to do (Yet carb cycling does tempt me), so any advice would be appreciated.
PS please don’t offer me the V-Diet or any other ones involving taking kajillions of supplements, I have no access to any but whey and MAYBE casein.

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

this should’ve been stiky’d good post

Ok, so with your numbers where they are right now you can absolutely gain strength while shedding fat; however, I would recommend putting that in the back of your mind until you hit a pretty standard bench mark in weights like: 135 overhead, 225 bench, 315 squat, 405 deadlift. Strength gains are going to happen much more slowly when you are eating a hypocaloric diet.

At this point, you should put ideas like “cutting,” “carb cycling,” etc. in the back of your mind. It is good to be aware of them, but focusing on them too much now will most likely halt your progress. Right now, more than ever, you need consistency. Stick to your program, and stick to it as long as you need to to hit respectable strength levels. You don’t need to do anything fancy to put on strength and size while keeping fat gain in check right now. Just need to follow a few basic guidelines when it comes to your diet. You mentioned very little about your diet in your log. How many cals are you eating per day, and how many from f/p/c?

[quote]lia67 wrote:

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

this should’ve been stiky’d good post [/quote]

Can you do me a favor and post this same comment over in that thread? I think it should be stickied as well, and if a few people say that it will get the mods attention.

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

Um I tried to click the link but I am to distracted by your avatar :slight_smile: Who is she?

jskrabac,

I am needing some impute on dropping fat/ getting my strength back. Here is some info…

  1. Sex Male

  2. Age 42

  3. Height 68 inches

  4. Weight. 234lbs

  5. Body Composition. Had my BF ran a couple weeks back. Weight 234lbs. Lean muscle 158lbs, Fat 76lbs, 32.5%bf

  6. Total years training about 20

  7. Total years seriously training. 15

8.Strength stats.
Squat, 350
Deadlift, 350
Bench. 225

  1. Current routine: Thinking of running 5-3-1

  2. Goals: Need to drop to 15-16%BF. Gain back the 8-10lbs of muscle I lost.

  3. Diet: Crap. Haven’t been recording or measuring till now. Problem is other than Potato’s, Green Beans and Corn I don’t like Veggies, don’t like fruit so I am kinda screwed.

12: Supplements. Taking Vit D as it was really low, Have access to whey protein, Vit C, Zinc and Fish oil (trying to get 2700 mg of EPA/DHA starting today.

Here is the down low, had knee surgery in June that really put me down and took it out of me. From then till a couple weeks ago I lost 8lbs muscle and gained over 30 in fat.

Bottom line I need to get stronger, leaner and healthier. Been unemployed since September so not a ton of money for supplements, but any advice would be appreciated.

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Ok, so with your numbers where they are right now you can absolutely gain strength while shedding fat; however, I would recommend putting that in the back of your mind until you hit a pretty standard bench mark in weights like: 135 overhead, 225 bench, 315 squat, 405 deadlift. Strength gains are going to happen much more slowly when you are eating a hypocaloric diet.

At this point, you should put ideas like “cutting,” “carb cycling,” etc. in the back of your mind. It is good to be aware of them, but focusing on them too much now will most likely halt your progress. Right now, more than ever, you need consistency. Stick to your program, and stick to it as long as you need to to hit respectable strength levels. You don’t need to do anything fancy to put on strength and size while keeping fat gain in check right now. Just need to follow a few basic guidelines when it comes to your diet. You mentioned very little about your diet in your log. How many cals are you eating per day, and how many from f/p/c? [/quote]

About 3000 I assume, and it should be around 30/35/35 f/p/c, I know it’s not the best diet but being compelled to wake up a 6 o’clock every day and have a shitty meal at school for lunch forces me to. Here’s a standard diet for me:

Breakfast (6:10 am): Scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, a little butter and milk, peanut butter over wholewheat bread and one glass milk.

Snack: (9 am): 60-70 grams roasted almonds or hazelnuts OR 8 oz milk and a bar of chocolate.

Lunch (12:10 am): Some kind of meat if I’m lucky, a soup, a dessert and fruits (Let’s get it clear. I have problems getting enough calories out of this let alone getting quality nutrition)

Lunch 2 (4:15 pm): Based on my mom’s initiative. Mostly legumes and minced meat.

(Post workout 1 milk if there’s any)

Dinner (~8 pm): Some lean meat with a source of carbs.

Pre-bed (10 pm): One banana or a spoonful of peanut butter.

Eat fruits throughout the day. I suppose increasing protein intake while reducing carbs and some fat would make me lose weight without being on a hypocaloric diet, but I have no idea how to do this since school and my parents usually determines what I eat (They call me a freak for even this shitty diet and my constant complains!).

I hear ya. It wasn’t until I moved to the other side of the country and started making all my own food living on my own that I saw positive progress with my physique. I still get lectures when I visit for the holidays about how “unhealthy” my eating is, since I gave up grains a little over a year ago. What you have going on diet-wise right now, is really good enough…not ideal, but a good base to get yourself growing and stronger. Once you move out, things will become a lot more manageable. A good thing to do, if you can, is try to focus your carb intake around workout time, both before and after.

See how 3K Cal/day works for you. I’m suspecting you’re probably going to have to up this though as you get stronger, if you want to continue gaining lean mass.

[quote]Toshiero wrote:

[quote]jskrabac wrote:

Um I tried to click the link but I am to distracted by your avatar :slight_smile: Who is she?
[/quote]

Shay Laren