T Nation

Need help from expert

Bodybuilding
#1

Hi experts,

I am currently doing a fat loss phase. I have posted a few posts on the web basically. I am 140 lbs, 13.75" biceps, 5’6 with 33" waist. Abs not visible if you don’t suck your gut. I want to lose the fat then build muscle.

Here is the problem: I am following a program where the author uses a high carb and protein diet.
Since i want to lose fat, i will start at 2000 cals during the workout days and increase caloric intake by 25% in nonworkout days to speed up metabolism (according to the program)

Pre workout meals should be taken 1-2 h prior to workout. It consists of 30% of total caloric intake (2000), so it will be 600 cals. 75% of this is from carbs mainly simple sugars like: fruit juices, apple sauce, fruits (about 112 g) and the rest is protein (36 g).
The same goes with post workout which should be taken no later than 30 mins after workout.

The later meals during the day (after workout) you are supposed to have are: 2 more meals with 15% of caloric each. So, meal 1 is 15% of 2000 = 300 cals. 60% of this is from carbs and the rest is from protein.

For the non workout days, you are supposed to have the same outline except you have to replace all the simple sugars with complex carbs.

The last meal is bed time meal (10% of total caloric intake). I usually take Grow…

I want to do this but i am afraid of losing muscle.
It seems impossible for me to lose my gut without losing my muscle and it seems the other way around for gaining muscle.
I always feel so bad when bulking because i add fat as well (i know this has been explained in the massive eating but i want to lose fat now).

I never see my abs even my 4 packs showing without flexing.

I am pretty depressed lately. My energy is going down. My marks are declining. Just because of this thing.

I hope somebody can help me out with this.

Kyle.

#2

If you ask me that’s alot of simple sugars to be taken in PREworkout. The general concensus recently has been it’s alright to do that POSTworkout… maybe theres some science behind it I don’t know.
If you want to lose fat fast(it wont do good for your marks though) Try one of the low-carb approaches, like the T-Dawg.
First I’d say read the Diet Manifesto that Chris Shugart put together… and by the sounds of it, maybe the Delta 1250 would fit your needs best, I’ve never tried it but it looks sound!

#3

I appreciate that you want to lose fat
now but at 140 lb and 5’6", if you lose
more than 5 lb you’ll be perceived as
looking less-good anyway, and losing
fat later when you have more muscle will
be far easier than losing it now. After
you’ve added say 20 lb of LBM, your body
will think dieting down to say 145 or 150
is a snap, but right now it thinks the idea
of dieting down to 125 or 130 is a bad one
and it is resistant.

Do you know how many calories per day you
were eating, for how many weeks, resulting
in how many pounds of fat gain? If so you
are all set. Say you were eating 3500 cal/day
and gained 16 lb of fat in 8 weeks of bulking.
This was therefore 2 lb of fat per week,
or 7000 cal per week, or 1000 cal per day
too much. Try eating 2500 cal/day, and divide
it into plenty of meals per day, each with
good nutrient balance, and try to avoid having
as much sugar as you’ve been having. I would
definitely look to add LBM first. Or if you’ve
got to diet first, limit the diet to 5 lb of
weigh loss and then start the bulking-without-pigging cycle.

#4

I’ll make it real easy for you. In fact I copied what I have put on this forum several times. Before I do that though, I have to say you are fat/skinny. You need to add some muscle. For every pound of muscle you add, you pick up the ability to burn 30-50 calories per day. At your height, you should be at least 165. So, picking up that 25 pounds speeds up your metabolism by 750-1250 calories per day. Incredible! At that weight your waist should be 30" and your arms around 15". To the following steps, make sure you have Surge postworkout or 40 grams of protein and 75 grams of carbs (maltodextrin) and no fat. Use 12 calories per pound for week 1-2, 13 for weeks 3-4, 14 for weeks 5-6 and finally 15 for weeks 7+. I bet you get big and lose that stomach. Good luck!

BODZ 10 EASY STEPS TO LOSE FAT: #1 eat a low fat diet. #2 Add 3TB of flax oil daily. #3 Add 15 fish oil caps or equivalent (15g) of fish oil from salmon (approx. 4 oz) daily. #4 Get 20-30 grams of fiber daily. #5 drink a gallon or more of pure water daily. #6 Only eat carbs that are rated 50 or less on the glycemic index #7 No alcohol #8 after three weeks, eat a cheat meal every 5-7 days. #9 You can have wine or Vodka in your cheat meal. #10 If you are getting leaner and doing well, you can have a cheat day instead of a cheat meal. I would get 12 calories per pound of total bodyweight, with 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat. Don't forget to count your 57g of fat from the above added fats. You'll be getting at least 1 gram of protein per pound in that formula. If you weigh less than 200, your added fats will be higher than 20%, don't worry, eat them anyway. Good luck.

#5

Increasing your calorie intake on nonworkout days is a strange method. Yes, taking in calories will have a limited effect on your overall metabolic rate, but this would be swamped by taking in an extra 25% of calories. And your metabolic rate will be peaking on workout days: from hormonal factors, and from simple extra calorie burn. If you are willing to try Androsol, here is what I am personally going to try–and I’m in the same boat of wanting to both gain muscle and lose fat. Bill Roberts has mentioned on this forum that an acceptable (although heavy) cycling of Androsol would be A) 2 weeks with 2 sprayings/day; B) 2 weeks with a spraying in the morning, washed off with soap by 8 p.m.; and then C) 2 weeks completely off, with the cycle starting again after that. Following the same A/B/C pattern, I am going to concentrate on A) lean muscle gain, with high number of sets and high intensity, and high calorie intake; B) fat loss, with something similar to German Body Comp (high number of sets, limited rest periods), and a reduced calorie intake, particularly reduced carbs; and then C) “normal” training (medium-high intensity, limited total sets) and normal diet (enough calories to neither gain or lose scale weight), to let my body’s hormonal milieu return to normal. If you haven’t tried it, I think that Androsol makes a huge difference in results. 3 bottles should allow 12 weeks of the above, or even more, depending on how many sprays you apply. I don’t have time to edit the above, but my actual progression will be weight loss/weight gain/weight maintenance, or B/A/C. The reasoning is that the body seems most sensitive to putting on muscle directly from coming off of a reduced calorie diet.