Guidance needed - lose BF%

DrunkenMunk

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Ok this is my first post, but I could use some guidance...

I started lifting again November 08 and things have been going pretty well. It seems that I can not cut BF though.

Height: 5'11
Jan 09 - Starting weight: 186 BF: 18% (according to scale)
May 09 - Current weight 162-165 BF 15%
Goal: July 09 weight-165 BF 10% or less

Supplements:
Currently none. Was on Cellmass, Nitrix, and No Xplode for a couple of months, but have been off for a month now. Considering going back this week. Good or bad idea?

My current diet:
Meal 1: Shake 24g protein skim milk: 8 g protein
Meal 2: Simple Harvest multigrain cereal (I hate oatmeal, but this stuff is good)
Meal 3: Ground Turkey or Chicken, vegetables. whole grain bread
Meal 4: Shake 24g protein skim milk: 8 g protein
Meal 5: Ground Turkey or Chicken, vegetables. whole grain bread
Meal 6: Shake 24g protein skim milk: 8 g protein

Average Protein 160g per day

I currently drink 6-8 beers a day which I am cutting as soon as the 12 in the fridge are gone. Can't leave those in there. Not a big deal as I have done this several times before.

Lifting 4 days a week: 60-90 minutes
Running 4 days a week: 40 minutes (Training for my first 5k)

I really don't want to lose anymore weight just BF. Any tips or tweaks I should be making?

Also I have heard that running will cause muscle loss and not burn fat. Is this true? I just started running about 3 weeks ago, so I haven't really seen either yet.

How much water should I be getting per day?
Any supplements recommended?
 
SuppKnight

SuppKnight

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Ok this is my first post, but I could use some guidance...

I started lifting again November 08 and things have been going pretty well. It seems that I can not cut BF though.

Height: 5'11
Jan 09 - Starting weight: 186 BF: 18% (according to scale)
May 09 - Current weight 162-165 BF 15%
Goal: July 09 weight-165 BF 10% or less

Supplements:
Currently none. Was on Cellmass, Nitrix, and No Xplode for a couple of months, but have been off for a month now. Considering going back this week. Good or bad idea?

My current diet:
Meal 1: Shake 24g protein skim milk: 8 g protein
Meal 2: Simple Harvest multigrain cereal (I hate oatmeal, but this stuff is good)
Meal 3: Ground Turkey or Chicken, vegetables. whole grain bread
Meal 4: Shake 24g protein skim milk: 8 g protein
Meal 5: Ground Turkey or Chicken, vegetables. whole grain bread
Meal 6: Shake 24g protein skim milk: 8 g protein

Average Protein 160g per day

I currently drink 6-8 beers a day which I am cutting as soon as the 12 in the fridge are gone. Can't leave those in there. Not a big deal as I have done this several times before.

Lifting 4 days a week: 60-90 minutes
Running 4 days a week: 40 minutes (Training for my first 5k)

I really don't want to lose anymore weight just BF. Any tips or tweaks I should be making?

Also I have heard that running will cause muscle loss and not burn fat. Is this true? I just started running about 3 weeks ago, so I haven't really seen either yet.

How much water should I be getting per day?
Any supplements recommended?

Alcohol slows fat burning. Drink once a week only (Fridays or Saturdays) and you'll see the difference.
 
CDB

CDB

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To lose fat the trick is simple: eat less. Keep lifting so your body is less likely to drop muscle, but you will lose some. Normally I'd say hit some HIIT, but if you're training for a 5K you're going to want to adapt for long term running so you shouldn't change your distance running. Some people have luck dropping carbs or going ketogenic, cyclical or targetted route. While these diets do have effects on hormones and make you a bit more/less likely to burn this or build that, the key point to remember is energy in vs energy burned. If the former is smaller than the latter, you'll lose weight. Train and eat right and you'll minimize muscle loss and maximize fat loss.

Normally what works best for you is something you have to discover. First thing you should do is get a spreadsheet and track yourself for a baseline measurement, tracking diet macros, total kCal, weight, bodyfat%, activity level and what kind of activity. Then modify your diet. Drop calories, see what happens. Drop carbs, see what happens. Etc., Etc. All some people have to do is drop overall kCal intake and they respond great. Others need a more keto approach to maintain muscle. Some do great with minimum protein intake and a shitload of carbs. On here and irl I've seen it all as have most. Beyond basic guidelines you're not going to know what works best for you until you discover it.
 

DrunkenMunk

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Alcohol slows fat burning. Drink once a week only (Fridays or Saturdays) and you'll see the difference.
I figured this was one of my biggest problems. I started in January not drinking at all and slowly started again. Stupid Stupid me.
 

DrunkenMunk

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To lose fat the trick is simple: eat less. Keep lifting so your body is less likely to drop muscle, but you will lose some. Normally I'd say hit some HIIT, but if you're training for a 5K you're going to want to adapt for long term running so you shouldn't change your distance running. Some people have luck dropping carbs or going ketogenic, cyclical or targetted route. While these diets do have effects on hormones and make you a bit more/less likely to burn this or build that, the key point to remember is energy in vs energy burned. If the former is smaller than the latter, you'll lose weight. Train and eat right and you'll minimize muscle loss and maximize fat loss.

Normally what works best for you is something you have to discover. First thing you should do is get a spreadsheet and track yourself for a baseline measurement, tracking diet macros, total kCal, weight, bodyfat%, activity level and what kind of activity. Then modify your diet. Drop calories, see what happens. Drop carbs, see what happens. Etc., Etc. All some people have to do is drop overall kCal intake and they respond great. Others need a more keto approach to maintain muscle. Some do great with minimum protein intake and a shitload of carbs. On here and irl I've seen it all as have most. Beyond basic guidelines you're not going to know what works best for you until you discover it.
Thanks...I think I will start a sheet today and drop the alcohol for now. I will try to post again in a week and see how it goes.
 
lennoxchi

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add 30 minutes of treadmill walking on your lift days......but only low impact. high intensity normally uses carbs as a primary energy source and fat second, whereas low intensity uses fat as a primary source. not to say the high and low do not burn both, but your body has a preference. i believe thats why HIIT is so popular
 
CDB

CDB

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add 30 minutes of treadmill walking on your lift days......but only low impact. high intensity normally uses carbs as a primary energy source and fat second, whereas low intensity uses fat as a primary source. not to say the high and low do not burn both, but your body has a preference. i believe thats why HIIT is so popular
If he's going to invest 30 minutes I'd recommend intervals over steady state. It's not about burning carbs vs fat, it's about creating a calorie deficit which you can do with either approach, but since he's already got a healthy amount of steady state training it could benefit him to go with intervals for any additional cardio in his routine.

Munk, when it comes to cardio and steady state vs interval, real world says one thing while research says another and none of it is conclusive because of issues with the research such as trained subjects vs amateurs, lack of calorie controls, etc. You burn less calories doing intervals overall, but for some reason people seem to lose more when using intervals in the real world, trained and untrained. The reasons could be anything from hormones causing a quicker rise in fat oxidization to the same causing a blunted appetite and lower calorie intake over time. My recommendation is based solely on the fact that you're already doing a healthy portion of steady state cardio. A mix might give you some of the benefits of interval training. For a pure calorie deficit though steady state will generally win out.
 

DrunkenMunk

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So would you suggest 3 days steady 3 days interval or maybe 3 steady 2 interval? I really can't see interval doing anything negative toward me 5k training. Is that too much?
 
Tone

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get rid of the alcohol bro, you'll see a HUGE difference 6-8 beers a day??? how long have you been doing that??? thats over 1,000 empty calories a day, not to mention it dehydrates your body, im pretty sure your muscles need water in them to grow...

I would up your protein intake to about 200-250g a day, take some BCAA before you do cardio.... key is to drink about 1/2 your body weight in oz of water per day as a baseline. Usually more tho, supps you should have multi vitamin, Omega 3/fish oil, maybe some creatine thrown in there...

JUst my opinion, everybody is different
 
CDB

CDB

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So would you suggest 3 days steady 3 days interval or maybe 3 steady 2 interval? I really can't see interval doing anything negative toward me 5k training. Is that too much?
Depends on your tolerance. I don't see the interval training affecting your distance training so long as you don't tire yourself to the point where you compromise that training. Remember the key point is a calorie deficit. Intervals are something to try because they may offer a couple advantages that steady state doesn't, nothing more. In the end as with diet the solution that works best for you is something you need to discover. You may find intervals a perfect complement, you may find them too much, at least while you're still training for distance.

The two things to remember regarding diet and training are energy and specificity. Energy in vs energy out determines weight gain or loss, your goal determines training because your body will adapt to the stress it's given. So if your goal is distance training, you should train to that goal, and while that doesn't mean avoiding HIIT, it does mean you can't let the HIIT compromise the steady state because that's more relevant to your goal. Whether it will or not is something you'll only know by trying.

Also, to address the previous post: you do not need to gorge yourself on any particular amount of water. A good rule of thumb to drink when thirsty, and when hungry, drink a little water first, it may just be thirst. You do not need colorless piss to stay hydrated. You do not need a specific amount of protein such as X grams per pound of body weight or this minimum amount no matter what either. A calorie is a calorie. How your body reacts to it can be different, but in the end energy is energy. You should trim the beer, not because they're empty calories, but because they're excess calories you don't need. You're trying to lose weight, so it's like having a sound healthy diet and then dowing three snickers bars for the hell of it. Detrimental to the overall goal. As for supps the multi and oil are good ideas for general health. Creatine causes bloat in some, it's up to you whether or not to use it. Most other supplements are either ineffective trash, or they do what they claim but what they do is largely irrelevant to the goals most people put them too. If you get knee pain I find cissus to either be a great placebo or a great analgesic. Either way, it 'works' in my experience. There's also some old rat studies plus some more recent human stuff I believe about BCAAs specific to dealing with fatigue which may be an issue training for distance.
 
lennoxchi

lennoxchi

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Also, to address the previous post: you do not need to gorge yourself on any particular amount of water. A good rule of thumb to drink when thirsty, and when hungry, drink a little water first, it may just be thirst.
Gorge no, but waiting til you are thirsty is a great way to become dehydrated. it is completly absurd to think that simply by being thirsty that is the time to drink water, by that itme your already too low on H2O. take your weight....i'll do mine. 195lbs. now multiply by .8 for moderate daily weight training or aerobic training or .9 heavy weight training daily......195x.9=175.5 oz of water a day.....split it up so you do not gorge yourself as CDB wisely stated.....175.5/10=17.55 oz in 10 sittings.
 

Rah22491

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up your protein and get as much real food as possible. There is no substitute for food. Shakes are good but adding in 6oz chicken or turkey instead will speed up your meatbolism causing you to burn more fat. Turkey and chicken breasts are also much more natural and do not have artificial sweetners and such that shakes do. My rule of thumb is to only take in shakes pre and post workout. Also add some more greens, THey are low in calories but will make you feel fuller than you are as well as provide essential nutrient and vitamins
 

DrunkenMunk

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Day 1: No beer...I actually left it in the fridge.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I am going to try to switch between interval and steady for a couple of weeks and see how things go. Also going to up my water intake and add some fish oil.
 

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