Cant not drop a single pound, what am i doing wrong?

[theeboz]

Some help form you experienced awesome gents..

I know results take time and don't come fast, but not a single pound concerns me.

I'm 31, 5'9 , been stuck at 210 for quite a while this is before diet and exercise, doesn't matter if I stuffed myself at a buffet thanksgiving or whatever always remained at 210. Fast food daily even twice a day was my routine, no exercise and plenty soda and beer , still 210. Here and there I would start working out and stop still 210.

Now I have been working out hard , well at least for me as a beginner step, 2 hours each morning fasted, chest/back 50 minute cardio, arms tris, 50 minute cardio , shoulders 50 minute cardio, etc..sure I pour sweat and drain myself, Diet , not perfect and detailed as most here but 100% turn around from what I used to eat, no fast food during the week, I watch my calories, eat less, swith to wheat whole grain fat free this and that, plenty fruit and veggies, no soda or beer at least not during the week, and only cheat on Sunday maybe Saturday too, even then its only a meal and a few beers. Still 100% turn around

No fat burners yet,except for Lean xtreme, although I have some Dexaprine on the way to see if that gives me the push, all I take right now is the lean xtreme, protein, bcaa's and multi,fish oil , oh yeah and craze pwo.

This has been my routine for about a month now, I would think one pound would at least be in the books, had not weighed myself for two weeks hoping for a surprise but NO..does it take more time, I do feel the stomach less bloated but still plenty of fat hanging around. Muscle has came back a little from when I used to work out years ago, I do see that, can any pounds I lose be now pounds of muscles?

Excuse the long post, just a little discouraged but definitely am not giving up , not now not later. Any tips or advice..thanks

 

[Gerbil]

Calculate your basal metabolic rate and eat 200 calories less then that.
Do HIIT 4 times a week.
Do high intensity weight lifting.
Take out your processed foods.
Drink plently of water.
Stop drinking sugary drinks.
Eat vegetables.
Eat fruit.
Eat meat, eggs and fish.
.......
Profit

 

[EasyEJL]

you see fat vegetarians right? eating better foods doesn't guarantee loss. measure + weigh. figure what amount you really are eating.

 

[theeboz]

Calculate your basal metabolic rate and eat 200 calories less then that.
Do HIIT 4 times a week.
Do high intensity weight lifting.
Take out your processed foods.
Drink plently of water.
Stop drinking sugary drinks.
Eat vegetables.
Eat fruit.
Eat meat, eggs and fish.
.......
Profit

Thanks Gerbil, HIIT I do evreyday some form of it during cardio.
I will weed out my processed foods, water Im drowning myself in it now, before not even a cup a day, now Im at about 150 floz a day.
Sugary drinks havent been a problem as water is my only liquid aside from fat free milk for my protein.
will up the veggies ,Ive been staying away from meat doing mostly chicken and fish, so meats is ok?
And Im looking into this IIFYM diet I seen posted by someone else, is that any good? Im just reading up on it.

thanks again

 

[theeboz]

you see fat vegetarians right? eating better foods doesn't guarantee loss. measure + weigh. figure what amount you really are eating.

yeah I get you, I do look at my portions dont weigh them out though, might get into that, i dont expect a miracle with what Im doing, my only really point is i would think that from the lifestyle I was at which was straight couch potato eating everything in site , to the 100% active turn around now, I would have thought I deserved a little progress, but Im guessing its coming!

 

[Gerbil]

I love seeing pudgy vegetarians eating chocolate cake saying they are healthier then me.
It makes me realize there is a god.

you see fat vegetarians right? eating better foods doesn't guarantee loss. measure + weigh. figure what amount you really are eating.

 

[EasyEJL]

iifym isn't the absolute worst idea, but it does ignore food quality which is pretty meaningful

-Eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight
-Eat at between .5 to 1.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight
-Any remaining calories you have left in your daily total will come from fat

is their plan. But the way it is structured that .5-1.5g of carbs can be from bananas or cotton candy. similarly the fat source/quality is left out too.

something like iifym is decent so long as you do still use healthy calories, but then its not really iifym

if you can deal with the initial hunger curve, intermittent fasting can make a big difference

 

[EasyEJL]

I love seeing pudgy vegetarians eating chocolate cake saying they are healthier then me.
It makes me realize there is a god.

at one point we hired a fat girl vegetarian at work, and I was just dumbfounded. An indian girl so it was all veggies and rice with sauces. Probably 5'3 and 220lbs+

 

[Gerbil]

That is so much fiber. She must have lived in the bathroom eating that much fibrous food.

at one point we hired a fat girl vegetarian at work, and I was just dumbfounded. An indian girl so it was all veggies and rice with sauces. Probably 5'3 and 220lbs+

 

[EasyEJL]

we fired her so fast we never found out. she had no idea what the hell she was doing

 

[theeboz]

intermittent fasting [/SIZE]can make a big difference

can you tell me a little more about this or point me in the right direction, is it like the fasting for 16-18 hours or so and eating only though a certain time window.?

That is no problem , because of my schedule I already fast in some way.

Any recommendations while we are at it, as far as supps or fat burners, the truth is I hate stims, dont do really well with them, thats why I chose lean x but havent seen to many results, I know dexaprine is strong and Im kind of reluctant on taking it, but I need some sort of push, only reason i take craze is for that wake up shot!

 

[Gerbil]

Just fast for 16 hours and feed for 8 hours. I am personally on a fast for 20 hours feed for 4 hours which works pretty good for me. Make sure the majority of your calories is after weight training.

can you tell me a little more about this or point me in the right direction, is it like the fasting for 16-18 hours or so and eating only though a certain time window.?

That is no problem , because of my schedule I already fast in some way.

Any recommendations while we are at it, as far as supps or fat burners, the truth is I hate stims, dont do really well with them, thats why I chose lean x but havent seen to many results, I know dexaprine is strong and Im kind of reluctant on taking it, but I need some sort of push, only reason i take craze is for that wake up shot!

 

[EasyEJL]

thats it in a nutshell, keep your eating to 8 hours in a row or less.

plenty of articles + scientific research on it

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/content/eating-window-affects-1618/

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/content/eating-late-fat-1599/

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/content/six-meals-vs-1574/

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/content/why-does-breakfast-1566/

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/content/intermittent-fasting-health-1467/

and i will say that since it positively impacts insulin resistance, it does let you get away with eating more pixie sticks and cotton candy than a more conventional diet

 

[EasyEJL]

DCP is being clearanced out, is probably one of the best non stim fatloss out there

http://www.nutraplanet.com/product/genomyx/dcp-180-caps.html

 

[theeboz]

Thanks ill prob pick some up of that DCP..

As far as the fasting Ill look into all those threads just a quick question it, is my protein shake which I usually have right after work out, with a banana in it, should that be scratched or , just the banana part because of the fasting . Thats usually my breakfast there.

Thanks again. Also Im prob just drinking enough protein for half my body weight right now, because of not having so much access to it cause of my work day and also cause its really thick, MYOFUSION. And of ourse the price of protein another factor , is taking less protein than recommended a HUGE factor?

 

[Gerbil]

BCAA's can replace the protien shake just dont take a ton of them they have a miniscule amount of calories but it shouldnt effect the fast.

Thanks ill prob pick some up of that DCP..

As far as the fasting Ill look into all those threads just a quick question it, is my protein shake which I usually have right after work out, with a banana in it, should that be scratched or , just the banana part because of the fasting . Thats usually my breakfast there.

Thanks again. Also Im prob just drinking enough protein for half my body weight right now, because of not having so much access to it cause of my work day and also cause its really thick, MYOFUSION. And of ourse the price of protein another factor , is taking less protein than recommended a HUGE factor?

 

[EasyEJL]

well, the shake or not depends on your feeding window. you don't have to work out fasted

depends on who's recommended amount you are talking about. at 210, i feel you should take in at least 120g in solid foods, 160 would be better. Above that its by choice or desire

 

[THOR 70]

Cut the fat free milk and learn about glycemic index. Milk has a lot of sugar. Unless you are using it solely with your post work out shake. Also paleo lifestyle/diet is very beneficial. I'm attempting to IF with paleo meals. So far so good.

 

[saggy321]

Unless I've missed it, you've not mentioned your daily calorific intake. If calories are too low with your intense schedule, two hours, whilst fasted. You need ease back on your training and increase calories. I know it seems contrary to logic, but I have gone through a similar experience. I actually added fat when I increased training and reduced calories. My cortisol levels were so high that after a while I crashed and suffered from adrenal insufficiency and have been out of the gym for nearly two months.

As someone mentioned workout out your daily calorie requires, deduct 200 - 300 calories and ease back on your training.

 

[Gerbil]

Also just noticed, your title is a double negative congrats on the rapid weight loss.

 

[Basso]

If you really want to lose weight you need to track every calorie you take in, some people can cut out soda and lose ten lbs, folks like you and I though have to take weight lose a little more serious if we want to see success. You need to determine how many calories you need everyday (google harris benedict formula) if you account for the exercise drop 200-500 calories off per day and track it (3500 cal = 1 lb) so 500 cal per day deficit will lead to 1 lb loss per week. Also measure everything, it sounds like your having a little recomposition going on which is a good thing and common when you first start back up in the gym. If you lose an inch on your waist and don't lose weight that's a good thing, right? Step back measure, get a fit day or myfitnesspal account and start over.

Not bashing IF but it is not a life style diet, in other words you need to change your life to fit the diet, where a good solid diet plan will fit with your life. IF is short term and should only be used once your stuck, if you start with it your chance for rebound weight is a lot higher.
IMO you need to set you diet straight and determine your dedication to your cause, once that is in place and you've gone a few months you can start looking at tricks (IF, Keto, etc) to jumpstart your diet when it stalls. Starting off with a jumpstart method tends to lead to failure (not always, but holy crap just look around). Figure out your lifestyle diet FIRST, then when you run fad and trick diets you'll come off into you lifestyle diet and gain back 2 instead of 25 lbs.

 

[Docmattic]

Not having read every post in this thread, my advice would be to come up with a meal plan and eat these foods every day! Logically to loose weight you have to be in a calorie deficit; and although you may be eating healthier you sill may still be eating too much food/calories. This would be the only explanation i could think of.

What i would do is work out how many calories you are supposed to eat a day to maintain your current body weight and subtract 400 (this gives you a little room in case you slip up by 200 calories). Then create a structured and well thought out meal plan, and only eat these things each day. You will be setting yourself up for success. Then when you loose 2 pounds, do the same process again. because you will need to lower your calories more now to loose more weight.

If it interests you i could post an example of the diet i used to drop 26 pounds last year to shred up for summer. I figure this may help you come up with a plan. A word of warning though, it was pretty boring....to say the least haha. You probably wouldn't have to start there, but it would be the direction you would have to head towards the end.

 

[EasyEJL]

Not bashing IF but it is not a life style diet, in other words you need to change your life to fit the diet, where a good solid diet plan will fit with your life. IF is short term and should only be used once your stuck, if you start with it your chance for rebound weight is a lot higher.

That is bashing IF and also is wrong. It is a lifestyle diet and most pepper change their life far less to comply with it vs the 6 meals a day BS

 

[bpmartyr]

Not bashing IF but it is not a life style diet, in other words you need to change your life to fit the diet, where a good solid diet plan will fit with your life. IF is short term and should only be used once your stuck, if you start with it your chance for rebound weight is a lot higher.
IMO you need to set you diet straight and determine your dedication to your cause, once that is in place and you've gone a few months you can start looking at tricks (IF, Keto, etc) to jumpstart your diet when it stalls. Starting off with a jumpstart method tends to lead to failure (not always, but holy crap just look around). Figure out your lifestyle diet FIRST, then when you run fad and trick diets you'll come off into you lifestyle diet and gain back 2 instead of 25 lbs.

IF IS my lifestyle diet and I find it better than the grazing method.

 

[Doublejay]

Thanks ill prob pick some up of that DCP..

As far as the fasting Ill look into all those threads just a quick question it, is my protein shake which I usually have right after work out, with a banana in it, should that be scratched or , just the banana part because of the fasting . Thats usually my breakfast there.

Thanks again. Also Im prob just drinking enough protein for half my body weight right now, because of not having so much access to it cause of my work day and also cause its really thick, MYOFUSION. And of ourse the price of protein another factor , is taking less protein than recommended a HUGE factor?

Anything with a caloric value will break the fast. I find it's easier to cut calories when you only eat during the feeding window. Also don't worry about working out fasted you need to break the myth of needing protein and carbs right after your workout.

 

[Basso]

That is bashing IF and also is wrong. It is a lifestyle diet and most pepper change their life far less to comply with it vs the 6 meals a day BS

Relax it's just my opinion, like I said some people may be able to adjust to that. When I hit 10% I do some crazy diets to get below that but I can't maintain those diets with work, family etc. You have to do what works for you...long term, that is all I'm saying and Theeboz is just starting out, from my experience it's better to jump in slowly not head first, that's how you get your neck broke JMHO
I never bashed IF, I know it works it's just not a life style diet for MOST people.
This is an exchange of ideas to try and help a bro out, that is all I'm doing giving my ideas and opinions not trying to bash anyone or anything.

 

[EasyEJL]

Yeah, my feeling on it as a lifestyle diet is due to it being way easier to be compliant with it than most others. pick an 8 hour span to eat in, don't eat outside that. regardless of any other claims on IF, the thing that stands out is vs any other dietary strategy, eating identical food composition on IF ends up with you having better insulin sensitivity. What that means for the most part is you can afford to be more involved and less afraid of normal social eating. No "oh I can't have any cake/ice cream/whatever" at a party. And that can make a huge difference with compliance long term. That seems to be the worst part of 99% of the standard diets, you have to build in cheats and social life doesn't necessary work by a simple calendar.

 

[theeboz]

Hey thanks to all who have chimed in, appreciate the direction and advice..one thing everyone seems to agree with i definitely need to keep track of them calories instead of just feeling like I am eating better and lighter.

I believe i once calculated my needs to be at around 1800-2000 daily before I was active, I do believe roughly estimating Ive been keeping at 1500 daily. But that's rough estimating daily, I will definitely be stricter on that..

thanks to all definitely will be checking out some meal plans as well, i don't mind boring if its getting the job done!

 

[theeboz]

Cut the fat free milk and learn about glycemic index. Milk has a lot of sugar. Unless you are using it solely with your post work out shake. Also paleo lifestyle/diet is very beneficial. I'm attempting to IF with paleo meals. So far so good.

Yeah only take the milk with the protein, that myofusion is too thick and dont really like the taste in just water, sometimes a mix of water and milk. thanks for the heads up though

Unless I've missed it, you've not mentioned your daily calorific intake. If calories are too low with your intense schedule, two hours, whilst fasted. You need ease back on your training and increase calories. I know it seems contrary to logic, but I have gone through a similar experience. I actually added fat when I increased training and reduced calories. My cortisol levels were so high that after a while I crashed and suffered from adrenal insufficiency and have been out of the gym for nearly two months.

As someone mentioned workout out your daily calorie requires, deduct 200 - 300 calories and ease back on your training.

Saggy, i think you hit it right on in a way, there's days I feel empty drained not the first weeks but lately yes, i feel exactly like Im doing too much and nothing is helping in sense of recovery , i have wondered if its that I dont intake enough food and burn myself out to failure everyday mostly, at least cause Im just starting out. The fasting in the morn before workout is not too much thats its part of my program , but mostly that I get up and am on a strict time schedule to make sure I have enough time in the gym...Ill definitely be trying to squeeze in a protein shake from now on with a fruit or something.

thanks for all advice.

Also just noticed, your title is a double negative congrats on the rapid weight loss.

haha its is huh, it was just a case of typing away trying to get some resolution to my issue, don't congratulate me yet though ..ILL GET THERE.

 

[theeboz]

Anything with a caloric value will break the fast. I find it's easier to cut calories when you only eat during the feeding window. Also don't worry about working out fasted you need to break the myth of needing protein and carbs right after your workout.

So protein and carbs immediately after a workout are not a must??? Ive been believing strictly in that.

 

[EasyEJL]

So protein and carbs immediately after a workout are not a must??? Ive been believing strictly in that.

Your body is more flexible than that

 

[EasyEJL]

So protein and carbs immediately after a workout are not a must??? Ive been believing strictly in that.

Your body is more flexible than that

 

[theeboz]

..

.If it interests you i could post an example of the diet i used to drop 26 pounds last year to shred up for summer. I figure this may help you come up with a plan. A word of warning though, it was pretty boring....to say the least haha. You probably wouldn't have to start there, but it would be the direction you would have to head towards the end.

Hey there Doc, interested in that meal plan/diet , if you dont mind can you post it or send it to me in a PM or something, that should be of some great help to me, and congrats on the success you had with it. thanks

 

[fueledpassion]

Here are my suggestions

1) Eat more fiber and fibrous carbs in your diet. Have a serving at every meal.

2) Lower your fat intake and raise your carbohydrate intake. Carbs burn more energy than fats to process and are less likely and less efficient at being stored up as fat.

3) So long as you don't have a bunch of simple sugars, the more carbs you eat the more carbs you burn.

4) Do low-intensity cardio when you are training, and do it when you are in a glucose-depleted state such as post weight-training.

5) Get plenty of sleep.

6) After about 4-6 weeks of this process, move your cardio up to two-a-days, which should be once first thing in the AM and once post-weight training.

 

[theeboz]

Here are my suggestions

...

....

4) Do low-intensity cardio when you are training, and do it when you are in a glucose-depleted state such as post weight-training.

5) Get plenty of sleep.

6) After about 4-6 weeks of this process, move your cardio up to two-a-days, which should be once first thing in the AM and once post-weight training.

So low intensity cardio is better for burning fat? Not the first time Ive heard this, but always figure something more intense like HIIT would be better? i do overdo it on intensity when it comes time for cardio so I dont know, and sleep definitely need to improve on this..
thanks

 

[Docmattic]

Hey there Doc, interested in that meal plan/diet , if you dont mind can you post it or send it to me in a PM or something, that should be of some great help to me, and congrats on the success you had with it. thanks

Yeah, no problem.

Meal 1 Scrambled eggs (this recipe is good)
3-4 Eggwhits+ 1-2 full eggs (combined for a total of 5)
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 table spoons of salsa
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of chicken stock.
This was mixed into nice mixture where the cottage cheese was smoothed out. It tastes great

Meal 2: 2 carrots with hummus +wpi shake
Id cut up 2 carrots into sticks and dip them in humus followed by a wpi shake in water

Meal 3: Chicken + vegetables
I actually used a fattier meat to keep fat levels up. I used premade chicken kababs (on sticks)
I ate 50g worth of protien + 1/2 packet of baby spinach and 1/2 capsicum/bellpepper

Meal 4: Same as meal 3

Postworkout: Protein shake with 1/2 scoop of dextrose

Meal 5:
200g Tuna +1 cup of cooked brown rice
Id eat more tuna if i was still hungry

Meal 6
200g cottage cheese with 1/2 scoop of casein protein
Or a Casein shake.

I did this doing cardio 4 times a week and lifting 3-4 times a week

Id also increase low gi carb intake every 3 to four days (usually aroudn by basketball games) up glucose stores. Id eat a little less protien and fats that day to accomidate.

 

[EasyEJL]

So low intensity cardio is better for burning fat? Not the first time Ive heard this, but always figure something more intense like HIIT would be better? i do overdo it on intensity when it comes time for cardio so I dont know, and sleep definitely need to improve on this..
thanks

HIIT is better for burning fat, but you at doing something wrong if you can manage to do HIIT before our after your workout. A serious 12 minute HIIT session should leave you too wiped out to work out

 

[fueledpassion]

So low intensity cardio is better for burning fat? Not the first time Ive heard this, but always figure something more intense like HIIT would be better? i do overdo it on intensity when it comes time for cardio so I dont know, and sleep definitely need to improve on this..
thanks

Correct, low intensity cardio is best for fat-burning. The reason is quite simple.

Your body cannot break down the fat molecules and use them for energy quick enough for high-intensity exercise such as flat-out running and anaerobic exercise such as heavy, moderate-paced lifting. So instead of pulling from fat reserves, the body actually pulls from glucose reserves for HIT purposes. In fact, the body cannot pull from fat energy in high intensity and anaerobic exercise.

If the exercise is slow and steady and therefore much less demanding of energy, the body can use fat cells as it's primary source of energy during such. Granted, it can pull from either glucose or fat but this is why I said to train low-intensity after heavy lifting so that your glucose levels are rather low. Otherwise train in the morning before eating, where again the glucose levels are low. It is also important to note that when you lift weights, your body secretes more testosterone, epinephrine and T3 to metabolize fat molecules. This process takes 30-60 minutes to take it's full effect which is another good reason to consider cardio after weight training.

I'll go ahead and explain briefly why carb cutting is a big no no in bodybuilding. As you can imagine, we need plenty of carbs for the HIT stuff like weight-lifting and circuit training of the sort since our body cannot resort to fat for fuel during this type of exercise. But we also need little to no carbs remaining in the system for cardio in order to pull from fat reserves exclusively. When you cut your carbs, you actually aren't providing greater opportunity for fat burning. Sure, you'll lose weight - just not good weight. If you cut carbs, expect to lose 1 pound of muscle for every 2 total pounds of weight. This is why people generally get weaker on keto and carb-cycling diets. I'd also mention that not only are they catabolic to the skeletal muscles but also the heart, which is dangerous. You should never need less than 1g of carbs per lb of body weight - period. If those carbs are clean, this is more than enough carb cutting to maintain most of your muscle and still effectively burn fat. Honestly, if you have the timing and diet correct, you can bulk and cut simultaneously by targeting fat cell usage at certain times during the day while still eating enough carbs to adequately provide the constant fuel the muscles require. Don't believe me? I've been cutting for 3 weeks now while eating 300+g of carbs every day with my 175g of protein. Granted, I eat very little dietary fats but I replace them with MCT. Anyways, I've gotten leaner and heavier.

Dieticians never bothered to tell online forums why we should cut carbs or increase carbs depending on our goals. We do all of this to manipulate the insulin to glucagon ratio, which determines everything when it comes to whether or not you build muscle or lose fat. That ratio should change depending on the goal of fat loss or muscle building. Protein and carb intake has a direct relationship with the ratio, so as you can imagine eating a certain ratio of carbs vs. protein can easily put us where we need to be.

Hope this helps. I long-winded. I know.

Also, I understand that alot of people on this board do not agree with half the statements above. I can easily find documented studies indicated such results. There are also tons of other sources that explain the metabolic science of the body which you will find is congruent with what I am saying here.

 

[AaronJP1]

iifym isn't the absolute worst idea, but it does ignore food quality which is pretty meaningful

-Eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight
-Eat at between .5 to 1.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight
-Any remaining calories you have left in your daily total will come from fat

is their plan. But the way it is structured that .5-1.5g of carbs can be from bananas or cotton candy. similarly the fat source/quality is left out too.

something like iifym is decent so long as you do still use healthy calories, but then its not really iifym

if you can deal with the initial hunger curve, intermittent fasting can make a big difference

IIFYM, I like this, you just have to limit tons of sugars & fried garbage... Possibly not over eat carbs. Either way, I try to control carbs and get a healthy dose of protein. Throw in some cardio and lifting and u should be good.

 

[AaronJP1]

Correct, low intensity cardio is best for fat-burning. The reason is quite simple.

Your body cannot break down the fat molecules and use them for energy quick enough for high-intensity exercise such as flat-out running and anaerobic exercise such as heavy, moderate-paced lifting. So instead of pulling from fat reserves, the body actually pulls from glucose reserves for HIT purposes. In fact, the body cannot pull from fat energy in high intensity and anaerobic exercise.

If the exercise is slow and steady and therefore much less demanding of energy, the body can use fat cells as it's primary source of energy during such. Granted, it can pull from either glucose or fat but this is why I said to train low-intensity after heavy lifting so that your glucose levels are rather low. Otherwise train in the morning before eating, where again the glucose levels are low. It is also important to note that when you lift weights, your body secretes more testosterone, epinephrine and T3 to metabolize fat molecules. This process takes 30-60 minutes to take it's full effect which is another good reason to consider cardio after weight training.

I'll go ahead and explain briefly why carb cutting is a big no no in bodybuilding. As you can imagine, we need plenty of carbs for the HIT stuff like weight-lifting and circuit training of the sort since our body cannot resort to fat for fuel during this type of exercise. But we also need little to no carbs remaining in the system for cardio in order to pull from fat reserves exclusively. When you cut your carbs, you actually aren't providing greater opportunity for fat burning. Sure, you'll lose weight - just not good weight. If you cut carbs, expect to lose 1 pound of muscle for every 2 total pounds of weight. This is why people generally get weaker on keto and carb-cycling diets. I'd also mention that not only are they catabolic to the skeletal muscles but also the heart, which is dangerous. You should never need less than 1g of carbs per lb of body weight - period. If those carbs are clean, this is more than enough carb cutting to maintain most of your muscle and still effectively burn fat. Honestly, if you have the timing and diet correct, you can bulk and cut simultaneously by targeting fat cell usage at certain times during the day while still eating enough carbs to adequately provide the constant fuel the muscles require. Don't believe me? I've been cutting for 3 weeks now while eating 300+g of carbs every day with my 175g of protein. Granted, I eat very little dietary fats but I replace them with MCT. Anyways, I've gotten leaner and heavier.

Dieticians never bothered to tell online forums why we should cut carbs or increase carbs depending on our goals. We do all of this to manipulate the insulin to glucagon ratio, which determines everything when it comes to whether or not you build muscle or lose fat. That ratio should change depending on the goal of fat loss or muscle building. Protein and carb intake has a direct relationship with the ratio, so as you can imagine eating a certain ratio of carbs vs. protein can easily put us where we need to be.

Hope this helps. I long-winded. I know.

Also, I understand that alot of people on this board do not agree with half the statements above. I can easily find documented studies indicated such results. There are also tons of other sources that explain the metabolic science of the body which you will find is congruent with what I am saying here.

Pretty interesting read. I have noticed that when upping carbs or lowering carbs it's usually water weight. People forget about the calorie side of it.
I don't believe in fasting too much outside of 12 hours which is sleeping. Carbs & water in the muscle go hand in hand that's why some weight fluctuations can very. I also don't believe in super low carbs/no carbs.
I think some people stress the issues a bit too. 40/30/30 macro I like, just adjust cals. Either. Sometimes people over calories and carbs... Hell everything.

 

[theeboz]

Once again thanks to all..really learned a lot here through everyone's ideas, and I had to step back and rework my whole approach to diet and exercise here..

To be honest been feeling like crap lately the first two weeks were alot of fun, full of energy and the past two Ive felt a huge crash and fatigue no matter what Im taking. after learning about all this I had miscalculated my calorie intake big time i think,and had been starving myself in a way, guess I used a formula but didnt take into account my work out days..and I mean at least for me I have been killing myself in the gym , nothing less than two hours, no sitting around..straight doing and going to that from the couch potato I was is big for me.

Id been roughly like i said intaking 1500 cal on my rough take, and yes this meant starving myself at times. , I now see that number should have been closer to 2500...I did the calculations again can someone tell me if this sounds right.

Im 5'9, 31yrs, 210..BMR comes to be 2039..I has subtracted the 500 deficit withouht taking into account my activity, no wonder Im feeling weak.

If i use the Harris method someone above suggested..take my activity as moderate cause i do 5 days a week if not 6..comes out to 3160

3160 with at least a 20% reduction is 2528...2528 should be the calories I consume and still safely drop weight , does this sound correct? Should I go off of this, or is there more detail to this?

Thanks in advance

 

[EasyEJL]

sounds good, but 2 hours in the gym? thats really too long

 

[theeboz]

sounds good, but 2 hours in the gym? thats really too long

Yeah like I said i Kind of jumped into this on a mission..I do about an hour of weight training , and maybe 10-15 minutes abs followed by 50 minutes cardio. Daily one day off...I was burning myself out, but when your sick and tired of being out of shape.haha I guess thats how it goes,

Definitely will take a step back, and redo my whole work out routine and especially diet. Any suggestions on not spending so much time in there, or is cardio everyday not good?

just want to make sure I got my calorie intake right this time. Thanks

 

[EasyEJL]

well, an hour weight training isn't bad, but 10-15 minutes of abs is a waste, just include them as part of a workout day. that and drop cardio some. Overall getting past 75 minutes is where you start to get more cortisol effects, and so start losing more muscle.

or separate cardio completely, do an hour of it in the morning, and your strength training later in the day.

 

[AaronJP1]

I wouldn't say he'd magically burn muscle after 75 minutes...

Either way if you are going to eat a couple hundred calories more, use (extra) cardio to compensate for it.

 

[Docmattic]

Yeah like I said i Kind of jumped into this on a mission..I do about an hour of weight training , and maybe 10-15 minutes abs followed by 50 minutes cardio. Daily one day off...I was burning myself out, but when your sick and tired of being out of shape.haha I guess thats how it goes,

Definitely will take a step back, and redo my whole work out routine and especially diet. Any suggestions on not spending so much time in there, or is cardio everyday not good?

just want to make sure I got my calorie intake right this time. Thanks

Hey man,

Instead of doing 50 minutes of cardo, you could achieve a lot more with high intensity interval training. You only need about 15-20 mins.
I like to use the stationary bike as an example as its easy on all the joints.

Warm up for 5 mins at a pace which you can talk. This is 90 rpm for me.
I also set the resistance light enough so i can sprint without burning out my legs too quickly.
Then after five minues use the first 20 seconds of each minute to sprint. I usually raise the RPM to 120+ (by the middle i am at 135 or 140rpm)
Then drop back to 90 rpm for 40 seconds and repeat until the 20 minute mark.

Alternativly you could do a 30sec/30sec split and drop to 20/40 towards the end when you get tired. It depends on how fit you are. I think the 20/40 would be a good start and will be much more effective and less time consuming than slow cardio sessions.

 

[Basso]

2500 sounds a lot better for you, and I agree that your spending way to much time in the gym, mix up HIIT with steady cardio, I like to do HIIT on non-workout days because I'm not so shot from the workout, then do about 30 min of low intensity on workout days, just depends on how you feel, if your feeling burn out it may be because you are. Don't be afraid to take a day off, the rest usually helps more than hurts.

 

[Jiigzz]

HIIT is the way to go if you want to burn BF.

Performing alot of cardio is not catabolic and this view point is in serious need of revising. If your diet is in check then your body has no need to catabolize muscle and it doesnt want to.

 

[theeboz]

HIIT is the way to go if you want to burn BF.

.

Hey man,

Instead of doing 50 minutes of cardo, you could achieve a lot more with high intensity interval training. You only need about 15-20 mins.
I like to use the stationary bike as an example as its easy on all the joints.

...
Alternativly you could do a 30sec/30sec split and drop to 20/40 towards the end when you get tired. It depends on how fit you are. I think the 20/40 would be a good start and will be much more effective and less time consuming than slow cardio sessions.

Ok I always did some form of HIIT while doing my cardio, I have since all these discussion adjusted my diet better, and cut back the cardio after work out to 30 min.

Now as far as HIIT , on page 2 someone explained why low intensity cardio would be better to burn the fat after weight training than HIIT , it made sense just as it has always made sense that HIIT also does a good job at fat burning, so now Im confused a bit.

After weight training would 25-30 of low intensity be better for fat buurning weight loss purposes or 15 min of HIIT?
Or should I stick to low intensity on wieght trainng days and HIIT alone on say my off day or ab day?

My schedule with work family and school, does not allow me to split up cardio and weights during the day as some people suggest weights in the morning cardio in the evening, I only have one shot a day to get this done, which is why i do the 6 days a week every morning I try to take advantage of the precious time I do have that's why I do the 2 hours or so.

EDIT: it was fueledpassion's post that states on page 2
" Correct, low intensity cardio is best for fat-burning. The reason is quite simple..."

That makes sense to me, but now im confused, I know i shouldn't look too much into it and analyze everything, but Ive been doing that with no results, I want to make sure i get the most out of the time I have busting my as$

 

[EasyEJL]

Now as far as HIIT , on page 2 someone explained why low intensity cardio would be better to burn the fat after weight training than HIIT , it made sense just as it has always made sense that HIIT also does a good job at fat burning, so now Im confused a bit.

other than the fact that he's wrong, sure. He uses a logic path which makes sense to get there, but real world scientific studies show differently. 2 minutes of REAL HIIT causes as much additional fat burn over 24 hours as 30 minutes of low to moderate intensity does. the HIIT jacks up your metabolism for hours, which is superior for some of what he talks about even in his post. your rate of lipolysis is limited. The energy burned over 24 hours is more important than the energy burned for a half hour.