Looking to change

[bigrewards]

Looking to change body composition. Here is some background.

6'2"
38 year old Male


Trained as a triathlete up until the end of 2013. My training and racing stopped however I ate way more than I should have. End of that race season I was 165 lbs.

Fast forward to this year and at the end of January I was 220. Started a calorie deficit
And Stronglifts 5x5. Currently I am at 199.

I had a Bodpod measure done and it said I am currently at 25.3% body fat.

I have researched and everything I have read says I should get down to 10-11 percent body fat before trying to gain muscle.

So I basically I have to lose around 30 more pounds of fat and get stick thin again before I should think about adding muscle?

 

[ManimalPatB]

No you don't have to lose 30 lbs of fat and get stick thin to restart everything, YOU just need to refine what you have

First and foremost you need to clean up your diet to help you lose and shape everything.

So first off

WHAT are you eating? What are your macros? What is your training like?

 

[bigrewards]

Calories 1900 per day
Macros 40P/30F/30C

Supplements: Creatine Mono, mutivitamin

I try to eat a variety of food chicken, tuna, steak, eggs, egg whites, salad, peanut butter, almonds, Brocolli, carrots, whey protein, etc...

Workouts
Doing the standard Stronglifts A B split

Squats
Bench
Barbell Row

Squats
Barbell Shoulder Press
Deadlift

Core specific work

Cardio

Treadmill brisk walk 15 minute warm up and 15 minute cool down

Brisk walking for a total 1 hour including the warm up and cools own every day.

 

[ryox82]

We are in the same ballpark and doing the same workout for the most part. I was down to 203 from 226 as of yesterday. I am doing either 2 a days or cardio on off days and its usually a mix of row machine and stair master for that. Since you are on a program you at least have something to gauge progress off of. Are you r lifts going up? How about weight? Clothes fitting?

 

[bigrewards]

Clothes are definitely much looser. Pants are to big around the waist At 1900 calories I am at at least a 500
Calorie defecit so I wouldnt expect I am building muscle. On the 5x5 program you start fairly low and we are now am starting to get to the point on some of the lifts that it is getting hard.

 

[ryox82]

Personally, I wouldn't change anything unless you start missing a few sessions or start to feel like you're regressing. My personal struggle is since it is a progression program you WANT to keep getting stronger and it spoils you at first.

 

[bigrewards]

If I don't change anything I will keep losing weight. Honestly I don't have any desire to be 6'2" 165 to be at 10% body fat before I start adding muscle. So that was the initial reason for the post.

 

[ryox82]

If I don't change anything I will keep losing weight. Honestly I don't have any desire to be 6'2" 165 to be at 10% body fat before I start adding muscle. So that was the initial reason for the post.

You could always attempt adding 200-300 calories (as simple as a few eggs/egg whites) on lifting days in addition to your usual diet and monitor for two weeks and adjust accordingly.