[Swanson52]

I've been a member here for a few years, but mostly I lurk and read. Back when I joined I was in great shape, and didn't have much to worry about; now that I'm 32, married, and freaking FAT I come back to AM.com for some help.

I have been lifting for about 16 years, and spent my whole life in athletics. Just in the last 2 years have I gotten LAZY and very out of shape. Currently I am 6'3", about 300#, and I would put my bf% at 25-27%, which is flat-out unacceptable.

I have been hitting the HIIT (15-20 mins 3x week), Max-OT weights (4x week), and I play basketball for a couple hours twice a week.

Diet-wise I started (Jan 1, of course!) with about 3250 cal/day, then 3000 cal/day the next week, now I'm at 2750 cal/day, but I think I need to be at 2500. My BMR is about 2700. My macro breakdown has been (pro/carb/fat) 40/40/20, which I track at Fitday. I also take in about 10 liters of water a day.

Now-the part where I have become incredibly confused-supplementation. Thus far (2008) I have only supplemented with ON Whey, flax and fish oil, calcium, magnesium, potassium, multi and an occasional ON MRP in lieu of ice cream when I get the urge. I have been reading, reading, and reading more about good stacks, recomp and fatloss, and am FREAKING CONFUSED. I ordered some, read more, ordered different, so now I have a TON of supplements, have used nothing, and need some direction.

If you have read this far, here is what I purchased from Nutraplanet-DCP/Leviathan, SyntheSIZE, NOS Ether, Napalm, Meltdown, HyperdrolX2 and MassFX. I know that is a bunch of stuff, and I didn't plan on using it all together, but these are the supps that I read people stacking and having great results, one way or another.

Please feel free to suggest something, I thought about starting with the DCP/Leviathan and SyntheSIZE initially, running that for about 8 weeks, then switching to the AX stuff, NOS Ether, Meltdown and Napalm at that time. I am not so much worried about adding muscle mass, as I have plenty, I just want to get rid of that 'sloppy' look of atrophy and drop fat. Lots of it.

Make suggestions, make fun, but help me set this up so I can look like this cat ----->

[Hank Vangut]

i know you are eager to crack open the bottles of new fat burners you just purchased......

but with where you are at today, i would recommend waiting.
start losing weight w/just your diet and excercise. and do this for as long as you can get results.

once you hit a plateau and it gets increadibly hard to cut any more calories and work out any harder - then add in the supps.
it will give you that slight boost and keep you motivated when you need it most.

this is what supplements are really for.
using them any other way is a waste.

[EasyEJL]

your plan sounds ok honestly. its as good as anything else I'd stick at the 2750 a couple weeks and see how it goes. the BMR doesn't include exercise, so you should be at least 500 cal a day in defecit anyhow and start to get some loss. The faster you drop it now, the less room you have to drop it later once loss starts to slow

[macedaddy]

have to agree with hankie poo..........wait to introduce the supps at this point till you get closer to your goal.

you will burn incredible amounts of fat with what you are doing now.

[crader]

Originally Posted by EasyEJL

your plan sounds ok honestly. its as good as anything else I'd stick at the 2750 a couple weeks and see how it goes. the BMR doesn't include exercise, so you should be at least 500 cal a day in defecit anyhow and start to get some loss. The faster you drop it now, the less room you have to drop it later once loss starts to slow

I agree with EZ. Run your stack of DCP/Levi and Synthesize for 8 weeks. See where you are at then and re-evaluate.

[macedaddy]

well, darn it, christine, now we need a tie-breaker!

[Swanson52]

Originally Posted by macedaddy

have to agree with hankie poo..........wait to introduce the supps at this point till you get closer to your goal.

you will burn incredible amounts of fat with what you are doing now.

Yeah, I know what you're sayin, its just hard to resist the temptation of the supps staring me right in the face. I realize their purpose and appreciate it, I'm just impatient. After being in shape, it's hard to be so horribly OUT of shape, and I want badly to jump start things with the supps.

But I understand your point, and what I REALLY need to do is strike the balance between a calorie deficit and starvation mode, then operate in that range. I haven't established the point at which my metabolism is working at its most effective, so I think fine tuning the diet until I can get to that point is the best course of action.

As I posted earlier, where I probably need to be for maximum effectiveness is around 2750 or so; I don't want to end up completely catabolic, but I need to establish a comfortable deficit.

[macedaddy]

you seem like you have your macros down and an understanding of what needs to be done.....

I am sure that after a week or 2, then you can add the supps in. Because you can't totally get your diet dialed-in if you don't know its the diet or the supps that is doing most of the work.

[EasyEJL]

makes sense. i'd still say regardless of supplements to leave cals as they are another week or so, and see if you are dropping noticeably. So many factors in terms of water retention, fiber, etc that monkey with weight

[Swanson52]

Originally Posted by macedaddy

you seem like you have your macros down and an understanding of what needs to be done.....

I am sure that after a week or 2, then you can add the supps in. Because you can't totally get your diet dialed-in if you don't know its the diet or the supps that is doing most of the work.

I do have a *general* understanding of nutrition and exercise, its all these new supps that have me confused. The best part about AM.com is there are more people here that have forgotten things about nutrition than I will ever know.

For a frame of reference, the last stuff I used was M1T with 4AD, pre-ban and UCP-1. I haven't been around any supplement, period, for a few years. I realize there is no magic answer to legit, permanant weightloss aside from work and proper nutrition; I'm just trying to get a grasp of all this new stuff.

Rep all around!

[Swanson52]

I guess one question I forgot to ask; I can see where the DCP/Levi fit in; where am I with the MassFX, Hyperdrol and Meltdown? Is that something that has a place here, or did I go completely wrong with those?

[macedaddy]

you didn't go wrong with any of those purchases........

although.meltdown looks like a VERY good profile, it just scares me as many things as they decided to methylate (not that all methylation is bad, they do it for absorption reason) But its primary ingredient is TTA and yohimbe which you get between the DCP/Levi stack. The FX and HD will help you retain/gain muscle mass while lsoign fat if you chose to throw them in. When you decide to use the supps, I would start with the DCP/Levi ( i am currently on this stack and LOVING it), then go to the meltdown and then hit it hard with the FX and HD. This should take you into the summer months, much leaner.

[Swanson52]

Originally Posted by macedaddy

you didn't go wrong with any of those purchases........

although.meltdown looks like a VERY good profile, it just scares me as many things as they decided to methylate (not that all methylation is bad, they do it for absorption reason) But its primary ingredient is TTA and yohimbe which you get between the DCP/Levi stack. The FX and HD will help you retain/gain muscle mass while lsoign fat if you chose to throw them in. When you decide to use the supps, I would start with the DCP/Levi ( i am currently on this stack and LOVING it), then go to the meltdown and then hit it hard with the FX and HD. This should take you into the summer months, much leaner.

Excellent, informative reply! Much appreciated with that. Using fitday, I set my goal weight at 250 by June 1, which equates to 2.4 pounds per week, which seems to be a very attainable yet healthy number. Obviously if I could recomp somewhat and weigh more than that with a bf% in the 13-15 range, I would be happy with that. Dropping 10-15% bodyfat is no small order, however.

[EasyEJL]

Yeah, save the HD + FX till the end, would be particularly handy if loss really stalls out. Then start those, and slash calories a bit further, counting on them to maintain and possibly still add muscle mass.