My predicament

[GetToDaChoppa!]

Stats:
age: 26
5'11"
201 pounds 20% bodyfat
working out 2 years
Previous weight: 295

current diet: 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fats

caloric intake: 2,400 daily average

Weights: 4 days a week
Cardio: 4 days a week 30 minutes

First, I want to say thanks in advance for looking at my post and giving me some advice.

As a matter of brevity, I'll keep this short...er

The age old question: Should you cut, then bulk or bulk then cut. Can you do both moderately well?

So what does this entail? I love lifting weights, but should I skip them for cardio until I'm at a more manageable body fat level?

My former diet was a meat/veggie diet with carbs (oatmeal) only in the morning. This was an incredibly successful diet that allowed me to drop as much as a pound a day at higher body fat levels. It's been very slow since I reintroduced higher carbs in my diet. lifting weights is just grueling -as you all know - without carbs and kinda takes the fun out of going to the gym.

So, what do I need to do? Stay with painfully slow fat loss while still enjoying lifting weights, or drop the calories further/change diet and routine?

Thanks for chiming in.

 

[3J]

hows the cardio looking and when are you doing cardio

 

[tazman03]

With the right training partner, lifting weights can be somewhat of a cardio workout to.
Throw on a sweatshirt, put in your headphones, DONT TALK TO ANYONE!! have your workout pre planned and hit it HARD. I used to hit the treadmill 15 minutes prior to workout and 15-20 after my workouts. Or just go for a nice jog in the morning, and then do a little more cardio later in the afternoon at the gym.
Just a thought.......

In your case I would say lean out now. Warmer weather is just around the corner and most dont want to be trying to bulk in spring/summer months.

I always hear people saying I am on a no carb diet, i feel bad for these people?
Always eat your oats/fruits in the morning as this helps speed up your metabolic rate.

 

[scotimusprime]

ya throwing up weight can definately get you burning a lot of fat. took me a while but i went from round 220 to 185 at one point and did absolutely no cardio.

diet played a huge role in this but i did full body workouts and got in decent shape. never got really strong tho but it did the job i wanted it to do.

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

hows the cardio looking and when are you doing cardio

Because of my school schedule, I usually only hit the gym at night. So I get home around 5:00pm, eat small protein/carb filled meal, wait an hour then go to the gym. Cardio is usually done for 30 minutes right after I am done with my workout (1 hour to 45 minutes). I usually do steep incline on the treadmill set around 3.5 mph and some jogging intermittently. As soon as I get home, I make a protein shake (40 gm protein) with some frozen fruit to help replenish some glucose/glycogen. That is my last meal for the day.


I guess I should have mentioned that it's more important for me to get down to less than 15% body fat before June/July. Not sure if that information greatly changes perspective.

 

[3J]

ill be back on this next monday bud.. im in finals and have a heavy workload.. thx for the patience

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

I hear your pain. I just finished up the most grueling quarter of my college career. Thanks again.

 

[projecthatch92]

I think it would be a great idea to cut. Everyone gave some really good advice on how to manage everything. I would start with maybe 2-3 days of some moderate cardio, drop your carbs a little bit, and see where it can take you. Just my .02. Gotta listen to your body before anything else.

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

Still interested in getting your thoughts on a proper diet jamyjamjr. If you have time.

 

[3J]

Stats:
age: 26
5'11"
201 pounds 20% bodyfat
working out 2 years
Previous weight: 295

current diet: 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fats

caloric intake: 2,400 daily average

Weights: 4 days a week
Cardio: 4 days a week 30 minutes

First, I want to say thanks in advance for looking at my post and giving me some advice.

As a matter of brevity, I'll keep this short...er

The age old question: Should you cut, then bulk or bulk then cut. Can you do both moderately well?
at 20%, i would cut and then bulk...
So what does this entail? I love lifting weights, but should I skip them for cardio until I'm at a more manageable body fat level?
cardio should be done regardless. you should up your cardio for cutting...
My former diet was a meat/veggie diet with carbs (oatmeal) only in the morning. This was an incredibly successful diet that allowed me to drop as much as a pound a day at higher body fat levels. It's been very slow since I reintroduced higher carbs in my diet. lifting weights is just grueling -as you all know - without carbs and kinda takes the fun out of going to the gym.
1lb a day is very unhealthy.. your body was starving itself
So, what do I need to do? Stay with painfully slow fat loss while still enjoying lifting weights, or drop the calories further/change diet and routine?
figure out your bmr/tdee for me and get back to me..
Thanks for chiming in.

bold.. the formula for bmr/tdee is in my sticky

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

BMR: 1892
TDEE: 2932

**When I said I dropped on average a pound a day, I weighed 255 and dropped to 225'ish. That was about 8 months ago. Now I'm hanging around 200 pounds with this regular isocaloric diet. It seems that the diet worked well and went steady until around 3 months ago. I've just basically plateaued.

I fully agree with needing to cut consistently until I reach my goal, 12% body fat or under I think is sufficient.

Should I just do some real light work outs? Maybe 20 - 25 minutes with more repetitions then hit the cardio for 45 minutes?

The only thing I'm try to avoid is losing too much more muscle. My bench presses are so low it's pathetic. I'm barely able to bench 225 now....

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

...nevermind

 

[3J]

...nevermind

hey there dont go off getting sour.. im sorry i missed u.. iv had to catch up with 10 days worth of work on this forum... iv missed more then one person, but if you check my sticky or my profile, i let everyone know to pm me if i dont get back to them.. im only human bud

looks like we need to go much deeper into this to find out whats going wrong..

here's what i want u to do.. i want u, for the next 2 days, write down everything you eat... portions.. times of meals.. times of workouts.. how much cardio.. everything...


come back to me.. seeing ur current diet will tell me what i have to change and where i have to take u

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

Deal. Thanks.

 

[3J]

anytime.. we'll get u squared up.. just be patient... ill make sure to personally take care of u

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

I made an error saying my diet is 40/40/20 ratios as I forgot fat has 9 calories instead of 4. Although, my calorie intake is usually pretty consistent. Sometimes I zigzag caloric intake day by day to change things ups; some days more, some less. I see by doing this i probably take in a little too much fat. If I were trying to bulk I would be much more concerned with my protein and carb intake. But since I am just trying to lose fat and maintain what I have, I figured I should just focus on the caloric intake. Anyway, I appreciate your time 3J.


MACRO's as follows: Protien / Fat / Carbs / Calories


03-25-10

9:30
Beef stew, whole wheat bread, 2 cups fat free milk
54/39/94/1000

11:30
Rice cake with hummus
5/8/19/155

12:00 GYM WORKOUT 30 minutes, Cardio 30 minutes.

1:15 PWO drink
scoop of whey protein with frozen fruit no extra sugar
25/0/25/200
Turkey jerky
20/2/18/160

2:00
Rice cake with hummus
5/8/19/155

4:00
Whole Orange
1.2/.2/16/62
Rice cake with hummus
5/8/19/155

6:00
Rice cake with hummus
5/8/19/155

7:30
Rice cake with hummus
5/8/19/155

8:30
Slice of cheese
18/18/2/240

Totals:

142/99.2/2412
**I don't have a hummus fetish or anything, it was just in the fridge on convenient.





03-26-10

9:30 am
2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 1 medium yukon gold potato, 1 fat free yogurt, 2 cups fat free milk
44/26/69/670

11:30 am
25 minute workout (Back) and 45 minutes cardio

1:15 pm
Fruit smoothie with whey protien powder and fat free milk
33/1/50/370

2:00 pm
string cheese
6/6/0/80

2:30
Turkey jerky
10/1/9/90

3:30
Granola bar
3/4/25/140

5:50
Turkey Jerky w/ slice of cheese
16/10/10/200

8:00
steak/chicken w/ rice pasta (no flour)
64/22/48/650

10:30
Turkey jerky
20/2/18/160

TOTALS
196/72/229/2360



03-27-10

10:15 am
Whole wheat non-flour bread, fat free milk, 2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites
50.4/20.6/66/652

11:00 am
WORKOUT - 30 minutes cardio

1:15
1.5 cups of fat free milk 2 granola bars
18/8/66/420

3:15
Slice of cheese and turkey jerky
32/20/20/380

4:15g
Apple
.6/.4/28/118

8:00
3 corn tortillas w/ 1/3 lb 93% lean ground beef and 1 cup of fat free milk
65/22.5/39/635


10:00
Chicken breast with veggies
50/5/10/285

TOTALS:
216/76.5/229/2490

 

[3J]

your hitting the right caloric numbers here... u said when u started to introduce carbs to your diet your weight loss has slowed down right?? how much weight are u losing a week now? has it stalled?

do u have a carb up day? a.k.a. refeed day?

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

Yeah, I reintroduced carbs about 5 months ago. In those 5 months, I've lost only about 7 pounds. I don't really have a refeed day because I thought my carbohydrates intake was pretty high and did not really call for one. So in short, it has pretty much stalled. Maybe I need to employ some kinda carb cycling diet to confuse my body... I dunno ...

 

[3J]

well.. up your pwo protien.. make it fast digesting.. so a shake would help...

i think u should do a refeed.. if it doesn't help, then we'll start manipulating your diet in diff ways..

u could also up your cario to 45 min over the next 2 months.. that'll help you lose weight...

refeed yourself with complex carbs only.. oats, yams, sweet potatos, red kidney beans, brown rice etc.. keep your protien intake the same and drop your fats down to nothing.. eat well... try to eat about 3300 calories

 

[GetToDaChoppa!]

Alright thanks dude. How does the refeed work? do I do it once a week or just eat how you described for a week or so? Is it okay to eat good fats like olive oil and almond butter?