Loose the fat, not the muscle?

Hi everyone, Im new to this site and this my first post on here and was hoping to get some input into what some of you think...

I currently just graduated college and started a great new job and am in a new point and my life and I thought now would be a great time to start to eat/be healthier everyday.  I am a big guy, currently 6'6'' and 325, and I am just a big framed person, so I know I wont ever be extremely skinny, nor do I want to be.  But I got to a point where I don't like myself, so wanted to start to change it.  I have read a lot on here, and understand, that the only way to loose fat is to have a caloric deficit.  My goal is 250 for now, and I have started to work towards this, eating between 1500 and 2000 calories a day, and I have been loosing weight slowly but surely, which is fine with me, to me this a marathon, not a sprint. 

I was going to get a gym membership here at work (only $30 a year so why not?)  and here is my question.  I am worried that simply eating less and doing cardio will help me loose the fat, but it will also cause me to loose the good stuff, i.e. muscle.  So what's a good way/routine to loose the fat but keep the muscle.  I know I most likely wont be able gain muscle while im loosing, but I would like to eliminate the loss of it as much as possible. 

Any insight into routines/workouts that would help me to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated, as well as any other tips for dieting and weight loss in general, I could use all the help I can get.

Thanks!

p.s. sorry if this has been answered on here before, there was way to much for me to look through all the other threads.

I read on here yesterday that doing 4-5 days a week cardio, and 3-4 days a week toning is good for you. Im not sure if that was just for women, but hopefully someone with more experience can answer you soon, I am new to this site too. Good Luck in reaching your goal.

First thing first. You are very tall, and 325lb. If you eat 1500-2000 calories and exercise cardio, you will lose muscle left and right. I would start with this to be safe and healthy and then adjust from there:

 

2500 good nutritionally complete and dense calories. Split meals into 5-6 a day. I keep a 40% protein 20% fat and 20% carb diet basically and make damn sure I get 4 liters of water and 30g of fiber every day. 

I started at 360ish so you can believe this stuff works. If you can bike or treadmill 30-60 min a day 4-6 days a week, that is awesome. If not, work up to it and anything you do will help. Weights... well what is working for me is every other day a full upper body strength routine. Bench incline, dips, shoulder press, shrugs, bicep curls, tricep curls, ab machine, raised leg lifts, front and reverse flys, pull downs. Start light for a week or two to get your muscles used to being worked, then begin to push them. 8-10 reps two to three sets each. 

 Coming from being huge, natural leg strength and size is a given. So I do a lower body set once a week. I don't want my legs getting bigger. But the elliptical is making them bigger anyway and doing legs any more than once a week isn't what I need.

Thanks for the thoughts!  I deffinitely dont care as much about the weight as I do just being fit and healthy.  So I guess I should set a goal for body fat index instead of weight, but to start I think a goal weight will be good.  I will deffinitely start hitting the weights here soon to try and keep that muscle content up. 

 Whats a good way to get protien?  I have recently been eating a lot of pasta with light sauces and chicken or ground turkey, salads, light soups, tuna sandwidches and some cereal for breakfast.  I have been sticking with the pasta because of the low calorie/fat content but was concerned with how much it was upping my carb intake (and its cheap and easy, along with the job I bought a house, so paying a mortgage for the first time and trying to balance the budget with everything).  But on the other hand I was thinking a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit and it doesnt matter what kind of calories those are, so I would loose weight anyways.  Maybe this is wrong to think, so that brings me to my next question. 

Do the type of calories you eat while in a caloric deficit affect what kind of mass you burn?  So if you eat more carbs will you have more of a chance to loose the muscle, and if you eat more protein you will have more of a chance to loose the fat?  Or does it not matter, and if you are in a caloric deficit, you will loose mass in general and its the type of exercising you do that will dictate whether it is more fat or muscle?

  There is so much information out there and its hard to decide what is good and what is not, so thanks again for all your inputs, and any other advice/tips/routines would also be greatly appreciated.

 Thanks again!

The weight training will help you not lose muscle. Switch to whole wheat pasta. My favorite pasta meal is 1 box of wheat rotini with 1.5 lb chicken, 1 bag of spinach, mushrooms, white onion, pine nuts, and a nice sauce(vodka sauce is great). When its all done, divide it into 8-10 portions. It should work out to be a 500 calorie rather balanced meal.

 Also the amount of deficit will really determine how much fat/muscle is lost. More than 3 lb a week at 300ish might be a decent amount of muscle lost. At least in my experience. 

And to boost protein I drink chocolate silk soy milk with two scoops of whey protein. I want to look into casein protein too since it has a longer release time.  

Hi,

  I've heard keeping your target heart between 70-75% help to keep fron burning muscle.  The other thing I've read is a study from Harvard medical school that 9grams of protein for every 20lb you weigh.

Jam that protein down your gullet for sure.  Chicken, Turkey, fish.  I also drink muscle milk for recovery after I lift.  Since you have a lot to lose and are not so concerned about having big flashy muscles I would stick to a full body weight routine 2 or 3 times a week.  Bang on those muscles and feel the burn my friend.  I know I have said it a million times on here but forget the isolation exercises like curls and stick to compound joint lifts like: deadlifts (my fav), squats (several kinds), presses (bench, Military, etc) and pulling (chin ups and lat pull downs).  Do 3 or 4 of these exercises each time and it will help you out in the beginning without making your weight routine to complicated.  For demos of these lifts and more ideas go to bodybuilding.com.   its a god send

I have read that if you diet without strength training you will lose fat and muscle and as a result of the muscle loss your metabolism will decrease.  And that if you diet and perform Cardiovascular exercise, you will lose fat and possible even more muscle. So, your metabolism will go down then too. With decreased metabolism it is harder to loose fat.

We have fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers. Cardio exercises use slow-twitch. Slow-twitch fibers are more efficient at using oxygen. Continued high-intensity cardio workouts will have your body adapt by shrinking the fast-twitch muscle fibers so it can develop the slow-twitch fibers. Your body will then become more effecient at using oxygen and you will not have to work as hard and will use less calories.

Fast-twitch muscles are essential for giving our bodies that toned shape we like. We build fast-twitch muscles by strength training.

Strength training burns calories during and after the workout. Depending on the size of the muscle group worked, 5 to 10 calories a minute while you exercise. So, a 30 minute workout uses 150 to 300 calories. And afterwards you have more lean muscle than when you started, which means you will use more calories because the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn just standing around.  So, make sure you feed your muscles before you strength train. Protein is the food it needs. Eat a bit before and after your session.

Interval training makes a difference so "they" say. So,  I don't sit around between sets. Have a drink of water, take a breath, and go on. Ten reps of a heavy enough weight that ten is all I can do.

I have been weight training three times a week and eating three 300-400 calorie meals and  three 100 calorie snacks a day. (Men should eat three 200 calorie snacks) for three months now. Lean meat and fish, vegetables, fruit, low-fat cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt. My clothes have gone down four sizes. I don't weigh 160 lbs anymore. I am just around 140 now. If I don't lose anymore weight I don't care, because I know I will continue to tone up.

I can't take credit for what I am doing. I bought a book and follow it. It is written by a guy who has been a personal trainer for years. The author's name is Jim Karas and the book is Cardio-Free Diet. Ordered it from Chapters. I am so impressed with my own results working out with just hand held weights that I recommend the book to anyone who asks what I am doing.

My husband and I are doing this together. He looks great and feels so good. And from what he and my friends tell me, so do I.  It was hard to do those exercises on the first day. But week after week we could see the improvement. It was great to see how strong we were getting. Not bigger, just stronger. My husband was hoping his biceps would get bigger, but they've toned up first maybe they will get bigger in time.

I can't take credit for what I am doing, but I do take credit for the results. I have been eating well, and working hard to get to this.

I like the book because it makes it easy with the recipes, menus and two exercise routines. (we have been doing the hand held weights and are now trying out the resistance tubes just for a change)

My joints are getting older and complained when I was trying running last year. They are doing fine with the weight training.

I echo what "agana" has written. Do compound lifts. Use more than one muscle group at a time. The things we do in our daily lives use multiple muscles at a time, so I think our exercising should incorporate multiples too.

So, obigmcveyo, my suggestion is forget the cardio and go for strength training. Your joints will thank you. You will tone up and build beautiful muscles as the fat melts away. Not huge ones, just beautiful ones. If you are able to take a look at the book and see for yourself if you like it, great.

I like the 40-20-20 rule.  40%carb, 20% protein,20%fat.  If your looking to build muscle, some estimate you need 2 grams of protein for every pound of body weight.  Since your're only trying to maintain muscle while losing fat 20% from protein should be adequate.  You need to make sure you have enough carbs though(primary source of fuel) or your body will take from other places(muscle) to keep the body running.

Also I would shoot for 1-1.5 pounds a week.  Some maintain that anymore weight loss than this in a week will result in muscle loss as well.

For the Protein take powder supplements Whey is the best out there. Get ON 100% Whey if you can but if your on a budget get the ones at walmart.

Thanks for all the great advice, and tips, they are all very usefull!

 I plan on starting up at the gym next week and Im thinking Im going to go to pure weight lifting 3 days a week (full body work outs), and and then on the off days doing some cardio and some light weights afterwards.  That is to start anyways.  I use to be a wrestler in high school (heavyweight of course, so not cutting weight for me) so the weight training is nothing new, but that was a while ago now so Im sure it will take me a while to get back into things.  So I hope that doing this at first will get me back into the swing of things, and while focused on weight lifting, will still throw some cardio in so it will hopefully give me a good balance and help me to achieve my current goal of just being in general good shape and health.  How does this plan sound to everyone?  Im flexible so in a few weeks I can tweek it or change it if I find it to be to hard, to easy, or Im not really seeing any inprovements. 

And I have always been cautious about taking the protein shakes and supplements because I was always afraid they were to many calories.  If I am getting my 2000 calories now a day, wouldn't taking a protein shake of some kind put me way over?  I guess taking that is assuming I cut something else out, but wouldn't it be better to add in some other form of protien into my diet just with my meals (more poultry and fish) and less of something else? 

 Thanks again for all the tips and advice, I appreciate all the time you have all put into helping me, and I will try see how to incorporate all the ideas my diet/routine.

If you can get all the protein you need from real food than go for it.  I have a hard time cause I eat quite a bit less than you.  Plus I noticed that muscle soreness is greatly reduced when I drink my Muscle Milk light right after for recovery.  the light stuff only has like 180 cals in it and you mix it with water.  It doesn't even taste too bad and gives you 28 grams of protein for 2 scoops and its has a bunch of other vitamins in it too.  Crap I sound like a Muscle Milk commercial  lol

40% 20% 20%?  That's only 80%.  What's the other 20% consist of?

I actually meant 60-20-20 as one ratio to do if you're looking to maintain.  You need enough carbs for fuel so your body doesn't look elsewhere(muscle).  I had just got done reading an eariler post and had the numbers 40-20-20 in my head and typed them without realizing my mistake.  You could also go for a 50-33-17 ratio

you will be very hard pressed to lose fat, consuming that many carbs. If you increase your protein intake your body will use the amino acids as fuel, it is just a more complicated process. What works for most of my clients and myself is a 50-30-20 combination. The 5o being proteins, 30 carbs, 20 fats. It will work very well to lean out and maintain muscle mass. Your muscles need proteins not carbs.

I would like to thank all of you again for all the input advice, it is very much appreciated.  A couple question have come to my mind that I was wondering if anyone could answer...

 First, I feel that the higher protein will be better simply with my likes in food and what not, I love meat, and am not a 'carb junkie' in the least, so I feel it will be easier for me to do, and stick with, if I go the higher protein route.  Though i will deffinitely continue to try and eat a balanced diet, but will probably lean more towards the protein.  So my first question is, whats a good breakfast food that is high in protein (besides eggs).  I dont mind eggs, I just would prefer a little more variety and every other breakfast food I can think of is nothing but carbs.  Also, cholesterol/heart problems run in the family (on my dads side anyways, not on my moms, another reason I want to get into shape/be healthier) so I try to shy away from eggs and what not if I can.    Any thoughts/ideas there would be awseome!

 My second question, how bad is diet soda really?  And if it is bad for you, is it caused by the carbonation or the artificial sweetner, or both?  I use to drink a lot of diet soda, while i am not a carb junkie nor do I have a sweet tooth, it is nice since I eat virtually nothing with sugar or sweetness to it.  I have cut back a lot (I use to drink 60+ ounces a day, and I am down to about 20 ounces), and drink water instead, but I was just curious as to any thoughts out there on if it is really bad for you, and why? 

 Thanks again for all the inputs, I love learning about this and finding the best way to go about accomplishing my goal.

you could try a shake in the morning, Canadian bacon. You don't always have to eat breakfast food in the morning. So eat chicken or a lean steak!

The artificial sweeteners are not the greatest, and a lot of empty calories. Stick with water, but if you want one every once in a while, then drink one.

yeah I am with bodyscience.  I rarely have breakfast food for breakfast.  Too many carbs most times.   I eat chicken and bean burritos...mmmmm....burritos.  They are easy to make especially if you cook the chicken earlier in the week so all you have to do is slam some chicken, blackbeans, pico de gallo, and a sprinkle of cheese on a whole wheat tortilla and nuke it.   I like to put a little broccoli and carrots in there too for my veggie count.  I have also been known to put a thin piece of pork chop on top of my waffles and light syrup.....oh baby I love mixing food. 

 I dont' think diet soda is really really bad but I just think they taste like crap.  I just have one of those little tiny cans of coke every once in awhile.  

"40% 20% 20%?  That's only 80%.  What's the other 20% consist of?"

 

For me the great pillar of life, Vodka. :) I didn't make an error in my math :p 

eggs are high in fat only if you eat the whole thing. Egg whites are where the protein is. So for brekfast try an omelet made with egg whites. Here are two recipes...

5 egg whites, 1 cup of each of  tomatoes, green peppers, broccoli, chopped, 2ounces of low-fat cheddar cheese, grated.

spray your skillet with cooking spray. Mix the eggwhites with the veggies, put in the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cook. Flip it over in the pan if you can so it all gets cooked.

The other recipe uses 1.5 ounces of feta cheese instead of cheddar, 5 egg whites, 1 cup each of spinach, broccoli and chopped tomato. This makes a big omelet, but it is tasty.

Another idea for breakfast is using peanut butter and plain oatmeal. If you can find plain microwaveable packets, take one of those, add the water and cook it in the microwave and add a tablespoon of peanut butter and a medium chopped banana. I like this one when I don't have lots of time. I have even used 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Kraft makes light pb that's only 80 calories a Tbsp.

Then there is always yogurt or cottage cheese. Mix them with fruit.

I like the burrito idea, but I can't find low calorie tortillas.

Have fun inventing new recipes!

Thanks again for all the great advice, I will deffinitely try and start adding a lot of those ideas to my weekly shopping list.  Thanks again, and as always, any other tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.