Weight loss...muscle build...carbs...protein....AAARGH!
I am a 6'0'' medium-slightly stocky build 26 year old male. A few years ago I was training hard with my brother who is a power lifter, sucked down a lot of protein everyday and earned some fair muscle mass.
Well it's been two years and I've let myself go. I'm about 215 pounds and any muscle definition I once had is now covered. I want to get back into a swing of things workout-wise, but not as intesive as before - mostly due to the lack of funding to go to a real gym. I'm using my free apartment gym which has a lot of cardio stuff, free weights, and a nautilus machine.
My #1 goal is to lose the fat. But muscle mass would be nice as well - either that or toning the mass I already have. I've so far only been doing mostly cardio (and abs since I now have gut) and only cutting out sweets and junk from my diet; but I'm ready to take it to the next level.
For my situation, what should I do? Should I simply keep with the cardio and cut my caloric intake? I would even be willing to do something like Slim-Fast because I have the will power for it. Should I be doing something with more protein like I used to?
If you're getting around 3 servings of lean protein a day and exercising moderately, you shouldn't have to take protein supplements. It sounds like you're wanting to keep this in moderation, which is a good idea since few people can maintain a severe and rigorous workout schedule as a way of life. So, I think it would be in your best interest to do both cardio and moderate weight work, whether it's nautilus or free weights. The cardio will help you burn the fat over the muscle and the weight work (and ab work) will tone and build muscle; and muscle mass helps with weight loss and weight maintenance. Can you try to think of ways of improving your diet that you can live with - I'm not a big Slim-Fast fan because, unless you actually like it, it's a band-aid fix. Try and find ways to feed yourself that help with your goal of losing weight AND satisfy you. The more severe your diet, the more likely you are to binge or rebel against it. Moderation really is the key.
Heres what works for me...and its a pretty sound method
Cut your calories (around 1500) and eat nutritious foods containing healthy fiber laden carbs and low sodium proteins.
Mix up your cardio doing around 45-60 minutes going between the elliptical trainer (set with a large resistance).....treadmill (on an incline 4.5-9 degree)...and the stationary bike...all apartment complexes have these three.....I also mix up the intensities....walking some....then a minute burst of as hard as i can go to get my heart rate up to 85-90% of my max)
For strength training....add 3 workouts a week on top of your 5 day cardio routine...I actually mix in sets between 100 calorie cardio burns....on Mondays...I usually do heavy weights and max myself out...doing 5 reps of as heavy as I can go for three sets....then I do a lighter work out on weds...doing 10 reps and 3 sets.....and an even lighter one at the end of the week doing 15 reps and 3 sets.....then start the process again the next week.....I mix up the different strength exercises too, going between free weights and machines.
After every workout I suck down a creatine and protein shake (just those large buckets of crap you buy at wal-mart for around 15 bucks) within 15 minutes of my last rep whether I'm hungry/thirsty or not....this insures that those extra calories are immediately utilized in the muscle rebuilding process rather than nourishing your calorie deficit. You're not going to make huge gains because your calorie cutting is going to hinder your muscle building...but by fueling immediately after workouts, you have a better chance to make some progress.
Drink plenty of water...I mean tons of this shizzle! especially if you're taking any performance powders! Its what your muscles are primarily filled up with....with your size and frame, you should be sucking down around 120 grams of protein in order to keep your current muscle mass or gain.
So if you have the will power...and can put together something like this routine for 5 days a week, you'll see some awesome improvement....good luck....enjoy the draft!
Three absolutely incredible pieces of advice. Thanks!
Can you give some good examples of fiber laden carbs and low sodium proteins? Or, are there some links for good food and meal options that are heathly and may conincide with the 40/40/20? I grew up eating microwave popcorn for dinner so I really have no good healthy food sense.
Fiber One cereal is one of the best bangs for your buck in terms of fiber laden carbs...one serving can knock out 50% of your daily fiber needs....I try to chow down a bowl a day to keep my doodies flowing....sad thing about low sodium proteins is that its going to be raw meat and beans, and you're going to have to prepare it yourself....most pre-prepared meats (oscar mayer grilled chicken breasts, Hormel Brisket...etc etc) are going to be extremely high in sodium.....Also fast foods, even the "healthy" subway sandwiches are going to be high in sodium. Protein powders are a pretty good low sodium source, although its high in cholesterol.
personally, i think w/your stats you could stand to eat more like 2000calories a day. and if you start exercising often, you could eat even more and lose weight. 1500 is like whoa low.
some other fiber ideas: rolled oats have fiber. if you don't want to make oatmeal for breakfast or snack, you could add oats to whatever soup/rice disk you're making. or you could make a smoothie w/banana (super healthy fiber and electrolytes) and rolled oats and milk/protein powder/ice.
best of luck. lifting really helps you burn fat. the cardio's just extra calories burned, which is always a good thing when looking to shed some weight :) best of luck.
...eat 1500kcal a day... you should be sucking down around 120 grams of protein in order to keep your current muscle mass or gain
this is the only statement i tend to disagree with- your protein intake should be more in line with the other respondant-
up it to around 1g per lb of bodyweight-- if you load your day similar to the 40/40/20 prot/carb/fat mix you're better off in the long run w/fat loss & mass maintenance on a calorie restriction as techraven stated...
for a man, especially one who has responded well in the past to lifting/mass gain as you stated, eating 1500 kcal a day is NOT the way to go... unless you are looking to starve/lean down to a very low weight w/great amounts of fat & mass loss... you risk putting your body into a famine response (ugh, starvation mode) and not having anything but your body respond with keeping/hoarding all calories to pad on fat in fear it's not going to be properly fueled...
80% nutrition 20% fitness-- remember that equation!
his body will not go into starvation at 1500 cals....you can take that statement to any doctor and he/she would agree with me....and protein around 120-170 grams would be plenty to keep his mass as long as he times his protein intake after workouts.
Trust me, He'll see much faster results aiming for 1500 cals with no risk to his health. And dude, don't waste your time on ab excersises until you've reached 10% body fat...you won't be able to see them until then and they burn very little calories in relationship to the time spent doing them.
I've restricted my caloric intake to 1200 cals for the regular week with a carb load session on the weekends up that to around 1500-1600 cals, and around 80-100 grams of protein every day..now going on somewhere close to a year....check my pic...do I look like I'm starved with a boney chest and stick arms?..no, I'm of a similar build to the one you described, respondent to muscle gain with a historically stocky build at 5'-9.5"..I actually got up to 230lbs with no muscle and total blubber, before turning the ship around....don't listen to gym rats who are just spouting off what they've read and haven't tried. All you need is around 0.8-1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight....that comes out to 77-150 grams per day. Nobody responding to these posts are going to be doctors, nutritionists, or scientists. If you're lucky, you may get a response from a personal trainer, but their information is about as useful as if you've spent an hour doing Internet research. What I can guarantee, is that I've tried the method that i've presented and have put countless hours into research to fine tune it to maximize weight loss and muscle mass maintenance. Now if I drop dead tomorrow from a massive heart attack coupled with kidney failure while my muscle mass implodes, well..then you'll know that I was wrong.
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