First of, I’m 175cm, 75kg, 22 years old. Goals are to gain as much muscle as i can. So far I’ve done 4 months of a year long bulk. However i have overshot my calories (4500 calories a day), and as i result i am carrying a lot more fat then intended.
This is not a problem now, but another 8 months of feasting like a bear (85% clean i swear!) will make it worse, especially since i started with 18-20% body fat (self caliper measured).
Question is, is there anyway to reduce the fat without limiting muscle gain (e.g.taking BCAAs and doing fasted cardio in the morning??). I have cut carbs out except for breakfast, pre work out and post work out.
You can’t achieve both at the same time cause they are counterproductive to each other, which means you have to pick one and stick to it. Also, it doesn’t matter if you are consuming most of your 4500 calories clean. If 4500 calories surpasses your total energy expenditure your body will store the excess as fat even if the diet is clean. Get a diet log and lower calories until you reach a point where your gaining muscle and not so much fat.
thanks, - i mainly wanted to get the opinion on fasted cardio in the morning with some BCAAs. I read here on T-Nation (dont have the link) that it won’t interfere with mass gain. Is there any truth to this??
[quote]Dule wrote:
thanks, - i mainly wanted to get the opinion on fasted cardio in the morning with some BCAAs. I read here on T-Nation (dont have the link) that it won’t interfere with mass gain. Is there any truth to this?? [/quote]
It very well could be true, but everyone is anatomically and physiologically different so it might or might not work for you. You need to try it yourself and see if it helps towards your goals. You keep asking about cardio as an option to limit fat loss but the simple thing to do would be to just lower your Kcals.
Cutting calories to 4000 is the first thing that i did. I have now begun measuring my self with a tape as well as scales, so every 2 weeks i will asses weather i need to increase/decrease calories. BUT i wanted to know (and i realize this is unorthodox and counter productive to my greater goal of mass gain), if there is any way i can loose a bit of the fat which i have accumulated, WITHOUT limiting my gains too much.
[quote]Dule wrote:
Cutting calories to 4000 is the first thing that i did. I have now begun measuring my self with a tape as well as scales, so every 2 weeks i will asses weather i need to increase/decrease calories. BUT i wanted to know (and i realize this is unorthodox and counter productive to my greater goal of mass gain), if there is any way i can loose a bit of the fat which i have accumulated, WITHOUT limiting my gains too much.
[/quote]
Fix your diet and up the intensity in the gym. If done correctly you will gain more muscle and less fat, over time that will decrease your bf %. If it really bothers you, cardio once or twice a week won’t make or break your gains.
It sounds like you were too far over your maintenance, if you are around 165 lbs. you could probably gain on 26-2700 calories a day – depending how physical your job is.
First of, I’m 175cm, 75kg, 22 years old. Goals are to gain as much muscle as i can. So far I’ve done 4 months of a year long bulk. However i have overshot my calories (4500 calories a day), and as i result i am carrying a lot more fat then intended.
This is not a problem now, but another 8 months of feasting like a bear (85% clean i swear!) will make it worse, especially since i started with 18-20% body fat (self caliper measured).
Question is, is there anyway to reduce the fat without limiting muscle gain (e.g.taking BCAAs and doing fasted cardio in the morning??). I have cut carbs out except for breakfast, pre work out and post work out.
Any ideas will be appreciated!! [/quote]
It took you 4 months to figure out that you were over-shooting your calories by way too much? It should take no more than 1 week if not less to know that you are stuffing your face with too much food. Just find out where your maintenance is and eat a few less calories than that along with some cardio and the fat should melt away without losing much muscle at all. You could be holding much less bodyfat right now and the same amount of LBM if you had thought this through somewhat 4 months ago. After the first week of bulking, you should have looked in the mirror and said to self “Damn, I am eating way too much and gaining way too fast, maybe I should cut back a bit” It’s careless bulking and now you want to cut the fat? Come on!
[quote]Chi-Towns-Finest wrote:
It sounds like you were too far over your maintenance, if you are around 165 lbs. you could probably gain on 26-2700 calories a day – depending how physical your job is.[/quote]
the confusion is with all the calorie calculators. The massive eating one, says i should be eating 4500, but then others range from 3000 - 4000. Oh well trial and error i guess.