Fat loss plans

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

For the past 3 months I have been attempting to lose bodyfat while preserving LBM. Thus far, I have had rather good success going from 204 lbs to 188 lbs without losing any strength (even gaining some) in all my muscles.

However, I seem to have hit some kind of barrier. Now I am losing weight much more slowly, and I am starting to feel very slightly weaker in the gym. I am starting to think it has something to do with my diet. Could some of you suggest a good diet for a 190 lb person? I have a pretty good knowledge as to what is good and bad for a fat loss plan, however… I do not have any bodybuilding enthusiast friends and so it is difficult for me to find people to discuss these issues with.

I think my main problems are:

  1. Not doing enough cardio. I only do about 2-3 20 minute sessions a week after my weight training.

  2. Not eating properly. I consume about 2300-2500 calories. At least 175-200 grams of protein makes up those calories and fat ofcourse is minimized.

Problem 1 is related to my halt in fat loss progress. Problem 2 is related to my loss of strength.

Any comments or suggestions would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

2

If your fat is minimized, I’m assuming your carb intake is not. Why not check out T-Dawg 2.0? Many here have had a lot of success with it. No need to minimize the right fats.

Also, check out the cardio roundtable. 3x a week for 20-30 minutes is plenty, if you optimize it.

3

look up the “t dawg 2.0” diet and read everyhting by john berardi.

4

You seem to answer your questions yourself…

my take on it:

  1. Skip the cardio and do HIIT sprinting, jumprrope, etc instead. It preserves muscle better and burns more fat in te long run. Plus the sessions are shorter albeit harder.

2.) Don’t minimize fat intake, at least the good fats that is. Eat lots of monos and omega 3s. Especially the Omega 3s. Are you taking fish oil? You should

3.) Don’t minimize post workout carbs intake EVER! whether you are trying to lose or gain, never do this. It will do more help than harm.

4.) How’s your water intake? Shoot for 1 gallon a day. If you’re not drinking alot of thats not good. Water does help.

5

Approximately what bodyfat % are you at right now?

6

Steihl, welcome to the board. Good advice thus far. Read, read, read, and then read some more. The more you learn, the more you’ll be able to take control of your body composition.

Recommendations?

  1. Cut out all dairy.

  2. Increase protein to 1.5g per pound of LBM and reduce carbs.

  3. Keep a food log so that you can spot trends and indiscressions. Measure and weigh everthing.

  4. Increase cardio, but do it separate from your weight lifting, so as to get two metabolic kicks in the butt.

  5. Eat P+F meals for the first half of the day and take in at least 2 P+C meals PWO.

  6. Make sure the carbs you eat are clean carbs; brown rice, lots of green veggies, sweet potatoes, beans, lentils. Stay away from sugar, galactose and high fructose corn syrup. In general, except for oatmeal (the non-sweetened/flavored kind), stay away from any carb in a box or a bag or that has a wrapper.

  7. Read up on cheat meals. They’re not just for sanity. There are physiological benefits to spiking starchy carb intake once or twice a week when you’re below maintenance calories.

Okay, Steihl. That ought to keep you busy for a while. (grin)

7

WOW. I just read the T-Dawg 2.0 article and I have to say a lot of that goes against what I’ve always believed. I guess times have changed and I haven’t kept up. I was always under the notion that high protein, medium complex non-refined carbs, and low fat was the best way to go. But the diet strictly says low carbs, and much higher amounts of fat that I had ever expected I’d ever eat while on a diet. What is the meaning behind this? Since when did diets allow for so much fat intake?

Sorry if I sound ignorant but this kind of came as a shocker to me.

8

Your protein is way too low and so is your fat. What is your reason for keeping fat so low? Read all of the nutrition articles on this site and it should give you all the answers you need.

9

Thanks for the advice everybody. I am starting to think I need to re-evaluate my diet. My mind has been locked into “low fat” mode. I never realized that high fat diets were so popular and effective… not to mention the fact that high fat diets must be easier to maintain due to a better choice of tasty foods :slight_smile:

Machine, my current bodyfat I believe is around 20% and I weigh about 190 pounds. It is measured with one of those bodyfat measuring scales… who knows what the accuracy of those are. My metabolism is rather slow I believe since I put on weight unbelievably easily. I find it easy to gain size and strength, but shedding body fat takes me forever :frowning: The lowest bodyfat I’ve ever achieved was 11%, but that was in high school over 5 years ago when I did cross country and weighed only 150 pounds. Now that I have put on a lot more muscle, I can’t wait to see what lies underneath this unwanted layer of fat!

10

Do a CKD.
If you do do a CKD, get your most intense workouts in after your carb up.
No sugars.
Make sure to drink a lot of water.
For weights, I would do high volume.
Leg day, definitely do 20 rep squats.
HIIT 3-4 times a week.
You have to remember to push yourself and get faster or stronger (even 5lbs or another rep) than your last workout.

11

One,

All sugar is not bad. Look at post-workout drinks like surge. Also, I don’t think 20-rep squats are a good idea while on a ketogenic diet. It’s too intense for extremely low carbs.

12

That’s your opinion. While cutting, I don’t think you should have any suguars.

13

dittos for Terry’s comments.

Read up on leptin.

14

One, virtually everyone who participated in the HotRox contest used Surge and experienced significant fat loss while using it. JasonL is right, and you’re not; used in the correct manner (i.e., after a workout), simple sugars will help to retain LBM while dieting, and will not have much (if any) impact on fat loss.

As for the orginal question, you should check out the Cheater’s Diet/EDT thread over on the Lair. Guaranteed to get you thinking, and a lot of us have used it with great success.

15

One- You shouldn’t be giving advice based on your previous clueless posts. I’d encourage you to read the “solving the post workout” puzzle articles by Berardi at T-mag but you’d say you’ve already read them, then you’d say something that proves you either didn’t or have zero reading comprehension.

16

One,

What do you base your opinion on? Anything other than subjective knowledge? Vain, if I remember correctly, will sometimes shirk the postworkout when hes doing his keto thing. But he backs that up with a reason other than ‘well I don’t believe in it.’

Since I can see saying ‘well they were all on hot-rox so that assertion is not relevant’, consider this:

I’m extremely carb-sensitive (in the sense of food-sensitivities), I bloat up like a bastard just looking at something like ice-cream, or bread, or even oatmeal. However, when I was using surge PWO, while probably eating around 3000 kcal a day (i was around 200lbs, 14-16% bf), doing zero cardio, and doing moderately low volume workouts, I dropped about 10lbs of fat in 8 weeks without even planning to. Only other supplementation was coffee in the morning and tribex for 3 weeks.

Just one more testament from someone who has had good results losing fat while using surge.

-Adam

17

Hello everyone,

Thanks again for the replies. I am seriously considering the T-Dawg diet, but I am quite nervous about it. Can someone tell me what is wrong with my current diet?

Daily:

200g - Protein
30g - Fat
350g - Carbs

I’d say over 90% of the carbs come from complex, nonrefined sources and the rest 10% are simple carbs from fruits.

This is about 2500 calories and I estimate that per day I require about 3000-3300 calories a day. This is calculated based off of a 190 lb person with about 20% body fat with slow metabolism who works out at the gym 6 days a week with 3 days of 20-30min post-workout cardio.

Why would this be less effective than the T-Dawg diet? I have stuck to this regime for the past 3 months and have had decent results. I believe I can keep the results going if I am more diligent with my cardio… (I kind of lied with the 3 days a week thing, it’s more like 1 day a week hahaha)

18

T-Dawg 2.0 flat out works.

You said it yourself that you hit a barrier.

Give it 2-3 weeks and see what you think. What have you got to lose? Fat my friend!! Fat is what you have to lose!!

Also, check out the diet manifesto:

19

One, just shut up. The forms are a better place that way.

20

Stiehl,

Can someone tell me what is wrong > with my current diet?
200g - Protein
30g - Fat
350g - Carbs

I’d say the protein looks pretty okay. You could get more if you want, you’ll survive with less. The fat is definitely in need of a boost. Heck, if you dropped your carbs by 100g, and added about 50 g more fat (of the good types) you might see some positive results. The carbs look pretty high - are you sure your body really needs that many?

I’d say over 90% of the carbs come >from complex, nonrefined sources and >the rest 10% are simple carbs from >fruits.

Another thing to consider is that sometimes carb sources can be problematic. Just because you are getting ‘good’ carbs doesn’t mean they are absolutely good for you. Sensitivities is the big concern here. If any of your carbs are causing your body to react by releasing cortisol, thats going to interfere with your goals in a big way.

Speaking of sources, fat sources can be an interesting thing to look into. If my memory is functioning well, I remember reading that specific fat consumption (coconut oil?) have been linked to cultures with particularly high metabolism. Coincidence or causality, I don’t know for certain, but identifying the best fat sources surely would be useful.

This is about 2500 calories and I >estimate that per day I require about >3000-3300 calories a day. This is >calculated based off of a 190 lb

It’s obvious your dedicated. But, consider that maybe your time would be better spent working on other areas of your life rather than 6 days a week at the gym. While dieting, this is a lot of volume, probably. I’d have to know what you were doing to tell you - yes there are all different schools of though about volume, but it sounds like you just might be working overtime.

Also, I’d like to see the caloric restrictions a little lower than you have it. I’d say shoot for something like 300-500 less kcal per day. Maybe eat at maintenance level for a week or so to get your metabolism back on gear.

Good luck - hopefully we can all help you reach whatever goals you have.

-Adam