Help With T-Dawg Diet

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
1

Im getting my fat ass back into they gym today. I need to lose some weight. Ive never tried to cut up before. I had always been a skinny guy (170lbs 6’4" as a teen).

I hit the weights hard a few years back and worked myself up to about 260 at around 18% bf.

I guess my metabolism slowed down since then. Im now 6’4" and weight about 290 at 30% bf (its disgusting).

My goal is to eventually get down to 10% around 240-250lbs. I was looking at the TDawg diet but Im having a hard time figuring out my caloric intake.

Should I be basing my calories on the 290 I weigh or the 200lbm I have? I cant see pounding down 400 grams of protein a day if I only have 200lbs of lean tissue.

Where does the 70 grams of carbs per day fit in? Im larger than average, is 70gs of carbs still enough?

According to the diet my calculations would look like this:

290x15 = 4350 cal/day
Carbs: 70g per day
Protein: 435g per day
Fat: 220g per day

The fat and protein sound waaay too high. Should I be looking at LBM when making these calculations?

2

[quote]Tri-fecta wrote:
Im getting my fat ass back into they gym today. I need to lose some weight. Ive never tried to cut up before. I had always been a skinny guy (170lbs 6’4" as a teen).

I hit the weights hard a few years back and worked myself up to about 260 at around 18% bf.

I guess my metabolism slowed down since then. Im now 6’4" and weight about 290 at 30% bf (its disgusting).

My goal is to eventually get down to 10% around 240-250lbs. I was looking at the TDawg diet but Im having a hard time figuring out my caloric intake.

Should I be basing my calories on the 290 I weigh or the 200lbm I have? I cant see pounding down 400 grams of protein a day if I only have 200lbs of lean tissue.

Where does the 70 grams of carbs per day fit in? Im larger than average, is 70gs of carbs still enough?

According to the diet my calculations would look like this:

290x15 = 4350 cal/day
Carbs: 70g per day
Protein: 435g per day
Fat: 220g per day

The fat and protein sound waaay too high. Should I be looking at LBM when making these calculations?[/quote]

Hey man,

Good job getting motivated to make some changes! Sometimes it takes a lot to get our butts’ in gear but asking for some help is moving in the right direction.

First off, have you seen the T-dawg 2.0 article? You can find it here:

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=243tdawg2

It covers the timing of the carbs and has a slightly higher carb recommendation than the original T-dawg diet. It also suggests a break-in period which would probably be good for you. Just sticking to eating clean and having your carbs at breakfast and after training will most liking get you moving in the right direction quite nicely.

After a break-in you could give the numbers you came up with for calories, protein and fat a try for a few weeks. If you’re losing weight, stick with it until you slow down or stall. At that point decrease the calories until you’re making progress again.

NFSC

3

Yeah, if your LBM is only about 200, I really don’t think you’re going to lose weight on >4000 kcal. In my experience (I’m 6’4", 230, about 12%, so ballpark LBM/body type) it’s possible to lose weight on 3000 kcal, but not much over that (and that’s with 3 weight (~1 hr) and 3 cardio sessions (either 20 min HIIT or 45 min low-intensity) per week). Maybe try something like that to start and see how it goes.

RE: your carb question, you can definitely survive on 70g. I’m doing Joel Marion’s Cheater’s Diet, and I just finished a week of <30g/day. It sucks balls, though, I’m not gonna lie. Just be aware that people tend to get cranky and mopey on low-carb diets. If you notice yourself getting like that, stop it, it’s just the carbs, you’re not really that (mad at that guy/completely screwed at work/whatever).

4

[quote]DTLV wrote:
Yeah, if your LBM is only about 200, I really don’t think you’re going to lose weight on >4000 kcal. In my experience (I’m 6’4", 230, about 12%, so ballpark LBM/body type) it’s possible to lose weight on 3000 kcal, but not much over that (and that’s with 3 weight (~1 hr) and 3 cardio sessions (either 20 min HIIT or 45 min low-intensity) per week). Maybe try something like that to start and see how it goes.

RE: your carb question, you can definitely survive on 70g. I’m doing Joel Marion’s Cheater’s Diet, and I just finished a week of <30g/day. It sucks balls, though, I’m not gonna lie. Just be aware that people tend to get cranky and mopey on low-carb diets. If you notice yourself getting like that, stop it, it’s just the carbs, you’re not really that (mad at that guy/completely screwed at work/whatever).[/quote]

Thanks for the responses guys. I did read the new Tdawg aritcle, thats where I got confused about the total mass vs lbm for calculating protein and caloric intake. LBM is what makes sense to me.

4000 calories sounded high to me too. I think im going to jump in at 3000 a day and work from there. With me being borderline obese (unbelievable) should I expect to see some decent losses in the first few weeks? Especially since I haven’t been very active in over a year?

thanks guys/girls

5

honestly id follow it exact even the calories better to start high and adjust to lose the drop them crazy low

yes 70g carbs is plenty hell i dropped from 315 to 215 and lived several yrs on an average of 20 or less a day just get them green veggies in

oh and remember after 1 week you drop it 500 k/cals
maybe start at even 4000 and go from there 290 is a large mammal

Phill

[quote]Tri-fecta wrote:
Im getting my fat ass back into they gym today. I need to lose some weight. Ive never tried to cut up before. I had always been a skinny guy (170lbs 6’4" as a teen).

I hit the weights hard a few years back and worked myself up to about 260 at around 18% bf.

I guess my metabolism slowed down since then. Im now 6’4" and weight about 290 at 30% bf (its disgusting).

My goal is to eventually get down to 10% around 240-250lbs. I was looking at the TDawg diet but Im having a hard time figuring out my caloric intake.

Should I be basing my calories on the 290 I weigh or the 200lbm I have? I cant see pounding down 400 grams of protein a day if I only have 200lbs of lean tissue.

Where does the 70 grams of carbs per day fit in? Im larger than average, is 70gs of carbs still enough?

According to the diet my calculations would look like this:

290x15 = 4350 cal/day
Carbs: 70g per day
Protein: 435g per day
Fat: 220g per day

The fat and protein sound waaay too high. Should I be looking at LBM when making these calculations?[/quote]