I recently and finally got my Body Profile tested. Ok, so here are the stats of where I was at 6 months ago:
BF: 17%
Lean Body Weight: ~130 lbs
Fat Body Weight: ~29-30 lbs
Total BW: ~165 lbs
These are my numbers that I just got a week ago:
BF: 21.1%
Lean body Weight: 140.4 lbs
Fat Body Weight: 37.6 lbs
Total BW: 178.0 lbs
BMR: 1938 Cal
Just a bit of a background, I started to become serious with lifting this summer, and delve into compound exercises and being more consistent. I had always been more on the chubby side, but I realized that having more muscle will only raise my metabolic rate up, making it easier to burn fat later on down the line.
I’ve now been doing Starting Strength since September 2008 now, trying to make overall strength and mass gains with sizable increases. My question is, is this proportional? It seems like I’ve gained just as much weight in fat as I have of muscle. I was expecting my BF% to raise, but not this fast.
Since I used to be very heavyset since childhood, I have had a fear of eating alot. I know that it is esential to eat in excess of ~500 cal to keep yourself in an anabolic state for the best gains. I tend to eat clean, but usually don’t go over 2000.
My BMR is around 2000, and during the day (excluding my time at the gym), I’m somewhere between sedentary and adequately active (I’m a college student). So I’m thinking 2500 cal would be maintenance for me.
I however probably eat less than that per day, yet I’m making sizable fat gains along with muscle gains. I eat pretty cleanly as well. I was hoping I’d get either one of the other as a beginner. So my problem is…should I be eating even more protein? I typically get about 150 lb per day as of right now. Should I decrease my carb intake?
Just my $.02, which you can discard afterward. If it worries you, I would up the protein a bit and lower the sugary carbs, except just before/after a workout. However, don’t let the fat gain scare you into cutting back drastically, or you could throw your gains out the window. Dude, look at the upside: you gained 10 pounds of muscle.
Picture 10 pounds of beef from the butcher. Quite a bit, huh?
I have fat-guy genes myself, so I understand your situation and concerns.
Haha, both of you guys are right. 10 lbs in 6 months sounds like a good amount of progress in the right direction. Obviously, being overweight in the past, I still have that mindset of “eat less eat less eat less” which is obviously counterintuitive for muscle building.
Thanks for the visual, haha, making me a bit hungry for some steak now. I’ll try to add some more protein in my diet and lessen carbs a bit overall.
O, and I’ve always wondered, people always talk about carbs and protein, but no one talks about what is a good amount of fat. I know to aim for highly natural sources such as nuts, avocados, fish, fish oil, eggs, etc.
But is there a certain percentage thats suggested? Or should it be rather whatever comes coupled with my daily intake of protein (sources listed above)?
While I suspect that the important factor is probably absolute amount not percentage of caloric intake, the research I’ve read on testosterone production as a function of dietary fat intake has been in terms of percentage of caloric intake.
And by that measure, less than 30% results in lower testosterone than being in the 30-40% range.
Additionally from the practical aspect, natural (meaning, non-steroid-using) lifters do seem generally to do better with at least that much fat.
I realize that the authors on this site espouse programs and supplementation protocols that can deliver you several pounds of LBM for each pound gained, but my experience has shown that a 1:1 ratio of muscle:fat is decent. Average maybe.
Putting this into context, you’re making decent progress. Decent progress, where many are making no progress at all, is good work.
