Ive been reading tmag for about a year now but have never really followed any of the T-Nation programs or diets as ive always gotten ok results doing my won thing. but ive woken up to myself and am not satisfied with ok results and want fucking good results, so ive decided to stop fucking around and wasting time and get into it.
Being a former fat boy the average skinny boy bulking diet doesnt seem to work well for me, i just seem to put on a little bit of lean mass and just get fatter. Maybe i just havent trained properly, i dont know.
I have a bit of abdominal fat but im not what youd call obese and i have a decent amount of muscle, but nothing really to brag about. My goals are to trim off excess body fat first using the Velocity Diet then build some lean body mass. What diet would you guys recomend for a former fat boy looking to put on some lean body mass?
I think I’d go with the principles outlined in Massive Eating, but just knock down the calories by 500-1000, depending upon how rapidly/easily you do gain fat.
Really, all you can do is play around with your food intake, both macro breakdown and total calories, to see what works best for you.
But, I’d really give the meal combos/nutrient timing of Massive Eating a try while playing with the actual numbers.
I’m an FFB myself and I notice a tendency to put on fat unless I am very careful about it.
Something I’m toying around with now is eating fairly low carbs with plenty of EFA’s much of the time, but on a Sunday or something drop fats, eat carbs and protein all day, but keep the calories extremely low.
I’m also consuming half servings of Surge in the mornings or for several “meals” after my workout – Which complicates things.
Anyhow, ignoring the Surge complication, what I believe I’m doing is getting the body used to a high availability of and subsequent burning of fats, then forcing it to burn fats all day on the day I consume very little fats.
I’m also hopefull that one day a week is not long enough to result in profound changes in metabolism, hormone production or anything else.
I guess I’m trying to eat clean all week and promote LBM gain, but then strip off some fat on Sunday as it is where I have a second rest day (I do M, W and F workouts).
Anyhow, whether good, bad or ugly, I don’t know yet. Oh yeah, importantly, I do take HOT-ROX to help with fat loss and LBM retention.
Maybe someone with some real experience in sophisticated macronutrient cycling will provide some input here.
My experience reveals that exercise intensity is actually more important than diet. Yes, you read that right. I had Cold Slab ice cream last night and have been eating crap that I wouldn’t normally eat for the past few weeks (Waterbury made me do it), but I have gained relatively little fat.
When I do want to lose the fat, I do best by cutting SIMPLE carbs but still eating a lot of oats, beans, and veggies (+ of course lean meats, MRPs, protein powders, and good fats). I get too flat (no strength, no energy) when I drop out too many carbs. Drop the refined crap except keep the Surge for before/during/post WO. If cutting calories down, it is imperative to not got too long between meals → make sure you get something just before bed and preferably in the middle of the night.
My advice: grind through Waterbury’s ABBH program and clean up the diet but DO NOT GET TOO DRASTIC WITH DIETARY CHANGES.
[quote]vroom wrote:
Something I’m toying around with now is eating fairly low carbs with plenty of EFA’s much of the time, but on a Sunday or something drop fats, eat carbs and protein all day, but keep the calories extremely low.[/quote]
Also known as a ketogenic diet (roughly). You ought to look into it, if you haven’t already.
I know that this is not a diet-related tip and that the issue is rather controversial, but have you tried incorporating energy system training (aka cardio)?
In my personal experience, CT’s Running Man offers a few great options (especially 400-Meter Running) which don’t seem to interfere significantly with mass an strength gains, but are great at reducing body fat or keeping body fat levels low.
thanks for the input… you guys have given me some useful tips which ill have to try out. ill write up a diet and training program, so you guys can pull it apart and improve it
I’m an FFB myself and I notice a tendency to put on fat unless I am very careful about it.
Something I’m toying around with now is eating fairly low carbs with plenty of EFA’s much of the time, but on a Sunday or something drop fats, eat carbs and protein all day, but keep the calories extremely low.
I’m also hopefull that one day a week is not long enough to result in profound changes in metabolism, hormone production or anything else.
Maybe someone with some real experience in sophisticated macronutrient cycling will provide some input here.[/quote]
What vroom is tinkering with is a VERY effective method for increasing LBM without adding bodyfat (especially for FFBs). Do a search for Chris Shugart’s “eat like a man, living the anabolic diet” articles from a few years back. Eat P+F meals all week (besides PWO), then switch to P+C on the weekends.
Also check look for the “Don’t Diet” plan and the Carb Cyling plan. Basically, as a FFB you’re going to have to keep insulin in check while bulking or you’re going to end up a FB again.