Recomposition Advice?

Hey All,

short background…

Been training for many years, about 8, on and off, though the last 2 years not very much at all, had big issues gaining much and putting on fat.

Turns out I’m super low on Testosterone, thats sorted now.

Anyhow, I’m 182cm and about 200 pounds, I’ve got some decent muscle and am ready to get back into it.

I’m taking great care of my diet, the best I can but still unsure I’ve got it right, I’m just starting by counting and tracking everything.

Currently on 250mg testosterone Enanthate per week as my TRT

I’m following the leangains style of nutrition, I’m open to other suggestions.

And madcows 5 x 5 for training.

I want to completely transform my body in 12 weeks from what it is and I think i can get pretty drastic results with some hardcore training.

I considered adding in HIIT for the alternate workout days.

Feel free to rip me a new one.

Be consistent. On and off doesn’t work.

Apart from that, just keep going. Make adjustments as needed. Fix your diet. Add weight or reps every work outs, etc

[quote]getalpha wrote:

Been training for many years, about 8, on and off, though the last 2 years not very much at all, had big issues gaining much and putting on fat.

[/quote]

So you’ve admittedly struggled in the past putting on muscle AND struggled losing fat, yet now you want to try to do BOTH at the same time?

If you have something constructive to give please feel free to do so…

I think I fked up when I wrote that… I mean.

I’ve never properly eaten for great gains or loss, my diet has never been in check enough.

Am I way off thinking that given I’m a bit out of shape, that within the next 12 weeks I could not gain muscle / strength and cut up more? Given my test levels are also about 3 x higher than someone normal currently.

I’d say that should give me some good sparing effects on muscle.

This is the reason for posting, I’m not naive in thinking I know everything.

So… is it really as simple as eating 500 cals less than your base metabolic rate?

I’m training 3 x a week… heavy

No cardio as of yet, thinking of doing HIIT on non training days.

[quote]getalpha wrote:
If you have something constructive to give please feel free to do so…

I think I fked up when I wrote that… I mean.

I’ve never properly eaten for great gains or loss, my diet has never been in check enough.

Am I way off thinking that given I’m a bit out of shape, that within the next 12 weeks I could not gain muscle / strength and cut up more? Given my test levels are also about 3 x higher than someone normal currently.

I’d say that should give me some good sparing effects on muscle.

This is the reason for posting, I’m not naive in thinking I know everything.

So… is it really as simple as eating 500 cals less than your base metabolic rate?

I’m training 3 x a week… heavy

No cardio as of yet, thinking of doing HIIT on non training days.[/quote]

Need details on daily intake first of all. Second, 250mg/week sounds high for a replacement dose prescription, although not totally unheard of I suppose. Third, I don’t know how long you have been back at training consistently, but if it is longer than about 4-6 weeks of CONSISTENT training, 3 days a week is just not enough for serious body recomp. Strength, yeah, body recomp – recomp is all about elevated metabolic demand, which requires elevated activity levels as much as is sustainable and recoverable. So, my advice is to add another lifting day and do some kind of cardio–ANY kind will do for the first initial phase, on two of your off days, leaving a day for rest. You can switch to HIIT later after getting used to the schedule.

Fourth, in the very first phases of fat loss, yeah it is as simple as eating 500 calories under maintenance. But that won’t last long. Fix your food CHOICES and TIMING. What you eat and the timing of it has a lot of control over how easily or hard it is to stick to your diet as well as how easily the fat comes off.

food choices are sweet… I’m following a fasted approach.

Eat 8 hours, fast 16 hours.

My first meal is about 60% of my daily calories.

All clean foods, no processed sugars etc

daily intake is on non training days.

My last 7 days of average in food (I am tracking everything)

1800 cals

190g protein
137g of carbs
55g fat

Yeah it is real TRT, and it is a bit high, it will be getting dropped soon, going back in, but I aint complaining right now and will make most out of it.

Oh also… how do you work out a true BMR ?

I’m 182 cm’s
93.4kg
male

yeah been on and off training am just back consistantly this week really.

I’m fie with HIIT sticking to it is no problems, wicked hill behind me I do hill sprints on when I do it.

[quote]getalpha wrote:
Oh also… how do you work out a true BMR ?

[/quote]

Trial And Error

[quote]getalpha wrote:
If you have something constructive to give please feel free to do so…

I think I fked up when I wrote that… I mean.

I’ve never properly eaten for great gains or loss, my diet has never been in check enough.

Am I way off thinking that given I’m a bit out of shape, that within the next 12 weeks I could not gain muscle / strength and cut up more? Given my test levels are also about 3 x higher than someone normal currently.

I’d say that should give me some good sparing effects on muscle.

This is the reason for posting, I’m not naive in thinking I know everything.

So… is it really as simple as eating 500 cals less than your base metabolic rate?

I’m training 3 x a week… heavy

No cardio as of yet, thinking of doing HIIT on non training days.[/quote]

All I was saying, was choose one goal and nail it. Taking on more than that may leave you discouraged with your results. I’m not saying you can’t do both, but choose one and prioritize your training and eating around it. It’s a lot less of a headache.