Seeking Help: Endomorph Rantings

[saint sinner x]

Ok, so what is the best way to drop bodyfat for an endomorph? Objective is to maintain or even gain a bit of muscle, how much cardio should be done? and how much of a low carbs is consider low? I dont want to go crazy on the cardio because energy levels will be relatively low, I want to lose about 2 to 3 lbs a of fat per week, but the less cardio I do, the less deprive I feel, I seriously HATE cardio.....

P.S. Reps to helpful info

[GuyJin]

Originally Posted by saint sinner x

Ok, so what is the best way to drop bodyfat for an endomorph? Objective is to maintain or even gain a bit of muscle, how much cardio should be done? and how much of a low carbs is consider low? I dont want to go crazy on the cardio because energy levels will be relatively low, I want to lose about 2 to 3 lbs a of fat per week, but the less cardio I do, the less deprive I feel, I seriously HATE cardio.....

P.S. Reps to helpful info

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Bud, I feel your pain. I'm also an endo (with ecto and meso tendencies as well--geez, sounds like a disease, doesn't it?) and I'm ALWAYS struggling with my weight. Always have been, always will be.

Some "rules" I've found to help...

1. Cardio. The necessary evil. I started out with once a week for about fifteen minutes, then upped that to twice a week, then three times, over the course of a couple of months. That helped to keep my weight in check. I also varied the cardio; one day steady-state, the next doing wind sprints and some jogging (HIIT) and the third, just walking up and down stairs until I got tired. Trial-and-error--too much or not enough; you'll have to figure it out. But whatever the case, varying the cardio prevents boredom and helps with fat loss.

2. Diet. I HATE dieting; I LOVE junk food, and it loves me, apparently. While some others can get away with extra carbs and junk, I can't, so I have to go keto (eggs and veggies and a bit of fruit plus protein drinks) in order to drop weight. I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian for the most part; for guys who eat meat, lean meat and veggies is the way for some, although the lack of carbs makes me feel like a zombie. While others can hack it, I can't, but it IS effective for dropping weight. It may be for you; I don't know. Needless to say, gradually cutting down on the TOTAL amount of cals is the most effective way, backing off for a bit on the weekends (but not too much) then cutting down again.

3. Training. I gradually cut down on the rest periods, from 3 minutes (for compounds) and about to two minutes (for isos) to 1.5 and 45 seconds respectively. Keep in mind that it may not be possible to do that ALL the time, but for a period building up over four to six weeks, it can be effective for dropping fat, along with the diet and cardio.

4. Walking on days off. You don't have to run, but taking a nice brisk walk can clear your mind and help you stretch out a bit. Keeping active is the key.

Hope this helps a little...

[Trey70]

If you want to make absolutely sure, you gotta track all your macros. It can be a complete bitch sometimes and it makes eating new things a pain but that is your guaranteed solution if you want to go there.

Make very small changes as you continue to improve in order to stymie the plateaus that you are bound to encounter. The first time you only drop 1 pound instead of 2, start to introduce some low intensity cardio while keeping macros the same. The next time progress stalls, maybe lift an extra day a week. Then introduce a little bit of carb cycling, then finally maybe some HIIT while treating eating around those sessions like a mini workout. This type of progress will take you a long long way.

As always though, consistency is priority number one. It doesn't matter if you work your ass off for 3 weeks then fall off the band wagon completely for 1 week and then try to work hard again. That's not to say be anal about it all the time, psychological breaks are important but you can easily take 7 steps back in 7 days after taking 6 steps forward by doing everything PERFECTLY for 3 whole weeks. The key is taking tiny steps backward and huge leaps forward.

As a general rule, match your carbs to your energy demands. If you're not doing anything physical at all your brain and CNS will use about 100g of glucose a day alone. So that's a baseline unless you decide to do a Keto diet. So if you are lifting light weights, eat a good pre, and post workout meal and aim for a total of about 200g of carbs for the day.

Protein and Fat should remain relatively consistent. The lower your calories go below maintenance the more important abundant amounts of protein become. So if you're losing 3 pounds a week 1.3g of protein per pound of bodyweight. Losing 1 pound a week might call for 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. I would try to stay above 1g per pound at all times, and keep your protein sources high in quality, (meat / eggs). Get your fat from a wide variety of sources (you need saturated fat too) and consume 70-100g a day. If you feel very comfortable with less that is okay too.

so...

200g Carbs
200g Protein
100g Fat

Is 2500 calories, that's probably a good starting point. If you log all your food you'll quickly realize that eating junk food will make you miserable because your stomach will be dealing with a lot more room inside it and it will growl and let you know it doesn't like you while you stare at your 2,500 kcal goal that is already halfway complete by noon.

After your first plateau you might want to adjust your macros like this.

190g Carbs
210g Protein
90g Fat

Then if you plateau again don't change anything, except walking a mile every other day. If you can find something really fun like basketball or tennis, staying in shape becomes a joy though, I don't feel miserable at all playing basketball even though I'm constantly pushing my limits.

Eat a lot of veggies, get some fruit in every day, and maybe check out some high-fiber cereals like Fiber One. But most of all, MACROS MACROS MACROS! Best of luck man!