No weight loss...am I gaining muscle?

Tenacious Tones · 04-09-2008, 08:05 PM

Ok everyone...I have been doing some cutting and need some advice. 2 months ago started at 236. Started a carb rotation to fit my work schedule. I work shift work 4 days a week...so on those days I go 250 grams of protein, 50-80 grams of fat and 50 carbs. Then for three days I eat normal for with 200 grams protein and 200-300 carbs with about 40-60 fat grams. I lift on my 3 high carb days and have a cheat meal following my last workout. I haven't been putting in my cardio and know that is a problem but am starting some recumbent bike stuff. I am about 15% bodyfat. My question is the last 3-4 weeks have been floating around 222-226 and am trying to get cut up for summer. Is my body stalling out cause the low calories and lack of cardio or do you think I am adding muscle? I have recently changed my routine to do alot more volume and have noticed some difference. Could anyone give me some suggestions cause I really want to be ready in a couple months? Thanks.

Anthony

aseng · 04-09-2008, 10:39 PM

even though your lacking in cardio, if your diet is in check you should be dropping weight. Don't follow scales, there not too accurate. If you feel skinner, pants are looser, clothes are baggier, than your doing something right haha.

WICKED INTENT · 04-10-2008, 02:11 PM

Dude,,,Long time no see. You looked great last time i saw you, so i def dont think your adding fat. Like you told me, dont worry about the scale, look at yourself, clothes etc. The weight flux might be because of some water weight (Corona ha!).

Hardcore Natural · 04-10-2008, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tenacious Tones

Ok everyone...I have been doing some cutting and need some advice. 2 months ago started at 236. Started a carb rotation to fit my work schedule. I work shift work 4 days a week...so on those days I go 250 grams of protein, 50-80 grams of fat and 50 carbs. Then for three days I eat normal for with 200 grams protein and 200-300 carbs with about 40-60 fat grams. I lift on my 3 high carb days and have a cheat meal following my last workout. I haven't been putting in my cardio and know that is a problem but am starting some recumbent bike stuff. I am about 15% bodyfat. My question is the last 3-4 weeks have been floating around 222-226 and am trying to get cut up for summer. Is my body stalling out cause the low calories and lack of cardio or do you think I am adding muscle? I have recently changed my routine to do alot more volume and have noticed some difference. Could anyone give me some suggestions cause I really want to be ready in a couple months? Thanks.

Anthony

Does your body look different in the mirror? If so, then you may have gained muscle and lost fat, so therefore the scale may not have moved much...but that does not matter..as long as you look better, that is what matters.

-Todd

Tenacious Tones · 04-12-2008, 08:26 AM

I have noticed change however it is painstakenly slow. I mean 2 months and small change. I think I may have added some muscle but at this rate it will be September till I am ready. I am trying for June. I have about 20lbs of fat to lose. If I speed things up..cardio, calorie reductions...will that sacrifice my muscle..or is this doable?

OscarGortez · 04-12-2008, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tenacious Tones

I have noticed change however it is painstakenly slow. I mean 2 months and small change. I think I may have added some muscle but at this rate it will be September till I am ready. I am trying for June. I have about 20lbs of fat to lose. If I speed things up..cardio, calorie reductions...will that sacrifice my muscle..or is this doable?

I was the same way trying to lose weight, not sure if I was burning fat and gaining muscle so the scales stayed the same, I mean my clothes were getting looser but it was really slow and i thought it was just that initial weight loss (the water weight) and nothing moved from then on. People assure me i look thinner but like i said I wrote that off as the initial weight loss. anyway I started counting calories (which i didn't do before just ate "what seemed about right") and it seems to be working much better this way. They say it's safe to burn 2 pounds a week, which is a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. I read somewhere that you can really only burn 910 (or something like that) calories of FAT a day... so in conclusion 3500 calories is a pound, 20 pounds is 70,000 calories, at burning 900 a day that's about 78 days, or about 11 weeks, which puts you at late june early July and you'll be where you're at... of course you can do it faster but then you're really started to risk muscle lose... (which i'm sure people will argue you're doing already at 900 calories a day, like 300 or so calories a day is apparently best for losing fat with as little muscle loss as possible)...

it all comes down to which you want more, muscle or lack of fat.

Tenacious Tones · 04-13-2008, 05:02 PM

I agree...things are probably slowly changing in the direction of more muscle and less fat but I need a little more results so I am thinking I may do the velocity diet and throw in 1 heavy cheat meal a week. Cardio daily-moderate speed about 5-6 days a week for about 45 minutes. Lifting normal intensity. If I start losing too much muscle I may cut back on the cardio then add some carbs as needed. Right now I will spend a couple pounds of muscle for the beach weather I guess. Are there any corona flavored protein shakes out there?

Tenacious Tones · 04-13-2008, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hardcore Natural

Does your body look different in the mirror? If so, then you may have gained muscle and lost fat, so therefore the scale may not have moved much...but that does not matter..as long as you look better, that is what matters.

-Todd

yea..it has changed for the better..but my gripe is how long it is taking..I know everyone is impatient but this is getting to be ridiculous. I think I may need a little more calorie deficit. I know that my metabolism is not the fastest in the world for sure. I was up to 262 and gaining but managed to bring it down which took dang near forever!

Methodical4u · 04-13-2008, 09:25 PM

IMO I would drop your calories to around 800-1000 below maintenance, bring the protein up to about 50% of your diet, get the carbs to 20-25% ( most of them eat before and then after the workouts and then that last 25-30% from fat. Make sure you take some bcaa's or get some and start to help to keep as much muscle as possible. Yes, it is extreme, however, if you are looking to drop that weight off quicker, that is the way to do it. I would keep the cardio around 30 minutes 4 times a week and just rest on the weekends. Lift the same way you always have though. I'm personally not a believer in lifting differently just because you drop calories, it might take a bit more time to recover, but as long as the same muscle isn't sore when you work it again, then I wouldn't worry.

Tenacious Tones · 04-13-2008, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Methodical4u

IMO I would drop your calories to around 800-1000 below maintenance, bring the protein up to about 50% of your diet, get the carbs to 20-25% ( most of them eat before and then after the workouts and then that last 25-30% from fat. Make sure you take some bcaa's or get some and start to help to keep as much muscle as possible. Yes, it is extreme, however, if you are looking to drop that weight off quicker, that is the way to do it. I would keep the cardio around 30 minutes 4 times a week and just rest on the weekends. Lift the same way you always have though. I'm personally not a believer in lifting differently just because you drop calories, it might take a bit more time to recover, but as long as the same muscle isn't sore when you work it again, then I wouldn't worry.

Thanks for the reply...this is actually very similar to what I was doing minus the recarb/normal eating days (3 days a week). I suppose I should get rid of those and add the cardio? That may be just what is needed. I have been so concerned with my metabolism slowing that I thought I needed them.