Recovering one-meal-a-day-er with some questions

[odietamo]

Sorry guys, I hate to post questions like a n00b. I've been reading quite a bit on here and gotten good info, but I wanted to get some input about what i'm doing. I'm consciously trying to keep things concise.

Stats: 25yo male; 6'0"; 195lbs; 20% BF (tantia)

I was always fat/borderline obese from childhood until about 17yo. At 17 I was 5'10" and weighed 315lbs. From that point I took responsibility for myself and started losing weight. Over the course of a year I went down to 250 and hit 6'0". Next year I dropped to 225. Lowest I ever got was 190 back in 2001. From 2001-2007 I consistently bounced around from 200-225lbs. I lost it all from cardio and dieting. I never lifted weights my entire life and have always been pretty weak.

This year I really applied myself and dropped 40lbs to 185. But I plateaued and realized I needed a different approach (i.e., building muscle and chaning my diet.) Also, I was/am the poster child for "skinny fat."

My diet the LAST EIGHT YEARS has been one LARGE meal a day. Probably around 1700-2500 kcals all packed into less than an hours time. Then I would "coast" off that until the next huge meal. So again, eight years of doing that, very consistently. And, for what it's worth, it really "worked" in the sense that I dropped over hundred lbs. I'm sure some was muscle, but I seriously never had much to begin with, and if you saw me before you'd realize most was straight body fat.

So I'm sure my metabolism is shot.

The past three weeks I've been eating very clean. 4-6 meals a day; high protein, clean carbs, and moderate fat (mostly from meat & peanut butter.) I've been hitting the weights often and hard. I was really sore the first week, but I was careful not to overtrain and give myself lots of rest. (I have actually been eating "clean" for months, but I just ate 1 meal a day.)

And I'm serious when I say clean. Very, very few cheats.

I'm trying to add muscle and improve my metabolism. I read everywhere you have to eat alot (and over maintinance) and train hard, but I'm concerned that my eight years of bad eating is going to cause my new diet to just make me fat. I tried to "ease" into it by not blowing up to 3000-4000 calories a day. First I kept my calories roughly the same and just split the meals. Lately I have been eating more calories and trying to get closer to where I feel I should be to be bulking.

I have very little muscle, so I really have started from scratch. I think I see result in my bis and tris, and in my calves and thighs. I couldn't do more than 5 perfect form push-ups when i started, but now I can squeeze off about 10-15 without stopping. So I think I'm getting stronger.

What I'm worried about and need advice on is if I need to do something different to prevent myself from blowing back up to 220 and most all the weight I've gained being fat ...as a result of my body's conditioning to be in "starvation mode." Any thoughts on if my new diet (I think of it as a lifestyle) can turn my metabolism around that quickly, or should I take a different approach.

It just feels so unnatural to be eating this much, this often. And I'm feeling more bloated/fatter, even though my BF% hasn't changed much on the scale. But my weight has gone from 191 up to 200 in the last 3 weeks. And my clothes feel a little tighter.

I'm committed to self-improvement, but I just wanted to see if I could get some advice from experts on my situation conidering my metabolism that has probably been a wreck for the last decade almost.

According to most calculators, my BMR combined with my activity multipler says I should be eating around 2600 kcals for maintanence. But I have to tell you that if I ate that much on my old diet, I would gain weight. I want to believe my new diet will bring my metabolism up to that level, but I was just hoping some expert would "hand hold" me a little and reassure me that's true.

I'm not trying to be a pussy about gaining fat, I realize that it's normal to gain fat when bulking. I just want to make sure I'm approaching this correctly so that I get the fat AND muscle ...not just fat, or mostly fat due to my years of sub-optimal metabolic diet.

Sorry this is so long.

[lupinecat]

It sounds like you have made some great progress, and hopefully with the new knowledge you are gaining through bbing this progress will continue! But I think before anyone can comment on your diet/exercise etc you will need to post your workout routine and full details of your current, daily diet including macros (protein, carbs, fats) to get some truly helpful feedback.

[PatMac]

Sorry guys, I hate to post questions like a n00b. I've been reading quite a bit on here and gotten good info, but I wanted to get some input about what i'm doing. I'm consciously trying to keep things concise.

Stats: 25yo male; 6'0"; 195lbs; 20% BF (tantia)

I was always fat/borderline obese from childhood until about 17yo. At 17 I was 5'10" and weighed 315lbs. From that point I took responsibility for myself and started losing weight. Over the course of a year I went down to 250 and hit 6'0". Next year I dropped to 225. Lowest I ever got was 190 back in 2001. From 2001-2007 I consistently bounced around from 200-225lbs. I lost it all from cardio and dieting. I never lifted weights my entire life and have always been pretty week.

This year I really applied myself and dropped 40lbs to 185. But I plateaued and realized I needed a different approach (i.e., building muscle and chaning my diet.) Also, I was/am the poster child for "skinny fat."

My diet the LAST EIGHT YEARS has been one LARGE meal a day. Probably around 1700-2500 kcals all packed into less than an hours time. Then I would "coast" off that until the next huge meal. So again, eight years of doing that, very consistently. And, for what it's worth, it really "worked" in the sense that I dropped over hundred lbs. I'm sure some was muscle, but I seriously never had much to begin with, and if you saw me before you'd realize most was straight body fat.

So I'm sure my metabolism is shot.

The past three weeks I've been eating very clean. 4-6 meals a day; high protein, clean carbs, and moderate fat (mostly from meat & peanut butter.) I've been hitting the weights often and hard. I was really sore the first week, but I was careful not to overtain and give myself lots of rest. (I have actually been eating "clean" for months, but I just ate 1 meal a day.)

And I'm serious when I say clean. Very, very few cheats.

I'm trying to add muscle and improve my metabolism. I read everywhere you have to eat alot (and over maintinance) and train hard, but I'm concerned that my eight years of bad eating is going to cause my new diet to just make me fat. I tried to "ease" into it by not blowing up to 3000-4000 calories a day. First I kept my calories roughly the same and just split the meals. Lately I have been eating more calories and trying to get closer to where I feel I should be to be bulking.

I have very little muscle, so I really have started from scratch. I think I see result in my bis and tris, and in my calves and thighs. I couldn't do more than 5 perfect form push-ups when i started, but now I can squeeze off about 10-15 without stopping. So I think I'm getting stronger.

What I'm worried about and need advice on is if I need to do something different to prevent myself from blowing back up to 220 and most all the weight I've gained being fat ...as a result of my body's conditioning to be in "starvation mode." Any thoughts on if my new diet (I think of it as a lifestyle) can turn my metabolism around that quickly, or should I take a different approach.

It just feels so unnatural to be eating this much, this often. And I'm feeling more bloated/fatter, even though my BF% hasn't changed much on the scale. But my weight has gone from 191 up to 200 in the last 3 weeks. And my clothes feel a little tighter.

I'm committed to self-improvement, but I just wanted to see if I could get some advice from experts on my situation conidering my metabolism that has probably been a wreck for the last decade almost.

According to most calculators, my BMR combined with my activity multipler says I should be eating around 2600 kcals for maintanence. But I have to tell you that if I ate that much on my old diet, I would gain weight. I want to believe my new diet will bring my metabolism up to that level, but I was just hoping some expert would "hand hold" me a little and reassure me that's true.

I'm not trying to be a pussy about gaining fat, I realize that it's normal to gain fat when bulking. I just want to make sure I'm approaching this correctly so that I get the fat AND muscle ...not just fat, or mostly fat due to my metabolism.

Sorry this is so long.

Thats exactly how I lost weight just I didnt do the one meal thing for as long as you did, a couple years. I really just suggest reading up around here, there really is sound advice. The most important aspect to building the body you want is the knowledge so read up, you'll get there