25, 5'11", 160, High body fat and very little muscle... Help me out, here.

[sorrysometimes]

Hey there, I'm new and I thought I'd come here looking a little help. I have read through the stickies and I thought I'd give my own thread a shot, in hopes of hearing good things from people who have a similiar body type. If you check out my pics, you can probably tell that I want to get lean and then concentrate on building some muscle.

I'm 25, 5'11" tall, and I weigh 160 pounds. I started your basic clean eating diet with two daily protein shakes at the start of April, and I ended up losing 36 pounds from just watching my caloric intake and keeping it around 1600 a day. However,I think I probably lost too muscle muscle with the bit of fat that I lost and here I am. I'm proud of the weight loss but I don't look anywhere near as good as I thought I would at this weight. Over the past few weeks I've started lifting weights and I fully intend to commit to a HIIT program in the coming days. I should have been doing this stuff all along, I know.

I'm eating about 1600 calories a day, with about 40 percent coming from protein, 40 from carbohydrates, and 20 from fat. I don't have a lot of money to spend on meat so I've been relying on my ON 100% Whey and canned tuna for my protein. I get most my carbs from Kashi Go Lean cereals, Bran Flakes, apples, and Salad vegetables. The fat tends to come from peanuts and sunflower seeds, as well as a flax seed oil supplement and the fat found in the fish that I eat. I'm drinking about a gallon of water a day.

As for the weights, I've been going about a half hour to forty five minutes six days a week. One day I'll concentrate on chest and lats, the next day on arms and shoulders, and the next day on legs and abs and then back to day one. I always start out with three sets of pushups to failure which end up being about 15, 12, and 8. Obviously I'm very weak here but I'm being honest. Flat bench reps at 60 pounds, inclined bench reps at 64 pounds, dumbbell curls at twenty pounds, one handed rows at 20 pounds, overhead shoulder presses at 20 pounds, leg raises at 50 pounds, leg curls at 50 pounds... I think my one rep bench max is right around 110 pounds.

I guess my eventual LONGTERM goal would be to have the body of a competitive swimmer or Henry Rollins in his best days. I don't want to get huge or do any bodybuilding competitions - just a good lean muscular look. So is it just going to take time, lower carbs, heavier weights, and HIIT cardio?

Please tear me apart now. :-)

Thanks in advance, Mike...

Any body fat percentage guesses would also be greatly appreciated...

[sorrysometimes]

Here's another pic...

[sorrysometimes]

And yet another...

[cita.mr1]

Well , first off congrats on your weight loss. Second, your off to a great start, like most things desired..yes it will take time.

To acquire the lean muscular look you want, well your on the right track. You seem to have your cardio sessions and weight routines planned out, and a diet in check .Only thing on the diet, is that 1600 calories seems a bit low in my opinion.

Im not that great with body fat estimations, but its not as high as you make it out to be. You just seem to be a carrying a lil "gut". Your other body parts are fine, and with the work you are giving them will look even better in time.

Aside from that..i think all you need to do is wait it out and let time pass...Good luck!

[Squatman]

Congrats on your progress so far, now it's time to build some muscle. Even though you don't want to look like a bodybuilder, you should be eating and training like one right now. No offence, but you're a looooong ways from big. You'd have to workout hardcore for two or three years to get big, so don't worry about it.

1600 calories is low, especially for lifting 6 times a week. In fact, I would drop down to 3-4 days a week and concentrate on building on building some mass. Increase your calories to 2000 (or more), eat clean and get lots of protein.

[Patfan]

Great job. Sounds like you've got the dedication to succeed. Just stick with it..

You're definately going to need to eat more (especially protein) to put on some more muscle. The more muscle you put on, the more fat you'll burn when you're resting. I know you said money is tight, but there are cheaper protein sources than chicken and steak. How about egg whites? I buy them in liquid form and have them every morning. One carton (8 egg whites), gives you 24+ grams of protein for only $1.40 (Canadian). Not too bad...

Anyways, try eating some more and continue to work hard in the gym, and I'm sure you'll find the added muscle will improve your physique and not make you look "too big." (myself, I'd rather look too big than like a competitive swim,erm, but to each his own!). Good luck.

[sorrysometimes]

First of all, I want to thank everyone that has offered help to this point.

No offense taken, Squatman. That's why I'm here, for the pointers and the abuse. So basically, you're saying adding lean mass should be the goal at this point and to worry about fat loss later?

Patfan, I'm currently trying to take in about 160 grams of protein every day. How much do you think I should increase this part of my intake? I had heard about the egg white cartons from a friend who is doing vegetarian bodybuilding and I'll have to check them out. I think I've been filling out too much of my protein intake with the incomplete ones found in nuts and stuff like that.

I know that the general consensus is that I need to eat bigger/ cleaner, and just concentrate on building muscle at this point. Should I be eating more than maintainence level calories to build muscle or should I be just under maintainance with a larger proportion of protein? And what about carbs and fats?

Where does cardio fit into all of this? HIIT or long distance or what? I'm thinking of doing a Monday/Thursday/Saturday workout and Tuesday/Friday/Sunday cardio type of plan, with Wednesday as an off day as that's my day off of work.

I'm anxious to get a better plan together and see some change sint he next couple of months. To this point I've just been trying to take things that everyone seems to agree on and incorporate them into my plan. But at this point I'm not even sure what I should be trying to do and you guys are helping me out at this point. It seems I need mass before concentrating on cutting fat at this point, which is a hard pill to swallow as I've been trying to cut weight (NOT FAT, oops) for so long and I've gotten used to weighing less and less over the past fourteen weeks.

[sorrysometimes]

bump

[warped]

Hey man, great job on the weight loss.

Now you can add muscle and loose fat at the same time. Since you are fairly new to this it should be possible for you. Take advantage of the "newbie" gains. Kick the calories up, keep the diet clean, lift heavy, toss in some HIIT 2-3 times a week and you will gain muscle and loose fat.

[sorrysometimes]

Warped, thanks for the reply... It's good to know that I'm on the right track, as it sounds like most people are just recommending that I do exactly what I had planned on doing in the coming months. How far do you think I should be kicking my calories up? it seems to me that my maintainance calories are right around 2400 a day. When I do increase my intake, should I be keeping the same macronutrient ratios - 40/40/20 or what...

Thanks in advance...

[LaxPro]

I'd take in around 2000 calories or so and gradually, slowly increase it. When i started i was like you..in terms of having fat and no muscle that is. Anyway, I ate around 2000 calories a day and was able to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Just make sure you eat really clean!! muscle gain and fat loss is soo much about nutrition.

[crex]

i am curious what ratios you would reccomend for protein fat and carbs for the 2000 calories to build muscle and loose fat at the same time?

[Mfranke]

Hey Mike,

I think you have lowered your calories too drastically. 1600 calories is pretty low even at a body weight of 160 pounds. I would definitely bump it up to over 2,000. You won't get fat as long as it is quality protein, healthy fats, and moderate carbohydrates.

As far as training, I would drop the pushups to failure at the beginning of your workout especially when training chest and arms. You are fatiguing yourself right off the bat, which will throw off the rest of your workout. Move the pushups to the end of the workout if you feel you need to do them. Or at least don't go to failure on them, (stop a few reps short of failure).

Focus on getting stronger in compound lifts like squats, bench, deadlifts, and pullups.

When I was new to lifting I made great progress with the 5 sets of 5 reps type workouts. I highly recommend this style of training to beginners. Bump up the calories and focus on getting stronger and you will see some great results.

[Mfranke]

You shouldn't really focus on calories right now, but more so on a good ratio of nutrients. The 40/40/20 is a good one. Of course everybody is different and it depends on your body type as to what diet to follow. Some people require a higher ratio of carbs and some people need to stay fairly low carb just to keep from getting fat. I would encourage you to experiment, but as a general rule of thumb the 40/40/20 is a great place to start. Shoot for at least 200 grams of protein per day and 200 or less of carbs, throw in some healthy fats like nuts, fish oil, olive oil.

[Football.]

6 years too late, bro