38 with Nutrition Questions

[bodyquest2017]

Hello all. So I'm 38 and going onto 39 this year. I'm pretty much on target to get into the best shape of my life. BUT, I have questions regarding nutrition.

Firstly, I am attempting to get lean. So far, I've integrated elements of the Fierce Five into my workout. Only thing I am not doing at the moment are the squats. This is due to a past knee injury, so I am just training my legs in my workouts and gradually working up to it. I think I am getting there.

So, I also do cardio. This is a combination of HIIT on bike, and a boot camp style mini-circuit that includes body weight squats, kettle bell squats, jumping on a bosu (sorry, don't know the name!) and so on.

I switch between upper and lower body during the week and I go about average 6 times per week.

I think my workout is "OK" and I am clearly making gains and getting leaner but perhaps not as fast as I would like. The question, perhaps, is am I just being impatient? I've been at it for two months now. First month I was doing intermittent fasting and lost about 3 kilos. My body weight then plateaued around 78-79kg. This appears to be OK as I appear to have continued to lose body fat and replace it with muscle. I don't skip legs or mid section (forgot to mention, I do reverse sit ups, sit ups, and russian twists too). So I believe I've gotten an overall effect on my body, which I what I've been aiming for.

Question: I've gotten tired recently! I've been pushing myself to lift heavier and heavier when I go to gym. To the point where my arms/legs/abs/obliques etc ache afterwards. Surely this is the goal?!? Now, given that I want to lose body fat AND gain muscle what should calories per day look like? Some say to get lean eat 15-20% under your TDEE. But if you want to bulk up, then eat 15-20% more.

I've heard of cutting/bulking cycles of course, but never paid it much attention. What are your thoughts on this? Is cycling necessary? I'm currently 15-20% below my caloric intake on most days, but also want to bulk up a bit more. I'm trying to get this balance right as I do not want to stall or continue being tired but I also do not want to be gaining body fat (I have love handles to lose haha)

Thoughts?

[jseams]

The point of lifting heavy (progressive overload) during a cut is to try to maintain the muscle you already have. Some people do believe that you can lose fat and build muscle if you are new to lifting, but this effect doesn't last very long - a few months. Typically, you aren't going to be able to gain any muscle mass if you are in a constant caloric deficit.

You need to eat above maintenance at a surplus to gain muscle. You will also gain fat with it. Theoretically, you can eat just above at maybe 200-500 calories and gain minimal fat. Your gains will be slower, imo. You also have to be very very careful with your calorie counting. Manufacturing labels on food packaging can be as much as 20% off and the database on apps like myfitnesspal are notorious for being inaccurate. You need to weigh everything and even then if your margin is only a couple of hundred calories you can easily end up in a deficit and not a surplus and cause stalled gains.

The "old school" way is to bulk for a fairly long period of time, sometimes 6 months to a year. You get pretty "fluffy" during this process but you don't stall your muscle growth. Then you try to "cut" by running in a deficit until you reach your target body fat percentage - all while still lifting and eating enough protein (proper macro ratios) to try to lose as little muscle as you can during the process.

I've tried both ways and for me - the old school way is working much better... at least if you gauge it by my lifts. I try to not look or think about my abs at the moment. lol

[bodyquest2017]

The point of lifting heavy (progressive overload) during a cut is to try to maintain the muscle you already have. Some people do believe that you can lose fat and build muscle if you are new to lifting, but this effect doesn't last very long - a few months. Typically, you aren't going to be able to gain any muscle mass if you are in a constant caloric deficit.

You need to eat above maintenance at a surplus to gain muscle. You will also gain fat with it. Theoretically, you can eat just above at maybe 200-500 calories and gain minimal fat. Your gains will be slower, imo. You also have to be very very careful with your calorie counting. Manufacturing labels on food packaging can be as much as 20% off and the database on apps like myfitnesspal are notorious for being inaccurate. You need to weigh everything and even then if your margin is only a couple of hundred calories you can easily end up in a deficit and not a surplus and cause stalled gains.

The "old school" way is to bulk for a fairly long period of time, sometimes 6 months to a year. You get pretty "fluffy" during this process but you don't stall your muscle growth. Then you try to "cut" by running in a deficit until you reach your target body fat percentage - all while still lifting and eating enough protein (proper macro ratios) to try to lose as little muscle as you can during the process.

I've tried both ways and for me - the old school way is working much better... at least if you gauge it by my lifts. I try to not look or think about my abs at the moment. lol

Hi jseams. Thanks for your details reply. Sorry, took me a while to get back, work was busy. I think the point I am at now is that I want to make sure I make the right moves going forward. My program is working, in that I continue to lose fat and gain muscle and I am getting stronger. I can finally do 3x6 pull ups again on a 79kg frame. Not much by comparison to many, but a lot for me given that I could barely do three when I started again.

At this point I think I need to decide if I am going to go back to cutting again or bulk. I hate the extra body fat, so I would make sense to continue cutting and maintain my strength and do what would make me happiest right now. If I don't do that, then I run the risk of becoming annoyed with my perceived lack of progress. If I don't gain much mass but lose the waist fat then I'd be happy regardless. Then from there I can at least see that I can lose that fat when I cut after bulking next time.

This is as much as psychological war as a physical one. Hah.

[jseams]

This is as much as psychological war as a physical one. Hah.

Tell me about it. lol

There are too many days where I'm worn out from work and I have to force myself into the gym. I'm always glad I did - but I'm glad I have my wife and workout partner to help keep me motivated.