Returning lifter attempting to get in shape

[jubbaj]

Hello BodyBuilding forums!

I am a returning "lifter" who has been out the gym for quite some time and is now pretty out of shape. I started lifting around my senior of year of highschool where I went from around 185lbs to 210lbs in a few months. I put on a good amount of size and strength and unfortunately a good amount of fat as well during that time. Entering college I would sporadically visit the gym but would never put in the effort like I used to. This is when problems arose. That being said, I would still classify myself as a novice lifter as I've probably only have around 6 months total of legitimate and consistent training under my belt.

Fast forward a few years later I am now 22 years old standing at 5'11 275lbs with a rough estimate of 35% bodyfat. I returned to the gym this Sunday 9/12/21 and I'm running a modified version of CoolCicada's PPL split. It is as follows:

Chest/Triceps/Shoulders
Bench Press 3x5
Incline DB Press 3x6-8
Overhead Press 3x5
DB Side Raise 3x10-12
Skullcrushers 3x6-8
Rope Pushdown 3x8-12
Cable/Machine Crossovers 3x8-12

Back/Biceps/Forearms
Deadlift 3x5
Weighted Pullups 3xAMRAP
Barbell/Pendlay Row 3x5
Lat Pulldowns 3x8-10
Seated Rows 3x8-10
Facepulls/Rear Delt Flies 3x10-12
Standing Barbell Curl 3x8
Preacher/DB Hammer Curl Superset 3x6-8
DB Shrugs 3xAMRAP

Quads/Hamstrings/Calves/Abs
Back/Front Squat 3x5
Leg Press 3x15
Leg Extensions 3x10-12
Stiff Legged Deadlift 3x5
Hamstring Curls 3x10-12
Standing Calf Raises 5x10-12
Planks 3x30seconds

After each push and pull day I spend 30 minutes on the treadmill at a speed of 3.5mph with an incline of 2.5% where my heartrate lingers around 135bpm. My job is sedentary and I visit my campus 3 days a week where I clock in around an additional 3,000 steps. So on Mondays and Wednesdays I average 10,000 steps a day whereas the other days I average around 6000, so about 6600 per day as I'm pretty laid back on Saturdays. I'm consuming 2300 calories and 200g of protein per day and I'm looking to drop around 8 - 10 lbs per month. My diet is as follows:

c=calories p=grams of protein
Quaker Quick Oats (1 cup) 300c 10p
Costco Protein Bar (1 bar) 180c 21p
Protein Shake (8oz Milk, 50g powder) 330c 54p
White rice (1 cup or 188g) 680c 16p - weighed raw/dry
Chicken breast (16 oz or 448g) 440c 88p - weighed when frozen/thawed
Roasted Broccoli (4 cups or 340g) 120c 12p

Seasonings 255c 0p
Can't Believe it's not Butter (1 tbsp) 60c 0p
Brown sugar (1 tsp) 15c 0p
Cinnamon (1 tbsp) 20c 0p
Extra virgin olive oil (1/2 tbsp) 60c 0p
Misceallaneous seasonings 100c 0p

TOTAL 2305 calories 201 grams of protein


I also consume 5g of creatine and take a host of multivitamins/supplements daily. I've calculated my TDEE using the website https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/ and after putting an activity level of 1.475 and enabling both the Mifflin St Jeor and Katch-McArdle (Hybrid) models, I am expected to lose around 9lbs per month.

So, I have several questions.

1. Is it realistic to expect to put on muscle and lose fat at my stats?
2. Are my TDEE calculations accurate? Can I expect such drastic weight loss?
3. This is my first week back so how quickly should I expect the scale to move?
4. Lets assume that I do put on muscle and lose fat simultaneously, would my fat loss then be accelerated due to having a higher metabolism?

If you have any more questions or need additional information, please feel free to ask and I will gladly provide any necessary info. Thanks.

[air2fakie]

That lifting routine is overkill if you're looking to put on muscle while you lose weight, but for weight loss it's fine.

[xsquid99]

That's a lot of volume, how many days a week are you running that PPL?

[jubbaj]

That's a lot of volume, how many days a week are you running that PPL?

Six days a week with one rest day on Saturday. This is very similar to the program I used to run when I first started lifting

[xsquid99]

Six days a week with one rest day on Saturday. This is very similar to the program I used to run when I first started lifting

I"m familiar with coolcicadas program, I ran it myself for over a year. The good thing about it was it was sized right for about an hour or just slightly over an hour of lifting and it was well laid out both exercise and volume-wise. I honestly don't see how you could honestly get through all that volume you've added unless you've lowered the intensity level down to levels that really are sub-optimal.

And why do things like AMRAP weighted pullups AND do a LAT pull? Or why do pendlay rows AND a seated row. If you did AMRAP pullups your ability to get anything further out of a lat-pull would be completely shot. The changes you've made just don't make a whole lot of sense to me.

[jubbaj]

I"m familiar with coolcicadas program, I ran it myself for over a year. The good thing about it was it was sized right for about an hour or just slightly over an hour of lifting and it was well laid out both exercise and volume-wise. I honestly don't see how you could honestly get through all that volume you've added unless you've lowered the intensity level down to levels that really are sub-optimal.

And why do things like AMRAP weighted pullups AND do a LAT pull? Or why do pendlay rows AND a seated row. If you did AMRAP pullups your ability to get anything further out of a lat-pull would be completely shot. The changes you've made just don't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Hmm.. makes sense. Maybe I can alternate the exercises or remove some redundant ones flat out. Are my push and legs days fine? And what about the other questions I listed. Thanks

[air2fakie]

Six days a week with one rest day on Saturday. This is very similar to the program I used to run when I first started lifting

You're mistaking the success of this routine the first time you started lifting - that 25 lbs you gained in a few months wasn't muscle. Let alone now you're doing it while trying to lose weight.

It's not what you want to hear, but you shouldn't be adding volume to Coolcicada as a novice. And weighted pullups 3 x AMRAP @ 5'11", 275 lbs, 35% bf after not lifting for a few years... what is that, 3 sets of 0?

[jubbaj]

You're mistaking the success of this routine the first time you started lifting - that 25 lbs you gained in a few months wasn't muscle. Let alone now you're doing it while trying to lose weight.

It's not what you want to hear, but you shouldn't be adding volume to Coolcicada as a novice. And weighted pullups 3 x AMRAP @ 5'11", 275 lbs, 35% bf after not lifting for a few years... what is that, 3 sets of 0?

Weighted Pullups is a bit of a misnomer here. Right now I can barely do 1.5 so I planned to add weights once I'm able to do around 10 with bodyweight alone. What about some of the other questions I listed though? Thanks.

[xsquid99]

Weighted Pullups is a bit of a misnomer here. Right now I can barely do 1.5 so I planned to add weights once I'm able to do around 10 with bodyweight alone. What about some of the other questions I listed though? Thanks.

1. Is it realistic to expect to put on muscle and lose fat at my stats?

You will be able to see some strength gains through general adaptation of lifting again, but if you're aiming for 9 lbs of weight loss a month don't expect to add a lot of muscle during that fat loss phase.

2. Are my TDEE calculations accurate? Can I expect such drastic weight loss?

No way of knowing this, track your weight daily over the course of several weeks and adjust calories as required until you're losing about 1% of your bodyweight per week.

3. This is my first week back so how quickly should I expect the scale to move?

Typically if you go right into a decent sized deficit you'll see weight come off fairly quickly, up to 5-7 lbs in the first couple weeks would not be unrealistic due to a large initial drop in water weight.

4. Lets assume that I do put on muscle and lose fat simultaneously, would my fat loss then be accelerated due to having a higher metabolism?

Fat loss is the product of a sustained caloric deficit, nothing more. The more you increase caloric burn through general activity (both scheduled exercise and daily non-exercise movement) and lower your intake, the larger that deficit becomes and the faster you lose weight.

[TolerantLactose]

We need a pic to be sure but your 35% bf estimate @ 275lbs sounds way too conservative for a novice lifter. I think you have more fat to lose than you believe.

[jubbaj]

1. Is it realistic to expect to put on muscle and lose fat at my stats?

You will be able to see some strength gains through general adaptation of lifting again, but if you're aiming for 9 lbs of weight loss a month don't expect to add a lot of muscle during that fat loss phase.

2. Are my TDEE calculations accurate? Can I expect such drastic weight loss?

No way of knowing this, track your weight daily over the course of several weeks and adjust calories as required until you're losing about 1% of your bodyweight per week.

3. This is my first week back so how quickly should I expect the scale to move?

Typically if you go right into a decent sized deficit you'll see weight come off fairly quickly, up to 5-7 lbs in the first couple weeks would not be unrealistic due to a large initial drop in water weight.

4. Lets assume that I do put on muscle and lose fat simultaneously, would my fat loss then be accelerated due to having a higher metabolism?

Fat loss is the product of a sustained caloric deficit, nothing more. The more you increase caloric burn through general activity (both scheduled exercise and daily non-exercise movement) and lower your intake, the larger that deficit becomes and the faster you lose weight.

We need a pic to be sure but your 35% bf estimate @ 275lbs sounds way too conservative for a novice lifter. I think you have more fat to lose than you believe.

Thanks for the feedback. Going back to my routine, would you say removing pullups and bent over rows would be optimal?

Its possible that I am above 35% bf and I will be uploading pics this Sunday as I'm doing weekly updates. Thanks for the feedback.

[air2fakie]

Thanks for the feedback. Going back to my routine, would you say removing pullups and bent over rows would be optimal?

Would still be far from optimal for a novice on a significant cut and may end up being sporadic like it has in the past for you.

[EliKoehn]

We need a pic to be sure but your 35% bf estimate @ 275lbs sounds way too conservative for a novice lifter. I think you have more fat to lose than you believe.

Not sure if the avatar is current but looks like it might even be less than 35%, to me. That said, it also doesn't look like 275, either.

[TolerantLactose]

Not sure if the avatar is current but looks like it might even be less than 35%, to me. That said, it also doesn't look like 275, either.

Avatar pic was posted in '16.

[EliKoehn]

Avatar pic was posted in '16.

Yeah, he looks 25%ish to me in the avi.

OP, I think the routine looks good. I'd just put the premium on the deficit rather than gym performance until you're down to a healthier weight.

[jubbaj]

Yeah, he looks 25%ish to me in the avi.

OP, I think the routine looks good. I'd just put the premium on the deficit rather than gym performance until you're down to a healthier weight.

Appreciate the feedback. I will be dropping my caloric intake down to 2000 calories and hopefully I can turn this into a success thread.