My adventure in losing bodyfat and gaining muscle.

[rooster51984]

I’m a new member to the forums but I’m not new to the forums I like reading articles on here and I read bodybuilding.com almost every day. For about the last 4 or so months I have been trying to lose body fat and get back into decent muscular condition. 4 months ago I was 285 pounds and I decided if I tried to diet or eat less I would fail for sure like I have many times before. So I decided I needed to change my lifestyle instead. I started out by cutting my calories way too low, I was at about 900-1100 calories a day depending if I was training a lot. I ended up losing some muscle because I got overzealous and made my caloric deficit too huge. So I tried to listen to my body the best I could and finally I think I have a program that at least works for me. I have some friends telling me I’m still not eating enough but I’m only seeing progress. I have come down from 285, jumped around a bit between losing fat and gaining muscle, and now I’m at 260. However I’m at a much leaner 260, I was down to 250 and since then I have only lost body fat and am at 260 and have made some nice gains in strength at the gym. I haven’t measured my body fat but I can tell from the mirror, I still have a long ways to go. One other thing I would like to mention, I'm 6'4 and I'm decently big boned. Here is a sample of my diet on cardio days and on weight training days.



Days I do cardio, I either do 20 minutes of HIIT sprinting or I do a 15-17 minute 2 mile run depending on how pumped I feel.

I try to do HIIT sprinting 3 times a week and the long distance run (2 miles is long distance for me anyway) twice a week. I never hit the weights and do cardio on the same day, and I only do cardio in the morning, and only lift in the afternoon.



Meal plan: (not including the calories from veggies because my portions aren't the same every meal, waiting until the end, mixed veggies are usually tomatoes, broccoli or spinage)



Meal 1: 1 Isopure shake in water 50g of protein 200 calories (this is taken about 20 minutes before the cardio)

After run: 1 serving of uncle bens rice, generally 150 cal 5g of protein. On weight training days I eat these together.



2 hours later

Meal 2: Mix of either albacore Tuna/Scrambeled eggs (mostly whites) mixed with more uncle bens. Mixed vegetables

Roughly 180 calories 20g of protein



2 Hours later



Meal 3: Another Isopure shake 50g of protein 200 caloreis



2 hours later



Meal 4: Mix of either albacore Tuna/Scrambeled eggs (mostly whites) mixed with more uncle bens. Mixed vegetables

Roughly 180 calories 20g of protein



2 Hours later



Meal 5: Lunch, Either healthy choice meal ranging from 250 to 320 calories, usually 18-24g of protein, Sometimes I’ll have a 6 inch from subway, usually chicken with franks redhot, 26g of protein about 290 calories, just meat veggies and 2 slices of American cheese (on days I forget to pack only) On days I weight train I’ll have a labrada gold bar, 300ish calories 30g of protein.



2 hours later



Meal 6: Mix of either albacore Tuna/Scrambeled eggs (mostly whites) mixed with more uncle bens. Mixed vegetables

Roughly 180 calories 20g of protein



2 Hours later



Meal 7: Iso pure shake 50g of protein 200 calories, mixed vegetables.



2 Hours later



Meal 8: Cardio days Mixed vegetables, 1 serving of Albacore tuna 70 calories 15g protein

Weight training days: Mixed vegetables, 2.5 servings of Albacore tuna 37.5g of protein 175 calories



So that’s about 1765 calories without the veggies. I did some good research and added up some values. I'm eating about 200 calories in veggies and getting about 15g of protien, I eat more broccoli and tomatoes than anything they are my favorites. Add in the veggies and lifting days I'm eating about 1965 calories a day. Protein on lifting days is 280+, cardio days around 250.

My weight training is pretty simple. I work out 3 times a week at the gym. I do 2 muscle groups each day and I work out each time for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Chest/sholder days (I go light since I have a bad left sholder) usually do flat bench 4 sets, incline 3 sets, declines 3 sets 3 sets butterfiles w/dumbells. I sometimes switch up between machine or dumbells but It's the same basic sets. Sholders I'm not even going to get into, lets just say they don't get worked hard because of the injury. I do not go real heavy on anything at all. I only worry about stimulating the muscles and using proper form, trying to not throw the weight around. Tricpes/biceps day usually consists of 4 sets close grip bench, 4 sets overhead tricep extensions with dumbell, 3 sets of dips. 4 Sets of standing curls, 4 sets of preachers, 3 sets of hammer curls with dumbells. Legs/back day I do 4 sets of squats, 3 sets of leg press, 4 sets of leg extensions, 3 sets of leg curls, 4 sets of deadlifts, 4 sets of lat pull downs, 4 sets of rows, 3 sets delts with freeweights on the flat bench sometimes on machine. Another piece of information, I also try to remember to flex the muscle at the end of each rep to force blood into my muscles, I find this to be very effective. I flex alot in general for that reason.

Supplements: I take a Lot of supplements, but some only on certain days. Heres the stuff I take every day, Isopure protein, BSN Nitrix, Amino 2222, Megamens multivitamin, alpha lipoic acid and l-cartine. On days I'm weight training I take Nutrex Vitrix, I also increase my dosage of nitrix and amino 2222. On days I do cardio I take Nutrex Lipo 6 and I reduce my nitrix dosage and my amino 2222 dosage. I was taking Cell tech for a while but I'm not right now as my main goal is body fat loss and less muscle gain.


I'm just suprised I've been gaining mass with how my diet is. I know everybodys bodys are different but this just works for me. Theres other factors that come into play as well. For instance I do 0% physical work at my job so I think that has a lot to do with my caloric deficit not making me lose muscle. I also try to get a minium of 8 hours of sleep a night which I think also plays a big role. Which pretty much means all I do is eat, go to work, workout and sleep lol. I just wanted to share my diet and training schedule with you. I'm always looking for ways to improve my gains and losses in this case so I'm all ears for advice!!! My biggest fear is that I will plateau right now. So if anybody has any advice on things to do to keep the fat loss full force I would love to hear them.

[rooster51984]

A few quick things I didn't mention. I drink tons of water, I drink water all day constantly. If i'm not in the bathroom every hour and a half theres something wrong. Also I don't always eat those exact things, I might switch up the eggs for lean beef or chicken, but the above was just a basically daily intake for me. It varies from day to day but it's very close to whats up above. Above all I'm concerned with protein intake more than anything I put that at the top of my list. Also didn't mention anything about abs, I do abs at home. Do crunches, have a roller, do leg lifts, I keep it basic. I need to look into a variety for ab exercises though. Suggestions wanted!