Fat Loss Advice

[enkai]

I need some help, this is my first year bodybuilding, I started this summer with doing the arnold routine, and then i figured out it was overtraining, alterd my training methods, and went from 220 lbs to 260 lbs, I gained roughly 30 lbs of muscle, about I would say 10 lbs of fat, a few lbs up or down on either one. I need advice on cutting up, I'm supplementing with NYC stack, and Yohimburn...here are my stats

age - 18
height - 6'2
weight - 260 lbs
legs - 29 inches
arms - 17.5 inches
forarems - 14 inches
calves - 18 inches
bodyfat - 18-20%

My lifts are
Bench - 350 lbs 1 rm max
Squat - 355 for reps
Deadlift - 285 for reps

I want to lower my bodyfat by the summer, I'm looking at this not for the looks, but more of a contest prep, so when I do get bigger and decide to compete, I can fine tune my cutting/bulking, and be in top shape when I come out, so my goal is June 1st 2003 to be cut up...

Here is my workout

Monday - Chest
Tuesday - Back
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Arms
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Legs
Sunday Rest

I'll alternate cardio, i'll do cardio three days a week, depending on how sore my legs are from the leg day, I do AM cardi on empty stomach at 5 mph, for 20 mins.

My diet isn't all that perfect thats where I need advice, I hear that TKD diet is pretty good, but I have no clue how it works, I know it's a form of Atkinds low carb diet, so I'm guessing I lover all my carbs below 40 grams a day, correct me i'm probably wrong on that one, eat high protein, high good fats, and on the weekends eat whatever I want except no saturated fats and carb load...Any other tips you guys can give me as far as cutting up go on training, should I tear it up in the gym, or should I lover my intensity, and any other things I should change on cardio, and diet, Thanks!

[bigmag]

As far as the diet goes you should be getting most of your carbs from brown rice, pasta, oatmeal, potato's, or yams. Your protein should be coming mostly from foods like chicken breast, turkey breast, tuna, fish, beef, or eggs whites. I would also play around with my diet a little if I were you since you're just starting out to find out. Change it up for two weeks doing a moderate carb, lower fat, then drop your carbs and add good fats for the next two weeks and compare your results. Stick with the one that you get the best progress from. For Example my body responds really badly to fat so I have to keep my fat low and my carbs moderate and the produces the best results for me, so find out what works for you. Since you are trying to loose bodyfat I'd suggest doing more cardio. Either add another day or add ten min. to each cardio session you're doing now. Looking at your routine, I'm wandering when you train traps or shoulders? I would also suggest you get some glutamine and take it before each cardio session in the morning to keep your body from tearing down your muscle to quickly. If there's any other questions let me know and I'll try to help you out.

Succes is my only option!!

[enkai]

Hey thanks for the good info, I do my traps on back day and on leg day, and I do shoulders on chest day...I just forgot to include it in the list above, i'll do that low carb, etc...also about the cardio, i'll extend it to 30 mins, but should i keep my weight training the same?

[Hawk]

Not very often I crawl outta the woodwork to make a post but I'll peep out for this one.

If you're cutting, "pasta" carbs just aren't in the menu. Let me share some of the things I've picked up.

In order to melt away those unwanted lbs while maintaining that precious muscle mass, several things must be taken into consideration. Metabolism, insulin / glucagon, maintaining your thyroid, macro / micronutrients, supplements, thermogenesis, diet, cardio and training.

Your metabolism is everything. This is why these low calorie diets don't work. We all know that the only way to get rid of our fat stores is to burn more calories in a day then we consume. Unfortunately, with low calorie diets you'll lose almost as much muscle mass as you will fat. That's not our goal. We need to work with - not against our bodies. When our muscle mass decreases, our metabolic rate slows as well, thus burning less calories at rest. (basal metabolic rate). To maximize fat loss, we need to keep our metabolism up. This is accomplished by weight training ( increased for several hours after workout ), meal frequency ( when food is digested, our body temp rises, increasing our metabolic rate ), themogenics such as ephedrine and meal timing ( ingesting carbs at breakfast and post workout will help regulate thyroid hormones and this is when your muscles are depleted the most - your carbs will be used to replinish these stores rather than be stored as fat. It is also at breakfast and post workout that we can maximize the anabolic effects of insulin ).

Insulin is an extremely important factor in the burning of fat. Likewise it is important in the storing of fat. It is produced in the pancreas as is glucagon. Glucagon has the opposite effect of insulin. Where insulin decreases the amount of glucose in the blood, glucagon increases the concentration, both working together to maintain your normal glucose levels. Glucagon releases fatty acids from your fat stores and prepares then to be burned as energy. In other words, it is responsible for releasing your fat stores. However, in order for glucagon to be released, you must control your insulin release. Naturally, the lower the insulin level, the higher the glucagon level. Less insulin = more fat burned. Problem is we need insulin to get nutrients/amino acids into our muscle cells. This is where we maximize the anabolic effects of insulin mentioned before. The more nutrients that your muscles get, the greater the anabolic effect when we weight train. Insulin also suppresses cortisol, the hormone reposible for taking protein away from your muscles. Although all food that we eat causes a release of insulin, carbs cause the highest insulin spike. The simpler the carb, the higher the spike. The more complex and fibrous the carb, the slower the release of insulin. There is only one circumstance whereby a high release of insulin will not cause us to store fat. When your body needs to replenish its muscle stores, we will not store fat. This happens twice a day, breakfast and postworkout. These are the two times that we want to take full advantage of the anabolic properties of insulin. Another factor in insulin sensitivity but I'll leave that for another time.

The most important macronutrient whether we are bulking or cutting is protein. When cutting, if we don't consume enough protein then our bodies will be forced to get it from our muscles. Result - decreased muscle mass, slower metabolism, etc.. The specifics of protein I will again leave out of this thread. In order to maintain our muscle mass we will need to consume 1 - 1.5 grams of protein for per lb of body weight. Glucagon is also released after protein consumption. Carbs are helpful in maintaining our metabolism but can be cycled to prevent fat storage. Carbs should be consumed as mentioned previously - breakfast and post workout with complex carbs such as oatmeal for breakfast, dextrose post workout (insulin spike) and more complex carbs - ideally such as green, fibrous vegetables in your post workout meal. Another way is to increase carbs every 4th week which I'll get into shortly. Fats are without a doubt a necessity. It is impossible to completely regulate fats. With the huge amounts of meats that we consume, you are guaranteed to get them. Essential fatty acids are, well - essential. These EFAs from omega 3, omega 6 and omega 9 sources have a host of benefits. EFAs decrease catabolism, help with our cholesterol, assist with the burning of fat stores, increase the secretion of growth hormones, increase insulin sensitivity and maximize testosterone levels. Need any other reasons to supplement with EFAs?

There are many ways to determine just how many calories we need in our diet. The one that I have found to be the best is to determine our basal metabolic rate first. For men, 67 + (12.7 x height in inches) + (6.24 x weight in pounds) - (6.9 x age) = basal metabolic rate ( BMR ). For women, 661 + (4.33 x height in inches) + (4.38 x weight in pounds) - (4.7 x age) = BMR. Then calculate your activity level to get your energy expenditure. Mutiply your BMR by 1.2 if your activity level is light, 1.5 for moderate and 1.8 for heavy. This will give you the number of calories you must consume in order to maintain your current bodyweight. Now of course we must decrease this number in order to cut. The ideal situation is to not decrease the number of calories dramtically so we won't shut down our metabolism. Decrease your number of daily calories by 10% in your first week, and additional 10% of your maintainance level in your second and another 10% in your third week. For a person who has a maintainance level of 2500 cals per day - in your first week you've consumed your maintainace level minus 1750 calories, your second week maintainance minus 3500, third minus 5250 for a total of 10,500 calories. The fourth week, eat your regular maintenance level calories. This will keep your metabolism up. The combination of the decrease of calories and your proper diet will shed those pounds while keeping your muscle mass.

Eating more meals per day also has its benefits. Instead of eating 3 - 800 cal meals, eat 6 - 400 cal meals. There are several reasons for this. First, with less cals per meal, the more likely your body will use it as energy and not store it as fat. Also, this will keep your metabolic rate up because the digestion of food will increase your body temperature. When our body temp rises, calories are burn at a higher rate. Another benefit is that because we are eating more often, the body doesn't realize the cal reduction therefore our thyroid levels will not drop drastically.

This brings us up to supplements. Multivitamins/minerals should be taken whether we are bulking or cutting. EFAs we already mentioned. Udo's oil is an excellent choice. Protein is a given. People who do not have the means or the time to eat 6 meals a day will greatly benefit from a product such as Myoplex. Ephedrine is a must because of its thermogenic properties not to mention the increased energy. Caffeine is also a good idea. Not only will it compliment the ephedrine but will help increase your concentration when you need to stay focused at the gym. Caffeine tablets will work better for you than coffee. BCAAs are also necessary which can be gotten from products such as BCAA stak from Universal. You will also benefit from ALA. ALA ( alpha lipoic acid ) increases the amount of glucose your muscle cells can take, preventing it from going to the fat cells. Taken before carb consumption, insures those carbs are disposed of properly, maintaining healthy low insulin levels. Tropical gels/creams to increase lipolysis are an option. Creatine and glutamine are always a great supplement.You also need chromium everyday and extra vitamin C. Another supplement worth mentioning is ZMA. Zinc and magnesium are of extreme importance. So much so that the amounts in your mutlivitamin/mineral and your diet may not be enough. Zinc assists in healing, tissue repair, and muscle growth. Zinc also has been said to help increase insulin-like growth factor 1, growth hormones and testosterone. It also helps prevent lactic acid. Magnesium activates enzymes necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates and amino acids, promotes muscle strength and endurance and also is needed for the delievery of oxygen into your muscles. It also will help you sleep. This is by no means a complete list of supplements. There are many others such as T2 and a host of others as well that you will reap many benefits from.

As far as cardio goes, just do it. Enough said?

When it comes to training, keep in mind that we are preserving our current muscle mass, not trying to build more. There's no need to completely tear that mucle down to rebuild it. 3 sets per bodypart, 10 - 12 reps per set is more than enough. Keep your weights at a moderate level without going to failure. As mentioned before, we want to work with our bodies - not against it. No need to train heavy. Save the heavy training for the bulking stages.

"Don't dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope; to be without hope is to be without purpose."

[enkai]

Hawk - great response, I was semi familiar with the whole insulin deal, but never really fully understood it until you cleared it up for me in your post, thanks a lot man...as for me, i'll look into getting some udos oil, I haven't seen it in GNCs or Vitamin World around me, but flaxseed oil I have, and today i'm going to get the ingrediants to make brew me some home made Yohimburn, and order some yohimbine hcl powder, that's the only thing I can't obtain through local stores, but if anyone else has any imput on this subject matter, please post, because i'm trying to learn as much as possible on how the body - fat loss works, so I can achieve my goals, and i'm planning to be a personal trainer this summer so I want to be able to do it right, instead of screwing people over, I work at GNC aswell so obtaining supplements is of easy to me, such as CLA, EFAs, etc...

[Hawk]

No prob. I tried every theory ( stupid and otherwise ) until I got down to basics and looked at the science of what really works.

Keep at it. You'll reach your goals! http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

"Don't dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope; to be without hope is to be without purpose."

[enkai]

Hey Hawk...Since i'm doing cardio 3x a week and legs on saturday, should I still continue to workout my legs with high intesntity or just enough where it works them, like lets say 50% of what i'm doing so I don't mess up my knees, I find my back is sore after running because it keeps my balanced for 30 mins straight.