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Old 11-05-2007, 09:36 AM
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Default How's it Going Everyone

First thread here and I want to open it up some questions for anyone who has experience on this matter. Right now I am attempting to cut, my carbs are low (100 grams daily) and protein intake per day is right at 250 grams a day, fat intake is roughly 60 grams, but lately it's been about 50 grams. I workout 5 days a week focusing on one muscle group a day; Mon-Chest, Tue-Legs, Wed-Back, Thursday- off Friday Arms and Saturday- Shoulders. My cardio is no less than 4 days a week. I recently upped the sessions from 35 to 40 minutes per day. Am I doing too much considering my calorie intake falls right around 1,900-2,000 per day? Or, should I consider eating more calories and if so, then where do I focus, more carbs, protein or fat? I am pretty confused, I have been eating this way and working out this way for the last 6 weeks or so and I haven't really seen the gains that I thought I would. Should I push the cardio up more or decrease? Any suggestions would help, I really appreciate it and I look forward to reading your replies?
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Old 11-05-2007, 09:41 AM
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age/height/weight/approx BF? Level of experience?
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Old 11-05-2007, 09:53 AM
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27 years old, 5'7", 190lbs BF% 12-14,

Used to be very overweight about 5 years back, decided to cut the shit and change some things up. Lost a total of 60lbs and was comfortably weight 170lbs for about year or so. Starting to put on more muscle and was very consistant witht my workouts so i was concerned with gaining 5-10lbs because my bf% stayed the same. Back in February of this year, I started gaining weight and I couldn't figure it out because I was working out and eating properly. Now I am up to 190lbs and I am very frusterated. I enclosed three pics marking my progress over the years. Now, my lifestyle changes\d as far as my work. I was a personal trainer at Bally's for two years and I was very active, I have since then quit (september 2006) but didn't start gaining a pound until February. I would say that around November-December I was still very pleased with my body at about 180lbs. The before pic shows me at 230lbs., The Skinny Pic shows me right at 170lbs and the final Fat Pic shows me present day, right at 190lbs.
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File Type: jpg skinny me.jpg (22.6 KB, 23 views)
File Type: jpg FAt Me.jpg (30.9 KB, 25 views)
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Old 11-05-2007, 10:20 AM
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I'd say you definitely need to bring your cals up. IMO, bring things up 500 cals or so/day.

As far as what to manipulate...your protein levels are fine where they are. So that leaves fats and carbs to toy with. You can either bring one or the other up, OR you can bring both up. That all depends on how you react to carbs. If you're fairly carb sensitive then upping the fats would be the better option. BUT most men aren't carb sensitive (lucky bastards ) so you probably don't have to worry about it. It really comes down to which one works better for YOU. Some people feel more hunger with higher carbs, some people don't.

Your cardio, I'm assuming by the times you have listed that you're doing SS cardio. You need to mix that up a bit. Take out a couple of those days and add in some HIIT, plyos, complexes, bleacher sprints... whatever sounds good to you. The body adapts to SS cardio very quickly. And the only way to get past that adaptation is to do longer sessions. And I'm pretty sure you don't want to end up doing 3 hours of cardio a day. Whereas more high intensity/interval/speed drill types of cardio are much shorter sessions. Your body doesn't adapt to them anywhere near as quickly. And you're post exercise calorie burning rate will remain elevated for hours (like it does after lifting).

In terms of your lifting schedule, IMO you should look into doing a 4 day upper/lower split. The one BP/day schemes rarely work very well because of how infrequently the major muscle groups are being targeted.
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Old 11-05-2007, 10:47 AM
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My cardio is as follows, 15 minutes jogging at speeds ranging from 4.5 to 6.5, last minute I run at 7.5, walk for the next five minutes, then do sprints at 8.5 for one minute than walk at 3.8 for one minute, I do 6 of those and for the next 8 minutes I jog bringing my cardio to a walking pace as my cool down. I always wondered about my one BP a day routine, I have never done that before but wanted to really change things up. I figured my calories were a bit too low, so what you mean by carb sensotive is that I could up my carbs to about 130 grams per day instead of the normal 100 grams per day? That's an extra 120 calories to be eatin when? More than likely breakfast? Maybe a add a serving of Jasmine rice to my lunch
(I am out of brown) I could also add more protein to my breakfast upping it to about 45g or so instead of the normal 32 grams. Between those two, I am looking at an increase of 172 calories...wow 500 calories increase huh...I am scared to up it that much but willing to try because my current routine isn't working out so well. I could add an extra 12g per meal. That would give me about 500 extra calories.
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Old 11-05-2007, 11:16 AM
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Knowing if you're carb sensitive or not is really a trial and error process. Finding out if you burn fats better with higher or lower carbs, knowing how you feel between the two ranges, how well your body spares muscle mass between the two... blah blah. So being that most men aren't carb sensitive, don't worry about that for now.

Don't up your proteins yet. Protein requirements go up as cals and BF go down. So for now, the 250 is just fine. Taking in more isn't going to do anything for muscle sparing or fat burning.

As an easy example of what to do to bring your cals up...

You're set with 250g protein. That's 1000 cals.

Fats, I like to have 0.5g/pound BW. That would be 95g for you, 855 cals.

You'd fill in the rest with carbs.

So between P and F, you have 1855 cals. Aiming for 2500 cals, would leave you with 645 cals to fill with carbs... 161g.

You want your carbs to center primarily around your workouts and breakfast.

In terms of cutting, splitting up your meals to be P/C and P/F, IMO is the best method. Plus, it helps to keep better track of your meals and cals.
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Old 11-05-2007, 11:29 AM
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95g fat per day? Is that not too high? Just asking because I want to know why I am eating what I am eating. As I start to cut, I can start reducing my carbs and fat and gradually increase my protein intake? Also, do you think the reason for me not being able to lose weight is because I am just nothing eatin enough? Not enough calories and too much cardio?
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Old 11-05-2007, 11:41 AM
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95g of fat isn't all that much. And they should be 'good' fats, like nuts, nut butters, olive oil, fish oil.... Your body needs fats. And 'good' fats will help you to burn fat. Sounds odd, I know

If you make too much of a deficit jump, your body will fight you. Cutting down to such low cals right away, on top of the extra deficit you're creating with all the cardio, your body will try to hang onto whatever it can in order to survive. There needs to be a gradual progression of cutting cals.
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Old 11-05-2007, 11:47 AM
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Yeah, it makes sense to me, it really does but I am always worried about doing things wrong and setting myself back even more. I have been advised to eat higher carbs, lower carbs, low fat, high fat, 300g protein a day and 180g of protein a day. I just want to do things right and start feeling better and looking better. If you notice the difference in my pics, the second one I had a nice "V" going and very low bf% and now I am more like a box, I don't like that at all!
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Old 11-05-2007, 12:19 PM
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There are lots of different ways to construct a diet. Not every method works for everyone. That's where the trial and error part comes in.

You need to test out one method for a while, see how you do, then possibly adjust from there. It's all about learning what specifically works for YOUR body. Be sure to keep some consistent records of what you're doing and what changes, if any, are happening. And don't go just by the scale. Do measurements once every week or two (first thing in the morning for better readings).
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