Need specific help with cutting/bulking
 

Hey all, my name is Chris, I'm new to the forums.
First of all, here are my stats:
-Male
-19 years old
-5'10" (~70in)
-142 pounds
-estimated maintenence calories: 2300 per day
Background: 3 months ago I was training for Marine OCS (kinda like boot for officers), and was in great shape (3mi run in 19:30 and falling). I broke my foot in 3 places on July 2nd, and have only started cross-training about 5 weeks ago. I didn't gain a ton of weight (went from 149 to 136), but lost a lot of muscle and gained some fat. I'm now trying to gain back muscle and lose fat asap. I've been doing HIIT 3 days per week, and easy 3 mile jogs 3 other days, 1 day of rest. On the easy run days I do all of my weight lifting. Problem is, I've been cutting, and while I think my caloric intake is correct I don't seem to be getting any stronger. How should I go about gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time? Thanks in advance for the replies, sorry for the long post.

Chris

you don't. it's either one or the other. just start adding calories and keep the cardio every other week to control the weight gain a little. Please read the stickys and articles on the board. They will answer alot of your questions.

I'm looking at that Excel document in the 'bulking' sticky, and it suggests only 200 cal below maintenence for cutting. Does this seem really low to anyone? I don't know jack yet, but I've heard 500 is optimal. 200 cal per day would work out to about 18 days to lose one pound of fat... Also, (to make this easier I'll start with an example):
Suppose your maintenence intake is 2000 per day, and to cut you consume 1500 per day. You also burn roughly 300 with cardio. Are you supposed to
a) eat your 1500, plus the extra 300 that you burned in exercise, or
b) stick with 1500, and don't take burned calories into consideration

my question is why the hell are you cutting when you are 5'10 and 145 lbs? on top of that hiit program and running you are wondering why you are losing weight and not getting stronger? here ya go i have finally learned where my maintenance is (4kcals or so). my job consists of walking prolly 17m/day at a med. pace. i do zero cardio and am on the HST program of 5's currently. here's the part you are waiting to hear, my stats: 5"11, 162lbs, 8or9%bf. currently eating 4600cals/day and leading a pretty lazy lifestyle. its tough for an ecto to gain, im guessing you'll need to be around the 4k range to bulk.

Eat more, eat more often, You will gain size and loose fat if you eat only natural clean foods (ie it comes from the ground directly to your table or from an animal) with that training you should gain muscle and loose fat.

It just that you won't become huge.

Anyone who says it cant be done just have a look at the Ironman competitors in Australia, they are decent sized for non-bodybuilders and cut.

I agree that under some circumstances it can be done. I.E. you can gain some muscle while leaning out. But the problem is pinning down what those particular circumstances are for YOU. Not for another person or even group of people. Hell I'm a very lean person and it may be hard to believe but when I eat more I actually get more cut. In other words my body has less of a tendency to hoard what little fat it does when there is a larger caloric surplus. But would this work for everyone. Of course not.

This is the very reason why many people say it is best to concentrate of maintenance while cutting. Not because they believe it is impossible to gain any muscle at all because for a LOT of people searching around for that magic formula that would work for THEM would only lead to spinning their wheels. I don't believe in the whole get fat, get thin mentality but I try to avoid applying my situation and my genetics to everyone.

Actually Eric, I find the same thing as you. The more I eat of clean food the bigger and leaner I get.

As long as I control the portions (I have a tendency to keep shoving more in as I get used to eating more) this always seems to be the case.