Confusion on proper diet, training, etc....

[Pityocamptes]

Hi, all. I was hoping someone could shed some light on the whole proper diet thing and all. My main goal is to drop the fat on my body down significant enough to see muscle and not rolls (I know you can't spot reduce but eventually would like to see the fat around my chest and abs go). I've seen some sites on the web and even have read books concerning ways to achieve this: cardio, proper diet, etc. but they really have different opinions regarding diet proportions (fat, carbs, protein) and types of workouts. What I really am aiming towards is to reduce my body fat down enough and then work out to gain muscle mass (which would mean eating more?) (Ultimate goal is to have a nice physique). Is this the wrong way to do this? I know you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, right? I don't want to be a fat bastard with a nice body underneath the rolls if you know what I mean. So what kind of foods should I really be eating? Frequency? Should I eat more than my maintenance or less? Right now I have been sticking mainly with protein but eating very few calories (around 1500 a day) also taking Xenadrine and weight lifting (need to do more cardio though). I used to lift and watch my diet religiously around seven years ago (family life can change all that) so I know its possible to get back but now it just seems harder. I hope this all makes sense. Thanks for the help. PS - Don't know if this matters or not but in my late twenty's, 220#, 36-37" waist/midsection, 5'10". Thanks again.

 

[diamonddiceclay]

buy 1 of these books-the authors know alot more than anyone on this board-Body opus by dan duchaine, the anabolic diet by mauro di pasquale or the metabolic diet by di pasquale

 

[Hoffmeister]

Your calories are way too low. Try not to go below 10 cal/lbs; otherwise, your metabolism will basically shutdown.

The basics are really pretty simple. Set your calories at 10-12/lbs. Try to get at least 1 gram protein/lbs from things like eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, tuna, beef. Get 20-30% of your calories from fats, mostly EFA's. Nuts. Get some Flax Seed Oil, and take at least 2 tbls a day.

The rest is pretty much personal preference. If you like low-carb diets, fine. Mr X has some pretty detailed diets laid out here. Otherwise, try to get your carbs from oatmeal, brown rice, veggies, sweet potatoes, whole grain breads, etc.

And finally, get a cheat/carbup day, no matter what diet you're on. Where you seem to be at, start at about 1 every two weeks. As you lose weight, make them more frequent, 1/week. Just avoid combining both fats and carbs here; try to stick to mainly carbs and protein.

 

[gy]

Hoff, good answer. I'll bump this up.

Two questions: the caloric limit of 10cals/lb is that for total body weighy or lean body weight?
And if the person is unable or unwilling to do cardio could that caloric limit drop to 9 or 8 cals/lb? Thanks.

 

[HumanShell]

buy 1 of these books-the authors know alot more than anyone on this board-Body opus by dan duchaine, the anabolic diet by mauro di pasquale or the metabolic diet by di pasquale

If someone read those books, wouldn't they then know the same information another person could get by reading them?

 

[Murman]

Hello Pityocamptes

Your cal's are to low your body burns about 2200 aday.
Work on the muscles that you want to inprove on and maintain a proper diet and the fat will come off.
If you start Cardio do it in the morning before you eat for an hour. Take your Xenadrine 30 min's before your Cardio.


HumanShell your right but i think that we only get what we want from it. That's why so many people have different views on a book, movie or what ever.

 

[Hoffmeister]

Two questions: the caloric limit of 10cals/lb is that for total body weighy or lean body weight?
And if the person is unable or unwilling to do cardio could that caloric limit drop to 9 or 8 cals/lb? Thanks.

There was a discussion over on MFW on this, and Elzi Volk quoted some studies indicating it is total body weight, and NOT lean.

You can check it out here:

http://groups.google.com/[email protected]

In any case, remember these are just estimates and starting points. Everyone is different, and you may need to adjust this to your own situation after tracking for a week or two.

 

[HumanShell]

diamonddiceclay--


I just read what I typed above, and instead of editing it to cover my tracks in hopes that you haven't read it yet, I thought I'd go ahead and throw you an apology. The tone of my reply sounds as if I jumped on your case again. I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I just meant that anyone can gain "knowledge" from reading a book. They can then spread that to other people without having them read the book. Please, don't take it the wrong way. And check your PM's, I sent you a message yesterday about that GHB article.

 

[Pityocamptes]

Thanks...

Thanks for the info. I'm going to incorporate these changes within the next day. Thanks again!