Everytime I diet I lose muscle and keep fat. PLEASE HELP.

[Yozzer]

I've been at 20% body fat for years now. Whenever I diet I seem to lose muscle and keep the fat. I'm only 150lbs, and want to cut down to about 10-12% bf before I start bulking. Could someone please help me with a good diet that will allow me to lose body fat, but will also allow me to gradually put on lean mass. If i lose anymore muscle i'll be screwed. I've read so many contrasting info on diets and its wrecking my head. I have no problem eating clean, in fact, I probably eat too clean. I'm useless with cutting diets. I always get it wrong and lose too much muscle. Hope you can help.
Also, are there any supplements that would be beneficial in my fat loss.

 

[Rockaho]

What diets have you tried? What kind of exercise do you do? What is your current diet like? How old are you? Are you male or female?

 

[Yozzer]

I have tried low carb high protein, but started losing muscle and no fat. i even had dnp, and just drank protein all week, but lost muscle, and little fat. I train 4 nights a week weights, and have just started doing 20 min cardio sessions. My current diet is up in the air, i'm confused and looking for advice. i am male, 21. Been training for 3 years and have always had this fat. never really had a spot on diet.

I'm confused as to whether to eat under my BMR (or is it AMR?), or use 3000 cal diets. I cannot afford to lose any more muscle. I really need a diet whereby I can lose fat and put on muscle over a period of time. Untill i lose bf I will never look any good, as you can appreciate.

Before the dnp I had big shoulders and arms, now i'm just thinner with all the fat still there. depressing or what?

Cheers

 

[cyberflash]

Your problem is very clear to me ....

You have ZERO fat in you diet ... that's BIG time problem.

You need unsaturated fat to burn your fat !!!
That's right .. YOU NEED FAT TO BURN FAT !!!

Increase your fat to 30% of your diet, but stick with fat from roasted peanuts, olive oil, flax seed oil, omega-3 fat (salmon). These type of fat do not solidify and so will help mobilize your stubborn body fat. This is a well known fact in bodybuilding and getting ripped.

And by the way your Hi Protein diet is ALL wasted. You need unsaturated fat, like Flax oil, to help utilize your protein more efficiently.

Buddy, you are living in the Old school of thought. Zero fat diets don't work PERIOD. Eat FAT - the good ones.

 

[Rockaho]

O.K. but what's your calorie intake? What was your calorie intake on the diets? Ya gotta give us something to work with. On your low carb high protein diet, what was your calorie intake and how much was from fat? I don't believe you have to count every calorie or plan every meal exactly but you do need have an idea as to what, how much and how often you are going to eat. Tell it all.

My suspicions are similar to those of cyberflash but I wanted to hear it from you first.

 

[cyberflash]

Here's a link to a site that should open your mind why high-FAT diets will help you lose weight.

http://www.elitefitness.com/articles/phenyl-humilin.html#1

 

[Yozzer]

I'm really happy with the response i'm getting at the moment from you guys, thanks bros, this is a major issue in my life at the minute. Ok,

my diets have been somewhat up and down because i've never been certain i'm doing the right thing, so when i get worried, i change. The last diet has not been a specific one. It has however, consisted of 0 fat, very little calories, probably about 500, and about 180-200g protein. i thought by eating protein i wouldn't lose muscle, how wrong i was. I eat very clean, like i said, no fat. Thats why i'm getting frustrated. I've just sent my gf out to get some peanut butter and flax seed oil as we speak. Other stuff i'll get tonight. On dnp ( i was dpesperate) i just ate protein, and lost hardly any fat and lots of muscle. finished 3 days ago. thats why i'm reaching out to you guys. Cheers.

Yozzer

 

[Rockaho]

Dude ya gotta eat to burn fat. If you eat only 500 cals. a day your gonna look like an ethiopian. when you go that low your body refuses to burn fat. let me say that again, when you go that low your body refuses to burn fat. You burn muscle just as you said. You should at the most eat only 500 cal. less than a maintenance diet. With that diet experience, I would recomend an isocaloric diet. That is 33% of your diet is protien,33% comes from carbohydrates and 33% comes from fat (mostly unsaturated). Once you get your metabolism back to normal you might want to consider the keto diet cyberflash posted. But I would recomend that you first build your metabolism back to normal. Glad you decided to stop by. I'm no expert but I have read alot and believe I have the basics down and I'm willing to try & help all that I can. Remenber to listen to all advise on here with caution, whats right for me may not be for you.

Oh yeah, don't always expect this fast of a response, cyberflash and I are aparantly without much to do today. Sometimes It may take a day or so to get this many responses.

 

[Yozzer]

So how many cals should i be eating then? I've never heard of an isocaloric diet before. Could anyone give me an example diet? Would really appreciate it. Would not ask if i didn't need the help bros.

Yozzer

Also, why not go straight into the ketogenic diet?

 

[Yozzer]

Ok, does this sound right?

BMR = 1727.60
AMR = 3109.68
BMR - 400 calories

= 1300 calories into 6 meals
= 216.6 calories per meal
= 71.47 calories fats
71.47 calories carbohydrates
71.47 calories protein

Fats include natural peanut butter, olive oil, roasted peanuts, flax seed oil, salmon.

Carbs include rice, pasta, oatmeal

Protein include chicken, tuna, mince