Bulking up but losing fat

[Bakerjim]

Hey guys,

Just getting back into the gym after 6 years off. Im currently sitting on 100kg and carrying a fair chunk of fat. I have a big frame and im keen to stack on muscle but keep around the 100kg mark. Im doing a 5 day routine at the gym with 4 days of weights and 1 day of cardio and swimming. Im looking for the bst diet to strip fat but put on muscle. Currently im eating 3 high protein meals a day with 3 protein snacks in between but it doesnt seem to be working that well

[BendtheBar]

Welcome to the forum.

A few questions so we can get you pointed in the right direction.

1) What does your split look like, what exercises are you using, and do you focus on progression?
2) Do you have any idea how many calories you are eating per day? What foods are you eating.

Training wise, you need to be on a program that focuses on good exercise selection. You will also need to be pushing for progression of weight every workout. If you fail to do this you are giving your body no incentive to hold/build muscle while dropping the fat.

Diet - if you're not losing fat, you're eating too much. You are probably going to either need to count your daily calories in some form or fashion.

[Soldier]

Count every calorie and macronutrient you take in. I use myfitnesspal.com to track my diet. If you want to both develop muscle and lose fat, you have to be extremely precise with tracking your diet, and even then you'll only be able to do both for a little while. Once your body is again used to training, you'll have to choose which is more important between gaining muscle/strength and losing fat, and focus on only one at a time.

As far as training, you need to be efficient. This is because if you train too long, you will hinder your bodies testosterone production, and your body will start producing cortisol, which will keep you from losing the fat. Cortisol is also produced any time you get stressed, so avoid all types of stress if at all possible. Keep training to 1 hr, tops. Heavy training with compound movements will get your body producing testosterone and get you in and out of the gym before cortisol kicks in. Cardio should assist with calorie burning, as well as assist in keeping your muscles and joints from tightening up as you recover between lifting sessions. The right cardio for this is moderate to low intensity, with longer duration. I'm a fan of the stairmaster, but you can do whatever you want. Just don't push it too hard, or your legs won't be ready for lifting.

If you don't want to gain or lose weight, and instead want to gain muscle and cut fat, you need to find your maintenance calories and consume that. If you want to lose weight, you need to be at a caloric deficit, and of course if you want to gain weight, you need to be at a caloric surplus. You'll never know what these numbers are unless you track your intake every day.

You seem too focussed on protein. That's only one of the three macros, and no more important than the other too. Keep your calories at or just below maintanence and get your carbs before and right after your workout. If you can, get a high protein, moderate carb and low fat meal about 3 hours after training. Whenever you eat a carb heavy meal, avoid fat, and vice versa, avoiding carbs if a meal is fat heavy. This is because carbs increase the absorbtion of all the nutrients comsumed in that meal. Proteins and fats go together, proteins and carbs go together, carbs and fats should be together as little as possible.

[bb12]

some great advice in here

[Bakerjim]

Cheers guys thats helped alot. Will let you know how i go

[wesrman]

Vegetables!

So your body uses all the extra food efficiently.

[Roy1787]

Originally Posted by wesrman

Vegetables!

So your body uses all the extra food efficiently.

What if you hate them?

[MC]

Originally Posted by Roy1787

What if you hate them?

Hopefully you hate being not in the shape you want to be more?

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Roy1787

What if you hate them?

They are just like any other food...if you eat them bland...

I little oil, butter, garlic, etc, goes a long way.

[wesrman]

Originally Posted by Roy1787

What if you hate them?

I add baby spinach to my protein shakes and you cant even taste it. Whey, milk, banana, yogurt and spinach!