BF advice

[fmurel]

Okay!!!
You guys provided much valuabe information. Thanks for the answers!
When I started dieting year ago I was large and strong, I know how to gain size, but lose it never was my gift.
Read much information about caloric deficit, slowing metabolism and etc. But every time I tried to run something like 1800cals/day(would be almost 1000 deficit) I lost little to none fat, so that’s when I decided to be radical and lowered so much. Not in one shot although, I reached 12 weeks ago this 1200 cals/day and since 2 to 3 week I staled.
This is not my first plateau, but the others I just added more cardio and done. This time I am tired and slow, thinking about giving up.
But Ok, If you guys say that’s the way, allright, I will do that. Actually, that’s why I came to the forum, so It would be stupid to not listen to the tips.

You guys think that 2500 cals, consisting of 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20%fats, added 40min cardio 4x/week and one or two cheat days would be a good fix?
I need to lose something around 5kg to reach my goals of BF to the beginning of spring here(Brazil) and have some time to refuel my muscles to regain some size to sumer.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Redfield11]

Okay!!!
You guys provided much valuabe information. Thanks for the answers!
When I started dieting year ago I was large and strong, I know how to gain size, but lose it never was my gift.
Read much information about caloric deficit, slowing metabolism and etc. But every time I tried to run something like 1800cals/day(would be almost 1000 deficit) I lost little to none fat, so that’s when I decided to be radical and lowered so much. Not in one shot although, I reached 12 weeks ago this 1200 cals/day and since 2 to 3 week I staled.
This is not my first plateau, but the others I just added more cardio and done. This time I am tired and slow, thinking about giving up.
But Ok, If you guys say that’s the way, allright, I will do that. Actually, that’s why I came to the forum, so It would be stupid to not listen to the tips.

You guys think that 2500 cals, consisting of 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20%fats, added 40min cardio 4x/week and one or two cheat days would be a good fix?
I need to lose something around 5kg to reach my goals of BF to the beginning of spring here(Brazil) and have some time to refuel my muscles to regain some size to sumer.

Thanks again for the help!

Although I am a firm believer of cheat days, you shouldn't plan them. If I have a cheat day, whether I'm bulking or cutting it'll be very rare. You need to have discipline otherwise you're not going to achieve what you want. Regarding what you should be eating, you need to educate yourself on good and bad foods. There are good fats and bad fats, simple carbs and complex carbs.

There's lots of information about what foods you should and shouldn't eat. Have a look at a thread that was made yesterday, 'First Cycle: Dbol only? Old School? True?', on the bottom of the first page, there's a huge post about what foods you should eat. It's aimed at bulking, but it's a clean bulk. The same applies to cutting, so aim to get your calories to around 2500 a day, with the ratio of Carbs 50%, Protein 40% and Fats 10%. Fluid is important as well, particularly in cutting cycles. You want to be drinking water, not soda, milkshakes or beer.

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on what the ratio of what you eat is. My girlfriend of 5 years is a dietitian and personal trainer and that's her personal preference. I have a pretty average metabolism, which means I have to work pretty hard to cut or bulk and for cutting, that ratio hasn't done me wrong. But as I said, it's all about commitment, if you're already planning your 'cheat days' then your hearts not in it. You don't go to the gym and think, 'Ah I'll just do a few reps today' because it just won't work long term. The work you do in the kitchen is far more important than the work you put in at the gym.

 

[Zyglamail]

with your size you should have about 2400 cal maintenance, cutting that in half is going to kill fat loss because your body thinks its starving.

 

[lrkoehle]

Although I am a firm believer of cheat days, you shouldn't plan them. If I have a cheat day, whether I'm bulking or cutting it'll be very rare. You need to have discipline otherwise you're not going to achieve what you want. Regarding what you should be eating, you need to educate yourself on good and bad foods. There are good fats and bad fats, simple carbs and complex carbs.

There's lots of information about what foods you should and shouldn't eat. Have a look at a thread that was made yesterday, 'First Cycle: Dbol only? Old School? True?', on the bottom of the first page, there's a huge post about what foods you should eat. It's aimed at bulking, but it's a clean bulk. The same applies to cutting, so aim to get your calories to around 2500 a day, with the ratio of Carbs 50%, Protein 40% and Fats 10%. Fluid is important as well, particularly in cutting cycles. You want to be drinking water, not soda, milkshakes or beer.

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on what the ratio of what you eat is. My girlfriend of 5 years is a dietitian and personal trainer and that's her personal preference. I have a pretty average metabolism, which means I have to work pretty hard to cut or bulk and for cutting, that ratio hasn't done me wrong. But as I said, it's all about commitment, if you're already planning your 'cheat days' then your hearts not in it. You don't go to the gym and think, 'Ah I'll just do a few reps today' because it just won't work long term. The work you do in the kitchen is far more important than the work you put in at the gym.

Gotta disagree with you about planned vs unplanned cheat days. Either way can work, and it's probably more about personal preference than anything. So here's why I prefer a planned cheat day.

First, from a physiologic stand point, leptin levels drop like 50% after a week on a caloric deficit, so a planned cheat day every 7-14 days takes that into consideration and boosts leptin as it is crashing out.

The second reason I like planned cheat days is that it makes it easier to stay totally disciplined. If I know I have only 5 or 6 more days to make it to my next cheat/re-feed day, it makes it easier to pass up certain foods I may want. When you don't have a planned cheat day it is easier to just say fuck it, give into temptation, and turn that day into a cheat day. If you're not careful then pretty soon every couple days is a cheat day. Again, this may not be a problem for everyone, so it is personal preference.

Third, if you're married or live with your lady friends, it is easier on them this way too. I can tell my wife Saturday will be the day we can go out to get some higher carb/calorie meals (like burritos in my case, fucking love burritos).

To go off of your gym analogy, not planning cheat days is like showing up to the gym without a plan of what body parts you're hitting that day and with what exercises. I plan my workouts down to the lifts, weight, reps, and number of sets and do the same with my diet.

Of course, if you do plan cheat days, you absolutely cannot cheat during the week.

That's just my perspective on it though, and I would say my heart is definitely in it even though I plan cheat days.

 

[Redfield11]

Gotta disagree with you about planned vs unplanned cheat days. Either way can work, and it's probably more about personal preference than anything. So here's why I prefer a planned cheat day.

First, from a physiologic stand point, leptin levels drop like 50% after a week on a caloric deficit, so a planned cheat day every 7-14 days takes that into consideration and boosts leptin as it is crashing out.

The second reason I like planned cheat days is that it makes it easier to stay totally disciplined. If I know I have only 5 or 6 more days to make it to my next cheat/re-feed day, it makes it easier to pass up certain foods I may want. When you don't have a planned cheat day it is easier to just say fuck it, give into temptation, and turn that day into a cheat day. If you're not careful then pretty soon every couple days is a cheat day. Again, this may not be a problem for everyone, so it is personal preference.

Third, if you're married or live with your lady friends, it is easier on them this way too. I can tell my wife Saturday will be the day we can go out to get some higher carb/calorie meals (like burritos in my case, fucking love burritos).

To go off of your gym analogy, not planning cheat days is like showing up to the gym without a plan of what body parts you're hitting that day and with what exercises. I plan my workouts down to the lifts, weight, reps, and number of sets and do the same with my diet.

Of course, if you do plan cheat days, you absolutely cannot cheat during the week.

That's just my perspective on it though, and I would say my heart is definitely in it even though I plan cheat days.

I agree that it's all about personal preference. Living with a girlfriend who is dietitian and personal trainer keeps me on a strict diet and after five years I no longer see cheat days as something that I need or even want. Yes there are occasions where letting my hair down is important, i.e birthday's, holidays, anniversaries but for the most part I prefer to eat healthily. One of the main reasons for that is because I actually prefer eating healthily.

But that is me. I've just finished several years as an ex-pro sportsman which is by no means the same as the average guy wanting to lose a few pounds. I had to be extremely strict on my diet to stay at that level and I found that after time, I didn't want to eat 'bad' food. But unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of their better half being a cooking goddess who wants to eat healthily as well. I can imagine if circumstances were different, I'd have a different outlook.

For me it comes down to this. What is better for you? Eating healthily 5 days a week and fast food for the other 2 days, or eating healthily every day of the week. The answer is obvious. I understand from a psychological POV that cheat days can be perceived as motivation and having something to look forward to in the week can be beneficial. But in my eyes, if you think that you're allowed to 'cheat' then you're not going to be as successful.

A scientific perspective can be seen between myself and my brother. He's a year older than me but is the same height, has the same metabolic rate, very similar biological make-up and similar physique. But his diet includes a cheat day twice a week, he goes out on on a Friday night and drinks, followed by a classic British kebab; Saturday he'll do pretty much the same and eat whatever he likes, then for the rest of the week he'll eat really well and train as hard as I do. But instead of being 260lbs at 6% BF, he's 245lbs at 14%. In my eyes it is completely down to diet.

 

[rustilldown]

I agree that it's all about personal preference. Living with a girlfriend who is dietitian and personal trainer keeps me on a strict diet and after five years I no longer see cheat days as something that I need or even want. Yes there are occasions where letting my hair down is important, i.e birthday's, holidays, anniversaries but for the most part I prefer to eat healthily. One of the main reasons for that is because I actually prefer eating healthily.

But that is me. I've just finished several years as an ex-pro sportsman which is by no means the same as the average guy wanting to lose a few pounds. I had to be extremely strict on my diet to stay at that level and I found that after time, I didn't want to eat 'bad' food. But unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of their better half being a cooking goddess who wants to eat healthily as well. I can imagine if circumstances were different, I'd have a different outlook.

For me it comes down to this. What is better for you? Eating healthily 5 days a week and fast food for the other 2 days, or eating healthily every day of the week. The answer is obvious. I understand from a psychological POV that cheat days can be perceived as motivation and having something to look forward to in the week can be beneficial. But in my eyes, if you think that you're allowed to 'cheat' then you're not going to be as successful.

A scientific perspective can be seen between myself and my brother. He's a year older than me but is the same height, has the same metabolic rate, very similar biological make-up and similar physique. But his diet includes a cheat day twice a week, he goes out on on a Friday night and drinks, followed by a classic British kebab; Saturday he'll do pretty much the same and eat whatever he likes, then for the rest of the week he'll eat really well and train as hard as I do. But instead of being 260lbs at 6% BF, he's 245lbs at 14%. In my eyes it is completely down to diet.

This is very true. And I find that when I feel the need to cheat, what ill do is eat MORE of the same foods I already eat, it's never a feeling of needing to eat bad junk food that I get, it's the occasional feeling of need to eat more, which in turns breaks me out into a full on sweat, and more muscle growth

Not sure if that makes sense haha but it does to me

 

[Redfield11]

This is very true. And I find that when I feel the need to cheat, what ill do is eat MORE of the same foods I already eat, it's never a feeling of needing to eat bad junk food that I get, it's the occasional feeling of need to eat more, which in turns breaks me out into a full on sweat, and more muscle growth

Not sure if that makes sense haha but it does to me

Yeah I get what you mean. If we're eating chicken and I want to cheat, I'll ask her to put another chicken in the oven. Pretty sure the last time I went to McDonald's was when I was 15 ha! Would much rather sit down with some quality home cooked food and go mad, then go to a fast food outlet and eat chicken beak or whatever it is that they put in nuggets these days!

 

[lrkoehle]

I agree that it's all about personal preference. Living with a girlfriend who is dietitian and personal trainer keeps me on a strict diet and after five years I no longer see cheat days as something that I need or even want. Yes there are occasions where letting my hair down is important, i.e birthday's, holidays, anniversaries but for the most part I prefer to eat healthily. One of the main reasons for that is because I actually prefer eating healthily.

But that is me. I've just finished several years as an ex-pro sportsman which is by no means the same as the average guy wanting to lose a few pounds. I had to be extremely strict on my diet to stay at that level and I found that after time, I didn't want to eat 'bad' food. But unfortunately not everyone has the luxury of their better half being a cooking goddess who wants to eat healthily as well. I can imagine if circumstances were different, I'd have a different outlook.

For me it comes down to this. What is better for you? Eating healthily 5 days a week and fast food for the other 2 days, or eating healthily every day of the week. The answer is obvious. I understand from a psychological POV that cheat days can be perceived as motivation and having something to look forward to in the week can be beneficial. But in my eyes, if you think that you're allowed to 'cheat' then you're not going to be as successful.

A scientific perspective can be seen between myself and my brother. He's a year older than me but is the same height, has the same metabolic rate, very similar biological make-up and similar physique. But his diet includes a cheat day twice a week, he goes out on on a Friday night and drinks, followed by a classic British kebab; Saturday he'll do pretty much the same and eat whatever he likes, then for the rest of the week he'll eat really well and train as hard as I do. But instead of being 260lbs at 6% BF, he's 245lbs at 14%. In my eyes it is completely down to diet.

I can't say I disagree with most of what you said. Like most things, the devil is in the details, so to speak. In other words, your brother and I both have planned cheat days, but it seems like that is where the similarities end. Two days a week is too much, especially for a full-blown, "dirty" cheat day complete with alcohol. I almost never consume alcohol in general. The other thing is what does his diet consist of during the week? I only eat more than 5 grams of carbs in a meal immediately post-workout. So really my cheat days are more of a healthy carb up day to replete my glycogen stores and boost metabolism. If I ate more carbs during the week my "cheat day" would end up with a significant amount of "spill over" resulting in fat storage.

This is what I love about exercise physiology and nutrition, there are lots of different ways to reach the same end goal. Everyone has to find what works best for them and allows them to reach their goals.

On another note, don't let that lady of yours get away; she sounds pretty awesome. I wish my wife was more into the nutrition and exercise stuff...

 

[icedemon]

added 40min cardio 4x/week

What kinda cardio are you doing? If you are going to do cardio, I would recommend doing HIIT cardio. It should help with your metabolic rate.
Crank It Up: 6 HIIT Cardio Workouts To Help Shred The Fat
Do high intensity cardio like some sprints instead of the low intensity cardio most people do.