Advice needed

[Will G]

Hi all,

First time poster here, but I've been reading the forums for a while now and thought it was about time for me ask some questions of my own.

First of all, a little bit about me.

I'm 24 years old, and 6 feet tall.

I currently weigh 14 st 2 lbs (that's 198 lbs or 90 kgs). I'd like to say that a most of that is muscle, but in truth I don't know since I've never had my body fat measured, and truth-be-told I'm a little bit nervous about having it done, because it's probably somewhere in the twenties!

I used to play a fair bit of rugby, training 2-3 days a week (fitness and skills) and playing once a week, however this was over three years ago. I have played once since, but thought I was going to die at half-time (somehow managed to carry on for the whole game though!).

My current goals are:

Lose body fat (I've developed a bit of a belly over time - scary how you don't notice it happening!)
Gain weight, preferably in the form of lean muscle-mass - target weight is 15-16 stone (
Improve fitness - I want to start playing rugby again
Get bigger/bulk up (muscles wise of course)
Improve my strength/power enormously - I wanna be slammin' bodies down on the pitch!

My lifestyle...

I'm a marketing manager for an electronics company. I spend 9-10 hours at work each day, with a 1/2 hour drive at either end. I'm NOT a morning person! For example, I stay up too late at night, and don't get up early enough to eat breakfast AND get to work in time! I realise this is very bad practice. Also, this eliminates any chance of getting to the gym in the mornings!

I like beer, though recently I have been extremely strong-willed and have avoided any regular or excessive consumption.

My progress so far...

I've been getting down the gym reasonably regularly. My goal is 3-4 nights a week, namely Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The weekdays are all evening sessions due to work commitments, and the Sunday session SHOULD be a morning, but I've never made it until the afternoon yet (though I do get there eventually!). If I miss one day I make it the Wednesday.

When I started out at the Gym, I struggled to bench press 40 Kgs (88 lbs) and I was pretty disgusted at myself, however I persevered and upped the weight to 60 Kgs (132 lbs) which I now bench press with ease (eg. 5 sets of 12 reps is easy). I have made similar progress with all muscle groups but now I've started to get my old strength back I want to start making some huge improvements.

I'm going for the heaviest weights I can lift, and do five good sets of four good reps at <1 minute intervals. Through a bit of trial and error I have determined this weight to be 80 Kgs (176 lbs). Again, I am doing similar things for all my other muscle groups.

I am trying to be sensible about my training, making sure that I don't injure myself. Working to destruction, but not past it as it were. I train with my brother an another friend, so I always have someone spotting me, encouraging me and being there to help if necessary!

I'm trying to eat more healthily than I have done ever before. I went through a phase of take-out every night!

I now eat a lot of chicken breast, tuna and steak (in moderation, and don't eat the fat). I'm trying to eat my two biggest meals before and after my training down the gym. This is typically a carb/protein based meal before hand such as tuna pasta bake, and something like chicken breast with roasted vegetables (red, green, yellow peppers, tomato, onion, mushrooms) in pita bread.

Also, immediately after leaving the gym I drink a whey protein shake with approx 50g protein content (can't remember carb content). The meal I eat afterwards comes about 1/2 to 3/4 hour later on.

During the working day I eat a roast chicken, cheddar cheese, lettuve and cucumber sandwich on white bread (with butter). I sometimes eat two, one at 12 noon, and the other at about 4pm.

I'm drinking plenty of water throughout the day, and whilst training I always make sure that I weigh the same when I leave the gym as I did when I got there by drinking water to make up the difference - I figure any weight I've lost in such a short time frame can be nothing other than water.

I also take creatine, currently on a daily maintenance level of 3 grams/day. A note here, whilst creatine seems to be helping me work out (I can lift more, and for more reps than before) its effect MAY be purely psychological. However, the thing that makes the BIG difference for me is that when I'm taking creatine I don't ache anywhere NEAR as much the next day or two as I do when I'm not taking it - any thoughts/comments?

What I'd like to know from you guys is what else can I do to help my progress? I know there must be a LOT of things I can do! Starting to eat breakfast would be a good beginning...

Cheers,
Will

[YellowJ]

Alright brother, we'll take this a little at a time...

First- Thermodynamics wont allow your to bulk for muscle and lose Bodyfat at the same time, you must choose one. A bodyfat in the 20's isnt too terribly bad, but I would cut first. I will be back in a minute (dont let me forget) with a formula to figure your Basal Metabolic Rate......

For now, please read this and let me know what you think, and if it helps.....

Well yesterday was my last day teaching the young ones about body composition and Id like to share with you guys my last lesson to them, this one will always apply to real life.......(remember Im talking to 17-19 year olds here but I feel the same applies to 19-+ also)

So you want to lose some FAT

You look in the mirror, you appear to fat and/or people tell you you're fat. Well congrats. realizing and doing something about it is phase 1. Dont know what fat burners work? afraid of ephedrine and thermogenic drugs? Throw them out, you dont need them. Heres how to lose 1lb of pure fat a week


Go to my thread and figure up your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). After you have that number, thats the number of calories you have to eat to maintain. Here comes the hard part (actually this is very easy, people just see it as hard)......

You DO NOT have to starve yourself

Diets where you become so calorie deficient that the lethargy is so intense you're miserable, think you can deal with it? Who cares if you can, you're bodyfat WILL NOT decrease without physical activity. Your body will say "hell no" to the thought of giving up that fat for energy when you're starved. Why? Go read my thread on the Roles of Fat- Basic Nutrition. Fat plays too many vital roles in the body to be used for energy for a starving person. So starving yourself is out of the question......

Ok, here comes the good part.......Take that 4 digit number you have (maintainence calories) and thats how many calories to eat a day......yep, to maintain. Now your macronutrient (Protein, carbs & Fat) still need to be at a healthy ratio as does your meal plan. But the actual food to eat doesnt fit in this thread, but Im sure most of you guys know to eliminate junk, fast food, etc. Ok, back to the fun.....To lose 1lb of pure fat a week, all you have to do is eat right at (a little above or below wont hurt) your maintainence calories, and then perform some type of cardio 5 days a week. Now because 1 pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories You have to burn 500 cals a day each day for 7 days and that equals 3500 cals. Now how hard is burining 500 calories a day? Not that difficult at all. 30 minutes of moderate exercise should burn 500 cals a day, this is for you to access.

Now heres the common question.....You said do cardio 5 days a week but you said burn 500 cals a day....Good question. Heres the answer, on the 2 days you dont do cardio, take that original BMR number and subtract 500 from it. Thats how many calories to eat on off days to continue the fat burning.

So in conclusion (sorry this had to be so long) 1lb of fat = 3500 cals. Think about this....52 weeks in a year, say you cut half the time (Id say thats average, depends on body type) but thats 26 weeks, 1lb a week thats 26lbs of pure fat a year. PURE FAT Can you imagine being 26lbs lighter in 1 year?? How different would your body look?? And this is without use of drugs and stupid ass "miracle" diets. Imagine if you choose to cut a couple more weeks?? Its your choice and because this is 100% natural and healthy to the body any amount you choose to lose is healthy......

**Bonus material- Free of charge :P

Think if you do this all naturally and you burn 1lb of fat a week....if you add in an ECA/NYC that will only increase the fat burning process...I can not sit here and tell you it will be 100% fat, but the majority by far will be fat.

Best of luck guys and we always like to here positive stories on how much fat you've lost and how you done it....YJ

[YellowJ]

How to figure your BMR

Take your height in INCHES then convert it to CM(2.54 CMs per Inch), write that down. Then take your weight in LBS and convert it to KGs (divide your weight by 2.2)
Next go with the Harris-Benedict Formula:
66 + (13.7 X WT) + (5 X HT) - (6.8 X A) =
WT= Weight
HT = Height
A = Age
After plugging in that formula, circle that number. Next choose your activity factor:
Sedentary- ( little to no exercise) X .3
Moderate - (what most of us probably are) X .5
Heavy - (Extreme trainers, quite rare) X.75

-Take the number you circled multiply that by either .3, .5 or .75 depending on what your activity factor is. Like I said most of us are probably moderate, you guys who've been trainig for 5+ years pretty hard and combine cardio with weight training are more than likely Heavy, but be honest with yourself, this is for you, not your friends and people you wish to impress.

* Last step- Thermic food effect. Take your orginial BMR(the # you circled) add it to the new number(BMR + activity factor) and multiply that .10. Equation looks like this: (BMR + AF) X .10
***This Thermic food effect # must be ADDED to your BMR + Activity Factor!
*This final number if the total amount of calories you need to MAINTAIN YOUR CURRENT BODYWEIGHT!