Strength and weight loss

johnmic07 · 2020-04-29T18:24:22+00:00

just read your OYS post. 1400 calories/day is a pretty serious cut. At 50, building muscle is not as easy so I would be very careful when cutting or your won't make progress. Personally, I think 10% body fat at age 50 is a little ambitious of a goal unless you have a bodybuilder telling you exactly what to eat and how to work out. I would recommend just focusing on increasing your lifts (I think you could definitely do more than you are now) and switch to a slight bulking diet. If you get to 20% bodyfat and you've plateaued on your lifts, then you'll want to switch to a cut. Have you considered hiring a personal trainer? If you get a good one they can make sure your workouts are what you need and that your diet is right for the goals you want to achieve. I recommend it.

tightsleeves · 2020-04-29T18:46:03+00:00

A few pillars to consider here;

Rest, Diet, and Activation (Exercise) are three elements that need to be taken serious in order to change your body. Are you getting all 3 properly?

If your getting 1400 calories that seems low unless your a 4'5 female but I don't have the time to do your calorie math.

I would switch to a power lifting circuit instead of 4x10.. at least to build your initial mass (5x5 for example) - doing reps of 10 is great to add muscle but I feel you need to have that core muscle before you start doing hypertrophy focus.

Muscle weighs more than fat... so a major drop in weight isn't a good sign. My scale has continually gone UP while my pant waist has continued to go down.

Tyred_Biggums · 2020-04-29T19:57:21+00:00

Get your testosterone checked if you haven't already. Dropping weight and building muscle becomes mutually exclusive at some point. You need at least a small surplus to build muscle. Do it right and you will gain minimal BF (but naturally the scale will go up).

If you've been cutting for awhile (2-3+ months), taking 1-2 weeks at maintenance or a slight surplus may help you. Once I cut 6-8 weeks my body starts rebelling - low energy, trouble sleeping, etc.

You need to pick a path and stick to it for a few months - based on your height and weight, aim to build up some muscle for a few months and then cut. If you keep cutting now, you'll just look like a sick meth head.

SBIII · 2020-04-29T19:03:51+00:00

Do you want to get stronger or do you want to be a skinny fuck who can't lift? Your lifts are shit, so a cut isn't going to help there. Yeah, you'll get a bit fatter if you're bulking - fucking deal with it. Do some cardio.

As for your program - unless you're on TRT or roids, stay the fuck away from sets of 10 reps. 5x5 is way better.

Even better than that is sets of 2-3 reps @ 90% and sets of 4-6 reps @ 80%. When you can manage your reps - with form - at 3 reps, add weight and drop back to 2 reps. For the 80% ones, build up to 6 reps, add weight and drop back to 4 reps. Do as many sets as your body can handle on any given day.

I've tried pretty much every range - 5x5, 6x6, 5/3/1 and I've found this to be by far the most effective.

Use 10 reps for accessories like curls, weighted dips & weighted pull ups only. Get 7 hours sleep minimum, plenty of water and deload every 6-8 weeks if you're feeling fatigued.

BootySlayer911 · 2020-04-29T20:30:36+00:00

Alcohol is pretty fattening, even a couple of drinks a day can make a difference. Plus personally it zaps my energy and motivation; replace the vodka with coffee or water it should help. I'm 46 and I've lost fat just stopping drinking.

Octellius · 2020-05-01T02:12:06+00:00

I'm 48, not far off. Had trouble making gains. Did all kinds of things to get my T up (see my history for details) but still plateaued at weakling lifts. I kept trying new things, looking for the crack in that door holding me back. Then this last set of changes started working, I haven't changed anything. I've put on 4kg in 2 months and can now feel muscle where fat used to be. Until the dexa place reopens I can't find out my new body comp to see what that is exactly.

Big things I changed:

Started the 5/3/1 with BBB and 2 assistance exercises.
Started using biotest plazma and micro-pa

Smaller things:

Casein each night before bed.
Farmers walk daily. Now up to 1/2 body weight in each hand for 60mx3
Added a plate based skull crusher\press routine of 12(press), 12(skull), 10,10,8,8,6,6,4,4,2,2 routine, now up to 20kg.

I'm hitting new PR's on 5/3/1 lifts almost daily. (19 of last 21 sessions I recorded not including deloads). My bench is up 20% in 2 months, deads I was unable to increase until I started doing the agile 8. Lower back pain almost gone and whats left is easily controllable by rolling my glutes and hip flexors. My last week 3 cycle (last week) saw a 12kg increase in 1rm alone.

So, for me, for now this is working and I'm staying on this track as long as I can. Maybe doing the same will help you.

NOTE : I'm doing all of this at home in the garage.

FoxShitNasty83 · 2020-04-29T18:41:19+00:00

I'm 5' 8" and 148. My TDE is 2100 I tested this because I know if I eat this everyday for a month my weight will remain the same. I cut at 1700 and after a week or two I stop loosing weight and feel like shit. I eat a weekend back at 2100 to reset (there is a technical term for this Google it) and start the cycle again. I night drop a bit more because even if I do hiit 3 X a week it dosent seem to move the fat. Macros aren't as dialed in right now if I'm honest.

What are your goals in terms of body composition?

redpillruminations · 2020-04-29T18:49:22+00:00

I'm 5'3" 120lb and cutting maybe 1lb a week of fat (recomp) at 1400. You should be losing a fair amount of weight at 1700cal a day or so. 1400 is obviously too low for you. Are you weighing your food and logging in MFP? Based on the pic you posted, you need to cut 15 or 20lb.

Don't get too caught up on the scale. You are a fat 150lb and can make lean gains over the long term once you cut. Good luck!

boy_named_su · 2020-04-29T19:56:54+00:00

consider taking HMB, it helps avoid atrophy

how's your zinc, magnesium, vitamin D, testosterone levels ?

Add another 100 calories/day (mostly protein and good fats), and walk enough to burn that off

donmcde · 2020-04-30T12:55:07+00:00

I'm 5'7 and 150 so we're pretty close in height and weight. I say find your maintenance calories and just stay at 150 while you build strength. Add 1-2 days of cardio to your schedule and start a super slow weight loss. I was never a fan of cutting and bulking, slow methodical progress was always the way for me.

brianmcg321 · 2020-04-29T20:22:06+00:00

If your lifting and are an adult male, you need to get your calories up to about 3,000 at least. You need to be gaining weight. Not losing.

You body simply cant recover from intense weight training on 1,500 calories. Your just wasting your time in the gym.

BluzzKill · 2020-06-15T20:16:40+00:00

Ignore all this stupid bulk up comments. You have to cut first. Your body will operate much better once you are thin then you can lean bulk. Dont stop lifting but dont starve either. Record your weight daily and check it twice a day until you know your body but never stop weighing daily. Right now you are fat. You cam lose 4 lbs per week about safely right now but as you get leaner you need to probably moderately up your calories to only be losing 2 lbs a week and down to 1 once you can see some abs.

Yes I alternate more food on lift days and less on rest days but that only works once youbarent fat. You are way more fat than weak. Lean bulk, always lean bulk.

Title	Strength and weight loss
Author	Vegasman20002
Upvotes	4
Comments	37
Date	April 29, 2020 5:54 PM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askMRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/askMRP/comments/gae247/strength_and_weight_loss/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askMRP/strength-and-weight-loss.657993 https://theredarchive.com/post/657993

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