As I cascade towards 50 I feel in great shape (for age) I accept a lot of aches and pains after 30 years of exercise and sport but have needed to include strength training the last 3-4 years to maintain mass. Getting slim is easy its all diet but holding muscle is the harder part.
RIAC
I hate relating my weight loss, feel so sanctimonious.
It was however due to health reasons, heart problem
January 2013…..14st 12lb.
June 2013…..11st
Now, July 2014….11st.
I walk 4 miles nearly every day in all weathers and severely restrict what I put in my mouth….and I feel GREAT.
TOLD YA….I feel sanctimonious. ;0((((
I've been running three times a week for about 15 years. This year, I've decided to cut running down and focus on strength training. I'm starting from a lean frame (5'10" and 11st4lb) and would rather build lean muscle and keep tone rather than put on fat...is this possible? Two months in, I think I'm seeing reasonable tone goals but need bigger arms! My bro says I need to be eating anything and everything...Dominoes pizza, burgers..the lot. I understand I need increase calories in but this seems ridiculously unhealthy to me?!
Wow. Some inspiration here, I want to lose weight but had dominos last night!
This time last year - 22.5 stone.
Now, about 16.5 stone.
Putting that into context, I'm 6'2 and broad, always been well built.
I'm not obsessed by weight, but recognised that I was a fat knacker.
No secret to the weight loss, just a near-divorce situation which made me change my work routine, so less time on the road, fewer snacks, virtually no fast food, not much beer and no late night snacking - the stress probably helped too.
I don't have it in me to think about what I eat to the extent some people on this thread do, I don't have that level of commitment.
Walking a few miles around the field behind the house with wife and dogs, trying to put the world to rights every day helps too.
I've gone from a 42" waist and 52" chest to 36 (bordering 34") waist, and 44" chest. Target, such as it is, is to get to 14.5-15 stone. When I got married, 22 years ago, I was 14.5 stone, 32" waist and 44" chest, and looked quite good on it, so that's where I'm aiming.
6 months ago I was 106.5Kg (16.5 stones in old money), being 5ft 8" I was like a barrel with several chins. I am now 76Kg (12 stone).
I haven't been on a diet, I have changed my eating habits, that's all - 3 well balanced meals a day without snacks and running 3 times-a-week.
Tomorrow I am going to embark on my first half marathon and am aiming to do in in less than 2 hours....fingers crossed.
Good luck with the half marathon!
Not sure that is the best advice if you want to stay lean, building lean muscle will always be harder than doing a more traditional bulk and then cut but it is possible to do and is the goal of all bodybuilders. My advice would be to calculate your BMR (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/) and then factor in what you will burn when you workout and make sure that you exceed this while also getting between 1-1.5g of protein in for every lb of bodyweight (in your case around 200g should be ideal). In terms of gaining muscle I think something like this would be an ideal place to start where everything is laid out clearly for you: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/arno...iner-main.htmlOriginally Posted by Christian
It will be tough at first but you will see results if you stick to it and get a good calorie imbalance with a high level of protein.
I'm far from an expert on this stuff and there are others on here who are much more experienced than me but I think this would be a good place to start to add some lean size.
Your brother is not giving you the best advice. I think he may be confusing two things.
1. You can either bulk or cut. So if looking to gain mass you will put on some fat. But:
2. This does not mean that you can therefore eat 5000 calories of ice dream a day and expect to look the same as the guy who eats 5000 cals of protein, complex carbs, veg and healthy fats. Funnily enough not all calories are the same.
Everyone needs bigger arms ;)
No, don't go crazy with food. What you should do is use a TDEE calculator to work out your rough daily calories - the above post on protein is about right - min 1g per pound of lean body weight, but more might help. Also, get around .4-.5g min of fats per pound body weight, and the rest a mix of carbs and whatever you like.
You can only grow muscle at a certain pace, eating more won't build muscle faster, and every calories digested more than you use will be stored as fat - so going crazy will get you big, but usually around your waist line!
I aim for around 250 cals per day over maintenance and see how that goes - if you are staying lean, you can up it a little, if you are putting on a little bit of fat, drop it 100cals and see how you go. Once you've put on a fair amount if weight, do the same in reverse to drop any addional fat - i.e. drop between 250 and 500 cals per day until you've dropped enough fat.
I use Myfitness pal and have dropped 27lb in the last 12 weeks, the majority of which was fat :)
The main keys are - train heavy, train hard, and train at volume - do that along with getting enough protein fats and carbs and you will grow (there are a few exceptions for about 16% of the population). There are a few great training program's on bodybuilding.com pick one, and stick to it for a min 8-12 weeks, if you like it do it again, if not try another.
Good luck - keep us posted!
It's just a matter of time...
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