??? lose fat & keep muscle

[cwm2]

Hi Everyone,

I would really appreciate some advice.

I’m trying to lose fat while maintaining what muscle I have, but I am having trouble figuring out what strategies to pursue and I’d be grateful if you all could help out.

I’ll give my stats below, but my two big questions are:

a) Kow many calories should I eat daily?
b) How much protein should I eat?


These are my stats:

Age: 36
Height: 5’ 11’’
Weight: 181 pounds
Body fat: 21%

Exercise level: typically I lift weights three to four times weekly and also kick box for an hour three to four times weekly. In other words, I’m either kick boxing or lifting weights on any give day of the week.
Also, I just purchased a bike, which I’m using to get to around (basically that means about an hour ride, four times per week). I also (finally!) quite smoking about four months ago.

What do you think?


Thanks in advance!
Chuck

[Davidelmo]

Calories = whatever works for you.

Track diet for a week on www.fitday.com
If you gain weight in a week, reduce calories per day
If your weight stays the same, that's right.

Protein = 1g per 1lb body mass = ~180g but you can go higher if you want.

[d'Anconia]

Once you find the level at which your weight stays the same... reduce by a couple hundred calories and you should be good to go. When the gap between how much you are eating and your maintenance level of calories is large, you will lose a lot of fat but also lose a lot of muscle. When the gap is small, you will lose fat more slowly but you will be able to maintain, and possibly put on, mass.