N00b question about caloric intake

[sprahl85]

Ok, I am 5'7" and 185lbs. Quite a bit of fat on me. I would say probably about 25%bf. So that would mean only about 140lbs of me is muscle/bone/stuff I want to keep. So I haven't weightlifted in 3 years. I just got a membership to the YMCA and I am going to be lifting 3 times a week starting tomorrow. I have looked at the plans on here and I am going to be going with the Wannabebig routine 1.

Now the question. Should I base my caloric intake on my total weight or the 140lbs of good stuff. I want to gain muscle while at the same time losing fat. And in my mind how I have it figured out (remember the noobness) If I take in more calories than it would take to stay at 140lbs, but less calories than it takes to stay at my 185lbs, then I could gain muscle while still losing fat... Now, I have been reading for a while and I am probably rather confused, what do you guys think? Somewhere around 2300-2500 calories with lots of protein and an ECA stack?

[sprahl85]

anyone?

[russianwol]

It's Sunday... Come back tomorrow

I believe your RMR is determined by your LBM.

[RedSpikeyThing]

It is absolutely dependent upon your metabolism, which is determined by genetics. I can't tell you how much to eat. If I had to say something, I would say it seems low. I'm 154lbs and maintain on about 500-700 more than that. But again, it's impossible for anyone to tell you.
Frankly, I wouldn't expect to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. It is very difficult to do. You have to know your body and your diet as to be immaculate. I would pick either cutting or bulking (probably cutting in your case) and stick with it for a while.

[Lean-N-Mean]

Frankly, I wouldn't expect to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. It is very difficult to do. You have to know your body and your diet as to be immaculate. I would pick either cutting or bulking (probably cutting in your case) and stick with it for a while.

I agree 100%. I have tried to do both at the same time and had very mediocre results. This is a very simplistic view: If you want to bulk up you know you need more fuel(food) , you want to cut, you know you need less. This is why doing either is much easier than trying to combine the two. Anyways my 2 pennies.

[Built]

Read the diet link in my sig - see if this helps you.

[sprahl85]

ok, but I should still be lifting during my cut right? SO I can continue down the the Y and start the wannabebig routine 1 today? I set up my fitday today and I am reading all the diet articles (carbohydrate conundrum right now) so I will get my diet straightened out, but I still need to lift to maintain the muscle so I don't lose it while I lose fat right?

[sprahl85]

Keep the jokes to yourself hehe... That is me, taken about 5 minutes ago. Whattaya think, educated guessingly, on my body fat percentage, does 25% sound about right? I don't have calipers. And now everyone can tell me whether to cut or bulk...

[ViciousBish]

bulk

[ViciousBish]

I was like that but at 300 lbs and i've been just eating and lifting heavy. My weight is basically the same(295) but my belt size has dropped VERY FAR. and my arms/chest/legs are huge now.(after 5-6 months)

[sprahl85]

I think most of my weight is in my belly. I guess I will just stick with about 2500 calories a day and lift heavy. Im gonna go take some more pictures for my before and then show you guys how much progress I have made in like a few months. I know in high school I was a really easy gainer... so I hope too much hasn't changed.

edit:

Ok, now I really want some opinions on weather I should bulk or cut. This should be enough pictures for everyone to throw up their ideas for me.

Click here for the page I set up.

[ericg]

I would start hitting the gym consistently for at least a few weeks while you track your food on fitday. Just eat as you normally have for those few weeks. take note to how your weight and body changes from just working out and the increased activity... It seems that most people want to jump right into things and make everything perfect when we all know we are going to have bad days. So make some small goals for yourself ie - get to the gym 3days/wk for a month. If you get that then start to clean up your diet, then worry about cals and what not. It may take you a month or two to get rolling, but with your size you may notice some nice changes if you just start being consistent with hitting the gym. It will be a bit slower than jumping into everything at once but i think it will allow you to make sure you develop healthy habit for life, not just to lose body fat, so you can avoid the yo yo.

[Unreal]

Don't worry about bulking or cutting. Worry about getting to the gym, becoming more active, and maintaining a clean diet.

[sprahl85]

I like the sound of that... I think I will still track my food just because I have no clue how many calories I take in and it would be interesting to find out, but I will continue to eat how I have been and concentrate on "gettin it rollin". I have been a yoyo for a while. The past six months have been hell for me because of work conditions and now I got a nice easy job and can concentrate on lifting properly and not killing my body. I had a job where I was lifting 50lbs or more over 1000 times a night. I lost a bunch of fat and muscle working there. I was 220lbs six months ago, I went down to 165 while working there for 4 months and then I got injured and got my current job and I have been there for about 2 months (cashier at lowes hehe) and have gained 20lbs back and decided I am sick of the way my life is. I remember when I was lifting weights in high school I had so much energy and felt so good about my washboard abs and how strong I was compared to everyone else and at my current point in life I don't even want to wake up in the morning and I constantly feel drained. So I'm 21 and have plenty of my life left and I don't want to waste another 3 years being like this. I am going to update pics on that website bi-weekly and see if that is enough motivation for me to hang in there.

Thanks everyone for the help.

[ericg]

Yeah man. You want to develop habits not just a diet. Good luck on your lifestyle change!

[sprahl85]

dayumm, I am sore as hell. It's ok if I space my workout's two days apart for the first couple weeks right?

[ericg]

What is your routine like? After a few weeks or so the newb soreness should not be as bad.

[sprahl85]

I did everything on the wannabebig 1 routine, just for one set to figure out my maxes and what I am going to be lifting for my 6-8 rep range. But even just that one set of each has me reallly sore. I don't think I could go back tomorrow if I even wanted to.

[ShockBoxer]

Everything as in everything from all three days? Or everything as in everything from day one? If it's the first one... yeah, you've earned being sore. Don't do that again.

WBB1 is designed around having a day off between sessions so no you don't have to go back tomorrow.

And you look identical to where I started WBB1, at 185 pounds. At my leanest I was 154 and 15%. If you do the math on that I lost 17% of my body weight from 185... and assuming none of it was muscle because I was new, eating a ton of protein, and my lift increased every week that means I started at 15%+17% = 32% body fat.

[sprahl85]

Yeah it was everything from all three days. It is worse today than it was yesterday. I hope by tomorrow I am ok to lift again. I'm gonna drink a lot of milk today, and stretch a few times throughout the day.

[sprahl85]

Ok I think I kinda decided on my own today to go on kinda a cut. My diet is all over the place and the past 2 weeks since my original post I have lifted heavy and ate a freakin lot with the holidays and all and I have gained a lot more weight. How's this for a two week gain... When I originally posted on the 21st I was 185 and now I am 196lbs. That's like 1lb a day. I would snap some more pictures, because I am picture whore, but I dont think they were lean gains.. hehe. My muscles feel a lot firmer all over and I have gotten plenty of rest, but I just don't think I could have gained that much muscle in 10 days. How much of it could I have gained in water weight, I loaded on creatine for 3 days and have been drinking at least 1.5gallons of water a day (128oz just while I'm at work). I have been reading so much on this board, but I just can't seem to find the basics on how much of what I need in my diet anywhere, or how to carb cycle or any of that. And then I see people talking about if you are over 20% body fat you are in trouble for gaining muscle or something.... I dunno, can't someone recommend some good reads for a fatty like me? And is it possible to each cheap and still eat how you are supposed to? Cuz i'm broke