Lean mass not changed after a year of bodybuilding 5 days a week

[Kevin.archer]

Fitness Pal downloaded ...I did read a bit about how others are taking the pain out of the counting. I am cooking and weighing some proteins in bulk today to make it easier for me. I probably should pick up one of those bf meters because by the time I get to the gym I am a few meals and many liquids in....so checking bf first thing makes good sense. I wasn't sure about the meter cause the time before I used it my bf was 23%, so additional food/liquid causing errors explains this (I think)

 

[Kevin.archer]

Shit... I have been entering info into Fitness Nazi and I only have 380 cals left for dinner. Curse you app that shall not be named!

Goodbye whole milk, goodbye cashews...we really had something special...sniff, sniff...

Seriously, it was an eye opener

 

[Kevin.archer]

I have a question about the app that shall not be named...

What have you set your macronutrient goals to? I modified mine to:

Cals 1700
carbs 40% (170g)
fats 20% (38g)
protein 40% (170g)

Does this sound about right?

 

[D-max]

When I was really trying to lose the fat the hardest mine was 45% protein, 30%fat, and 25% carbs.

 

[technik]

What's your TDEE? 1700 calories seems pretty low to me. Personally, I'd go higher fat and higher protein

 

[Kevin.archer]

Well, I had to look up TDEE to see what that was, I did an online deal and it said my TDEE was 2715. This is new to me so I don't know how to interpret. Can someone explain? I did up my percentages closer to what D-Max had...the protein seemed low and the carbs seemed high.

 

[technik]

Well then, 2715 would be the amount of calories required to maintain your current weight. It's generally recommended that you cut by setting your caloric intake at about 20% less than your TDEE, in which case you'd be dropping 543 calories.
In a deficit of 500 calories per day, you'd be losing approximately a pound per week. So, you'd want to consume ~2200 calories a day for a couple weeks and see how that works out for you.
If all's well, just stick with it. As you lose weight you'll need to adjust accordingly.

Now you might be thinking "How about I stick with 1700 calories and lose two pounds a week?" That would work fine for awhile, but I don't recommend it.
I've done that in the past with poor results. Everything goes swimmingly until your body starts adapting and you need to cut more calories. Then you're down to 1500 and barely losing weight, so maybe you dig a little deeper and go 1200... then you lose your mind and eat a dozen donuts and cry yourself to sleep.

True story.

 

[Kevin.archer]

swap 2 pizzas for donuts and its true for me too. Thanks for the help, this approach reduces "i feel" and " i think" to simple math. If there is no weight loss in a given time period, then the total cals consumed is reduced and I try again. I will start at 2200 and evaluate after a week

 

[Do3Gs]

I personally shoot for at least 1g protein per lb bw, 0.5 fats, fill the rest of cals with carbs. I tend to end up eating higher fats than that but those are my baseline. Remember this as well protein & carbs are 4 calories per gram and fats are 9.

 

[Docd187123]

Cause I am a dope...and need a proper edu-mo-cation.

The gym I go to has a handheld digital fatloss meter: Omron BF-306C not sure how accurate these are.

Not very accurate but you'll at least be able to judge the trend of if losing fat or not. I wouldn't trust the exact number though.

 

[Kevin.archer]

OK, I spent some more time dialing in fitness pal. I settled on 30% carbs/25% fat/45% protein. I am dropping a lot of the nuts and switching to powdered skim milk for shakes to lower overall cals, I do need some ideas for good fat, cant seem to add enough to get to percentages...whats high in fat and low in carbs?

 

[Oregongearhead]

Go with 2200 cal/day . Thats 500 less than your TDEE .
Keep protein at around 150-200gm/day . Try to lose no more than 2lbs a week .
Monitor and readjust as needed . Work-out hard . Goodluck....

 

[Do3Gs]

whats high in fat and low in carbs?

Peanut butter, olive oil, avocado, various nuts, butter. STEAK!

What do your percentages work out to in grams.

 

[Wunderpus]

You're in a calorie deficit to try and cut fat. Why would you expect a difference in muscle mass which requires a calorie surplus?

Also, what are you using to calculate your BF%? A handheld caliper, a scale, DEXA scan or bodpod?

This sums it all up... Want mass? Add calories (correct proportions, of course). Want to lose fat, cut calories... You've been essentially cutting for some time. Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it sounds like you have a bit more to go. If you really get your diet in check and take in a lot of protein, you may be able to change out the fat for muscle in time. Yet, I find you will almost always add the most mass (in quality is determined by your efforts here) after a cut.

Also, without the use of GH or other AAS (small TRT dose hardly counts) it will be very hard to recomp your body at your age.

 

[Kgkle]

yeah I agree on the scale even my bulking is done with a scale you know exactly where you are at with your target all day. and i made the same mistake as you op as soon as i put some fat on i was wanting to cut as soon as i got too small i wanted to bulk now i fine tune my bulks so i dont get so fat and i stick to my guns till im happy with the progress

 

[Kevin.archer]

Thanks everyone for all your tips. After using my fitness nazi for a few days, my past nutrition issues were easily identified as:

- My total guessed calories were off, 400-500 cals too much per day
- Not enough protein (50 - 75 grams too few per day)
- A few too many carbs and sugar, not quite enough fat

If I stick to it, I should have my bodyfat down considerably in next 6 months!