I'm a 24 year old guy, I'm 6' and weigh 255lbs. I am kind of stocky with man boobs and what looks like a beer gut. I recently have decided that enough is enough and am trying to do two things, lose the fat and build more muscle. For the past two years of my life I would estimate that I've been taking in at least 5000 calories a day, mostly from fast food and soda. About three weeks ago when I decided to start losing weight I cut out the fast food and the soda. I'm now drinking mostly water and gatorade and have replaced the junk in my fridge and cabinets with much healthier foods and have reduced my calorie intake to 1800-2200 a day. I've also started to do 50 sit-ups and push-ups a day in preparation for going to a gym. I've already lost 10lbs from these changes. I think I'm on the right track to losing the weight I just need some advice on how to build the muscle while losing the fat. I don't really want to be skinny just thick and muscular.

Ok... I'm just going to cut and paste what I just blogged about for someone else. It's good info.

here ya go...


Diet strategy for Weight Loss/Muscle Gain and overall ABOLUTE WELLNESS!



Lots of Protein! You need between .5 to .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. So if you are 200 lbs that would mean you need about 100 to160 grams of protein. (Protein shakes make it easier with less fat) A good blender is handy because they don't mix to well. If you don't have a blender then use a fork



Meal management! Take your food to work in containers so you can munch on them about every about 2 hours (hide them if you have to). Try to eat natural foods that do not need to be refrigerated. Make three of your meals with protein shake. And try to eat only between 9am and 7pm. Only drink water after that point (unless you work the graveyard shift). Eat your VEGGIES! Grandma was right about those damn veggies all along! Remember that about 90% of the food you buy in the store is crap with no real nutrition. Even fruits and veggies are picked before they are "vine ripened" are not as full of nutrients as they did 30years ago. Unless you grow you own food in fresh mineral and nutrient filled soil, you are going to need some good supplements… And that bring me to the next subject.



Quality supplements! A good Multi vitamin, Glyconutrients (astounding research to support it at GlycoScience Homepage ), Creatine, and Glutamine are a must! There are bunches more but that should get you started.



To attain absolute wellness remember to focus and visualize. If you want it bad enough, you will get there!



Conceive it, believe it, and you will achieve it!

Castle

www.myspace.com/evdenya

Cut the gatorade

Interesting responses....

First you need to cut out your current workout plan and adopt a solid Full body routine. With your size also never go below 2000 calories in a cut, not needed and could hinder your results.

You can not build muscle and lose fat at the same time in any MASSIVE way, minimal new lifter gains only here. Focus on...

-Full Body routine
-Whole Foods and Proper nutrition in general
-Plenty of hydrations
-Right amount of Aerobic Training
-Right Energy in/out needs
-Rest, rest and more rest.

Thanks for the advice. My only concern is that I'm going to lose the muscle I have now while cutting. I'm fairly strong from moving furniture around a 4 acre store monday-friday but it doesnt show because of the fat. Am I doomed to lose that and start over once I'm at my target weight?

theleip is right....you can not efficiently gain mass (muscle) and lose mass (fat) at the same time. Atrophy will happen regardless....your body works with S.A.I.D. principle weighing in heavily.
Your best bet is to lift heavy (with good form) to make the demand for muscle needed and, of course, proper dieting and cardio.

see here buddy,
i had the same question


http://training.fitness.com/weight-t...oss-24112.html

as theliep and trainerty have said lift reasonably heavy and you should maintane the muscle you have while losing fat,but also as a newbie its possible to make some gains.

(quote) from lyle macdonald

Gaining muscle while losing fat: The Newbie effect

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Ok, since this seems to come up with some regularity, here are my thoughts on it. I had made a post to mfw a long time bck but it's faster to just retype it here than try to dig through google groups.

The basic question that continues to come up is "How come newbies can gain muscle and lose fat but more advanced guys can't."

First and foremost, I want to point out that only fat newbies can accomplish this, lean guys are not going to lean out significantly while gaining muscle. And I think this points us partly in the right direction.

Way back when, when I first got on the track of leptin (oh, about 98 I think), a lot of what leptin was doing (and note that leptin is related to bodyfat levels) seemed to explain at least part of this. Leptin turned out to be the big missing middle puzzle piece that I"d been looking for for about 10 years.

So consider a fat untrained individual. Because of all of the bodyfat they are carrying, there are a bunch of adapations that have occurred which, given the right stimulus, is going to make them *more effectively* mobilize fat for fuel. I know I"ve discussed this before but now expect a zillion and one questions.

But when you look at that actual adaptations in terms of whole body (especially fat cell) insulin resistance, it's clear that they occur in an attempt to limit further fat gain/help with fat loss once the excess calories are removed. The fat cells are resistant to insulin (meaning insulin can't be anti-lipolytic) leptin would be limiting food intake if the brain weren't resistant, leptin is trying to push fatty acid oxidation (except that muscle is alos resistant), there are tons of fatty acids n the bloodstream just waiting to be burned, &c. So even in the face of high insulin or whatever, fatty acids can be mobilize for fuel.

Read that last sentence again, especially given the role of insulin in muscle growth.

So I think that's the first part of the story. The body is primed to use a lot of fat for fuel under those conditions. Going back to 98, this is actually what led me to leptin, trying to figure out why fatter people can lose fat with less LBM loss compared to lean. So I started looking at the differences physiologically in fat people vs. lean people. And kept coming back to leptin (which I'd been deliberately ignoring for years). Which turns out to be part (but certainly not the entire picture). But I digress.

But it's not the whole story. The other part of it and at this point I get way off into speculation land I think has to do with being relatively more untrained. Everybody knows that beginners respond better to training than anybody else. Primarily because they are so far from their genetic potential. They have more 'room to grow' to put it one way. This is true of everything, first year of any training is when you will make the most massive gains, unless you're training is retarded. And as you get closer to your genetic limits, things start to level off and you reach an asymptote.

And I think that the two factors together are what allow it to happen.

You're in a situation where
a. muscle can be gained quite easily
b. fat can be lost quite easily

Because both are so far below (in the case of muscle) or above (in the case of fat) genetic limits. That's on top of all the hormonal/energetic stuff going on when you're fat. The body is trying to push fatty acids away from storage and towards fat oxidation, even in the face of a relatively anabolic hormonal state.

But a fat but trained individual doesn't have both factors going no. They may have plenty of fat to lose but they don't have a ton of muscle to gain. No newbie effect.

A semi-lean but muscular individual has to drop insulin to mobilize/burn fat for fuel at any effective rate. Which limits their anabolic potential (and this is ignoring all of the stuff going on in the muscle with AMPk and protien synthesis and all that crap). They can lose fat but they can't gain muscle at the same time.

And, in a muscle gaining mode, you're in a net anabolic state anyhow. You can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time for the most part.

Now quit asking me about this.

Lyle knows his stuff for sure.