Hi there. My name is Sam and i'm 16 (17 in 3 months). I've been weight training sinse i was 14 years old. I have a couple of questions (more soon enough) which i would love to have answered by you guys. So, here it goes.

I'm currently trying to lower my body fat % and bulk up at the same time. I'd like to know if its possible to meet this goal with my current diet.

My diet consists of....

7:00 AM -Oatmeal and whey protein drink in the morning (whey protein drink =24 g protein)

9:30 AM -Protein Bar (22 grams protein with 270 calories)

11:20 AM -Lunch (usually cheese burger and fries with milk and fruit or some other processed delight)

4:15 PM -(After i work out) -Whey protein drink with cereal and fruit / vegetables and yogurt.

6:00 PM -some kind of snack usually carrots or apples and maybe peanut butter toast.

8:00 PM - Dinner, usually well balanced (probally about 700+ callories)

9:00 PM -Play DDR for 25+ minutes (my excercise for the day. It really works up a sweat for me)
Thats my diet in a rap up. It's not going to be exact considering i dont eat the same food every day but you get the picture. So, with this diet..will i be able to craft the masterpeice I'd want? ( big muscles and low body fat )?


NEXT QUESTION ( >.<)

Is it bad to split your work out up through out the day? Sometimes i do deadlifts or shoulder press during lunch so when i work out after school i dont have a humungous workout. I mean, i know your supposed to have protein right after you work out but if im only doing 2 excercises apart from the rest, Will not eating protein after the small workout really affect my body?


NEXT QUESTION <(^-^)>

I've heard excercising on an empty stomach helps your body burn your body fat faster then if you excercise right after eating. Is this really true? Will i lose body fat faster if i excercise on an empty or near empty stomach? Also, will my body eat away at my muscle if i excercise while on a near empty stomach?

Sorry for all the questions and i hope someone can give me the answer im looking for

Personally I think this diet sounds pretty good! Your getting the calories you need (roughly 2500 as an estimate). If your gonna workout it is best to do it all in one setting because if you split your workout your just tearing your muscles once, then later in the day again. It's probally better to stick on the safe side and do it all in one go. But after you workout you should have that protein shake. I recomend eggs and toast for a pre workout food because your getting the complex carbs and protein to go all out. And another opinion of mine is I think you should excercise after eating BECAUSE your just gonna burn those calories that your eating right off! (depending on the intensity of your workout). and yes your body could eat away muscle on an empty stomach. nothing to tragic but just eat for energy and calories to burn. probally best. I hope this could be of any help to you. Good luck man .

Is your exercise Dungeons and Dragons? Your diet needs more food, instead of whey shakes and carrots. Especially more vegetables.

You should NOT exercise on an empty stomach due to the fact your body needs fuel to exert the energy to complete exercise. Do not split your routine up, do it all at once.

I have seen one program were they recommended splitting your workouts into separate sessions for each body part. I think it was called the "Bulgarian...something or another". They suggested picking one compound exercise for each body part, doing 5 sets of 6-8 reps, all to failure, then resting at least 40 minutes before the next session. The theory was that you could truely go all out on each body part since you were only doing 5 sets, then be fully rested for the next session, and also since you were doing multiple body parts a day you could keep the frequency high by hitting each body part every 48 hours. It was supposed to be based on the training of the Bulgarian olympic weightlifting teams, who have won a lot of gold metals in international competition in the last few decades.

Anyways, I think your version is not a problem...I would go ahead and split your routine into 2 sessions a day if that fits your daily schedule better. Remember consistancy, rest and nutrition are more important in the long run than your actual exercise routine.

What foods an addition should i eat tony? I tried peanut butter toast and nutz but i gained weight very fast.

Lean meats and vegetables. Check out the grocery list in the nutrition section.

Why do you think he would need MORE calories? I meen im sure he's gaining at 2500, considering school lunches have to have 800 calories, he has those whey shakes which im sure is 200+ plus everything else? I meen im sure he'll gain weight with that. He's only 16. But who knows.. i may not know what im talking about lol

Is it true you can't gain muscle and lose body fat at the same time?

Truthfully I wouldn't be a big fan of the diet, one if you are only having 2500 calories a day I doubt that is enough, chances are you are still growing so you will may need more calories at the moment just to maintain weight, that and 2500 to me generally wouldn't be enough to gain weight.
However you seem to be over reliant on supplements, try and get most of your calories from whole food sources so for protein stick eggs. and more lean meat into you diet.
Also ditch the burger and fries as they are probably highly processed and probably contain quite a bit of trans fats.
Also get more good fats into you try adding more nuts and seeds into your diet for a start


It depends if you are looking to make any gains from the workout then yes you really should have some simple carbs and protein after it, however you probably wouldn't need a full portion


If this is low intesity cardio then fire away, other then that eat before you workout.

why answer if you make this statement?

I get what you guys are saying. Well, if i consume more nutz on top of the 4 tablespoons of peanut butter i pile on to 1 peice of bread, wont that just be to much fat? I know there are good fats and bad fats but even to much good fat can be bad...I recently went to the store and bought some lean cousines or h/e u spell it. Of course, they are all pre made and frozen which is followed by large quanities of sodium. If i'm to lazy to actually grill chicken or w/e, would frozen meat be a good alternative? Its just that, each package contains around 550 grams of sodium. Whats the normal amount of sodium a person should consume in a day?

Also, no one has directly answered my last question: is it true you can't gain muscle and lose body fat at the same time?

Another thing, please feel free to make any more adjustments to my diet considering the lack of knowledge i have.

Truthfully it depends on the time scale involved, however I will go with the time scale being a week long and then go with NO, and that it is possible to both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, however you have to know about how your own body reacts to differnt foods and you have to understand when to eat different food and the quantities invloved. anacat.teamtestforum.com is a good read.

However unless you have a decent diet in check I would just go with a decent bulk before trying to lose weight

also in relation to the freezer food meat I would generally try and avoid it as it tends to be extremely processed

its really hard to gain muscle AND lose body fat at the same time. unless you have perfect genetics or you are using creatine or soemthing...dont use creatine though your 16.

So let me get this strait. The only really way of having tons of muscle and low % is in steps right? Example, 1-2 months i bulk and eat maybe 3000 callories and about 1g of protein per pound i weigh. Then, the next 2 months i stop eating alot of the protein and lower the calories by 500 and excercise alot to lower my body fat? Someone please explain the correct steps to me if mine are wrong.

Another thing, is it good to excercise while i bulk? I dont mean heavy cardio but more like getting my heart rate up to the fat burning level? I mean, what exactly will exercising do for me while i'm in my builking phase?

Get "The New Rules of Lifting."