Workout Thread III

[TheGoodBits]

1 hour ago, purbeast said:

If you want to gain weight, you need to up calorie intake.  If you are in a calorie deficit, you aren't going to gain weight (mass).

 

If you want to lose weight, then you can stick to your calorie deficit but try to maximize your protein intake.

 

Based on what you are posting, you are not eating nearly enough food to try and put on any size, regardless of taking creatine or not.

 

And yes I realized that if you are starting out working out you can build muscle and get cut at the same time, but that won't last more than a couple months and you will benefit much more if you just start out doing it properly where you try to bulk first and then lean up after.

I should have specified.. I'm not sure exactly what my goal weight is going to be but its likely in the 165lb range. Weight is fine. But I'm trying to gain ~10lb of muscle while dropping ~15lb of fat if that makes sense. I still had a bit of visceral fat left to lose when I dropped to 158.. that process would have had a much better outcome if I had been focused more on strength training and protein intake. I was working out daily and maintaining a calorie deficit, but ended up losing a lot of muscle in that process too. 

At the moment, in order to avoid that this time around I'm focusing on not having a big of a calorie deficit (ideally 200-300cal a day but that's just an estimate) while consuming a decent bit of protein. It fluctuates based on what I eat, but I'm guessing I'm between 100-120g per day (goal of 136g for 0.8g of protein per pound). As mentioned, this level of protein intake does seem to be helping, I'm really just curious about people's experience with creatine since I've read it's a great way to help during the kind of body recomp I'm aiming for. 

 

 

[purbeast]

1 hour ago, TheGoodBits said:

I should have specified.. I'm not sure exactly what my goal weight is going to be but its likely in the 165lb range. Weight is fine. But I'm trying to gain ~10lb of muscle while dropping ~15lb of fat if that makes sense. I still had a bit of visceral fat left to lose when I dropped to 158.. that process would have had a much better outcome if I had been focused more on strength training and protein intake. I was working out daily and maintaining a calorie deficit, but ended up losing a lot of muscle in that process too. 

At the moment, in order to avoid that this time around I'm focusing on not having a big of a calorie deficit (ideally 200-300cal a day but that's just an estimate) while consuming a decent bit of protein. It fluctuates based on what I eat, but I'm guessing I'm between 100-120g per day (goal of 136g for 0.8g of protein per pound). As mentioned, this level of protein intake does seem to be helping, I'm really just curious about people's experience with creatine since I've read it's a great way to help during the kind of body recomp I'm aiming for. 

 

 

Losing 15lbs of fat and gaining 10lbs of muscle simply is not going to happen at the same time, sorry to break the news to you. 

 

Losing 15lbs of fat takes a significant calorie deficit over time, and gaining 10lbs of muscle takes a significant calorie surplus over time.

 

You would be better off bulking up like 15-20lbs and then cutting down like 10-15lbs.

 

At your size, I would go for more than 1gram of protein per body weight if you want to put on size.  And add in some type of creatine blend as well.  You also did not mention your workout routine because that will also play a crucial role.  But you also aren't mentioning your total calorie intake.  If you say you eat 2 meals and one is 700 calories, I'm assuming your second one is close to that.  You aren't going to be gaining any mass at 1400 calories a day no matter how much of it is protein.

 

I also don't think you realize how much mass that actually is.  10 pounds of pure muscle is a lot, especially when you are 170lbs.

 

For what it's worth, on my working out journey from when I was 19 until now where I am at 42, 5'11, and I started at about 160lbs and have been 218lbs at my heaviest.  The past 15 or so years I have been fluctuating between like 200-215 just depending on what my goal is at the time.  So I know a thing or two about putting on mass and losing weight.  There is a lot of stuff I wish I knew early on for like the first 7 years where I was doing stuff wrong.

Edited April 5 by purbeast

[TheGoodBits]

9 minutes ago, purbeast said:

Losing 15lbs of fat and gaining 10lbs of muscle simply is not going to happen at the same time, sorry to break the news to you. 

 

Losing 15lbs of fat takes a significant calorie deficit over time, and gaining 10lbs of muscle takes a significant calorie surplus over time.

 

You would be better off bulking up like 15-20lbs and then cutting down like 10-15lbs.

 

At your size, I would go for more than 1gram of protein per body weight if you want to put on size.  And add in some type of creatine blend as well.  You also did not mention your workout routine because that will also play a crucial role.  But you also aren't mentioning your total calorie intake.  If you say you eat 2 meals and one is 700 calories, I'm assuming your second one is close to that.  You aren't going to be gaining any mass at 1400 calories a day no matter how much of it is protein.

 

I also don't think you realize how much mass that actually is.  10 pounds of pure muscle is a lot, especially when you are 170lbs.

 

For what it's worth, on my working out journey from when I was 19 until now where I am at 42, 5'11, and I started at about 160lbs and have been 218lbs at my heaviest.  The past 15 or so years I have been fluctuating between like 200-215 just depending on what my goal is at the time.  So I know a thing or two about putting on mass and losing weight.  There is a lot of stuff I wish I knew early on for like the first 7 years where I was doing stuff wrong.

 

Yeah might be 10lb of fat down, 5lb of muscle up. I mentioned these are really just guesses. I'm probably taking in a total of 1800-2300 calories per day, depending on size of dinner and quantity of cheats/snacks (I do need to button up my diet a bit more). 

But yeah, have been considering increasing the protein intake more and was just curious about the creatine part. The rest is really guesswork. Appreciate the input!

Edited April 5 by TheGoodBits

[purbeast]

14 minutes ago, TheGoodBits said:

 

Yeah might be 10lb of fat down, 5lb of muscle up. I mentioned these are really just guesses. I'm probably taking in a total of 1800-2300 calories per day, depending on size of dinner and quantity of cheats/snacks (I do need to button up my diet a bit more). 

But yeah, have been considering increasing the protein intake more and was just curious about the creatine part. The rest is really guesswork. Appreciate the input!

The creatine mix I've had the best results with is Celltech.  I'm still using it now.  I've also used normal creatine monohydrate mixed with some BCAAs and while I noticed some results, I get better results with Celltech and the premixed blend it comes with.  If you do use anything, make sure you following the loading phase that it recommends.  It helps.

[dfitzo53]

4 hours ago, purbeast said:

Well if you are trying to lose weight, beer is "bad" for you in that sense.  It's going to make losing weight harder and slower than it would be if you quit drinking it.

That is the main change I've made in my habits. (Not really quit beer per se, but I don't keep it in the house, I just drink it on social occasions if I actually feel like I want one.)

 

I'm losing about 5 pounds a month on that alone, partly because of the reduction in calories, and partly because of all the downstream effects like less uncontrolled snacking and more energy/better sleep.

[Dr. Do Itch Big]

8 hours ago, purbeast said:

I never said everyone who can't lose weight is fat and lazy.  But a lot of the people are.  The people who can't lose weight by the obvious "traditional" ways due to medical conditions is a negligible percentage of the population.

 

And let's be real the majority of people who are using a "weight loss medication" isn't something who is slightly overweight trying to lose 10-20 lbs or people who are coming into a workout thread trying to cut up.  They are going to be people who are morbidly obese trying to lose weight because they are basically dying at their current lifestyle.  And regardless if they take the pills or whatever, if they don't solve the underlying issue as to why they are as huge are they are, those pills aren't going to help for jack ****.  Sure maybe they lose some temporary weight, but unless their lifestyle changes, they aren't keeping the weight off.

 

Hell even if you read about these medications, you will see they mostly all say "best results are when taken with diet and exercise program" and gee, I wonder why that is...

I can agree with somewhat of you are saying especially when people are only 10-20 lbs overweight but weight control is a complicated because of so many factors can impact appetite. 

 

Your previous post sounded like when people will complain about people who take anti depressants or go to a therapist for mental health. Stop being depressed bro it’s all in your head. 

 

Hunger is a hugely complicated process and these new weight loss medications with api as semiglutide are a life saver for a lot of people who have trouble with controlling their appetite and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. 
 

I don’t give people **** for drinking on the weekends or people who take steroids for personal reasons. 

7 hours ago, TheGoodBits said:

Hey all, interested in your opinions on creatine for building muscle. Pros/cons, side effects to look out for, etc. 

I’ve been what is often described as “skinny fat” for most of my adult life, where it doesn’t really matter how much weight I lose, I still don’t have enough muscle to achieve the look I’m going for (literally got down to 158lb at 5’8” last year, and while I was thin I wasn’t happy with how I looked).

 

Sitting at 170 now and going through an attempt at body recomp, and early returns at drastically increasing my protein intake* have yielded some positive results. Worth staying on this path for awhile or should I consider adding creatine? 

 

*diet consists of two meals a day, one being a 500-600 cal protein shake with 72g of whey. Plus whatever is in my dinner. I’m not sure how I push myself much higher than that while maintaining a small calorie deficit 

Creatine works but it’s not going to take make you super human or give you a huge impact over not using it. Like if I bench 315 for a max and take creatine for 2 weeks with loading I’m not going to all of the sudden hit 365. 
 

If you don’t have any adverse affects to it like IBS go for it. The loading stuff is unnecessary but to each their own. 

[purbeast]

21 minutes ago, Dr. Do Itch Big said:

I can agree with somewhat of you are saying especially when people are only 10-20 lbs overweight but weight control is a complicated because of so many factors can impact appetite. 

 

Your previous post sounded like when people will complain about people who take anti depressants or go to a therapist for mental health. Stop being depressed bro it’s all in your head. 

 

Hunger is a hugely complicated process and these new weight loss medications with api as semiglutide are a life saver for a lot of people who have trouble with controlling their appetite and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. 
 

I don’t give people **** for drinking on the weekends or people who take steroids for personal reasons. 

Creatine works but it’s not going to take make you super human or give you a huge impact over not using it. Like if I bench 315 for a max and take creatine for 2 weeks with loading I’m not going to all of the sudden hit 365. 
 

If you don’t have any adverse affects to it like IBS go for it. The loading stuff is unnecessary but to each their own. 

Loading isn't 100% necessary but it will get your muscles full of water quicker than it would if you didn't load, so you will start seeing the effects of it quicker, and there is a maximum amount of water your cells can hold.  So getting there as quick as possible is the most beneficial if your goal is to get bigger and stronger as efficiently as possible.