fat loss help

[Mr.City]

Listen, Msingh has decided what road he's gone down, however McSquared could benefit from some of the attention that Mr. Msingh is getting here.

Also, I just had my first cheat meal on RFL on day 3, and I have to say that after going on a 2000 calorie or so deficit for a couple days, an omelet with some taters and toast felt like sex. I love the psychological effects of this diet.

[drecar]

240 lb @ ~30% actually! i'm going to keep lifting and not lose any strength, hoping to make progress even though it will be slow going for the next 3-4 months. I've set myself some goals (130kg squat, 90kg bench, etc), but the main one is to diet down to a bodweight of about 85kg lean. Then from there eat big, lift heavy on SS for 5-6 months without worrying about becoming disgustingly obese (i'm not too far from there right now).

i dont understand your approach. why not achieve the strength goals that you stated and then do the fat loss diet. Your increase in size and fat accumulation is temporary on your way to the strength goals, isn't it?

[brobinson]

I'm gonna ask this question for my sake..I've been on SS for close to a month and a half now. Anyone seeking my stats can check out my log in General Training Logs. Regardless, I've been doing GOMAD and eating a ton, aka 5-6kcals per day. I gained weight and have gotten stronger but my gut has gotten up to 38-39", and my BF is around 23-24%. I cut back on milk and have been eating cleaner, thus seeing a decrease in weight but not a decrease in strength. I'm still doing my linear progression, but now have to cut back in order to lose the inches off my waist(Military requirement, can't go past a 39" inch waist, even having a 37+ is catching me some major hell.) I'm keeping protein intake high and following Lyle McDonalds advice on eating about 16-18cals per pound of bodyweight for now(baseline diet). Good idea? Thoughts? Flames?

I certainly don't see why anybody would flame you. You're tracking your training and nutrition so you know where you're at. If your waist doesn't shrink enough for your job requirements within the coming weeks, adjust as necessary. Sounds like a good plan.

[IWillLiveFreeOrDie]

Mcsquared, I have always had good success dropping weight by doing strict Atkins for 2 weeks. Don't expect any progress on your lifts, but you sould be able to take 10-15 pounds off.

Make your weight, and start back with the program.

PS, I was only flaming msingh.

[zepled37]

Mr msingh...

I suggest you try testosterone supplementation. Proven to add muscle and strength as well as helps promote fat loss without requiring much hard work on your part.

[misspelledgeoff]

put another way...grow a pair.

Mr msingh...

I suggest you try testosterone supplementation. Proven to add muscle and strength as well as helps promote fat loss without requiring much hard work on your part.

[mcsquared]

Yeah, I'm gonna see how things go. I dont "test" till May, so maybe late March-early April timeframe is when I'll start really stressing about fat loss...I'm definitely watching my carbs, keeping my protein intake high, and moderate fat intake. I'm going off of Lyle McDonald's Baseline diet and seeing how that works for me. With the exception yesterday, where I pigged out on some burgers at a buddy's BBQ, I've been seeing relatively stable weight maintenance/ weight loss.

[Expat]

MSingh,

I don't post very often and I probably shouldn't encourage this thread, but I can't help myself. I mean this criticism constuctively, and I hope you'll take it that way.

You want to get bigger and stronger. You also want to lose bodyfat. These are both difficult things and particularly difficult to do efficiently at the same time. My sense is that you haven't tried to do either one of them very seriously for any length of time.

According to your posts, you started SS about 18 months ago. After what should be 216 workouts, you're only up to about a bodyweight squat and a half-bodyweight press. You noted yourself that "...I do linear progression for a few weeks and then the weights get heavy, recovery goes out of the door and my motivation just falls apart."

As far as dieting goes, you admit that you've been eating to be "70s Big" and now you're upset that you've gained some weight. But you said in your early posts that you weighed about 95 kg when you started. So you've been eating like crazy and only gained 12 kg (about 26 lbs) in 18 months. Given that you say you made progress on your lifts, presumably some of this 26 pounds is muscle. This hardly seems like the end of the world.

Huge numbers of posters on this forum will tell you that SS has worked for them. I doubt you are any different from the rest of us and that SS will work for you, too, if you do the program seriously and as designed.

My advice:

• Do the program as written. Including the power cleans.
• When it gets hard and "recovery goes out the door" man up and do your sets anyway.
• Stop eating to be "70s Big." GOMAD, protein shakes, and massive calories are for skinny kids who need to gain weight and maybe guys who are moving massive weights that require major calories for recovery, not guys like you and me who already carry around too much weight and are moving sane numbers. As a starting point, try eating a little less than you did before SS and see how your weight and recovery respond. And remember, setting PRs is hard. This kind of pain is normal, not a reflection of "not recovering."

After six months or a year of doing the program seriously and a few resets, you will probably come close to doubling your lifts. You will also have gained some weight, including probably some bodyfat. People on this forum will tell you that it will then be easy to lose weight, and they're right. The physiological reason is that that, when you have more muscle, it is easier to burn off fat. But I think the real reason is more psychological. A person who has gone through over 100 heavy squat workouts in a year, repeatedly setting PRs, develops his willpower as much as his posterior chain. After SS, when it comes time to lose weight, you'll probably be successful with almost any sane diet, because dieting is about willpower more than anything else.

I say this from experience. When I started SS over a year ago I was already overweight. I didn't worry about it and did the program anyway. I didn't do GOMAD, but ate plenty and gained some weight. I don't know how much was muscle and how much was fat, but when I tested for singles last summer, I had my squat at 376, my bench at 250 and my DL at 404. Not bad for a 5'6" 46-year-old, and I'm pretty sure I'm stronger now. My weight peaked at around 215 lbs (and my waist was bigger than you say yours is). Until about a month ago I was still making linear progression (albeit with small increases and several resets). Unfortunately, a double inguinal hernia and an umbilical hernia got in the way.

I didn't lift after I discovered the hernia and the doc told me not to lift for four weeks after the surgery. In other words, time to diet. I've been doing cardio and dieting and I've found it pretty easy to drop 2-3 lbs per week. I'm at 199 now.

You can make excuses about why SS doesn't work, or you can just do the program. I honestly encourage you to do the latter, but if you don't, I don't think many people here are interested in hearing you blame SS for your lack of progress.

Good luck.

[PVC]

Expat,

Please try to be helpful and take personal attacks elsewhere.

[EJLouis]

I don't post very often...

Great post. I hope to see more.