Possible to Lose the Fluff Keep the Buff?

[D0sten]

Coach Santana,

A little background:
A few years ago I weighed 315 lbs at 6'2". Figuring this wasn't any way to live I grabbed a set of dumbbells, cooked and weighed my food, and did at least 45 mins of light cardio each night, eventually bringing me down to 207 lbs. Now that I'd lost the weight I wanted to get strong, and eventually came across the SS program in January of this year.

I initially boosted my caloric intake for this program from 2000 cals a day to 2800 (50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fats). My lifts eventually leveled out at:

235 lbs body weight
260 squat
325 deadlift
120 OHP
165 bench


Due to a combination of bad form and nutrition I was missing reps and had almost 0 energy during my workouts. After doing some reading I adjusted my diet to 3600 cals (50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fats). My lifts quickly went up, but so did my weight and body fat, and a month and a half after making that dietary change I'm finding my lifts plateauing again with less and less energy each workout. Right now I'm 250 lbs with a 43" waistline and anywhere from 22% to 28% body fat (between my scale, supermarket health station, and gym bodyfat calculator). Right now my lifts are at:

250 lbs body weight
295 squat
375 deadlift
145 OHP
205 bench

My question is: is it possible to scale my diet down so that I can lose this fluff while continuing to progress in my lifts, or will the fewer calories be detrimental to my progress? If not, what would you recommend diet-wise to remove this excess fat while maintaining my energy? I'm not trying to get "thin" or have "razorabbz", but trimming down this gut and continuing to get strong would be great.

[Robert Santana]

Thanks for posting. It sounds like your carbohydrates and protein are on point and you likely gained some lean mass on the way up. Why you gained body fat is partially because of the nature of being hypercaloric and partially because you may or may not have overconsumed fat. As for cutting and running out the program it's hard to say. It's happened but it may not be possible for you. You'll have to ponder whether you want to risk that or just keep getting strong and cut later on an intermediate program.

I recommend considering a nutrition consult so we can dig a little deeper because it sounds like you've done the basic route and have not achieved the most ideal result.

[D0sten]

Thanks for posting. It sounds like your carbohydrates and protein are on point and you likely gained some lean mass on the way up. Why you gained body fat is partially because of the nature of being hypercaloric and partially because you may or may not have overconsumed fat. As for cutting and running out the program it's hard to say. It's happened but it may not be possible for you. You'll have to ponder whether you want to risk that or just keep getting strong and cut later on an intermediate program.

I recommend considering a nutrition consult so we can dig a little deeper because it sounds like you've done the basic route and have not achieved the most ideal result.

How would I go about scheduling a consult?

Thanks coach!

[Robert Santana]

Shoot me an email at robert@weightsandplates.com. Talk soon!