Originally Posted by
zft
Hi Robert,
I'm becoming concerned about my increasing bodyfat. Here's some info:
Age/Sex: 27/M. I'm a student and am mostly sedentary aside from going to the gym. I'm not a competitive lifter and lift purely recreationally.
Training history:
I've been lifting again since January (around 6 months), after a 1.5ish year hiatus where I lifted maybe once every two months. Started at around a bodyweight of 80 kg in January. Did SS for about 2-3 months, and then moved on to a 4 day strength split. As of recently, switched to a 3 day strength split and now I do two days of (fairly light, technique-oriented) Olympic weightlifting as well. I don't do any HIIT or cardio work whatsoever.
The split is basically just one of the press, bench, squat, or deadlift following by some assistance work. (I shifted to a 3 day program by combining the press and deadlift days.) So I do each of the big lifts once a week. I LP the lifts as follows:
+1kg/session on press
+1.5kg/session on bench
+2kg/session on squat
+2.5kg/session on deadlift
Current best numbers are:
76 kg x 5 press
101 kg x 5 bench
202 kg x 5 squat
231.5 kg x 5 deadlift
Current weight and BF% estimate: 100 kg, 21-22% BF according to the Navy calculator, with a 38" waist.
Current calorie and macro totals (if known):
Here's where the shame creeps in. I really hate eating, to the point where I'm almost immature about it. So, what I do is this:
I eat one meal of 400g 10%ish ground beef + ~200g of rice.
I eat one whole cucumber
I then drink 4L of whole milk.
That's all I eat, basically every day. It's approximately 4000 calories. I know GOMAD is meant for young skinny guys on SS, but I basically just do GOMAD as meal replacements now...probably pretty stupid, but it worked well for me and my idiosyncrasies. Aside from making me kinda fat.
Your question (don’t just post your stats without a question):
I'm getting to the point where I'm unwilling to gain any further bodyfat, and want to actually lose a bit to get down to 17% BF or so. But, I also lift pretty hard and ideally I'd like to continue progressing fairly rapidly.
I'm not really sure what the best approach is going forward. Should I just cut out the milk, substitute regular food, and aim for 3,500-4,000 calories? Should I add in a bunch of HIIT? Should I just reduce my caloric intake and suffer strength-wise, get down to my bodyfat goal, and continue after that point?
I really want to keep getting stronger, but I'm putting my foot down at 22% BF. I'm not willing to go any higher (and want to go lower). Any guidance is appreciated!