Need to lose some fat...

[Sawol]

Current stats:

5' 6'' 235lb, 25% body fat

Current 5RM:
445 deadlift
375 squat
210 bench
155 press

Bulk was worth it, I added a good amount of muscle to my frame. Thing is, though, I added a lot of fat, so I think it's time to cut down to a healthier body fat percentage. Maybe around 15%.

What do you suggest, Mr. Rippetoe? I haven't done strict cardio in the longest time. I'll have to start doing HIIT or some crossfit.

I'm not sure how many calories to eat per day to lose fat. On my bulk I pretty much ate whenever I was hungry.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Bodyfat loss is diet, that's all. LSD and HIIT will just kill your strength. Tighten up your diet -- drop the milk and all starcy/sweet carbs -- and it will happen without a change to your training.

[Sawol]

Then I'll eat at 3000-3500 calories a day and see if body composition improves.

I'm doing Starr's 5x5 at the moment. Can you recommend any GPP exercises for offdays?

Thanks.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I'm cutting a little weight for an upcoming meet.....I dropped 8 lbs in two days with no added cardio. Simply ate nothing but meat, eggs, and vegetables. I Cut out the milk, oatmeal, sweet potatoes and allowed no junk food. It's all diet.

[JMT]

If he is training Mon-Wed-Fri, shouldn't he be able to add some crossfit type metcon work, or sprint type interval work on Saturdays without compromising his strength work during the week? It seems like this would accelerate fat loss with the added bonus of improving VO2max.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yeah, add one metcon workout per week.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Brilliant recommendation, Rip. I don't think we've covered that yet.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Well, somebody needs to.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

I think someone has posted a sticky write up that might save having to answer this question 3 times a week.

[Mark Rippetoe]

We can't have 30 stickies. It would look weird if the whole first page was stickies.