Fat loss ... squatting too much?

[pantheist]

My primary goal is fat loss right now. I've been in a calorie deficit and I've been doing the SS routine for about 4 months now doing AxxBxxAxxx. My logic is that I'm trying to maintain as much lean body mass as possible while I perfect my form on the lifts. My plan is to cut to 10% and then do the program the way it is designed to be done (doing a 500-1000 calorie surplus). Before you say anything, NO I will not change my mind. I HAVE TO HIT THIS BF% before starting a surplus. Been a lifelong fatty. My question is, what should my routine look like? I'm thinking that squats 3 days a week is a bit too strenuous during a calorie deficit. My lifts have increased a little bit since I started but they're pretty much stalled out for now. Which is ok since I'm just trying to maintain my LBM. I guess my ultimate question is what should my routine be? What would preserve the most LBM, be the least strenuous for my CNS, prepare me for a proper bulk doing SS like it's designed and facilitate linear fat loss?
Stats + Working sets.
5'9"
22-years-old
170-172 lbs bodyweight (meso-endo)
14-18% bodyfat (hard to tell cause of loose skin) (140-144 lbs LBM)
Squats: 185-195 3x5
Bench: 155-160 3x5
OHP: 115 3x5
DL: 225-235 1x5

I was thinking about doing squats twice a week, and maybe on the work out day I don't do squats do sprints or something, maybe pull ups or light deadlifts in a high rep range. Any ideas for me guys?

Btw my aim is a 500-700 kcal deficit
I eat about 220 grams of protein a day and 45-60 grams of fat
I'm gonna start counting carbs as well, according to the calculators I'm burning about ~2800 kcals a day with my activity level but who knows right ?

[Kumar]

My primary goal is fat loss right now. NO I will not change my mind. I HAVE TO HIT THIS BF% before starting a surplus. Been a lifelong fatty.

I sympathize with you, although 53, I am in a similar situation.
How much weight have you lost already? I assume that it is a satisfactory rate for you, if so your eating is correct.
I don't see why squatting thrice a week should be a problem as long as you are comfortable for now with the fact that they have stalled. Keeping the muscle while losing weight is very difficult, is what I have found, and as long as you are sleeping well and not tired otherwise, I would stay with the 3 days, focusing on form as you are doing.
In fact, you might want to add the pull ups and dips to these days as well. Low rep, many sets, to preserve the CNS, but keep muscle. And eat well after.
And round off with 30 minute cardio on the other three days.

[Greg C]

It's fine you are doing this. Everyone has different goals. A couple of thoughts:

1. Don't worry about SS. You are trying to lose weight, so that means that you won't be "DTP." Get over that mental hurdle now. It's not a big deal. You can still do all the lifts, but you won't be doing a linear progression for long before you need to go more complicated to accommodate the weight loss goal.

2. You're going to need to be flexible about intake - each individual is different. Log your intake for two weeks (minimum) - everything that passes your lips. As well as BW. Try to track a running average so that the day-to-day fluctuations don't make you nuts. After you have some data that tells you what your maintenance intake is at this activity level, adjust accordingly. Their is a lot of info out there about fat loss. Read. Try bodyrecomposition.com - Lyle's an ass, but their is good info there.

3. Start thinking about where you want to go when linear dies, it will be soon, if it hasn't already. You need a plan, and their are tons of options. One is to shift to something that utilizes auto-regulation.

[pantheist]

It's fine you are doing this. Everyone has different goals. A couple of thoughts:

1. Don't worry about SS. You are trying to lose weight, so that means that you won't be "DTP." Get over that mental hurdle now. It's not a big deal. You can still do all the lifts, but you won't be doing a linear progression for long before you need to go more complicated to accommodate the weight loss goal.

2. You're going to need to be flexible about intake - each individual is different. Log your intake for two weeks (minimum) - everything that passes your lips. As well as BW. Try to track a running average so that the day-to-day fluctuations don't make you nuts. After you have some data that tells you what your maintenance intake is at this activity level, adjust accordingly. Their is a lot of info out there about fat loss. Read. Try bodyrecomposition.com - Lyle's an ass, but their is good info there.

3. Start thinking about where you want to go when linear dies, it will be soon, if it hasn't already. You need a plan, and their are tons of options. One is to shift to something that utilizes auto-regulation.

Okay yes my diet is something I don't really need help on, I have read Lyle's site quite a bit already. I could use some more details though, so are you saying it's bad to continue doing the same lifts when they're stalled out? Because yeah, I have been stalled out for quite a while, I don't mind that much, I just wanna be lean. Are you saying that I should do a new exercise that progress in that, wait till I stall, then do another exercise? So I've been stalled at the bench for a while, should I switch to incline bench? I'm stalled on all my lifts. I get plenty of low-impact cardio (on my feet all day at work). What do?

[Alexis]

I recall KSC recommended to keep the frequency up on lifts while losing weight.
I went from about 19% to 15% during SS maintaining the exact same BW. I was eating roughly maintenance level and fairly clean. I stalled sooner than others but not by much really. I am 43 years old.

[LimieJosh]

I recall KSC recommended to keep the frequency up on lifts while losing weight.

He did, but in the context of someone with already significant strength to maintain.

[forgeforth]

If you're going to be keeping frequency high, I would recommend against a really low carb approach. It will work for a while, but if you're not refeeding regularly you will experience some pretty nasty side effects (I'm speaking from experience here). I did SS+other stuff+TM and have decided to diet over the past few months after some medical issues. I've lost more strength than I had hoped to lose, but the fat loss has been effective. At your current composition, I see no need for extreme fat loss measures (like RFL). Slow and steady will probably be the best for you.

I'd hit the gym 3-4 times a week; squatting once or twice per week is fine and recovery should be also if you're not doing high volume. The fourth day could be left for conditioning, although I like to lift each day. In terms of diet, you seem to have a good approach. Your protein intake is fine (even as low as 1g/pound would be fine, but hey, you have to eat something). I'd allocate 30% of my intake to fat and the balance can be made up of carbs.

Hopefully after a few months you'll reach your goal. If you would like to remain lean (whatever your definition of that might be), I'd recommend against a huge surplus of calories when you decide to build muscle. I gained a lot of weight on SS and a moderate amount on TM. They're great programs, but the dieting afterwards hasn't been fun. At the end of the day, you know your body. The good news is you probably have a lot of potential on a linear progression program because you may not have exhausted your novice gains (given your numbers), but cross that bridge later.

[vanslix]

It's fine you are doing this. Everyone has different goals. A couple of thoughts:

1. Don't worry about SS. You are trying to lose weight, so that means that you won't be "DTP." Get over that mental hurdle now. It's not a big deal. You can still do all the lifts, but you won't be doing a linear progression for long before you need to go more complicated to accommodate the weight loss goal.

2. You're going to need to be flexible about intake - each individual is different. Log your intake for two weeks (minimum) - everything that passes your lips. As well as BW. Try to track a running average so that the day-to-day fluctuations don't make you nuts. After you have some data that tells you what your maintenance intake is at this activity level, adjust accordingly. Their is a lot of info out there about fat loss. Read. Try bodyrecomposition.com - Lyle's an ass, but their is good info there.

3. Start thinking about where you want to go when linear dies, it will be soon, if it hasn't already. You need a plan, and their are tons of options. One is to shift to something that utilizes auto-regulation.

Thanks. I'm kinda in the same boat and this is helpful.

[FKYT]

I've been cutting weight, myself. My current set-up is an upper/lower split that looks like this:
1 ) Bench / Rows
2 ) Squats / Calves
3 ) Press / Weighted Chin-Up
4 ) Deadlift / Abs

I've been using a "reverse pyramid" set-up for my set/rep scheme for the main compounds. (1st set = 3-5 reps, 2nd set = 4-6 reps @ 10% less weight, 3rd set = 5-7 reps @ 10% less weight than 2nd set)

I also do 30 minutes of steady state cardio on off days, at a pretty slow pace.

Diet was simple -- I just started mixing my protein shakes in water instead of whole milk. I cleaned up the rest of the diet, but not too much. Yesterday I had a double cheeseburger for lunch and thought nothing of it. I wouldn't eat them everyday, but once in a while doesn't derail the diet. I've been keeping protein intake high as usual.

So far I've dropped from close to 30% bodyfat to around 18%, and pretty much all of it seems to be fat loss. Strength loss has been about 5-10% off my main lifts. My goal is only to get to around 15%--from what I understand, it becomes even harder to maintain strength and muscle as you get closer to 10%. However, the set-up I have seems to work for me so far, for what it's worth.

[pantheist]

Thanks guys, I think what I'm gonna do is just sub a single exercise out for another one. I think I'll take the bench press out and do weighted dips for a while on day A. Maybe I'll do squats in the 8-12 rep range since I ain't getting any stronger in them and my left knee is kinda tender. Also, this is a quote from bodyrecomp that contributed to why I'm cutting down to 10% before beginning my surplus just so you guys know and maybe we can discuss it.


"If you start a mass gaining phase at too high of a body fat percentage (say 12-15%), you’re going to gain some fat during that phase and end up in the high teens or worse. This makes dieting back to a non-fat assed body fat percentage a real hassle. Better to keep things in check by alternating periods of cutting and gaining.
As well, it seems empirically that once body fat gets to the 15% range or so for men, fat gains tend to accelerate during mass gaining phases. I suspect this is due to the development of systemic insulin resistance which causes calories to go into fat stores more readily. Keeping body fat levels below that may be helpful.
I should mention that there was always an anecdotal idea that mass gains were best with body fat about 10-12% body fat (for men, add 9-12% for women). While I had always dismissed this as being an excuse to stay fat, I suspect it’s probably close to correct. Based on what’s going on hormonally and physiologically at both low and higher body fat percentages, this may very well be a sweet spot for mass gaining. You’re fed and healthy enough to lift well and make gains but not so fat that other problems arise." - http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/mus...n-changes.html