Nashtide is gonna lean bulk...

[Renman23]

Well, from my experience w/ trainers.... you may need to bulk...add muscle w/ a bit of fat, and then LEAN.. get rid of the fat...

 

[Nashtide]

Well, from my experience w/ trainers.... you may need to bulk...add muscle w/ a bit of fat, and then LEAN.. get rid of the fat...

Yup, I'm okay with that I'm just trying to minimize the fat gain. I love being lean...

 

[Renman23]

Well, youre not gonna get a beer belly..... just a pound or so with the muscle.

LOL

 

[Nashtide]

Well, youre not gonna get a beer belly..... just a pound or so with the muscle.

LOL

I know it sounds ridiculous, but I started this journey 35lbs overweight and was probably sitting at 25-30% bf. It took a lot of effort to drop the weight and get under 15% bf. As I said, I'll be more determined to get this done as the weather cools.
Thanks for the input.

 

[MarkM]

I know it sounds ridiculous, but I started this journey 35lbs overweight and was probably sitting at 25-30% bf. It took a lot of effort to drop the weight and get under 15% bf. As I said, I'll be more determined to get this done as the weather cools.
Thanks for the input.

Respect!

 

[Nashtide]

Good news on latest update. I gained 2.1lbs in the last two weeks while maintaining my bf%! I'm now less than 4lbs from my goal of going from 160 to 170lbs all while keeping my bf in check. I really haven't done anything different to account for the nice gain. Hopefully I'll continue the slow progress and get to my goal by early December.

 

[Renman23]

OUTSTANDING!!!

Keep it going!

 

[You Gonna Learn Today]

Reading through this thread and I'm diggin it. Great work! Any new updates?

 

[Nashtide]

Thanks for asking. I stopped posting because there didn’t seem to be much interest. I’m kinda stalled at my current weight. I don’t think I’m going to make my goal of adding ten pounds while keeping my body fat percentage under control. I still have another couple of months before I embark on my quest to get down to around 12%bf. At this point, I’ll be pleased if I add another pound or two. Next time I try adding weight I’m gonna have to accept more fat gain.

 

[Nashtide]

Okay, so I gained a total of 6.5lbs while maintaining my body fat at around 14.5%. I didn’t reach my goal of adding 10lbs while keeping my bf in check, but I’m pleased with the end result. Now I need your help in my quest to get down to 10% bf by June 1st. I wanted to leave myself plenty of time to reach my goal. I already do a modified intermittent fast type diet. Basically, I don’t eat anything after 6:30pm and I have breakfast at 8am, so not strict, but better than nothing. I eat very healthy. No fast food, no junk food. I drink a ton of water. My plan to lose the fat is to lower my calories by reducing my carb intake. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Gman86]

So just curious, are you tracking calories? And if you are, how many calories were you eating per day when lean bulking? And how much do you currently weigh?

 

[Nashtide]

So just curious, are you tracking calories? And if you are, how many calories were you eating per day when lean bulking? And how much do you currently weigh?

I don’t track calories and never have, even when I lost the 35lbs a few years ago. When I began the lean bulk, I just tried eating a little more and then went by the scale to determine whether I should eat more or less. I was trying to go very slow so I didn’t add bad fat. I’m not obsessed enough to count every calorie.

 

[Gman86]

I don’t track calories and never have, even when I lost the 35lbs a few years ago. When I began the lean bulk, I just tried eating a little more and then went by the scale to determine whether I should eat more or less. I was trying to go very slow so I didn’t add bad fat. I’m not obsessed enough to count every calorie.

Smart. Nice to see someone make good progress towards their goals without having to hinder their day to day life by calorie counting. I used to count calories, but it’s just too much of a burden. I’m currently trying to lean out a bit without losing much muscle, or any muscle at all. So nice to see an example of someone else doing the same without tracking macros, and having good success. Well you were lean bulking, but I’m sure you’ll have just as much success cutting.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

Congratulations on your progress so far. Something I have found and I've heard many others confirm, is that long walks (especially with a weighted back-pack, ideally for 1.5 or 2 hours) are one of the best and easiest ways to lean out. I find walking to be easy on the joints, productive in that I can listen to podcasts, and it doesn't cut into my ability to lift and do other physical things. Not anything exotic but I've always found I'm at my leanest when I simply walk a lot. I would also look for any sign of digestive issues such as bloating and be sure those are resolved. Finally, I would not stress over your goal. It took me about 18 months to do what you're trying to do although I was gaining strength at the same time. If you do the right things, your body will lean out when it's ready to. If you're desperate, going carnivore seems to be working for many people although I'm a bit leery of doing it just to lose a likely insignificant amount of weight assuming you have little or no organ fat.

 

[Nashtide]

Congratulations on your progress so far. Something I have found and I've heard many others confirm, is that long walks (especially with a weighted back-pack, ideally for 1.5 or 2 hours) are one of the best and easiest ways to lean out. I find walking to be easy on the joints, productive in that I can listen to podcasts, and it doesn't cut into my ability to lift and do other physical things. Not anything exotic but I've always found I'm at my leanest when I simply walk a lot. I would also look for any sign of digestive issues such as bloating and be sure those are resolved. Finally, I would not stress over your goal. It took me about 18 months to do what you're trying to do although I was gaining strength at the same time. If you do the right things, your body will lean out when it's ready to. If you're desperate, going carnivore seems to be working for many people although I'm a bit leery of doing it just to lose a likely insignificant amount of weight assuming you have little or no organ fat.

I have heard the same thing about long walks. Thanks for the input!

 

[Nashtide]

Smart. Nice to see someone make good progress towards their goals without having to hinder their day to day life by calorie counting. I used to count calories, but it’s just too much of a burden. I’m currently trying to lean out a bit without losing much muscle, or any muscle at all. So nice to see an example of someone else doing the same without tracking macros, and having good success. Well you were lean bulking, but I’m sure you’ll have just as much success cutting.

I just don’t have the discipline to count calories. I have a very good feeling for how much I need to eat to maintain my weight, so if I just cut back a little I’ll be in a calorie deficit. I weigh 168lbs now. At 14.5% bf, I figure I need to lose 6lbs to see my abs!

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

Something else regarding diet...While I'm a huge believer in low-carb diets as a baseline, I think people often overlook that a big part of the mechanism for low-carb is that it up-regulates fat-burning in the body. However ( and I credit DR. Mauro DiPasquale for pointing this out) when your body's favorite food is fat and you want it to draw from body fat, cutting your dietary fat in favor of protein and carbs can work well for a short period of time. As long as you're sure you are a fat burner (and if you can easily go 16 hours without eating with no hunger, then you likely are) then periodically minimizing dietary fat can help you burn body fat. I have had to try this myself due to travel making my diet somewhat restricted, and I have gotten noticeably leaner while actually increasing carbs and cutting fat. So it's something to experiment with. Low fat can actually work for some people as long as you time your carbs around activity.

 

[Nashtide]

Something else regarding diet...While I'm a huge believer in low-carb diets as a baseline, I think people often overlook that a big part of the mechanism for low-carb is that it up-regulates fat-burning in the body. However ( and I credit DR. Mauro DiPasquale for pointing this out) when your body's favorite food is fat and you want it to draw from body fat, cutting your dietary fat in favor of protein and carbs can work well for a short period of time. As long as you're sure you are a fat burner (and if you can easily go 16 hours without eating with no hunger, then you likely are) then periodically minimizing dietary fat can help you burn body fat. I have had to try this myself due to travel making my diet somewhat restricted, and I have gotten noticeably leaner while actually increasing carbs and cutting fat. So it's something to experiment with. Low fat can actually work for some people as long as you time your carbs around activity.

Interesting. My initial plan was to go low carb on days I don’t hit the gym and moderate carbs on days I exercise. I would also try to keep the carbs in the pre and post workout window. I will also need to up my protein intake a little. Based on the information you provided, I may fool around with some low fat intake if the carb cycling diet doesn’t work well. My biggest concern with low carb is losing energy. I’m hoping that consuming enough carbs on workout days will alleviate that potential issue. Now, I just need to decide what low and moderate carbs looks like!

 

[bkb33]

Interesting. My initial plan was to go low carb on days I don’t hit the gym and moderate carbs on days I exercise. I would also try to keep the carbs in the pre and post workout window. I will also need to up my protein intake a little.

I've been doing something similar. It's much like the approach in Jay Campbell's Metabolic Blowtorch Diet: fast and eat keto-ish on 'rest' days, carb up and eat more heavily on lift days. On rest days, I often fast for 24 full hours (dinner one night to dinner the next) and only consume 1200-1500 calories. On lifting days, I do a 16:8 fast and consume 1800-2000 calories. I always aim for 150g protein, regardless of the day.

Fasting has been a true game-changer for me. Eating within a restricted window makes it so much easier to get abs. And there is research that shows it is muscle-protective!

So far, this approach has worked really well for me in terms of recomposition. You're essentially alternating cutting days with maintaining/building days, which allows you to gradually peel off fat while holding onto (or even gaining some) muscle.

It's not necessarily the most expedient way to get shredded, but I think it's the best. Like you, I've lost a lot of weight (45 pounds) in the last few years, but I also lost a bunch of muscle in the process. No desire to repeat that.

 

[Nashtide]

I've been doing something similar. It's much like the approach in Jay Campbell's Metabolic Blowtorch Diet: fast and eat keto-ish on 'rest' days, carb up and eat more heavily on lift days. On rest days, I often fast for 24 full hours (dinner one night to dinner the next) and only consume 1200-1500 calories. On lifting days, I do a 16:8 fast and consume 1800-2000 calories. I always aim for 150g protein, regardless of the day.

Fasting has been a true game-changer for me. Eating within a restricted window makes it so much easier to get abs. And there is research that shows it is muscle-protective!

So far, this approach has worked really well for me in terms of recomposition. You're essentially alternating cutting days with maintaining/building days, which allows you to gradually peel off fat while holding onto (or even gaining some) muscle.

It's not necessarily the most expedient way to get shredded, but I think it's the best. Like you, I've lost a lot of weight (45 pounds) in the last few years, but I also lost a bunch of muscle in the process. No desire to repeat that.

That’s great info! You are clearly more dedicated than I am. One question I have is how do you manage to get 150 grams of protein every day? If you’re inclined, I’d love to have an accounting of what you eat in a typical exercise day and day off day.