Intake for my fiancé

fallonrhea

My fiance wanted to know: What is the best way to go from 165 pounds at 20% body fat to 165 pounds and 12-15% body fat.

Does it make sense for him to lose body fat before starting a bulking cycle to gain more LBM? Or to start a bulking cycle now to put on the muscle he wants before cutting. He tried to do a bulking phase and went from 155 to 172, now he's back down to 165.

1) What's your current intake of calories, on average? This is TOTAL CALORIES EATEN so this would include anything you eat for exercise calories. In other words, how much are you eating? Currently 2400 calories, during bulking 3000 calories

2) What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? Currently 300 g of protein, 180 g of carbs, 53 g of fat - During bulking, he made sure to get 300 g of protein, but didn't really pay attention to carbs vs. fat

3) Do you use a food scale and measure everything? Currently, yes, during bulking, no

4) Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?) Currently, yes, during bulking, no

5) Do you take cheat days or days off? Currently, no, during bulking yes

6) How much weight have you lost so far? He tried to do a bulking phase and went from 155 to 172, now he's back down to 165

7) What is your activity like, both exercise and non-exercise? (big difference between a construction worker and a desk job) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months. If so, what changed. Desk job but did insanity and p90x nearly every day.

8) How long have you eaten at your previous amount and what happened in that time frame? He ate the 3000 calories for about 5 months and gained 17 pounds

9) What's your height, current weight and if you know it, bodyfat%? 5' 8", 165, 20%

10) If you're stalled, for how long and is it a complete stall (zero change in weight)? No stall, he's currently losing

Please let me know if you need more information! I know I'm probably being pretty vague...

Sarauk2sf

What is his average loss on the 2,400 calories?

At 20% he should be cutting. How has he measured his BF%?

While bulking in particular, but also while cutting, he should really be doing a progressive loading strength training routine. Has he done one in the past?

fallonrhea

He only just started the 2400 calorie diet a week ago and has lost a half a pound...so it's still a little early to tell.

He got his body fat percentage by estimating using hips waist and neck with the military estimation. I can post his photos in the BF% estimation thread if you'd like.

He was doing a progressive loading strength routine while doing P90X during his bulking period. He's not really doing one now while we're doing asylum together this month, but he'll be starting again in a few weeks.

Sarauk2sf

When he was bulking at the 3,000, how much was he gaining on average?

Why was he doing P90X while bulking?

fallonrhea

He gained 15 pounds over 4 months, so a little less than a pound a week, he says.

I apologize, I wasn't clear, he was doing P90X TO bulk. He knows that P90X isn't as ideal as lifting heavy - but he wanted to maintain endurance and athletic performance for skiing so he figured it was best of both worlds if he was increasing his weights with the P90X strength routine and also doing the cardio associated with it.

fallonrhea

He also says that there might have been a weight gain plateau in there though because the first two months he was really focused with his eating and workouts - but then it slowed way down because he missed workouts more frequently and wasn't able to progressively increase his weights at that point.

Sarauk2sf

He also says that there might have been a weight gain plateau in there though because the first two months he was really focused with his eating and workouts - but then it slowed way down because he missed workouts more frequently and wasn't able to progressively increase his weights at that point.

During his bulk?

fallonrhea

Correct...unfortunately, haha =/

Sarauk2sf

The cut to 2,400 looks a little 'short' if your finance was adding about lb a week on 3,000. He could go down to 2,000 with the following macros:

Protein: 135g (30% - rounded up to the nearest 5%)
Fats: 60g (30% - rounded up to the nearest 5%)
The above will be a minimum and the balance goes wherever based on preference.

I would however re-assess after about 6 - 8 weeks. He is pretty light for his height and BF% so possibly should not cut to a particularly low body fat before bulking again. I think a good intensive progressive loading program is also important, especially when he bulks again.


If you want us to estimate his body fat, just post pics on the relevant thread.

fallonrhea

Thanks Sara! Jay says thank you too

I'll post his photos in the BF% estimation thread...I'm not sure how accurate his measurements were in the first place let alone the calculator he used.