Weight training and Nutrition help

amandeepgill2
amandeepgill2 Posts: 1 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm definitely a newbie to weight training and I need some advice on what I should do. I recently finished doing the Insanity workout program. I lost a lot of weight, about 40 pounds, by doing the program and keeping my calories at 1200. Losing all that weight did slim me down as far as inches but I still have a little bit of gut.

STATS:
Age: 25
Gender: male
Weight: 138.6 pounds
Body Fat: roughly 7.7%
Mass Muscle: 45.1%

The weight, body fat, and muscle mass are according to an "Eat Smart Digital scale" I don't know how accurate it is but they have been consistent for the last 2 weeks. Judging from the gut i have I feel like I'm more at 10% body fat rather than 7.7%.

I finished Insanity 2 weeks ago, I took a week off from working out. Now I started a program that a friend of mine recommended. I don't know what the name is but basically its doing Squats, Bench press, and deadlight 3x a week doing 10sets of 5 starting at 80% of your 5 rep max and then increasing 5% every week. I added 4 sets of 10 sits up, hoping to get rid of my gut. Is this a good program or bad advice?

Also my BMR is 1601, I have increased my calorie intake to 1500 a day. Will I be able to build muscle with 1500 or should I eat more, if more how much more. I use a heart rate monitor while lifting and it says I burn about 530-715 calories per a workout depending if it take me 60 minutes or 90 minutes. Do I have to re-eat those calories because that seems like a lot of eating. My goal is to build muscle and get rid of my gut. I appreciate any advice and help. Thanks in advance.

Replies

  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Well I can say pretty definitively that there's no way you're at 7.7% BF if you still have a gut. Guys start getting a nice defined 6pack around 10-12% usually. 7.7% is very, very lean. If you still have a gut, without a picture I'd say 15%+. Only way to get rid of that gut is to continue losing body fat until your abs appear.

    As far as your proposed routine goes, doing compound exercises 3x a week is a good and typical beginner method. 10 sets of 5 is a ton though, I would lower that to maybe 5x5 which is very common. No real need to do ab exercises as you will get plenty of core work in doing deadlifts, squats, etc.. Kind of a waste of time, if you're looking for accessory lifts I'd add some sort of shoulder/overhead press, chinups/pullups and/or rows for example.

    If you're looking to put on muscle you have to eat more than your TDEE (which I'm guessing is around 2000), accounting for exercise as well. Which means you will likely be eating around 3000 a day. You can set your MFP profile to gain weight to help keep track of the numbers as well. Trying to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time is a tough proposition, you could try eating right at your TDEE and try to recomp. Or try a program like leangains with IF work. Most people tend to do two phases: bulk up and then cut to drop the fat and lean out.
  • theodus
    theodus Posts: 13 Member
    Depending on how much weight you had on before, the gut may just be excess skin.
  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
    Depending on how much weight you had on before, the gut may just be excess skin.

    or bad posture
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    I'm definitely a newbie to weight training and I need some advice on what I should do. I recently finished doing the Insanity workout program. I lost a lot of weight, about 40 pounds, by doing the program and keeping my calories at 1200. Losing all that weight did slim me down as far as inches but I still have a little bit of gut.

    STATS:
    Age: 25
    Gender: male
    Weight: 138.6 pounds
    Body Fat: roughly 7.7%
    Mass Muscle: 45.1%

    The weight, body fat, and muscle mass are according to an "Eat Smart Digital scale" I don't know how accurate it is but they have been consistent for the last 2 weeks. Judging from the gut i have I feel like I'm more at 10% body fat rather than 7.7%.

    I finished Insanity 2 weeks ago, I took a week off from working out. Now I started a program that a friend of mine recommended. I don't know what the name is but basically its doing Squats, Bench press, and deadlight 3x a week doing 10sets of 5 starting at 80% of your 5 rep max and then increasing 5% every week. I added 4 sets of 10 sits up, hoping to get rid of my gut. Is this a good program or bad advice?

    Also my BMR is 1601, I have increased my calorie intake to 1500 a day. Will I be able to build muscle with 1500 or should I eat more, if more how much more. I use a heart rate monitor while lifting and it says I burn about 530-715 calories per a workout depending if it take me 60 minutes or 90 minutes. Do I have to re-eat those calories because that seems like a lot of eating. My goal is to build muscle and get rid of my gut. I appreciate any advice and help. Thanks in advance.

    I would say 1500 is way under for what you want if you're trying to build muscle mass. This is one of the best places I go for nutrition info and their calorie estimator is very helpful, check it out. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/calc.php

    I don't know about the programming, could probably be better. My recommendation would be to checkout 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler. It's simple and to the point.
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