Help with diet, exercise please

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Hi this is my first forum and I need help, I’ve workout before and have worked in construction for many years but I’ve never seem to get it right with diet and exercise to reach my goals, I’m a bulky guy and I’m happy with my frame but I would like too lose my gut and gain muscle in the process, I’ve tried the typical no carbs just protein diet with big weights but I found no carbs just didn’t cut it for me especially with my work being so physically demanding, so I’m reaching out to anyone who could help with dieting routine gym sessions and what too do, I know how to workout but I want to start from scratch as if I was a newbie, thank you for reading and I hope too hear from you

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  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
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    If you are like most people, who want reasonably fast results, then you need to focus on one thing first, then another. Sounds like you want your primary focus to be fat loss. Once you are at the weight you want you can then think about bulking up if you feel you need to. Recomposes, as suggested above, is an option but it's very slow and you need to be both dedicated and patient.

    Finding what works for you in terms of diet macros is trial and error to some extent, but my main advice to you is don't be afraid of fat. Work out your calorie needs (which will likely be fairly high given your job) and then how much weight you want to lose. As rule of thumb, if you want to lose roughly a pound a week you need an average deficit of 500 calories per day. I personally find that a low carb diet works well, but certainly not a no carb diet. I tend to eat 40% of my calories as protein, 40% as fat and 20% as carbs. The fairly high fat proportion along with the protein helps curb my hunger and although my job is sedentary I work out every day (and work out pretty hard, too). Cholesterol-wise my levels are the best my doctor has ever seen, so fat is not the enemy many people think it is.

    I suspect your job is already fairly demanding cardio-wise so gym time might be best spent on the weights. But if I am wrong and the job is more weight-oriented then more cardio at the gym would make sense.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    As already stated CICO for weight loss, but it’s extremely difficult to put on muscle and lose weight. That said, start weighing and entering your foods. Pick a weight loss goal in MFP. Start lifting again while trying to lose the weight. Even if you don’t gain any noticeable muscle, you will get stronger and you may also get some muscle gains (but don’t expect much; it’s extremely difficult to put muscle on while in a deficit).
  • Jimey77
    Jimey77 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you all for your replies that’s answered so good questions for me thank you again
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
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    As others have said, it all comes down to consuming less calories than you burn throughout the day, including your workouts.

    Here are is a link to a good calculator to zero in on how many calories you should consume each day to lose a specified amount of weight per week/month:

    https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/