Getting lean without losing too much muscle

2»

Replies

  • maverick4x4
    maverick4x4 Posts: 80 Member
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    Another 50 YO checking in. Unlike you, I started strength training when I was 47. I was weak, fat, and on the road to a painful life. Powerlifting changed my life for the better. I'm around 18% BF right now and weigh 178. Twenty months ago I entered my first PL competition at a fat, but strong, 203. Most I've ever weighed in my life. My goal is to compete in the 75kg class next year which means I need to be under 165.

    Right now, I'm on a 1750 calories a day diet and target macros are 40/30/30. Still making progress on my lifts so I'm pretty happy about that. Seems like your progress is excellent and I wouldn't change what's working for you if you feel good and are on track to meet your goals. There are many ways to get from A to B. Good luck!

    Fantastic, glad to hear it! Are you still losing weight at 1750/day? I seem to plateau at 1800, which is honestly a little disturbing to me, since my base rate used to be around 2200-2300/day (based on losing 1.5lb/wk at 1600day for the first 6 months)

    What are your PRs? What are you working on? What's your approach (set/rep structure)

    Like I said above, my bench is in the toilet, but I'm trying to get incline up a little closer to where it used to be (it's at about 75%). I'd be happy with 80-85%. Squat is only 68%, and my goal is to get it to 75% consistently.

    I'm still 25carb/25fat/50 protein at 1600cal/day...though a couple days a week I'm closer to 1800-1900. You'd think that I'd still be dropping but I don't. But...I think subconsciously I'm pretty happy where I'm at and my body seems to cling to 195. Still pushing for sub-190 just to see what it looks like.
  • maverick4x4
    maverick4x4 Posts: 80 Member
    _Figgzie_ wrote: »
    Do some sort of resistance training 3-4 times a week. Whether the caloric deficit is big or small, using muscles is the only way to keep them. I do push ups one day, pulls ups another day and my own leg workout the third day. I have lost 100 pounds and according to the calculations, I went from almost 315 pounds to 210ish and I only lost about 22 pounds of muscle which considering is pretty good (187 pounds LBM to start)

    Fantastic progress! That is very impressive, what a journey and transformation! Keep up the good work.

    I agree about use it or lose it. I hit the weights 5-6 days/week, with a jog/hike 1-2 days. Most working sets are 70-90% 1RM in varying set/rep structures and exercises to keep my body guessing. I'm going to try and add a little volume and structure to squat day for the next few weeks to push my max back up.
  • evilokc
    evilokc Posts: 263 Member
    when i started getting my annual cut together i was at 204lbs. i had ab shadows and figured i needed to loose about 10lbs to be "cut". however like all men i was hiding a lot of fat around my organs. im down like 12lbs and while im tight im not "there" yet. takes more than we think.
  • IAMFFL
    IAMFFL Posts: 58 Member
    evilokc wrote: »
    when i started getting my annual cut together i was at 204lbs. i had ab shadows and figured i needed to loose about 10lbs to be "cut". however like all men i was hiding a lot of fat around my organs. im down like 12lbs and while im tight im not "there" yet. takes more than we think.

    Agreed. I've noticed as I'm getting older I've had to tweak my macros a lot more to achieve the desired cut but maintain my weight. Things I've done in the past, both nutrition and workout wise, helped me tighten up but I wasn't as cut as I wanted to be. More than anything, nutrition has played the biggest part.

Categories