Drop fat and gain muscle!!! Newbies Read this.
Helloitsdan
Posts: 5,564 Member
Its really simple!
Set up myfitnesspal the correct way for loosing fat and gaining muscle.
This is not a cookie cutter program gang!
You cant just say i'm this and that and MFP just spits out 1200 calories!
It's just that stupid!
So heres how to set it up for success.
These numbers have worked for a lot of people.
here we go...
On the main page you click: Settings>goals>change goals>customize>continue...
Set calories to 1800-2000
Set Carbs to 40%
Set Protein to 30%
Fat will auto to 30%
You need carbs for energy!
This is crucial on days when you work out!
Good carbs like oatmeal, bananas and apples, Brown rice and whole grain pasta.
Too little carbs and you putter out midday and want to sleep!
If for some reason you think its too much then lower your carbs on the days you DONT WORK OUT!
You should be replacing carbs on these days with PROTEIN!
Protein contains the building blocks for MUSCLE!
You want muscle because it raises your lean body mass.
A quick note...if you are cutting your calories too much you will gain no muscle at all!
So its important that we make a slow trade off!
Fat is fantastic!
Not the kind found in cupcakes but the kind found in Nuts, avocados, olives, olive oil, nuts nuts nuts!
Its the good monounsaturated fats that you want!
Add these to EVERY MEAL!
Monos work very differently from standard saturated fat.
An easy way to describe it....
Imagine your arteries with the blood pumping.
You eat a cupcake or a brownie.
The saturated fat flows through your arteries like nails.
This isnt good right?
Lets say you replaced that cupcake with 1/4 cup of pistachios!
YUM!
Monounsaturated fatty acids are said to lubricate the arteries.
It flows like a spaghetti noodle all the way through.
For us guys it helps regulate testosterone!
BOOOHYAH!!!!
On this diet setting you must work out 3 times a week and do cardio twice.
Youll drop the fat and maintain the muscle.
Some peeps will be close to maintenance cals on this if they swing closer to the 2k side and possibly gain muscle!
Besides its winter where I am and maybe not loosing fat at an accelerated rate would be helpful until possibly march when a solid cut should happen.
The purpose of this post is because I see my friends diaries and 99% of the protein readings are hitting around 50g a day.
Thats not even enough for a mouse to gain muscle!
I'm not talking about musclebound beefcake looking people!
Im talking about beautiful lean healthy muscle.
Hugs to you all!
Set up myfitnesspal the correct way for loosing fat and gaining muscle.
This is not a cookie cutter program gang!
You cant just say i'm this and that and MFP just spits out 1200 calories!
It's just that stupid!
So heres how to set it up for success.
These numbers have worked for a lot of people.
here we go...
On the main page you click: Settings>goals>change goals>customize>continue...
Set calories to 1800-2000
Set Carbs to 40%
Set Protein to 30%
Fat will auto to 30%
You need carbs for energy!
This is crucial on days when you work out!
Good carbs like oatmeal, bananas and apples, Brown rice and whole grain pasta.
Too little carbs and you putter out midday and want to sleep!
If for some reason you think its too much then lower your carbs on the days you DONT WORK OUT!
You should be replacing carbs on these days with PROTEIN!
Protein contains the building blocks for MUSCLE!
You want muscle because it raises your lean body mass.
A quick note...if you are cutting your calories too much you will gain no muscle at all!
So its important that we make a slow trade off!
Fat is fantastic!
Not the kind found in cupcakes but the kind found in Nuts, avocados, olives, olive oil, nuts nuts nuts!
Its the good monounsaturated fats that you want!
Add these to EVERY MEAL!
Monos work very differently from standard saturated fat.
An easy way to describe it....
Imagine your arteries with the blood pumping.
You eat a cupcake or a brownie.
The saturated fat flows through your arteries like nails.
This isnt good right?
Lets say you replaced that cupcake with 1/4 cup of pistachios!
YUM!
Monounsaturated fatty acids are said to lubricate the arteries.
It flows like a spaghetti noodle all the way through.
For us guys it helps regulate testosterone!
BOOOHYAH!!!!
On this diet setting you must work out 3 times a week and do cardio twice.
Youll drop the fat and maintain the muscle.
Some peeps will be close to maintenance cals on this if they swing closer to the 2k side and possibly gain muscle!
Besides its winter where I am and maybe not loosing fat at an accelerated rate would be helpful until possibly march when a solid cut should happen.
The purpose of this post is because I see my friends diaries and 99% of the protein readings are hitting around 50g a day.
Thats not even enough for a mouse to gain muscle!
I'm not talking about musclebound beefcake looking people!
Im talking about beautiful lean healthy muscle.
Hugs to you all!
0
Replies
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i agree with the 40-30-30, however if i ate 1800-2000 calories a day i wouldnt lose any weight lol0
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Great post--0
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i agree with the 40-30-30, however if i ate 1800-2000 calories a day i wouldnt lose any weight lol
Its a safe trade off and to be honest I was still loosing weight at maintenance because my maintenance had changed!
You could scale it down to 20% above BMR and loose fat but not muscle.
do you know your BMR?0 -
nice read thank ye sir!0
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This is basically what I do. I average 1800-1900 calories a day, but I do workout a lot. Otherwise I would have to stick around 1400-1500 (which is nearly impossible for me now lol)0
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Ok - I'm curious:
How does exercise fit into this to make it work? How much? What kind?
How does current weight fit into this? Will this work the same for people who need to lose 90lbs and for people who only need to lose 10lbs?
What other factors am I missing?0 -
YES! But most of these people don't lift weights to build muscle! LOL They literally just want to drop pounds. I'll think of those settings when I'm trying to bulk up again. Right now I'm trying to lower body fat and have custom settings based on a bodybuilding.com calculator for carb cycling.
Good try! Maybe you can get people to maintain the muscle they do have so they don't lose that with all their fat.0 -
i agree with the 40-30-30, however if i ate 1800-2000 calories a day i wouldnt lose any weight lol
Its a safe trade off and to be honest I was still loosing weight at maintenance because my maintenance had changed!
You could scale it down to 20% above BMR and loose fat but not muscle.
do you know your BMR?
so when you say move it to 1800-2000 cals is this with eating exercise calories back? Your estimated BMR is: 1,324 calories/day0 -
Thanks .. Great Post!!!!0
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bump0
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i agree with the 40-30-30, however if i ate 1800-2000 calories a day i wouldnt lose any weight lol
Its a safe trade off and to be honest I was still loosing weight at maintenance because my maintenance had changed!
You could scale it down to 20% above BMR and loose fat but not muscle.
do you know your BMR?
so you wouldn't lose any muscle in a caloric deficit? most people will have an activity factor greater 1.2
and recomping, not so easy. bulk/cut cycles will prob yield faster results in either direction0 -
Thanks for the post... This is the advice i had been looking for in order to understand how to put my meals together. Thanks again!0
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On your advice Ive changed my carb/fat/protein to these settings but dont think 1800 cals will work for me, I want to lose 25lb (ish) and Im 5"4 so will stick to my 1300. I exercise every day and eat back the majority of my exercise cals too. I do circuit training so ive been upping my protein anyway so im willing to give this a go. Also been eating more nuts and seeds so looks like im on the right track
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My BMR is 1722.
MFP tells me to eat 1270.
My carbs are 50%, fat 25% and protein 25%.....
By putting my calorie range to what you said 1800-1900 I think I would gain weight since my BMR is 1722......??? HELP.0 -
bump0
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Building muscle increases your resting metabolism... Eating less slows it down... And you lose muscle!0
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Hmmm will give it a try, although im only putting my calories upto 1400, and see how i go, as there is no way i could eat 2000 a day comfortably. I swim twice a week and walk 20 mins a day 5 days a week on the school run, so im not inactive, but i dont seem to lose anything after losing a stone. However, im really not very fat now, i just need to tone up a bit, so have also started on the Xbox kinect shape up game. OMG what killer that is, my legs feel like they are falling off today lol!!!! I have also noticed that now its got colder, im more hungry, perhaps my body is telling me i need more fat for winter, but i will try extra jumpers instead. Lets see if the increased calories and protein, carbs and fat make a difference ;-)0
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i agree with the 40-30-30, however if i ate 1800-2000 calories a day i wouldnt lose any weight lol
Its a safe trade off and to be honest I was still loosing weight at maintenance because my maintenance had changed!
You could scale it down to 20% above BMR and loose fat but not muscle.
do you know your BMR?
so you wouldn't lose any muscle in a caloric deficit? most people will have an activity factor greater 1.2
and recomping, not so easy. bulk/cut cycles will prob yield faster results in either direction
I'm on the same page as you but for new people they arent seeing the damage done by cutting cals 1400 down to 1200 and eating 30-50g of protein.
They are cutting carbs because they still believe carbs are the enemy.
They hate the word fat even though fat is essential.
I'm on an appx 40/30/30 and eating up to 3k calories as a gain.
the fact is people arnet doing the research and just cutting calories and its causing them to stall out.
then they swandive from the wagon into a cupcake!0 -
Its really simple!
Set up myfitnesspal the correct way for loosing fat and gaining muscle.
This is not a cookie cutter program gang!
You cant just say i'm this and that and MFP just spits out 1200 calories!
It's just that stupid!
So heres how to set it up for success.
These numbers have worked for a lot of people.
here we go...
On the main page you click: Settings>goals>change goals>customize>continue...
Set calories to 1800-2000
Set Carbs to 40%
Set Protein to 30%
Fat will auto to 30%
You need carbs for energy!
This is crucial on days when you work out!
Good carbs like oatmeal, bananas and apples, Brown rice and whole grain pasta.
Too little carbs and you putter out midday and want to sleep!
If for some reason you think its too much then lower your carbs on the days you DONT WORK OUT!
You should be replacing carbs on these days with PROTEIN!
Protein contains the building blocks for MUSCLE!
You want muscle because it raises your lean body mass.
A quick note...if you are cutting your calories too much you will gain no muscle at all!
So its important that we make a slow trade off!
Fat is fantastic!
Not the kind found in cupcakes but the kind found in Nuts, avocados, olives, olive oil, nuts nuts nuts!
Its the good monounsaturated fats that you want!
Add these to EVERY MEAL!
Monos work very differently from standard saturated fat.
An easy way to describe it....
Imagine your arteries with the blood pumping.
You eat a cupcake or a brownie.
The saturated fat flows through your arteries like nails.
This isnt good right?
Lets say you replaced that cupcake with 1/4 cup of pistachios!
YUM!
Monounsaturated fatty acids are said to lubricate the arteries.
It flows like a spaghetti noodle all the way through.
For us guys it helps regulate testosterone!
BOOOHYAH!!!!
On this diet setting you must work out 3 times a week and do cardio twice.
Youll drop the fat and maintain the muscle.
Some peeps will be close to maintenance cals on this if they swing closer to the 2k side and possibly gain muscle!
Besides its winter where I am and maybe not loosing fat at an accelerated rate would be helpful until possibly march when a solid cut should happen.
The purpose of this post is because I see my friends diaries and 99% of the protein readings are hitting around 50g a day.
Thats not even enough for a mouse to gain muscle!
I'm not talking about musclebound beefcake looking people!
Im talking about beautiful lean healthy muscle.
Hugs to you all!
1. You said gain muscle in the title, in your post you said maintain muscle.
2. I agree with the maintain muscle, you won't gain a lot of muscle mass this way, its near impossible to gain muscle and cut same time, especially only lifting 3 times a week.0 -
Can you post any evidence that supports this view, or at least some credentials that prove you know what you're talking about and not just saying what works for you?
You don't want MFP to be a cookie cutter program, but you're giving every person a cookie cutter suggestion.
P.S. Spelling things wrong is a not a good way to gain credibility.0 -
OP-
Doing recomps isn't as cut and dry as you think it is. It's not only very difficult, but it doesn't yield results as good as doing bulk/cut cycles like Acg said.
Also cardio is non-essential, whether its cutting, recomping, and/or bulking.0 -
Thank you for the great tips. My question to you if you can answer it is: I weight 288 pounds right now (I know, pretty bad) and I want to lose weight, gain muscle, strength and become more flexible.
Would the ratio that you mentioned in your original post work for me also? I am female, 6'0 and 43 years old. I also just bought the KettleWorx program so I am excited about using it in a few days when it arrives.
Thank you for any adivce you can give to me.0 -
Helpful reading I am learning all about fats.Thanks.mjs19400
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Your view of saturated fat is one of minimal information and parroting dogma. cupcakes are loaded with flour and sugar....look their for the reason blood sugar and flow gets restricted. Saturated fats actually have short and medium chain triglyceries that are used as immediate energy and are not stored like mono's and poly's........plus 1 longer chain saturated fat called stearic acid.
Your advice is very basic, while sounding complicated....... many variations work. The basic advice of getting enough protein while taxing muscle will always preserve lbm with sufficiant calories, what those carories are will be based on the individual and there is no 1 formula for that....personally i don't build muslce until I'm consuming 3500 calories and lifting real heavy with mostly compound lifts with a maximum of 5 reps, anything else, I'm overthinking it.0 -
My logical mind does tend to agree with this I know it would work for me if i put in 3 good weight training sessions per week along with the walks that i do.
After reading a book about the female fat cell, it does make a lot of sense. Also eating the right type of carbs can help a lot too and eating natural foods. Also having read a lot of publications by Paul Chek and Tom Venuto which give similar advice.
My problem is that after having a baby my hormones are still all over the place and with the sleep deprivation my motivation levels have up and left! Although i'm thinking about seeing a personal trainer to overcome that!!!
Good post tho
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Sorry, I'm going to be the devil's advocate on this one...:devil:
Some of that is great info....but isn't your advice "cookie cutter" as well? Obviously, everyone is different....gender, age, health history, current weight, are all factors to be considered when trying to achieve health and fitness goals.
I agree with the protein and monosaturated fat intake in your post, but disagree with the carbs...keeping my carbs under 75 a day (20-25%) provides me the best results....and everyones calorie needs are going to be different as well...age, gender, and body build are going to play a big part in that. Somebody with very little fat can consume many more calories to keep them fueled and lean, than somebody with a higher body fat percentage.
Don't want to be rude, but just giving my 2 cents 0 -
Can you post any evidence that supports this view, or at least some credentials that prove you know what you're talking about and not just saying what works for you?
You don't want MFP to be a cookie cutter program, but you're giving every person a cookie cutter suggestion.
Hey great point!
Its not a cookie cutter program.
I always suggest to friends who are trying this and stall out after a few weeks to tweak the numbers!
Its what I do.
Its what everyone should do!
Your body adapts to weight loss and stalls every once and a while.
We need to continue to trick it so we can get to our goal.
Am I right?
There are a number of articles and information on feeding muscle while burning fat.
There is a book by Tom Vanuto about it!
This stuff works and we dont have to starve to loose weight.
Thats all.
BTW I'm a manager of a retail store in Baltimore who just cares too much.
=D
But...this worked for my stubborn 37 year old body.0 -
My BMR is 1722.
MFP tells me to eat 1270.
My carbs are 50%, fat 25% and protein 25%.....
By putting my calorie range to what you said 1800-1900 I think I would gain weight since my BMR is 1722......??? HELP.
BMR means doing absolutely nothing.
In bed.
All day.
Its the rock bottom number you shouldnt go below.
Like running a race with a plastic bag over your head.
Stop starving!0 -
Can you post any evidence that supports this view, or at least some credentials that prove you know what you're talking about and not just saying what works for you?
You don't want MFP to be a cookie cutter program, but you're giving every person a cookie cutter suggestion.
Hey great point!
Its not a cookie cutter program.
I always suggest to friends who are trying this and stall out after a few weeks to tweak the numbers!
Its what I do.
Its what everyone should do!
Your body adapts to weight loss and stalls every once and a while.
We need to continue to trick it so we can get to our goal.
Am I right?
There are a number of articles and information on feeding muscle while burning fat.
There is a book by Tom Vanuto about it!
This stuff works and we dont have to starve to loose weight.
Thats all.
BTW I'm a manager of a retail store in Baltimore who just cares too much.
=D
But...this worked for my stubborn 37 year old body.
Alright, there's nothing wrong with sharing what works for you. It's just irresponsible to word it like you did. You make it sound like you've got all the answers. When you post advice like this, make sure to mention that it's just your opinion and a suggestion so unsuspecting people don't take it as gospel. Remember everyone is different.0 -
Can you post any evidence that supports this view, or at least some credentials that prove you know what you're talking about and not just saying what works for you?
You don't want MFP to be a cookie cutter program, but you're giving every person a cookie cutter suggestion.
I was thinking this same thing ^^. The amount of calories to eat in a day for example could vary quite a bit based on sex, current weight and fitness level, height, etc. What ratio of carbs/fat/protein you need could also vary based on several factors.
There really is no single approach to weight loss that works for everyone.0
This discussion has been closed.
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