drewlfitness Member

Now that's very true. Very. Just have to focus on the "big picture". It's just interesting that the "big picture" (aka not having fat that is "grabbable" on my stomach), is a much larger and longer "big picture" once you get down to a certain weight, perhaps.

Thanks. I'll just lose another 10 now.

I have another 10 pounds that I want to lose. I have lost about 35lbs total. I'm probably just over thinking this...My protein intake has been lacking, specifically regarding protein shakes. I've been drinking less of them. I do notice that when I'm consistently drinking protein shakes (2-3 times a day), my overall image…

Really appreciate the suggestion. I'm checking it out! Looks too good to be true to be able to do 5 sets of 5 reps of basically a few barbell lifts, but I will have to check this out. I've always been doing all these weird little targeting lifts, to try to work the muscle at different angles, etc. It is very time…

Sorry to confuse you. I was thinking more like a "computer", in that perhaps if the body received a signal that a muscle is being worked (regardless of which muscle that might be), then the body would therefore send out a signal saying "don't burn any muscle for energy", even if the only muscle that person was working was…

Okay thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'm learning that there is in fact a way to hit all muscles relatively quickly, via appropriate lifts that actually cover all muscles. I was originally thinking too specific, like if I do incline dumbbell and nothing else, then my chest is all that's getting worked. I obviously…

Thanks for the reply. Nice work. For me, I am looking more to being "ripped" or "buff", while maintaining a low body fat percentage. When I say low, I mean 10% would be nice. Nothing too crazy. I am not too concerned with being able to lift the most weight possible, or powerlifting, but if you are then more power to you!

Thanks. Could you tell me what kind of "compound exercises" you do to hit 90% of muscles fairly quickly? The 5x5 thing that was suggested earlier looks viable...

Appreciate your concern, but I really should be fine. The main reason being that I have actually been eating quite decent amounts this entire time! Consuming about 2900 calories a day, which came out to about 2200 NET calories after logging exercise. If I had been consuming something very low (starving myself), over the…

Yep, that's what I've been concluding here. Thanks.

Oh and regarding HIIT, I've practiced doing some of that on elyptical, by selecting "interval" training, and making the "rest" interval at a much lower level than the "hard" interval, giving me the effect of HIIT (I hope). It's not bad, I can do it for 20-30 minutes, but it's a much larger pain in the *kitten* than the 20…

Ok I think I'm making more sense of doing cardio (in my mind). Doing cardio gives my already existing caloric deficit an extra boost, to cover for any days that I may have slightly gone over my limit. As for being worried that the actual type of cardio that I do being super important to avoid "losing muscle", I actually…

Oh wait I understand what you are saying. Increase my weekly deficit by 200, which comes out to 1400.

Wait....if I burn 1400 calories via cardio, I only should be adding 400 back? Which is less than 25%...

Thanks. That's what I had a feeling about...I'm simply attracted to the doing more cardio option because the weight seems to falls off more quickly. I'm thinking that instead of lifting heavy 5 days a week, I might switch to 3 days a week of heavy lifting, and 2-3 days of dedicated cardio. If I really think that cardio…

Already a subscriber :-) Definitely some great information. A few of the things I've read are exactly why I have slightly argued with those that feel there is no way to gain muscle while eating at a deficit. Or, at least how to preserve existing muscle while trying to lose weight (aka, not lose muscle during a caloric…

Ok. Then it appears my body has the ability/currently is able to carry a high non-fat amount, at least according to the categories of ranges listed. Supposedly, that is "good" for body building, naturally.

Ok. Then it appears my body has the ability/currently is able to carry a high non-fat amount, at least according to the categories of ranges listed. Supposedly, that is "good" for body building, naturally.

Then again, someone that weighs 300lbs, who is only 6'2", can have 40% body fat and still have an FFMI of 21%.....not sure how good this calculator is.

Well, I am 30 years old, and have been athletic since I was about 10 years old, but only have been lifting for the last 10 years or so, but took a break for a few years within that time range. And, the lifts I had been doing have just been base lifts like bench, squat, shoulders, biceps and triceps. Even if I enter that I…

Interesting, I have never heard of this before. I have never taken steroids. I don't even know what they look like. I do consistently take creatine, when lifting weights, and protein shakes. If my body fat percentage is actually lower than 22%, that would make my FFMI even higher, according to the calculators online,…

According to my scale, this is what it looks like to lose 19 pounds of muscle, and 6 pounds of fat (25 lbs total). Before: 267ish lbs, ~23% body fat shown on scale After: 242ish lbs, ~22% body fat shown on scale

That could be possible for me then, in that I was actually building muscle during the first month and a half of my regiment, even while eating under a deficit.

Hmmm, that's true. I also took middle school math. But it's seems almost impossible to me that the majority of my 25 lbs weight loss has been muscle, due to the visual size of my muscles. My shirts are tighter probably due to the "pump" or whatever from lifting. If 18 lbs of the 25 lbs I've lost was muscle, I would assume…

At least it's decreasing for you rather than showing no change.

Great :-). That's what I'm going for. Someone else can have some of my muscle. Would like my shirts to fit for once instead of being super tight up top, and super loose around mid section (due to V-shape).

Thanks. I admit, my goals in this whole weight loss/muscle building regiment that I have embarked on are to slim down, and tone up. But I've definitely gotten stronger. I don't want to add muscle mass. I have too much muscle already on my body from benching and doing shoulder press in high school. I actually wouldn't mind…

Point taken, so wound you say that eventhough I'm able to lift quite a bit more weight, I haven't actually added muscle? In other words, I'm stronger, with about the same muscle mass as before my last 25 lbs weight loss? Truly an honest question. I never thought about actually becoming stronger, by either adding no muscle…

Yes, bench, rows, biceps, triceps, shoulders...I can lift much more weight now on all those lifts, when doing 4-5 sets of 10 reps each.

Also are you serious that you don't think you can gain muscle when operating under a deficit? That's entirely wrong from what I've read. The main important thing to gaining muscle is eating the correct macro setup, AND just as important, giving your body sufficient recovery time. Some people think that to gain muscle, you…