Muscle Building while Cutting?

by **rburt** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:03 am

Hey guys, this is my first post so here goes nothing...
Im 22 years old, 6'3" 200 lbs. I am about 17% body fat looking to pack on quite a bit of muscle and strip away a lot fat.. as is everyone else! I was just curious as to what you guys were thinking.. here are my options.
1) Should I eat about 3200 calories (16 cals/lb for cutting x 200lbs) but using a weight gainer such as CytoGainer and eating clean or
2) Eat about 1900 calories while keeping carbs low.
What do you think I would get the best results from? Any advice would be great, thanks again, I'm a newbie!!

by **Young Athlete** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:07 am

200lbs seems like a good weight for you height keep it there by eating 18Xbw in calories. Then do stronglifts 5X5 to add muscle and lower body fat. You will be happy with the results in a few months. If you eat to little you will become a twig something I eat tons to not be.

by **Bigsham411** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:13 am

Well it really depends... if you go low carb, my experience is that the weight loss is not permanent... you can't stay low carb for the rest of your life (you could try, but it's impractical) , and you tend to bloat quickly as your body orients itself to low carb then stores them when you get a regular or excessive amount (unless it's a structured program such as the anabolic diet, because your body orients itself to carb-loading).
Calories are important for strength gains, thats for sure, and I wouldn't worry about using a weight gainer, calories are better from whole foods. Just try shooting for 3200-3500 calories a day from whole foods and supplement if you really need to.
3 rules of eatting for strentgth training:
1.) Eat breakfast
2.) Eat before and after workouts (maybe not always before, but ALWAYS after)
3.) Try to eat every three hours.

----------------
People get varying degrees of sucess with weight gainers... but the best weight gainer is hard work and clean eatting, because the weight is all muscle and all you.
just my thoughts, good luck man!
-Sham

by **mutt** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:14 am

rburt - just start lifting, cardio will help burn extra calories, but getting strong should be your priority.
at 17% bodyfat, unless you cut your calories, your weight will stay the same, but the fat % will start to drop. as you get stronger, things just keep working better and the fat coninues to go.
this article put it all in perspective for me.. maybe it'll help:
http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/Topics/Diet.htm

by **klue** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:28 pm

You should take advantage of all the weight you have now, as it is a better baseline to build muscle. Figure out how many calories you need to maintain weight, and just use strength training to build muscle and burn fat. If you loose the fat first and then try to add muscle, it is a lot more difficult, and this is not mentioning the fact that when you try to add muscle you probably end up gaining fat in the meantime.