File :-(, x, )
So, here's a question. Anonymous
Dear /fit,
I'm 5'7, weight about 170 pounds, and am a bit of a fattie (20-30 pounds overweight). It's be great if I could attribute any of it to muscle, but I can't. I've been lurking here for a while and have taken the advice people have been giving to heart in trying to fix up my routine and workout schedule.
I've been trying to get a muscley-toned figure. I don't want to lose weight and become a rail, but I'm also not interested guzzling down protein mixes and gaining a hundred pounds of pure muscle. I figure I'd love to have would sort of be the example in the pic.

I'm not going to ask you for your help in giving me a diet plan, or what exercises I should do, etc. It's just that I've been doing this for almost a month now (dedicatedly) without any change is my weight or figure. I've been getting a little stronger and have more endurance, but I'd also love it if that showed a little bit.

I will please ask you though, if you could possibly look this over and suggest any sort of improvements, or point out if there's anything wrong in the way I do things:

(Continued in next post)
>> Continued Anonymous
>>75526
Weekends (Sat-Sun), I usually pig out a bit and eat three meals a day. Weekdays (Mon-Fri), I eat six small means a day of healthy foods (again, I've done my research here; wheat bread, grains, green foods, etc, etc.), usually totaling up to around 1900 Calories with my Carbs/Protein/Fat ratio being 44/28/27

Every Monday-Wednesday-Friday I run a mile, and every week I've decided I'm going to rise the bar by a quarter or a half mile (undecided yet). I then go for some HIIT sort of training on the ellipticals or strider-type machines for another mile since my shin splints get to me.
Every Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, I do the exact same, only I cut the HIIT time down and do some weightlifting.
I alternate between:
Workout A (3x5 on Squats, 3x5 bench press, 2x8 dips (body weight), 1x8 deadlift, 2x8 weighted decline situps)
and Workout B (3x5 squats, 3x5 Military Press, 3x5 Pendlay rows, 2x8 Chin-ups and 2x8 Weighted decline situps)
With weights as heavy as I can handle, and increasing at the rate of 2.5% per week.

What should I be doing differently?
Is anything wrong with this, or what?
>> Anonymous
...Anyone?
>> Anonymous
I fucking love prince of persia.
>> Anonymous
>>75526
Few things i've noticed

-Assuming the numbers you're giving are fairly close to the real. 1900 cals and 28% protein that's 130 g protein and you weigh 170 lbs, which i think is streching since you only eat "Grains and greens".

So I'd recommend up your protein to 150g by adding Eggs (Whites), canned fish, cheese, nuts. i also think you're eating alot of (simple) carbs.

--Workout A is very busy than B, and with that you are running too much after HIIT you don't need to run for 3 more days.
I would add one more workout in the week (C) and only do HIIT.

Workout A: Shoulders, chest, upper back.
Something like: benchpress, dumbbell military presses, pulldowns, etc

Workout B: Squats, calf raises, cable t-rows, abs, pullups etc

Workout C: Bicep curls, forearms, chinups, dips

pick more from here
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

TL;DR You're running, doing HIIT, all those workouts and eating only under 1900 cals (mostly carbs).
>> Anonymous
"but I'm also not interested guzzling down protein mixes and gaining a hundred pounds of pure muscle."

You will not gain a hundred pounds of pure muscle..... trust me. Extreme Weight gain is a pretty hardocore lifestyle, and it's not possible for you to somehow become massive without knowing what you are doing.

My advice: Guzzle down protein shakes.
Eat more healthily, but the same amount you are currently eating and weight lift whenever your arms are not sore, and drink milk.

You do this for 4 months and I guarentee you will not only lose weight but your flab will be muscles.
>> MOAR INFO OP
     File :-(, x)
>>75570
Anon,
I'm sorry I didn't make things clear enough. For hopefully getting a better opinion for myself for you I shall make my information a little bit clearer.

I quoted grains and greens only to empasize otherwise healthy food choices.
The average weekdays menu for me looks something like this. The only think I need to add here is one of those lowfat or lite 100 cal. yogurt cups that I usually have.

I got my weightlifting schedule off of here:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=712752

Where they spell out both the programs, and recommend a day of rest between the programs. I substitute the days of rest (M-W-F) with running and light HIIT.
>> Anonymous
where did you find that calorie counter?
>> OP
>>75598
www.fitday.com
>> Anonymous
>>75585

Nice, I love the Rippetoe's program since it works well for starters. it worked for me really well the reason why it did is because I didn't care about losing fat I was chubby anyways with shitting muscle mass. my daily BMR (calories) was quite low, so eating less for me was no choice since i wanted to gain muscle/strength.

I think the similar situation applies to you because you're not eating enough and no eating for your goals for gaining muscle and losing fat at once (lookup "clean bulk" and "dirty bulk"). And you diet certainly doesn't compliment your routine (chicken curry and granola bars :P).

I would continue and have more of what you're eating and eliminate cardio for next four months. After gaining enough muscle mass, start a cardio session with a better diet routine.

Or you can start now by cutting out calorie heavy stuff and pickup a better diet from the forum in a Weight Loss section.
>> Anonymous
>>75603

Errr, the middle part is typed horribly.

let me clarify. When you're gaining muscle and in the same time trying to lose fat there's much more work required than doing one thing at at time. So it's better for you do strength and fat loss thing one at a time.
>> Anonymous
Thanks for that link, very nice site
>> OP
>>75608
Glad it was useful to you.

>>75603
Generally speaking, I think I've been eating at least sort of healthily? I make my own curry and it's mostly water, tomatoes, spices and chicken. Assuming we work with the defaults on fitday.com though, my diet is still pretty close to the 40/40/20 C/P/F that I was told was supposed to be ideal?

To explain why I'm sort of balking at your bulking-then-losing comment is that I'm pretty tired of being overweight. I'm thinking my diet requires only a little cleanup since I'm pretty close to my BMR. But if I get it in spec, would that work out?
Also, looking up articles on bulking up, if I up my protein input (shakes or the like), would that work out for the muscle gain while I continue with my cardio routine?
>> Anonymous
Stick with your current program? I don't know.
>> OP
/fit/,
Please forgive me for sounding as needy as I do, but I would really, sincerely appreciate a little more input or your sound opinions on what to do.

I don't really post much, and I hope to be able to join the groups of people actually GIVING advice, so your help would be greatly appreciated.
>> Anonymous
>>76001

People have been giving you some fairly specific advice. To reiterate, you'll need to lift heavier and eat way more protein (150 grams a day, spread through 5-6 meals). Yes, this is what bodybuilders do. No, you aren't going to look like one accidentially. The type of body you're looking for will require a surprising amount of muscle gain - at least 20-30 pounds. That additional muscle and the fitness you gain packing it on will make the EXTREME fat-loss that'll follow easier than it would be now. Will still require a fucked up diet. Pick your priorities.

The best advice YOU can follow is to learn as much about exercise, physiology, and diet in the meantime. There's a lot of crap out there that you'll have to weed through, but if you start out knowing how to cook a mean curry, I'm sure you can figure it out.

Keep up the work.
>> OP
To reiterate what has been said then, I can A) Lose weight, or B) Gain muscle, but not do both at the same time, not feasibly anyway.
If I want to lose weight, I continue with that I'm doing with a leaner diet, and if I want to gain muscle, I start eating a little more, but in either case, it's a good idea for me to be having protein shakes.
Correct?
>> Anonymous
>>77797

Sounds spot on to me.