Calorie Intake Pre-Summer

[Stickler*]

I need to re-engineer my diet for pre-summer. I feel like body has changed and I'm not sure if I can gain as easily for some reason. My body seems to hang in limbo and it doesn't change as quickly (getting fatter or smaller) regardless of my workout regiment..

summer is coming, and of course I want to look good. I've always like to keep muscle tissue and drop fat at the same time (who wouldn't). I have NO IDEA what my BF is right now - its not too bad, just not great - what is a good clean calorie intake for someone who is 5'11" and about 196lb's and give a good ratio (in your opinion) for protien/carbs/fats -

my pics in the members section if i remember correctly were a little beefier than i am now... but i was 192 or 193 there....

oh. and my BEST stats unfortunately due to life circumstance was:

5'11"
206lbs
10% BF - never got into single digits..

then due to life circumstances, couldn't stay dedicated enough to break it..

--
yeah.. so i'm a small guy... but if you don't like me.. then F' off.. lol you big fuckers..

 

[Cracker69]

I feel your pain bro, I am turning 29 this month, and I definitely have felt a difference in my metabolism. I have been natural for the past couple of years, just been busy with work and school and I had also dislocated my shoulder at the gym when I was benching really heavy, but I am getting back into it now. A while back, at my best I was 220 at 9%BF, which is pretty good for me cause I'm only 5'8", just a little guy.LOL I'm not sure what to suggest for you, but I can tell you that I plan on putting on a little muscle, and just really trying to lean out. I think the emphasis is really going to be put on diet, and I think I am going to just be kind of spontaneous in the gym, experiment, and really just make sure that I bust my ass. I will be using around 650mg of test a week, and probably some letro to keep estrogen at bay and bloat down a bit. To keep water retention down further, I am going to stay fairly low carb. My diet is going to be pretty monotonous. I'm looking at a protein shake for breakfast, and the rest of my meals throughout the day are going to be either chicken and steamed veggies, or tuna and steamed veggies. If I start to feel too lethargic I'll throw in some brown rice or new potatoes occasionally, earlier in the day of course. And for some fat and added protein, I'm just doing a handful of smoked almonds and some omega 3's, and a boiled egg here and there. That's about it. I might throw in some tren if I feel like it, and I am also probably going to use 10g of creatine/day just to try to keep my muscles as full as possible while I'm low-carbin it.LOL Well, that's my pre summer plan. Hopefully it gives you some ideas.

 

[Matt76]

I wouldn't call that small at all brother. I'm 5'10 215 and I wouldn't consider myself "small" O wait are we talking body size here or something else b/c then who knows you might be right

anyway I eat like this
upon waking
1yogurt
1.5oz of blueberries
1.5oz of black berries
take some supps
15min later
2-3raw eggs

pwo
1.5oz of blue berries
1.5oz of blackberries
62gram protein shake

.5lb of chicken with brown rice on workout days with almonds or fish oil on cardio days

.5lb of fish

repeat one of the above two meals

.5lb of lean steak

protein shake with 2raw eggs in it

I have no idea the numbers on that but that is basically what I eat. Sometimes it's a lot more fish though up to 1.5lbs a day. I also eat ground turkey but am too lazy to cook it most of the time

 

[saudades]

If you guys who are 30 or turning 30 think your metabolism is slowing down, just wait. It slows down a lot more from there as you approach 40. Eating at the right time and frequency becomes ever so more important as you get older.

 

[BiggerStronger]

I need to re-engineer my diet for pre-summer. I feel like body has changed and I'm not sure if I can gain as easily for some reason. My body seems to hang in limbo and it doesn't change as quickly (getting fatter or smaller) regardless of my workout regiment..

summer is coming, and of course I want to look good. I've always like to keep muscle tissue and drop fat at the same time (who wouldn't). I have NO IDEA what my BF is right now - its not too bad, just not great - what is a good clean calorie intake for someone who is 5'11" and about 196lb's and give a good ratio (in your opinion) for protien/carbs/fats -

my pics in the members section if i remember correctly were a little beefier than i am now... but i was 192 or 193 there....

oh. and my BEST stats unfortunately due to life circumstance was:

5'11"
206lbs
10% BF - never got into single digits..

then due to life circumstances, couldn't stay dedicated enough to break it..

--
yeah.. so i'm a small guy... but if you don't like me.. then F' off.. lol you big fuckers..

You sound similar to me bro. Really what do you want to do? If you are looking to lose body fat then you want to decrease calorie intake or increase aerobic exercise. If you want to increase your muscle mass you'll want to increase calorie intake and increase weight training. The trick is finding the correct times to eat (like saud said), the right amount of calories, and the correct breakdown and types of proteins, carbs, and fats. This is such an individual thing that it's hard to give advice on.

The one thing I can say is eat like the weight you are trying to get to...whether that is smaller or bigger. Try to calculate your base calorie needs based upon your age, metabolism, activity, etc. and go from there. For me to gain good muscle mass without much fat I need to eat about 3500-3800 calories per day (i can't eat much more than that) with at least 40% coming from protein. That's with consistant high weight low volume workouts and a little aerobic exercise.

To lose weight I increase my running/walking and decrease my calories to about 1800 or so per day. Obviously supps allow me to eat that little and not lose too much muscle mass, but that's up to you. I got up to 221 lbs and had quite a bit of weight to lose and so far I haven't lost much if any muscle mass. I'm down to about 201-204lbs right now. I want to hit about 190-195lbs @ 5'9 so I got another 10lbs to go. I did this in about 5-6 weeks or so.

 

[chewiniron]

im in the same boat as stickler...im 5'09 217 lbs...started hitting the gym again after and injury and pneumonia...my bf is way above where i would like to see it...im doing 15 mins of cardio before my workout and then hitting one body part hard for weight training then 15-20 mins cardio after my workout...i have cut down my carb intake and brought my protein up ....eating oatmeal in the am with boiled egg, about 9am i have yogurt and either boiled egg or can of tuna, in between i eat a protein bar , lunch is usally turkey , tuna or another low carb high protein and fruit, afternoon its boiled egg or protein bar, dinner usally lean steak , chicken , fish with rice or steamed veggies...i try to stick to it the best i can but i do cheat once in a while on my diet....looking to add the protein shake this week and poss. some creatine....like i said im just getting back into my workout routine so im tweaking it as i go....my goal is to get my bf down and hopefully stay lean around 200lbs....havent been down to 200 in many years but thats my goal for the summer .....

 

[BiggerStronger]

I've been between 210-225 lbs for the last couple of years. It was pretty easy to go from 220 to 205. I just decreased my food intake (kept protein high though) and increased my cardio. Unfortunately the last week or so my diet has been crappy and I've gained about 3-4 lbs back. Maybe I'm dropping weight too fast as I've been incredibly hungry the last 3 days and have consumed probably more like 2800 calories instead of the 1800 I've been shooting for. lol.

 

[dreww]

I've been between 210-225 lbs for the last couple of years. It was pretty easy to go from 220 to 205. I just decreased my food intake (kept protein high though) and increased my cardio. Unfortunately the last week or so my diet has been crappy and I've gained about 3-4 lbs back. Maybe I'm dropping weight too fast as I've been incredibly hungry the last 3 days and have consumed probably more like 2800 calories instead of the 1800 I've been shooting for. lol.

do you have cheat meals? or carb up days?

 

[BiggerStronger]

Haven't for the last 4 weeks so maybe this was a good break. Start back up again today.

 

[Stickler*]

If I remember correctly the best results I had in the past was around 3500 calories, but in order to lose fat and maintain muscle mass I had to keep my protiens at about 60-65% of my total diet... I just don't know If I can keep that ratio right now. Carbs are just cheaper to buy LOL .... it sucks when diet is based off of some finances... but I eat well regardless.. lol

I was thinking a bit today, and was almost feeling like I wasn't going to worry about the WASHBOARD abs mentality, and actually worry about gaining some size... but I've NEVER and I mean NEVER based my workouts/diet/supps on a straight out gain mentality... i've always done a lean mass gain regiment to lose fat as well as gain keepable muscles...

hmmm.. decisions decisions...