I lost about 95 pounds when I was 17-18 by basically just walking & biking epic amounts of miles. I lifted minimally & I didn’t make an effort to keep my protein levels up. So I went from 280 to 185 & I was basically just a skinny bastard. I lost this weight in about 7 months — approximately 3.5lbs a week. After I lose this weight, I ended up getting with a girl who is now my ex-wife, got comfortable, ate a lot of trash, & 5 years later ended up being back up to 265lbs again.

I’m currently going through a lot of s~~~, & I’m back in my mode of epic treks. I basically have to do this & I pretty much can barely bring myself to eat. This is just how I react to adversity. Except this time, I’m making an effort to up my protein intake & lift at least every other day. I can’t do anything about how much I end up reducing my calorie intake by, & I can’t stop myself from constantly moving. I understand this isn’t necessarily healthy, but what I am eating is way healthier than before. So, has anyone here had any luck treading the line of fat loss/muscle maintenance?

By the way, after I get back down around 190-200lbs, I’m going to increase my calorie intake again & hit the weights hard. I just have to get to my goal first.

To be fair, if you want to lose fat and gain muscle, do it right from the start. Work out with weights a few times a week and preferably do big exercises that involves a lot of muscle. Weight is less important, good stimulation of the muscle is the key. At least i found (went down 25 lbs over 3 months in this summer and lost around 12% body fat).

Quality of food doesn’t matter, it’s the amount you eat. At least until you are starting to get lean. Focus on not eating too little protein or fat, both are important for your body. Don’t undereat calories either, you’ll stall in your weight loss and tank your energy levels. I think one pound of fat can lose 30ish calories per day. So there’s a limit how much you can lose. So I’d get an online calorie calculator and calculate you energy requirements, then reduce it by 750ish-1000 calories per day. This means about 1kg/ 2.2 pounds per week lost.

You’ll lose weight fast at the beginning and you’ll stop for a while, just continue eating the same every day and it will eventually continue. The bigger caloric deficit you have,t he more often you will stall in your weight loss. Get some multivitamin pills and omega 3 fat oil as well if you can.

Dont weight yourself more often than once a week or you might start getting obsessed with the weight.

Losing fat comes down to easy and hard, it’s really easy to do, the basics are very simple to understand. The hard part is sticking too it every day and sometimes doing less than you want to do to lose weight.

Sgt. Moore issues weight loss advice:

(The diet plan starts at the 2 minute mark.)

2.  As much as possible cook your meals, use fresh fruits and vegetables, quality meats and fish… and above all UNPROCESSED food. It is amazing how simple is cooking using slow cookeers or a pressure cooker, and that’s the best way to know what you are actually putting on it. I’d say that diet is like 60-80 of everything, you can work out like crazy and run 10 miles a day that if your intake is crap, you won’t see much change.

Cheers

As much as possible cook your meals

This might come in handy .. once you claw your way past the ads. I haven’t thought of these guys for years, but I used to be an avid reader back in the old days. You have my thanks for siccing me on them again!

Muscle & Fitness Magazine / Nutrition and recipes section
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition

Duke is right:

A slow sustained burn of the muscle….will reap a different type of muscle than a herky / jerky type weight lifting.

Keep your movements slow and careful. Observe strict form. Resist the urge to throw body English into the move to get more reps or a higher weight — really, don’t do that!

Here is my advice in the simplest of terms, you have to understand there is a lot of information out there, sources that say do this and do that etc etc etc. So it can become a very confusing thing for someone who is starting out.

Simple way to put it, start looking into BCAA’s and do some HIIT. 

Ever wonder why marathon runners look like they are about to die from cancer because they have no muscle mass yet sprinters have insanely nice sculpted greek bodies? Sprinters do HIIT. Marathon runners cardio.

HIIT Conserves and helps stimulate and build muscle while burning fat.

Now BCAA’s spare muscle after a workout, you drink them ( do not take them in pill form) mix it in with your water and drink them before any kind of HIIT session and it will spare muscle and cut fat. Every person that is serious about bodybuilding at some point of their training uses BCAA’s.

Now Incorporate some 20-30 minutes of HIIT sessions within your weekly routine and within 1-2 months you will reap the benefits.

One question for you before I go, What is your training weekly like? do you train 2-3 times 4-5 times? what body parts you hitting per week?

Sometimes you want to make sure you are working out all body parts, squatting and dead lifts help release a huge amount of test and stimulate your body tremendously just like dips, pull ups, and bench press.

Many pro body builders dedicate a full day to squat and deads but only do it 2 times per month because they are that powerful exercises.