fitB4forty … The slim down & gain

This past New Year I jumped on the scale, looked between my toes to find my weight at over 216lb, again. Now I was intentionally gaining weight last year, eating alot and strength training regularly. So this was not a huge surprise, but I didn’t want to go much above 200lb, if at all for that matter.  “Dirty gains”-  the term is thrown around alot, but I was definitely a prime example by the end of 2017. I had focused so much on trying to put on the muscle that I had “dieted” away, that I wasn’t tracking my food intake and probably had just a couple too many cheat meals hahaha.  Although I was definitely feeling alot healthier than I had been a year prior, feeling much stronger and more muscular than the year before when I had hit my lowest scale measurement in my adult life (I had become “skinny fat” – just look at my arms below, practically noodles, hahaha).

I really shouldn’t complain too much about my shape last year, atleast I felt comfortable taking my shirt off then, it was a decent accomplishment losing over 55 lb to reach 175lb.  I definitely wouldn’t have been very enthusiastic about going shirtless 3 years ago when I was post-knee surgery obese at +230 lb.

Regardless, the goal was to put on muscle over last year, not fat, so I had to revise my approach to gain only lean mass while losing this extra fat I put on. And I had better act fast, it was 3 months to my wedding, gotta look good in that suit you know.  And then the honeymoon would be happening a few weeks after that, so I had to figure this out and quick.  I had my motivation, knew what I wanted, but the question is how…?

You can ask pretty much anybody  and they will tell you the general rule of thumb is either you are trying to lose weight, or gain weight … you cant do both efficiently. But that was exactly what I wanted to do, I knew that I needed a calorie deficit to lose the fat, but also needed a calorie surplus with the strength training to keep building muscle.  So I read, alot, I read up on feeding and fasting cycles.  Also researched on the duration of protien synthesis that occurs after strength training in order to fuel muscle repair and building.  After combining a handful of research studies I had come to my own theory; a person could succesfuly lose fat tissue while also building muscle if they cycled how they ate over a weekly or bi-weekly cycle.   During the days that you want to lose fat you operate at a significant calorie deficit (I chose to intermittent fast 3 days a week with small evening meals – giving me a 6000-7000 calorie deficit on these days). On the days that you are building muscle tissue you need to begin feeding and fueling your muscles immediately after your work out, and continue for the next 36 hours (I would strength train 3 days in a row but using a Training Split that worked different muscles each day, I made sure to eat very well after my first work out and have a 500 cal surplus on the 3 days that followed).

This cycle I have been doing has let me maintain a fed state when weight training, while also allowing for a weekly net calorie deficit of 4000-5000 (equivalent to 1-1.5 lb).  And I can definitely say that it is working, I see my muscles and strength continue to improve, while I am down 5 lbs in less than 5 weeks since I have started this approach.  Going to keep at it and will keep you all posted.