3.5 years of training and here I sit, ready for something, anything... help?

[stevenjc]

I feel like I am at a total crossroads.

I started old. Well, older. I am 34 and almost 35 years old now and about 3.5 years ago I was 205 lb of fat and had no physical fitness level.

Through various ways I dieted this down to 150 lbs in a year or so of work and then started different approaches to training, from leangains to complicated as fuk lyle mcdonald protocols.

All this dieting and training and dieting and training and honestly I have a decent BASE, with me focusing on free weights and but big lifts (deads, military press, bench, squat) for the time, and now I sit here... Just sit and wonder where I go from here.

I am not a "bodybuilder" and I find it incredibly frustrating to try and gain weight. Through the entire time I abused the hell out of myself with bad food, never did I think of how it would lead to the fat coming back when I would try and gain muscle later on in life.

That haunts me and each time I try and work towards a goal, I shoot from 10 or 12% bodyfat to 15 or 18% in a short time.

I have tried various approaches. When I was younger years ago and living away from family for an extended period, leangains and crazy neurotic dieting was great. I saw results and the extreme control was not an issue.

Now though, I have learned a few things.

1. Carbs are never going to be much of a friend to me. They will create growth and I will have a lot of fat at the same time. I have to live with this.

2. My fat cells are still there, they just shrunk, so weight GAINING has to be very meticulously measured and monitored and diet must be clever (see point #1)

3. I do indeed count calories. I am 2750 maintenance so please dont throw the "you dont eat right" argument out.

I have done

Stronglifts
Starting Strength
Leangains RPT
Big Beyond Belief
Layne Norton PHAT
Lyle McDonald Generic Bulking
German Volume Training

as well as the protocol in unreal diet 2.0 and my own volume routine.

So here I sit. Thinking that this is a good way to go.

My idea is simple. I am sitting at 170 lb completely carb dehydrated.
Run the program using a CKD similar to anabolic diet with a 2 day carb load.

Run it the way it is intended. No changing things as people are apt to do.
See myself lean out.
Use the weekend free eating days to sustain the workouts through the week of lowered carbs.
I know how I'll feel and generally feel great on reduced carbs so the weekend should be a good anabolic driver.

Then increase calories and get bigger, stronger.

So there are some thoughts.
This is my 4th post, my first i have created.
Hope someone notices.

[liftweights]

If you only weigh 150lbs then you may need to post pictures or your height for better feedback. (If your not really short might need a whole different discussion here lol)

First thing I can think of is that if you've honestly tried all those programs then the longest you've done any one routine is 6 months. Get a solid routine and stick with it and focus on getting stronger or doing more reps with the same weight each and every workout.

Also make sure your not going more than 12 weeks without a week off, that will hinder you.

I'd recommend looking into skiploading with most of your meals being protein and fat every 2 hours and carbs for 2 to 3 meals PWO.

I.E p/f p/f p/f p/f p/f train p/c p/c p/c

Hiring someone like Skip would save you a few years of life and a lot of stress. Good luck!

[RobbHensel]

I feel like I am at a total crossroads.

I started old. Well, older. I am 34 and almost 35 years old now and about 3.5 years ago I was 205 lb of fat and had no physical fitness level.

Through various ways I dieted this down to 150 lbs in a year or so of work and then started different approaches to training, from leangains to complicated as fuk lyle mcdonald protocols.

All this dieting and training and dieting and training and honestly I have a decent BASE, with me focusing on free weights and but big lifts (deads, military press, bench, squat) for the time, and now I sit here... Just sit and wonder where I go from here.

I am not a "bodybuilder" and I find it incredibly frustrating to try and gain weight. Through the entire time I abused the hell out of myself with bad food, never did I think of how it would lead to the fat coming back when I would try and gain muscle later on in life.

That haunts me and each time I try and work towards a goal, I shoot from 10 or 12% bodyfat to 15 or 18% in a short time.

I have tried various approaches. When I was younger years ago and living away from family for an extended period, leangains and crazy neurotic dieting was great. I saw results and the extreme control was not an issue.

Now though, I have learned a few things.

1. Carbs are never going to be much of a friend to me. They will create growth and I will have a lot of fat at the same time. I have to live with this.

2. My fat cells are still there, they just shrunk, so weight GAINING has to be very meticulously measured and monitored and diet must be clever (see point #1)

3. I do indeed count calories. I am 2750 maintenance so please dont throw the "you dont eat right" argument out.

I have done

Stronglifts
Starting Strength
Leangains RPT
Big Beyond Belief
Layne Norton PHAT
Lyle McDonald Generic Bulking
German Volume Training

as well as the protocol in unreal diet 2.0 and my own volume routine.

So here I sit. Thinking that this is a good way to go.

My idea is simple. I am sitting at 170 lb completely carb dehydrated.
Run the program using a CKD similar to anabolic diet with a 2 day carb load.

Run it the way it is intended. No changing things as people are apt to do.
See myself lean out.
Use the weekend free eating days to sustain the workouts through the week of lowered carbs.
I know how I'll feel and generally feel great on reduced carbs so the weekend should be a good anabolic driver.

Then increase calories and get bigger, stronger.

So there are some thoughts.
This is my 4th post, my first i have created.
Hope someone notices.

Stick to the basics and strive to get stronger, 5/3/1 would be perfect, pick on of the templates and run with it, add conditioning minimum 3 days a week.

These super complicated diets are a waste. Have good peri workout nutrition along with a solid base diet. Carbs in and around your workouts with protein. Protein and fats with vegetables at other times. Macro count and the calories will be there. Make smart nutritional choices

[stevenjc]

If you only weigh 150lbs then you may need to post pictures or your height for better feedback. (If your not really short might need a whole different discussion here lol)

First thing I can think of is that if you've honestly tried all those programs then the longest you've done any one routine is 6 months. Get a solid routine and stick with it and focus on getting stronger or doing more reps with the same weight each and every workout.

Also make sure your not going more than 12 weeks without a week off, that will hinder you.

I'd recommend looking into skiploading with most of your meals being protein and fat every 2 hours and carbs for 2 to 3 meals PWO.

I.E p/f p/f p/f p/f p/f train p/c p/c p/c

Hiring someone like Skip would save you a few years of life and a lot of stress. Good luck!

I am 175 now if eating carbohydrates at around 14% but I had cut to 150 lb originally
I am 5' 9"

[LG1]

I like Robb's nutrition and training advice. Maybe Keep carbs only on wo days and only around your wo. No cheat day or chest meal the first few weeks until you can see what the scale does and how u look in the mirror clothes. Add some miss cardio 3x week for 30 mins. I am a big fan of poliquins 5% program. Just some thoughts ...

[stevenjc]

I'll definitely consider it.
Part of 5/3/1 that works against me is a patellar tendonitis problem I got with Filipino martial arts, so the freedom of this appeals to me.

I also had excellent success with a program I ran that did rest pause.

If I do run this it won't be without a comprehensive log, and all things considered I should have explained better with my initial post that I did do 5/3/1 but do have the injury.

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

3. I do indeed count calories. I am 2750 maintenance so please dont throw the "you dont eat right" argument out.

I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on your statement above so that I understand what you mean, exactly. At 2750 calories a day maintenance, you have a lot of room to maneuver and certainly wouldn't be considered a slow metabolism. If your eating is "right" what do you think the problem is, exactly?

It is not likely training - at least in a big way. Training would only play a very small role.

It doesn't seem to be your metabolism because of your maintenance caloric intake not being terribly low. However, I assume you found this maintenance number in practice as opposed to some formula found on the internet because if the number is from a formula, you can throw that out asap.

There isn't much left other than you really don't .... are you ready? ... have your diet right - hence, you aren't "eating right".

Again, maybe that wasn't exactly what you meant so I am asking for clarification.

Skip

[stevenjc]

I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on your statement above so that I understand what you mean, exactly. At 2750 calories a day maintenance, you have a lot of room to maneuver and certainly wouldn't be considered a slow metabolism. If your eating is "right" what do you think the problem is, exactly?

It is not likely training - at least in a big way. Training would only play a very small role.

It doesn't seem to be your metabolism because of your maintenance caloric intake not being terribly low. However, I assume you found this maintenance number in practice as opposed to some formula found on the internet because if the number is from a formula, you can throw that out asap.

There isn't much left other than you really don't .... are you ready? ... have your diet right - hence, you aren't "eating right".

Again, maybe that wasn't exactly what you meant so I am asking for clarification.

Skip

heh.

Thanks for asking. I am wordy if you had not noticed :-)

So I was always interested in optimizing things.
When I started dieting for a permanent change and decided I was all in as opposed to wanting to slide back (I did this as late back as 1999 with atkins) I calculated things.

I was working a desk job at the time, but walked a lot of places. Still, back then I was around 2400 a day and used that as a starting point. At 205 lbs sedentary with walking and a desk job I was likely around there.

that was HERE
-= CANT POST LINKS YET PLEASE REMOVE THE (DOT) WITH A PERIOD COMMON SENSE DICTATES =-

imgur (DOT) com/xvfDdxz

A lot changed after my initial weight loss.
I first chose lyle mcdonald and the ketogenic book as my education on weight loss and how it works, and that worked well.
I got to 150 from 205 lbs. It was a july when I looked like this
(no nudity but shirtless and a little low suit sorry)
imgur (DOT) com/ttcN2vj

Anyhow, it changed when the desk job was over and I ended back up here in las vegas.

here is me a while back, i want to get back to here and a bit more mass.
imgur (DOT) com/ERGQrAK[/url]

Now I find myself

1. Walking 15,000-20,000 steps a day
2. biking 8-10 miles a day for transportation
3. On my feet all day doing direct sales on the strip

That is monday through friday.

I had a friend set me up with a rest pause lower volume program, ate maintance (or what I perceived it to be) at 3000 calories for four weeks.

I gained around 2 lbs, so that is around 250 calories a day in excess, so I am around 2750 kcal for where I am not.

I generally try and keep things sane and find that IIFYM can become an excuse for people to eat poorly, so I try and eat healthier if I wanted carbs but still go in for ice cream.

My wife cooks incredibly clean food though, she is Filipina and knows I hate fried foods so I avoid most of that.

I would eat
tacos - chicken ground breast meat or completely trimmed thigh with corn tortillas and guacamole
pasta - beef pasta sauce drained of fat
salmon
steak
whole grains etc etc etc

that sort of stuff. i stopped buying processed prepared dinners a long time ago and the worst thing i do is diet soda.

so that is how i got to my maintenance of 2750. makes sense, i hope.

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

Just to be clear: You started at 205 and ended at 150 which was the pool pic. Then you gained muscle and that is the second set of pics, correct?

I am not clear on the body weight between the 2 sets of pics and I am not clear on the time frame between them, either. Also, what do you look like now?

Skip

[stevenjc]

Just to be clear: You started at 205 and ended at 150 which was the pool pic. Then you gained muscle and that is the second set of pics, correct?

I am not clear on the body weight between the 2 sets of pics and I am not clear on the time frame between them, either. Also, what do you look like now?

Skip

Okay well pool pic to guy that looks slightly muscled time frame is around 1.5 years.

Was 150 in the pool pic and around 165 in the slightly muscled pic.

I haven't been strictly dieting since then and now I am fatter than I like but a fatter version of that slightly muscled guy

I'm around 175 now.

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

And you want to get to the look of the 165 pound guy, again, correct?

Skip

[stevenjc]

And you want to get to the look of the 165 pound guy, again, correct?

Skip

Lowly lean out and then growth past that.
Additionally the low carb setup and free to eat maintenance weekends work well timing wise for me.

That's why I liked the idea of this 3 day a week program.

[Ken "Skip" Hill]

So why not go back to the plan you used to get there in the first place and then when you get lean enough, build into that?

Skip

[trucelt]

> if your current diet has gotten you fatter than your calories are probably too high

> also you've only been training 3.5 years and done 12 programs so at best you sticking with each one for 10-12 weeks?? Find a program and stick with it for a year. ..

[stevenjc]

So why not go back to the plan you used to get there in the first place and then when you get lean enough, build into that?

Skip

I think in my long rambling first post I mentioned I was able to do a far more restrictive diet then vs now as the wife was overseas with family for far too long and myfitnesspal and the food scale ruled my life.

However a ckd setup served me well before, so with that + knowledge of the macros I was just waxing philosophical about where I am at and starting this... Just to maybe introduce myself and get some feedback.