5X5 when seeking to lose body fat?

WalterMitty

If a person is carrying several stone of body fat and wanting to get bigger/stronger and lose bodyfat, is it possible to gain strength/musle while not consuming an excess of calories?
Can the body use the body fat instead to fuel growth and recovery once you consume enough protein? Or is it neccessary to eat excess calories and then burn off fat with medium intensity cardio several times a week?
Thinking of doing a 5x5 programme and cardio on days not weight training.

TommyKnocker

Hi There

Can you be more specific with how much body fat you have.

To my way of thinking "Sevral" would mean more than two stone. Personally if I was carrying more than two stone of body fat, then I woudl be inclined to cut the fat first by eating a calorie deficit, lifting heavy and doing HIIT on my non lifting days.

If you eat a fairly/very strict diet and run a small calorie surplus, then it should be possible to add some muscle and gain strength while no adding too much extra body fat. The more lean muscle you have the easier it will be to lse the fat later on. However this will not be a quick process. You will not be getting super big ot super strong in just a coupel of weeks. Think months.

Finally there is a "See Food" diet which is often recommended on here. If you see food you eat it However with this approach although you will get big quickly which should also translate into strength gains, a higher proportion of your weight gain will be extra body fat, which will then have to be burned off at a later date.

Your body can use fat for fuel during exercise in the absence of glucose, however it does not use fat to repair or build muscle, so you need to have adaquate supplies of protein for this purpose.

IMHO You should eat a diet whcih is high in protein, moderate in healthy fats and low in carbs to help you maintain your lean muscle while cutting down body fat.


Best Regards,

M

J-Fit

WalterMitty wrote: »

If a person is carrying several stone of body fat and wanting to get bigger/stronger and lose bodyfat, is it possible to gain strength/musle while not consuming an excess of calories?

It can be done. Depends on how experienced a trainee you are. The less experienced the better. I believe advanced people can do too it if their nutrition is highly specific.

WalterMitty wrote: »

Can the body use the body fat instead to fuel growth and recovery once you consume enough protein? Or is it neccessary to eat excess calories and then burn off fat with medium intensity cardio several times a week?

Don't think in fat or carbs etc. At the end of the day, everything is dictated by a caloric deficit. It doesn't really matter if it comes from fat or carbs. Carbs will be the preferential fuel during resistance training and fat or carbs during cardio depending on what type of cardio you are undertaking. If you are inexperienced I would go with a slight caloric deficit and see what happens.

shootermacg

My 2 cents,
I would alternate my gym days with cardio. eat a calorie surplus on gym days and reduce on cardio days. every 2nd day do cardio.
Always have your intake of protein set per lean body mass and don't go under.

cyberfitnessgur

I would do 45 mins of cardio everyday after each workout.

That will burn those excess calories.

shootermacg

Hi I posted this in another thread but I think it may be relevent:

I would start strength training right away. Beginner's gains mean it is possible to gain muscle and lose fat, at least for the noobie honeymoon period. There really is no better time to do this than at the beginning, but of course fat does not turn to muscle.

After the honeymoon period fat loss should be your primary concern, if you are well overweight try to lose it. You'll have a more energy to up you intensity in the gym if you are fit.

I was 3 stone over-weight last year, started at around 15 stone I'm now near my target weight (I'm 5'7 and pretty stocky, so it would be about 11.5 stone).

There really is no option but to change your life-style.

Get your mind right, make a plan and stick to it! if you can't even do this than it hard to do the rest.

First comes nutrition:
Look up your maintanence calories online and reduce for weight loss, it takes some mental effort but it worth it, if you can't do this, then you need to question your dedication.

No sugary drinks, not even diet sodas (they can fool your body into insulin spikes (storing fat) if taken with carbs) (water is all I drink).
Eating less, more often is actually good for you if you keep it simple, don't skip breakfast.

Eat clean & green: protein/good carbs/fat in a 40/40/20 ratio isn't bad, so a chicken breast, half cup of brown rice maybe fry the breast in olive oil, then drain and add as much green veg as you want would be a good meal. You can eat a few of these up to your cal level/per day.

By all means have a cheat day (look up the zig-zag diet)

Exercise:

Losing weight is progressive and you'll find you can do more types of exercise as the weight falls off, but starting out, you are limited in how you can go about losing the weight; as you lose weight you will be able to increase the range of exercise activities open to you.

Took up strength training at home with a bench and some dumbbells which gave me good gains although I wasn't training according to a plan.
Bought a chin-up/dip tower from argos, put it out the back and after a few weeks I was doing 20 dips and 10 chins sets.

Running with weight is hard because it really hurts the back, I found.

I started cycling 3 miles to and from work. This did wonders for my general fitness and I shed a stone. When I started feeling fitter I added 1 day/week 5 a side soccar & 1 game of raquetball which really killed me in the beginning.
After this I really started to shed the weight.

Hit 12.5 stone from all the above.

Now I'm back in the gym doing doug's 4 day split and it's a great workout, lessens the time in the gym and gives me purpose when I'm there (nothing worse than going to the gym without a plan).

I also recently started running 3/5K 3-4 times a week. nike has a great running shoe range (google: nike plus) you can buy a good electronic stepper for the insole, there's a great site etc associated with it, it helps you with planning runs/distance targets, setting goals etc, I can't recommend this enough, I love it.

As far as running is concerned out-doors is way better than the gym IMO, I still can't do well on a treadmill but i can do 5K in 24 mins on the road (not great but better than my beginning 3K time)
^ ^, it's just too hot in the gym.
5K run burns 400/500 cals
3K run burns 240/300 cals.

3500 cals in 1 pound of fat.


I'm now around 11stone 12pounds.

I'm taking whey + creatine etc now to bulk my lean mass up a bit
and it's going well. Still need to lose a small bit of lower belly fat, but I'm in four-pack form now ^ ^.
I've revised my target weight to be around 12 stone and am judging this on
how much fat i can pinch and the fact I'm bulking atm. Gotta buy some calipers to get my exact body fat but at a guess I'm at 10-15% body-fat atm.

So make out a plan and stick to it. pen & paper is your friend.
Well if any of the above helps I'm glad.
All the best!

Idbatterim

when doing cardio is only fat buned, or also muscle?

xgtdec

Hi

I am on 5x5 at the moment with cardio on the non weight days, i can not say for sure that its doing wonders for my fat loss as compared to my previous program...but i will say that progressively lifting heavier is very very motivating..very very.....i dont squat a lot of weight just yet but its really good for having targets and i cant wait to get to the gym. Also there is cardio after your 5x5 on the same day....this cardio wipes me out after the 5x5 session, i almost fell off the rower onm Monday i was that wasted...5x5 with cardio on off days is making me feel really really good.....worth a shot in my opinion!!!:D

Mellor

Idbatterim wrote: »

when doing cardio is only fat buned, or also muscle?

You don't "burn" muscle
you burn energy, in one of it's many forms in the body
based on how how much training you do and the size of your calorie deficit or surplus,
your body may increase or decrease muscle mass and/or body fat

marathonic

I'm on the same boat as you and decided to concentrate on cutting the fat first and then on bulking up. I just don't like having the conflict in my mind of "I need to lose fat but I need to eat that extra sandwich/nuts/porridge to bulk up".

Therefore, my initial goal (started last week) is to lose 10kg. I may need to lose a bit more but I'll know better at that time. I'm targeting the end of November for the 10kg and then will either switch to bulking or else continue with weight-loss until the New Year.

An improved diet should easily knock 0.5kg off per week and then 5 sessions of 700 calories excercize should get the remaining 0.5kg.

According to the scales this week, I've knocked 1.5kg off in the past week leaving 8.5kg to go. I'll believe that more at my 3rd weigh-in next week (is it fluctuations or a trend).

One thing though, whatever you decide, start right away - most people, myself included, spend months lurking and asking more questions. I could have been well on my way towards my end goal by now.

Brian?

marathonic wrote: »

I'm on the same boat as you and decided to concentrate on cutting the fat first and then on bulking up. I just don't like having the conflict in my mind of "I need to lose fat but I need to eat that extra sandwich/nuts/porridge to bulk up".

Therefore, my initial goal (started last week) is to lose 10kg. I may need to lose a bit more but I'll know better at that time. I'm targeting the end of November for the 10kg and then will either switch to bulking or else continue with weight-loss until the New Year.

An improved diet should easily knock 0.5kg off per week and then 5 sessions of 700 calories excercize should get the remaining 0.5kg.

According to the scales this week, I've knocked 1.5kg off in the past week leaving 8.5kg to go. I'll believe that more at my 3rd weigh-in next week (is it fluctuations or a trend).

One thing though, whatever you decide, start right away - most people, myself included, spend months lurking and asking more questions. I could have been well on my way towards my end goal by now.

From everything I've read 1.5Kg a week might too much to lose, only slightly. You could be on enough of a calorie deficet that you are losing muscle and fat at the same time.

Be sure you're training hard, i.e. lifting heavy and eating enough protein to minimise the amount of muscle you lose when dieting.

marathonic

briankeating wrote: »

From everything I've read 1.5Kg a week might too much to lose, only slightly. You could be on enough of a calorie deficet that you are losing muscle and fat at the same time.

Be sure you're training hard, i.e. lifting heavy and eating enough protein to minimise the amount of muscle you lose when dieting.

In my case, I don't have much muscle to lose. I've never done weight training to build the muscle and I'm in an office job. That's why I'm not overly concerned with 1.5kg weightloss per week.

I'd probably set my limit at 2kg, any more than that and I'd add some sort of extra meal into my diet or simply increase the portion size of my breakfast.

I do make sure to have a lot of protein in my diet which will, hopefully, minimise the muscle loss during my cutting phase.

Mellor

A 2kg (4.4lbs) loss per week is 15400 calories deficit, which is 2200 a day less than maintenance.
Unless you are already pretty big (unlikely seeing as you have only 10kg to lose) then that sort of deficit isn't possible to sustain imo.

RobAMerc

My wife took a photo of me topless (kinky) just before I started the 5x5 and when she came across it on the camera a few days back she saw such a noticable difference she insisted she took another - I was blown away, the difference is stark ! I've not built huge guns or anything but having not lost more than 3 -4 lbs I look way, way leaner.

I did start hiit traing on the off days - that could be part of it to be fair but either way to answer your question 5*5 plus hiit works and both are way more enjoyable than feckin running.

btw I have always done cardio of some sort but nothing has had as dramatic effect as the 2 above combined.

mrpink6789

RobAMerc wrote: »

My wife took a photo of me topless (kinky) just before I started the 5x5 and when she came across it on the camera a few days back she saw such a noticable difference she insisted she took another - I was blown away, the difference is stark ! I've not built huge guns or anything but having not lost more than 3 -4 lbs I look way, way leaner.

I did start hiit traing on the off days - that could be part of it to be fair but either way to answer your question 5*5 plus hiit works and both are way more enjoyable than feckin running.

btw I have always done cardio of some sort but nothing has had as dramatic effect as the 2 above combined.

I'm the same, havent seen a huge amount on the scales but have noticed my clothes fit better, also i feel better and stronger. I'd do 5X5 + HIIT on Mon/Wed/Fri and then kettlebells Tuesday and Thursdays. Just got a heart rate monitor so interested to see what type of calories are being burned during the HIIT because it's brutal!