Losing fat, but gaining muscle advice

S

Snowbat

0
I wasn't sure where to post it so I posted it here.
Oh yeah and I'm new here so "Hi everyone! I'm a male and I'm 29 years old!"

Anyways, I hope I can get some quality advice here about something that is really confusing me. I've searched the net for this info and I keep reading articles that literally contradict each other.
Here is the thing: I've been working out for about 12 months. Mainly compound excercices (pullups, dips, squats, etc) to gain muscle mass. I dont need to look like Arnold in his peak days, but just fitter and bigger than average.
And it helped. The ectomorph I am gained about 10 kilo (approx 22lbs) in 10 months time. Believe me, that's a lot for me and lotsa people, who didn't even know I worked out, told me they noticed I gained muscle when I wear a t-shirt.
I see it too in the mirror. not spectacular, but enough to notice a change.

Unfortunately, I have some belly fat too and the dreaded love-handles. I want to get rid of that stuff.
My diet is now mainly focussed on gaining mass: lotsa protein (fish mainly), brown bread, brown rice and stuff like that.
However, I'd like to include some cardio to that to do away with the fat. Here starts the conflict...
Some articles tell me that cardio is bad bad bad and I should just "accept" the fat.
Some articles tell me I should do cardio before the workout, some say it should be done right after, some say it should be on my days off.
Some say I should do long low intensity cardio, others say I should do short high intensity.

So what's the deal? Is it ok to do cardio while gaining muscle mass? I want to make sure I don't start to burn muscle. I dont mind if the muscle gains go a little slower if it means losing fat at the same time. I just dont want to actually lose muscle mass I worked damn hard for. I want to make sure it burns fat.
But to gain muscle your calorie intake should be higher than your basic need. To lose fat, it should be vice versa.
Plus, doing cardio makes me feel better overall. Mentally and physically. And these love handles piss me off anyways.
What would you suggest? Is cardio ok? if so, when is best? High intensity or low? What excercices do you recommend? I like running and rope skipping. is that ok?

Sorry for the tsunami of questions I throw over you but I really don't know what to believe any more...
Thanks!
 
This question comes up a lot. As I see it you have 3 choices: if you want to be a bodybuilder then stick with weights and forego the cardio; if you want to win the tour de France then skip the weights and do cardio; however if your goal is overall health & fitness then do both. Look at folks like Daniel Craig, Mathew McConnehey, Lance Armstrong. They are ripped and fit because they do a balanced workout that consists of weight training and cardio.

It is not an either or proposition. The key is proper nutrition with the right balance of protein, carbs & fats. So go for it, eat healthy, lift weights and shoot for a decent amount of cardio a day.
 
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I agree with Trek.
Do a combination of the 3. Continue lifting, and go heavy, eat great food and do some cardio.
Try for one or two weeks with one program of cardio, eks. run for 15 min. two times (or what you choose), and go with a diet for that. Then check out if you feel the difference and adjust to the result.
You will probably feel after a few days if your on the right track (this is not the same as saying you will see it).´

You could try with this if you feel the cardio makes you loose weight or strength. Do Power Walking. And get 100 % into doing this exercise with the best result. This you can do more often and my own experience is that Power Walking done first thing in the morning - Can help you alot burning calories and don´t make the negative effects on the muscle gaining.
 
Hey all,
Thanks for the replies! Yes you pretty much nailed it: I don't want to look like a bodybuilder (dont get me wrong, I admire the dedication bodybuilders put in their work, but it's not my goal) and I certainly dont want to look like a cyclist neither.
Just the fit type like Trek said.
It's funny because the rest of my body looks quite athletic except my belly area. If I flex, nothing "jiggles" except that area :-D

About my diet and caloric needs, well I gotta be honest, I don't know if my diet is any good. I try to keep the unhealthy crap out and eat only healthy things, but there are so many healthy things I just really dont like. Plus I have a mild for of the irritable bowel syndrome which prevents me from eating certain stuff (unless I wanna give myself some nasty abdominal pain)
Anyways, perhaps some of you guys can advice me on my diet:

Breakfast
---------
- 1 banana
- 1 yoghurt
- 4 slices of brown bread with margarine butter and jam
(I tried eating ham or cheese in the morning... but I just can't. I really hate it. I need something sweet in the morning)
Eating eggs and milk is like swallowing lava for me so... I avoid those

10 am Snack
------------
- 2 slices of brown bread with margarine butter and jam

Lunch
------
- half a brown baguette with butter, ham and cheese

4 pm snack
-----------
- 2 slices of bread with margarine and jam.
- a kiwi

Evening
--------
Well that depends on the day, but I eat a lot of fish. Codfish, salmon, tuna, etc. Once or twice per week I eat a 220-250gr steak that is usually well done. I usually take my steak with mayonaise (I should probably dump that)
Other than that:
- 300 gr of fish (that's 10.5oz if I'm not mistaking)
- 67 gr (2.36oz) of white cooked rice
- a tomato, a carrot, or a normal portion of veggies

As for drinking... well I do drink 3 or 4 small cups of coffee per day with a little sugar but no cream. For the rest, I dislike soda. I never drink cola, fanta, sprite, icetea, etc. The only alchohol I drink is maybe one or two ****tails per week with friends. No beer.
I usually drink water for the rest.
Junk food? Yeah... sometimes I succumb to pizza. But that's usually not more than once a month.
Sometimes I eat a big bag of potato chips or some cookies too. But I try to keep that limited. I never eat more than 2 or 3 bags of chips per month.

I used to eat 3 coffeecakes (or whatever the name in English is... it's I'm talking about) instead of a normal breakfast a couple of times per week, but since I suppose these are real fat-bombs, I stopped eating those a few weeks ago.
I suspect these are the main culprits for the love handles.

This is more or less my diet. I don't know if i'm in caloric deficit or not to be frank. Some websites say I need 3000 cal per day, others say I only need 2100 so I don't know what to believe any more.
I'm 192 cm tall (that's about 6'3"), weigh 86kg (about 189lbs) and I'm a 29 year old male :)

Any advice? Just keep in mind I'm not a bodybuilder and I don't need to gain tons of muscle in a short time. I just want to look fit, like Trek described.
Thanks for the replies so far guys. It's good to finally find some consistent info.
 
Don't be to hard on yourself with the occasional junk food. Generally speaking, your diet is very high in carbs and short on the protein. 8+ slices of bread is way too much. Try to include some protein in every meal, even the snacks. Other than that it looks good, except for the mayo, butter, jam...but you knew that.
 
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