Somewhat new to weight lifting and entirely new to counting my macronutrients...

enjoy eating your 170g+ protein a day

although if you're fat you don't really need 1g/lb to retain muscle, as this user said if you get 120g protons every day you're good.

242g is a fucking retarded amount of protein

how can you not hit 242g of carbs lol

Yeah I'm overweight right now. So 120g protein and 120g carbs sound good then?

No. Get enough protein and fat, and just fill the rest with carbs.

>First post, best post.

I don't understand what you mean

I hit this range on a daily basis.

>sickgains.jpg

Carbs are the least important micro so only care about protons and fats, unless you think a lack of carbs is affecting your training

Listen, this is all related to your goals and how serious you want to be about working out.
If you want to be really strict, read on what and when you should eat before and after your workout.
What you'll find out is that you need to eat carbs so your body recovers from the exercise. The protein will repair your muscles. The healthy fats will make your body work better and help it absorb the protein.
If you work out at high intensity, yes hit your 120g carbs that day. If you don't, you don't really need to.
Remember to drink at least 3 liters of water every day.
Sleep well.
Rest days are very important.
Google Intermittent Fasting, read up on it, and do it.
Honestly, eat well and be active on a daily basis and you'll see the results, but don't forget to enjoy the journey there.

I see
I'm not exactly looking to be a huge muscular dude, I just want to lose all this extra fat and maybe build a bit of my muscle. The stuff I typed in the OP is what I do to workout.

Being serious doesn't mean wanting to be huge.
It might mean being fit for a specific sport, or just being a fit person in general.
You're doing good, keep going.

Thanks. I'm reading on intermittent fasting right now and it sounds pretty rough but I think I'm going to give this a shot too. I've been overweight most of my life (even if I'm barely 20) and am finally deciding to eat healthy and do one of those lifting routines.

In my experience it's really easy to hold off on eating early in the morning and late in the evening.

Doing a bit more research on this intermittent fasting and I'm unsure so far. Especially after reading this article scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/
Everything I've read on intermittent fasting has told me I can't build muscle at the same time I lose weight unless I have a calorie surplus on my lifting days and a calorie deficit on my resting days.

That is incorrect.

You can make gains on a deficit; I sure did and I've been cutting since last year July. My numbers aren't as good as they could be but they're still decent. I also actually look like I lift.

I've been doing a non retarded program for less than 5 months and I'll hit 1.5pl8 bench, 2pl8 squat and 3pl8 deadlift in the next month.

For reps*

Ah alright, thanks for the response. Guess I'll be trying to get my calories and macros in the right places on days I lift in that 8 hour eating time span. Do you take BCAA or whey at all? Someone told me BCAA is good for intermittent fasting since it helps prevent your body from burning muscle during your fasting.

I take whey but only because I'm on a 1000cal deficit and wouldn't be able to hit my proton goal most of the time otherwise.

First time I hear about BCAA being useful at all. It's used to aid recovery so I'd ignore the comment on preventing muscle atrophy.

In any case, count your calories by weighing your food and not eye'ing it, hit your macros and train hard and smart in the gym and you'll be just fine. Don't forget to rest.

Imo cardio just makes you hungrier and the extra 200 cal deficit per session isn't worth it. Also saps strength for heavy squats. But that's just me and you should do it if you consider stamina important.

Sounds like you're working hard
I'm just a bit paranoid about committing to a workout/eating routine when I could've been doing something way more optimal the whole time
the guy in this article did testing with intermittent fasting and lifting with and without BCAA
here's the link if you want to read anymanfitness.com/to-bcaa-or-not-to-bcaa/
since I think you can take the bcaa before/during the workout and still be in the fasted state while drinking a scoop or two of whey will bring you out of the fasting state
on that note do you exercise in your fasted state or after you had a meal in the middle of the 8 hour eating period?

I always try to lift 2 or 3 hours after dinner, which makes up most of my daily calorie intake. Out of experience it feels like I can push myself the hardest after a decent meal.
Pre-workout carbs really help out.

I heard of people lifting fasted in the morning after adjusting to it but I haven't had the need to do so since most of my evenings are free and the gym is open till 2230.

The article you sent looks kinda shilly and I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Instead of buying BCAAs I'd just go for a cup of coffee If I was you. It will have the same effect.

If you don't lift fasted regularly I'd just not do intermittent fasting for that day and then endure the occasional cravings instead of sacrificing power in the gym.

It's been kinda tough and I do cheat maybe twice a month since I have leeway to hit my goal of 12% BF before summer hits.

Overall getting Veeky Forums has definitely been worth it though, People treat you way differently and it's nice to look in the mirror and smile. It's fun to see yourself becoming bigger and stronger from week to week.

Well it was nice talking with you and I appreciate all the insight. I'm going to try the intermittent fasting, with my meal times being at 12-8. Going to have a big lunch with a lot of proteins and carbs at 12 and workout at around 2-3 pm then drink a few scoops of whey afterwards. Also going to tone it way down on carbs on my resting days since they seem unnecessary unless I'm being active that day. Thanks again, appreciate the chat.

We're all gonna make it

...

I'm on fucking tren and test and I rarely eat 250 grams of protein, usually between 150 and 200.
I really fucking doubt there's much if any benefit going beyond ~120 grams a day if natty, even 100 grams could be enough

/r/ing the picture of the study done on normies/athletes/bodybuilders on amount of protein and muscle growth

Yeah I decided on 120 grams in the end. Easily achievable with some whey and a nice tuna sandwich
we'll see how this new life style turns out in a few months