do I start lifting a lot and eating a lot to make sure I gain muscle? I worry this will make me even more of a fat mess, even if muscle is underneath it all. I know I'd also be stronger, but I don't want to look like a big fat guy for a whole year and be like fat mac and say "no, i'm bulking!"
or should I lift and diet at the same time? I tried this before and got thinner but wasnt gaining any muscle or becoming any stronger after like 6 months (though I also was doing insane cardio)
or should I try losing weight first then building muscle from scrawny mode? my concern with this is that I'd waste a bunch of time and not get any stronger
Ian Baker
>I'm fat, what do I do?!
lose weight
Wyatt Hughes
you should workout bro
Ryan Ortiz
Also you actually look autistic
David Ross
It's like.. it's almost like you can't really build much muscle while losing weight woah
Asher Howard
shouldn't I eat a calorie surplus while lifting though, thus gaining weight?
Angel Carter
I'd lift and diet, but focus more on losing the weight first. You won't gain a ton of muscle if you're dieting at a caloric deficit, but you will still start to get some noob strength gains and especially nervous system improvements.
Jace Cruz
it's almost like you didn't read the sticky at all
Noah Reyes
No. You're obviously eating enough to gain weight. Stick to eating the same or cut down a little bit. You'll increase your caloric expenditure and you'll still be in a surplus to build muscle, but the surplus isn't like before so you'll lose weight as well. Then you figure out what to do when you stall. Wanna be lean? Keep cutting. Enjoying the strength gains? Eat a surplus.
Ryder Brown
I did and I have a routine of all the compound exercises but the diet thesis I got from the sticky/on here is that "more calories than you burn makes you bigger", and thus "more calories than you burn is how you build muscle" but also "more calories than you burn makes you fatter", so it seems like I need to gain fat in order to gain muscle, and I'm not a person you look at and think "he needs to eat more to get bigger"
Hudson Bennett
eat at a deficit
you will lose fat and gain some strength, but not much muscle
Owen Lewis
thanks what do you mean "the surplus isn't like before"? as in, I should cut back a little but still eat a surplus? or the surplus that I normally eat isn't affecting me like it used to?
Nicholas Richardson
but do I still burn as much fat from lifting if I'm not gaining much muscle?
Charles Davis
burning calories isn't the point of lifting. you lift so that most of the weight you lose comes from fat and not muscle.
Eli Cox
just lose weight you have literally zero muscle right now. Do HIILT training and diet. In a couple of weeks you should look less fat. Do stationairy bike 20-30 min then jog outside 15-20 min with some hills thrown in for maximum fat burn.
Jaxson Rivera
ethan, stop whining and eat some donuts
Brandon Young
whenever you crave sugar, it is because you need protein. Eat lots of eggs, you will loose a lot of wheight.
Matthew Peterson
>insane cardio >not getting any stronger I hope this is bait, but on the chance that it isn't, I'll bite.
Cardio isn't designed to make you stronger. It is designed to help you use oxygen more efficiently. Cardio is great, and I'm all for getting some in... but if you want to be stronger, you need to lift.
No, you do not need to be bulking right now. From the looks of it, you are already around a bf% that you should max out at during a bulk. If you bulk right now, you're going to have noob gains and obesity. You are already getting enough calories for gains with your current diet... probably more than enough until you can be working for serious gains.
Here's what you want to do: >cut out the junk food, if you're eating it. get rid of most refined sugar, most highly processed stuff. >you can eat a similar amount of calories you are currently eating... I guess you don't *need* to cut the junk food, but you will be thankful in a few months if you do >Lift. Get a beginner's program like SS or SL5x5. Stay consistent with it. >Not necessary, but I highly recommend you do some cardio on 2-3 of your non-lifting days each week. Don't do "insane" cardio - your body needs some recovery in between the lifts. Moderate cardio for a short time, until your body is acclimatized to the work load.
Do this for at least 6 months, then look at your body and assess if you want to be bulking/cutting.
Cameron Young
>he thinks cardio won't make you stronger You act as if these things don't augment each other.
Anthony Taylor
this entire post was unnecessary. look at his phrasing:
>though I also was doing insane cardio >though
Easton Gutierrez
They absolutely do augment each other, but strength is clearly not the focus of cardio. You can do insane cardio for a year, and though you will become stronger than if you do nothing, you won't get the strength gains of one month of decent lifting. It's just like how lifting will help you use oxygen more efficiently, but no matter how much you do, lifting alone will never allow you to run a marathon.
You have to focus on the type of gains you want to get.
Matthew Perez
Cut to skelly mode then put on muscle like I wish I did Being skinnyfat with DYEL gains is pain
Benjamin Edwards
The surplus won't be stored as fat this time since there'll be a use for it Which is building muscle
Aaron Morris
A) OP's >though I was also doing insane cardio was in the sentence where he was talking about not gaining noticeable muscle or getting noticeably stronger, as though they were related, so it does sound like he needed to know about the basics B) There was significantly more info in that post, so regardless, it is dependent on OP whether he finds it useful or not
Kevin Phillips
nah, because if you are doing insane amounts of cardio, you either aren't letting your body rest enoygh to recover and gain from the lifts, or you aren't lifting hard enough to need that recovery.
at least at the beginning, until you're in really good shape, you can make the most gains in strength, or in cardio, but not both. one will cut into the recovery time or the energy needed for the other.