Thread: Nutrition and Supplementation Problems

Hello, my name is Alex. I am 18 years old. I weigh 168 pounds and
am 6"1'. I appear rather thin on most parts of my body, but have a rather
large gut. Over the last few years, I have been weight training on and off.
Until now, I had not done any lifting since the Summer. I just started a
committed lifting routine with a trainer. I am lifting for one hour 3 times
per week.

I am having a hard time trying to decide how to go about my fitness program.
I want to increase my muscle mass, and lose body fat. Perhaps I should just
focus on increasing muscle mass. But I am rather confused because I am not
quite sure what my body fat is. My arms, face, lower legs, etc., are all
quite thin. My stomach and upper legs, however, seem fat (especially my
stomach). I used a portable handheld BIA device. It measures my body fat at
about 22% on average. I have a TANITA home body fat/scale which measures me
at 14%. I tend to believe that I am closer to 22%, but I am not sure.

I am thinking in terms of the approaching summer, and would love to get rid
of my 34.5" waist (measured around my belly-button). Lately, I have been
restricting my calorie intake and focusing on losing weight. I have been
doing this for about 6 weeks and have lost about 10 pounds. I did not use
any protein supplementation and ate little meat, so it is possible that much
of that weight was muscle (I also was not weight training). I did not
measure my body fat percentage back then (I have only recently begun lifting
and aerobic exercise, so I have also only recently begun to check my body
fat percentage).

Since I started lifting and aerobic exercise two weeks ago, I have added
150g protein supplementation to my diet. Also, I have started to take
ephedrine and caffeine (no aspirin... I had heard it was unnecessary). I
have been taking 25mg ephedrine and 200mg caffeine twice per day.

Now, like I said, I wish to gain muscle and lose body fat. Of course, this
is next to impossible to accomplish at the same time. I have heard of a
"zig-zag diet" that makes this possible. Regardless, I heard that it is best
to go on periods of bulking and cutting to get desired results. So I think
my body fat percentage is 22%, I weigh 168 pounds, am 6'1" tall and have a
34.5" waistline. Up until about 6 weeks ago, my body stayed at a steady
177-180 pounds. I would hope to lose most of my gut by the onset of Summer,
then spend Summer bulking up, but I am just not sure if this is possible
given my various body characteristics. Also, I do not know if I should
continue with the ephedrine/caffeine, if I should start creatine, if I
should stop/slow aerobic training (I have been doing about 15 minutes of
running at 6.5mph 3 times a week after my weight training).

Sorry for the long post! Any insight into my situation would be thoroughly
appreciated. I have heard from my trainer that I should focus on bulking up
now then losing the fat later, but I'm just not sure, and would really like
to not go into Summer with my fat stomach. Also, a friend of mine who does
pretty intense weight training and is in great shape told me to just eat
lean and train hard and that fat in my stomach would be converted to muscle.
But I am not sure what to think.

Thank you so much,
Alex

Hey alexpui I am new here too. But hey goodluck with your cutting.