Should I loose fat and then gain muscle?

[Leever]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I appreciate you input and you have given me more to think about. I will start incorporating your suggestions in my everyday life activities.

Thank you.

 

[P-funk]

oh, and never stop lifting. stopping will make your fat loss goals go right down the drain.

you could use a better structured training program though. if you are only training 3x's a week, you need to be efficient.

 

[Leever]

What would you suggest me doing to improve my plan?

I get to the gym around & 7:30pm and start lifting. I will get done doing my two body parts by 8:30pm or so...usually later on the days that I do legs. Then I do about 40-44minutes of cardio which is done on the elliptical machine. I am just now starting to incorporate jogging instead of the elliptical machine. I walk one lap around the tennis courts then I jog the next lap. Then walk the next and then jog again...I sometimes sprint the long straight aways. I want to get to a point that I am just jogging and doing some sprints. I am doing that because it seems that you are favoring sprinting to help lose fat.

That is currently how I am working out on those three days.

 

[P-funk]

if your goal is fat loss......total body workouts. Use upper/lower supersets. Set up specific phases of training with goals and just hit it.

 

[motiv8ed]

I've had Ezekiel, and it tastes bloody terrible. I'd rather eat a real piece of bread than substitute that rubber/cardboard mix.

oh man! I just had a peice of toast... I dont put anything on it, butter/pb/spreads... I just eat it plane. I think it has a fantastic taste!

But I guess to each his own!

Leever: Dont know if anyone suggested this to you... but CONSISTANTLY AND WITHOUT FAIL! JOURNAL YOUR DIET! JOURNAL JOURNAL JOURNAL!

I have a mac, and I use my iCal to journal my diet/training/cardio If i eat a frickin snickers bar, I have to go through the pain of writing it in my journal, how many calories it has/pro/carbs all that stuff...

And it doesnt take that long typing it in. After every meal, Just open up my iCal and write it in. Its become a normal part of my routine now.

It has been working out really well for me. Just a suggestion though.

Cheers
J

 

[motiv8ed]

What would you suggest me doing to improve my plan?

I get to the gym around & 7:30pm and start lifting. I will get done doing my two body parts by 8:30pm or so...usually later on the days that I do legs. Then I do about 40-44minutes of cardio which is done on the elliptical machine. I am just now starting to incorporate jogging instead of the elliptical machine. I walk one lap around the tennis courts then I jog the next lap. Then walk the next and then jog again...I sometimes sprint the long straight aways. I want to get to a point that I am just jogging and doing some sprints. I am doing that because it seems that you are favoring sprinting to help lose fat.

That is currently how I am working out on those three days.

Your better sticking to the eliptical. Your goal should be to get your heartrate up and keep it there for no less than 30 minutes, not greater than 60.

I'm quoting a concept i read in the burn the fat feed the muscle chapter on cardio here... but the higher intensity, the better. People say use HIIT to prevent the body from breaking down muscle for energy but bffm says that your more likely to loose LBM through not eating enough pro rather than by doing too much cardio also if your training the muscles they wont get smaller... Heres a little fun fact: I read that drinking coffee before doing your cardio will persuade the body not to use the (amino acids i think it said) from muscles, effectivly not breaking down the muscle for energy when glycose runs out. (from memory, sorry if i screwed the pooch on this one)

WIth that understanding... the Eliptical is going to be the most effective means of cardio for the purpose of fat loss. BFFM suggests anywhere between 30 mins - 1 hour. I do 45 a day, sometimes twice a day. I was at 20%bf I'm lower now, I need to get it measured, but in 3 weeks I've seen HUGE losses of fat by sticking to my diet and by using this method of cardio.
It works for my body type... perhaps it may work for yours.