Increase your total calories.

If your BMR is around 1900 + 400 from exercise, your total calorie expenditure is around 2,300 per day. That means you need 1,800 cals per day to cut. You were getting around 1,100. That means you need an additional 600-700 cals per day to PROPERLY cut.

I would advise for breakfast have 4 WHOLE eggs. (this will increase your breakfast calories by 160)
For meal 2, add 1 oz of cheese (100 cals increase)
For meal 3, add 1/2 of a cup of black beans or 1/2 cup brown rice w/ olive oil (both increase you by around 140 cals)
For meal 4, add a handful of mixed berries to the shake (around 50 cals increase)
Meal meal 5, add 2 oz of cheese (around 200 cals increase)

total caloric increase is from around 1,100-1,200 to 1,750-1,850.

If you try this new diet for around 2 weeks and see halted fat loss, you can try two things...reduce the total calories further...by no more than 200 per day total....or alternatively, increase total exercise output by around 30 mins per day.

it really all depends....beginners can use 5 days a week also...but if you feel your body is responding well to the 3-a-week, then keep it up!

Hey man, was wondering if I have been making really good progress the last month, and I am having some buddies over tomorrow to drink by my pool, if one night of drinking can really add a relapse in one's training?

thanks for the help. I just have a few more questions.

Is it okay to drink soda during the diet? Will building muscle and burning fat to show abs interfere with each other? What alternates to the meal plan do you recommend so that you're not eating the same foods everyday? Should I be working on my neck at all? Lastly, can I get the same or similar results using machines and DBs rather than free weights?

edit: also, I heard also to be careful when taking fish oil because it can cause you to smell. Advice on this?

This post was edited by God_apostle on Jun 9 2011 06:02pm

depends...probably not...but avoid excess. Several drinks would be okay, but truly avoid binging.

Hey Raynor, congrats on becoming trusted! even tho this is pretty late haha
So i changed from a 5 day split to a 3 day split to focus on mass/strength
Chest/Shoulder/Tri
Leg
Back/Bis
(ab/cardio with the workouts or on rest days)

How much should i be resting in b/w the days?
I've looked it up online and some people say to just rest once after a full cycle and then go back into it
some people say to take a LOT of rest

so which is it?

1. avoid soda at all costs...this is pure sugar and the enemy of every healthy person.
2. building muscle and storing fat are not synonymous. It depends on a variety of things - how fast you want to build muscle, your body type/genetics, and overall activity level.
3. For your diet, just stick to the same TYPE of foods for each specification - ie: lean meats (turkey/tuna/chicken/lean beef/etc), complex carbs (sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole grain pasta, buckwheat, oats, whole grains, etc), fats (olive oil, avocados, nuts, fish/fish oil, dairy, etc), and fruits/veggies (any)
4. In order to achieve maximum muscle strength, volume, and definition - using ONLY machines or ONLY freeweights is not advised. I would recommend using both in order to achieve maximum results.

Hey there.

For a 3 day split, you need to listen to your body. Generally 1-on-1-off works the best. I would start there and see how that works for you. It generally ends up being a little more than 3 a week...but technically a week is a bad measurement because 7 days is uneven. I don't even consider dweeks when I workout. I instead figure each day as a training day and take rest as necessary. I can FIND time to work out each day as required.

Example

Mon - Chest/shoulders/tris
Tues - rest
weds - legs (hams/quads/calves)
thurs - rest
fri - back/bis
sat - rest
sun - repeat mon
mon - off
tues - repeat weds

and so forth.

alright, thanks again. I came across 2 more questions. I work at culvers and there's times where I only have time to get something to eat there. So, would their chicken cashew salad be okay? its low carb/high protein. And also I was looking at supplements today and I can't find NOW! products and in general supplements are expensive so instead could I get vitamins from say stuff like mixing creatine with orange juice to get vitamin C?

sorry for all the questions

would it be bad if i did chest/shoulder/tri and then legs the day after, but take 2 day rests and then go into back/bis
or should I just try to stick with the 1 on 1 off
would doing cardio/abs on every rest day be fine? or would that be too hard on the CNS