Hi
I am male, 43 years old. My body’s natural inclination is to be overweight, but every now and then I get fed up with it and go on a health kick. I am quite disciplined and usually lose 20 to 30 kilos, then slowly put it back on. I am presently on one of those health kicks (my fourth one!).
I have analysed my past failures and I believe I know where I have been going wrong. In the past I have dieted, and carried out aerobic activities as well as weight training. I have never been able to build muscle, and understand now that what I was doing was wrong. I don’t believe you can lose weight while building muscle. Not while on a low calorie diet and carrying out intense aerobic workouts.
Anyway, this time around I have approached things differently. I have presently lost 17kgs through walking/jogging, and am hoping to lose 10-12 more. This would give me a BMI of between 23 -25. At somewhere around this point, I will change from fat burning exercises, and begin muscle building exercises. This is phase 2. I have yet to determine what is the optimum weight or fat % to change over to phase 2. I am currently at 23% body fat according to Body Fat scales.
At present I am jogging 3 times a week (6km circuit) and walking 3 times a week (6km circuit). I try to keep my calorie intake to around 1800Cals per day, roughly 50% Carbs, 25% Fat and 25% protein, with no more than 60g of Fat per day. This has allowed me to lose on average 1 kilo a week for the last 17 weeks.
Recently I have started doing a couple of workouts per week on my home gym just to get my body/muscles ready for the eventual muscle building workouts. I am not overdoing it, just three sets of 12 on the major muscle groups at about 80% of my maximum.
Once I “change over” to muscle building, I will increase my calorie intake so that I am hopefully putting on approx 0.5kg of muscle per week. I will probably have to experiment a little, but will start with an increase of 300 calories per day, drop my jogging routine and increase the intensity of my weight training.
I am looking for advice on several questions.
Firstly, is the programme I have set for myself is okay? I think the 1800cals and jogging/walking has been okay and 1 kg per week is not excessive. My body seems to be coping fine, but would not like to think I am doing any harm by losing precious muscle mass.
Secondly, at what point should I be thinking about changing from fat burning to body building? Should I choose a % of body fat or a BMI figure?
Thirdly, is it possible to develop a routine that can be performed over 5 x 50mins per week that will give decent results? I would like to carry out my weight training at a gym nearby to my work during my lunch hour. I can utilise my home gym on the weekend too I suppose.
Fourthly, what sort of objectives or goals should I be setting myself? Physical measurements? Or weight gain without fat gain? Also, should I keep up any aerobic activities once I am in muscle building mode, or will this be counterproductive? Perhaps keep up 2 x 6km walks per week to keep fitness??
Any advice welcome. Cheers
Gnoop
I am male, 43 years old. My body’s natural inclination is to be overweight, but every now and then I get fed up with it and go on a health kick. I am quite disciplined and usually lose 20 to 30 kilos, then slowly put it back on. I am presently on one of those health kicks (my fourth one!).
I have analysed my past failures and I believe I know where I have been going wrong. In the past I have dieted, and carried out aerobic activities as well as weight training. I have never been able to build muscle, and understand now that what I was doing was wrong. I don’t believe you can lose weight while building muscle. Not while on a low calorie diet and carrying out intense aerobic workouts.
Anyway, this time around I have approached things differently. I have presently lost 17kgs through walking/jogging, and am hoping to lose 10-12 more. This would give me a BMI of between 23 -25. At somewhere around this point, I will change from fat burning exercises, and begin muscle building exercises. This is phase 2. I have yet to determine what is the optimum weight or fat % to change over to phase 2. I am currently at 23% body fat according to Body Fat scales.
At present I am jogging 3 times a week (6km circuit) and walking 3 times a week (6km circuit). I try to keep my calorie intake to around 1800Cals per day, roughly 50% Carbs, 25% Fat and 25% protein, with no more than 60g of Fat per day. This has allowed me to lose on average 1 kilo a week for the last 17 weeks.
Recently I have started doing a couple of workouts per week on my home gym just to get my body/muscles ready for the eventual muscle building workouts. I am not overdoing it, just three sets of 12 on the major muscle groups at about 80% of my maximum.
Once I “change over” to muscle building, I will increase my calorie intake so that I am hopefully putting on approx 0.5kg of muscle per week. I will probably have to experiment a little, but will start with an increase of 300 calories per day, drop my jogging routine and increase the intensity of my weight training.
I am looking for advice on several questions.
Firstly, is the programme I have set for myself is okay? I think the 1800cals and jogging/walking has been okay and 1 kg per week is not excessive. My body seems to be coping fine, but would not like to think I am doing any harm by losing precious muscle mass.
Secondly, at what point should I be thinking about changing from fat burning to body building? Should I choose a % of body fat or a BMI figure?
Thirdly, is it possible to develop a routine that can be performed over 5 x 50mins per week that will give decent results? I would like to carry out my weight training at a gym nearby to my work during my lunch hour. I can utilise my home gym on the weekend too I suppose.
Fourthly, what sort of objectives or goals should I be setting myself? Physical measurements? Or weight gain without fat gain? Also, should I keep up any aerobic activities once I am in muscle building mode, or will this be counterproductive? Perhaps keep up 2 x 6km walks per week to keep fitness??
Any advice welcome. Cheers
Gnoop