I'm starting this topic, because 95% of info out there on body building seems to be aimed at skinny hard-gainers. I can gain weight simply by THINKING about food.
First, let me detail my situation, and then ask my question(s).
First off, I currently weigh 410 at 6'4". I've been doing HST with a bowflex type machine for 1.5 years. I originally weighed 456 in December of 2005. I did little to change my diet (just added in more veggies) and did no cardio for the first year, and managed to get down to ~435 with pretty good muscle gains.
I'm very obviously insulin resistant, had high blood pressure (110 over 70 now), big waist, get tired after large, high carb meals (I feel like I need to lay down and sleep), and had a sore on my leg that took almost a month to heal.
In the past few months, I've transitioned to a low carb diet (less than 20g per day), added in an hour to two hours of light cardio (65% max heart rate), and HST. I also upgraded from my bowflex type machine to Selecttech dumbells (1090's) this past week.
I have a cheat day (usually Sundays) to keep my sanity and to refill glycogen stores. I manage to gain about 10 pounds on Sunday (mostly water) which is gone again by Wednesday.
I drink about a gallon (or more) of iced green and white tea per day, eat at least 3 cups per day of leafy green veggies, and get plenty of protein and EFA's. I also eat a small amount of natural peanut butter (less than 1 Tb per day), and high fiber Scandinavian Bran Crackers (3 grams soluble fiber per cracker, I eat at least 2 per day).
Right now, my supplementation consists of fenugreek seed, cinnamon, gymnema sylvestre, bitter melon, garlic oil, ginseng, chromium polynicotinate (all for insulin resistance) as well as nightly EFA's (a combo of Omega 3s/6s/9s), calcium, magnesium, zinc, B complex, and forskohlii.
I also usually take a multi, but I'm out at the moment.
I've been really focusing more on improving my health and building muscle, rather than purely on weight loss. I know that the fat will come off as a consequence of my healthy lifestyle changes. I also know that I cannot maintain carbs this low forever. My strategy once I get below 300 pounds is to slowly start adding in more healthy carbs (beans and berries, mostly).
I want to add that I eat breakfast every day (5 scrambled omega 3 eggs with spinach and habanero sauce) and I weigh myself every day. I also eat small meals every 2 to 3 hours.
Also, from what I know of insulin resistance, a typical bodybuilder's high protein diet will not work, because my insulin resistant body will convert a fairly large amount of it to glucose. I've had the most success with a high fat, moderate protein (about 100 g per day), and very low carb diet. I feel the most energetic and least hungry if I get a majority of my calories (~75%) from fat. This also falls in line with research done on high percentage fat intakes (I read about this in the Atkins book, its called a "fat-fast", where a fat intake of between 70 and 90% caused only about 2% of the total weight loss to be protein, muscle loss was much higher with the high protein and high fat diets and total weight loss was lower on these diets as well. This is from memory, but the figures should be pretty close).
My questions? What else could/should I be doing to help ensure that I burn the maximum amount of fat and remove my body's insulin resistance? Any strategies for staying lean once you get there? Last but not least, what is a healthy weight, for a big-boneded, 6'4, muscular man? I'm talking real-world here, not what Doctor's preach. If I weighed 170, I'd be nothing but skin and bone.
First, let me detail my situation, and then ask my question(s).
First off, I currently weigh 410 at 6'4". I've been doing HST with a bowflex type machine for 1.5 years. I originally weighed 456 in December of 2005. I did little to change my diet (just added in more veggies) and did no cardio for the first year, and managed to get down to ~435 with pretty good muscle gains.
I'm very obviously insulin resistant, had high blood pressure (110 over 70 now), big waist, get tired after large, high carb meals (I feel like I need to lay down and sleep), and had a sore on my leg that took almost a month to heal.
In the past few months, I've transitioned to a low carb diet (less than 20g per day), added in an hour to two hours of light cardio (65% max heart rate), and HST. I also upgraded from my bowflex type machine to Selecttech dumbells (1090's) this past week.
I have a cheat day (usually Sundays) to keep my sanity and to refill glycogen stores. I manage to gain about 10 pounds on Sunday (mostly water) which is gone again by Wednesday.
I drink about a gallon (or more) of iced green and white tea per day, eat at least 3 cups per day of leafy green veggies, and get plenty of protein and EFA's. I also eat a small amount of natural peanut butter (less than 1 Tb per day), and high fiber Scandinavian Bran Crackers (3 grams soluble fiber per cracker, I eat at least 2 per day).
Right now, my supplementation consists of fenugreek seed, cinnamon, gymnema sylvestre, bitter melon, garlic oil, ginseng, chromium polynicotinate (all for insulin resistance) as well as nightly EFA's (a combo of Omega 3s/6s/9s), calcium, magnesium, zinc, B complex, and forskohlii.
I also usually take a multi, but I'm out at the moment.
I've been really focusing more on improving my health and building muscle, rather than purely on weight loss. I know that the fat will come off as a consequence of my healthy lifestyle changes. I also know that I cannot maintain carbs this low forever. My strategy once I get below 300 pounds is to slowly start adding in more healthy carbs (beans and berries, mostly).
I want to add that I eat breakfast every day (5 scrambled omega 3 eggs with spinach and habanero sauce) and I weigh myself every day. I also eat small meals every 2 to 3 hours.
Also, from what I know of insulin resistance, a typical bodybuilder's high protein diet will not work, because my insulin resistant body will convert a fairly large amount of it to glucose. I've had the most success with a high fat, moderate protein (about 100 g per day), and very low carb diet. I feel the most energetic and least hungry if I get a majority of my calories (~75%) from fat. This also falls in line with research done on high percentage fat intakes (I read about this in the Atkins book, its called a "fat-fast", where a fat intake of between 70 and 90% caused only about 2% of the total weight loss to be protein, muscle loss was much higher with the high protein and high fat diets and total weight loss was lower on these diets as well. This is from memory, but the figures should be pretty close).
My questions? What else could/should I be doing to help ensure that I burn the maximum amount of fat and remove my body's insulin resistance? Any strategies for staying lean once you get there? Last but not least, what is a healthy weight, for a big-boneded, 6'4, muscular man? I'm talking real-world here, not what Doctor's preach. If I weighed 170, I'd be nothing but skin and bone.
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