Hi everybody,

I'm fairly new to Zone and I've just got a couple of questions about proper eating while training. I do some Crossfit (from what I've read, like many others on this site), as well as some conventional body-building type routines. Currently, I weigh 185 lbs. with a body fat percentage of 15% -- all this, with my activity level, puts me at around 20 blocks per day.

My concern is that, although I'd like to see my performance on lifts/exercises continue, I definitely am concerned with cutting some body fat, hopefully to around 10%. Is this possible? I'm somewhat familiar with Dr. Sears' advice to athletes regarding upping fat intake by 2x-3x the recommended daily block amount for energy, yet, I'm concerned that this may have a mitigating effect on my fat loss.

On the other hand, I am one of the lucky few who find losing weight to be easy. Work and school keep me busy enough to where I forget to prioritize eating, and my metabolism burns through every ounce of muscle I have in a day if I don't eat enough. Yet, I find that I have to be supremely gluttonous to gain .0001 lb of muscle. So, I figured that if I were to err on any side, it would be the side of overeating my fat blocks.

Sorry for my long-windedness! Cliff notes: Is possible to make strength gains / lean muscle gains while losing fat?

Thanks in advance,
TJ

Welcome aboard TJ.
I suggest you keep a journal of what & when you are eating how you felt before your next meal what you performance /energylevels are.

This will help you better gauge where to adjust.

I would start at a strat 20 blocks for you. The protein should maintain your LBM and you should reduce your BF%. If your energy levels are down or your WOD times start to suffer then make some adjustments.

The great thing about the zone is the adjustability for individuals.

If you are trying to make some huge strength gains I personally would suggest you trying the CF Strength Bias Program by Jeff Martin from BrandX or do a cycle or 2 of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.

Reading between the lines it looks like you are trying to get huge. I would try the Zone plus a bunch of milk a day. Don't worry about BF% for a couple months get some mass then start cutting.

I haven't seen any one get big on the zone. I have seen many get ripped and maintain LBM with modest increases.

You can get stronger without getting huge.

Good luck.

Hi Matt,

Thank you for the welcome as well as the advice! I'll definitely try to feel it out the next couple of weeks and see how I'm fairing.

No doubt, increasing size is definitely a goal I have. But strength is important for me too. I used to be preoccupied with getting huge, but I think I'm content with, at least for now, my physical size. My concern is just to best preserve whatever LBM I have now and make sure I don't catabolize (is this a made up word?) it when I'm cutting.


CF Strength Bias looks pretty cool, I just feel as though I'm not up to that level quite yet, haha. Also, I neglect recovery as it is, I'm sure my body would kick me in the face if I ran it through CFSB! But, I do think Rippetoe's stuff is awesome, so I might check that out. Just, and I'm sure you've gathered this, I'm a bit unsure of how successful SS would be with my current diet. My primary concern is losing weight, after all, with a very close secondary concern of gaining, or at the very least maintaining strength.

Matt, thanks again for your advice. As of today, I've kept my food logged and will probably start out an SS cycle soon enough just to see if it's something viable while cutting.

TJ

PS: To your "You can get stronger without getting huge" comment. I saw a kid at the gym yesterday who probably weighed not more than 140 lbs churn out 10 dips with 135 lbs (almost his body weight!!) belted to his waist. It blew my MIND.