i want to lose weight and get big, what protein to use etc

[deeseenz]

Hey Guys,

I'm 20 and was wondering if you could help me with diet advice and what protein shakes to use.

The main goal for me is losing weight and gaining muscle. I know the main thing to lose weight is a diet and a good training plan too. but i was wondering if the horleys ripped protein shake is good for meal replacement. or would you reccomend a low carb diet.

Help would be greatly appreciated. sick of being a bit overweight.

Many Thanks

PS: any advice how to keep motivated?

[joey pineapples]

Don't waste your money on that, it's a value added product; they add fillers, a clever marketing plan and charge you more. If you really want whey; buy in bulk, with something like venom or those 20kg sacks from Davis trading. Instead of whey, I would spend the extra money on good quality food like lean beef, chicken/turkey breast and fresh veg. You will bulk by adding calories and cut by taking them away, so there is a small window where you can do both. It most probably comes down to your hormones, at your age it should be fairly straight forward. I think it would be better to bulk first and then cut, but that's just an opinion.

[muscle99]

Hi mate,

Begin with finding out what the macro nutrient breakdown & calorie count of all the foods you eat is. Next, find out how many calories you use per day. Maintain a 500cal deficit everyday & the fat will reduce. For each 2kg you drop, re calculate your numbers. You only need about 1g of protein per pound of body weight per day with about 20% of your diet fat & the rest complex carbs.

[Username]

You will bulk by adding calories and cut by taking them away, so there is a small window where you can do both

^ This - quite an important concept that most new people don't realise, i certainly didn't realise it early on. It's best to pick a goal i.e. loose fat or gain muscle. If you focus on one and then the next you get to where you want a lot faster.

Whether you decide to focus on loosing weight or gaining muscle some things to think about are:

- Working out how many calories you are consuming and and reducing that to 500cal below what you use

- Finding new foods / meals more appropriate for your diet i.e. if loosing weight look at more vegetables / salads / soups as they are low calorie and some protein as well, if gaining muscle look at high protein / high-moderate carb foods like eggs, oats, chicken, tuna

- Good food is a better source of nutrition than protein powder, protein powder is what people use for convenience purposes as it becomes hard when you want to gain muscle and need to have 6-7 meals per day

This is has some good basic advice for beginners:

http://www.nzbodybuilding.co.nz/content.php?id=163

[deeseenz]

Thank you all for your advice!

much appreciated!