Caloric intake needs as I turn 40

Nutrition Discussion
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So here’s the skinny I’m 40 (in 2 weeks) weigh 205 and have a waist circumference of 38 inch measured the way Jordan showed on a blog. My nutrition is measured and weighed single ingredient foods cooked together for meals. No processed or junk except for one meal a week we go out for dinner. I’m starting my NLP from SS. I have couple of macro ranges I’m looking at doing to help with strength #1 and getting some fat off #2. Just looking for yalls input in what would be the best range for my goals starting out

  1. 200p 259c 72f

2551 200p 287c 79f
2963. 200p 333c 92f

I realize that the first 2 dont match calorie and macro wise. I added 50g protien to both in bbn protien shake to get 200.

thanks. Coffeeman.

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I am 40. It makes no difference as to what to do. Just like getting married. One day I wasn’t, the next I was. No difference in how I lived my life. :smile: (Not the same with kids; those little buggers… Still love them and would not have it any other way.)

If you want to build strength (requirement #1) and get some fat off (requirement #2), you can do so if the caloric deficit from your maintenance is mild. If you aim for #2 more aggressively, #1 will be impacted. There are more detailed posts around the place here at BBM, but basically you can gain strength on a caloric deficit as there are neural pathways which improve in your actual lifts. If completely untrained there is more headroom for strength accumulation. There will come a soft ceiling where the neural adaptation is overridden by the lack of muscle mass and the only way to gain strength is to gain muscle (together with continuing neural adaptation, but as with everything there are diminishing returns the more advanced one gets).

The best way would be to find your maintenance calories, sit there for 2 weeks, then adjust down by say 250 calories (arbitrary, could be 200 could be 300). Stay there and if you are losing bodyfat, #2 is happening and if you are gaining strength #1 is happening at the same time. WIN! When bodyfat loss stalls (could be after 2 weeks, could be 6 weeks, could be longer or shorter, it depends), then cut another 250 calories and see if both #1 and #2 continue. Rinse and repeat. There will come a point where both #1 and #2 will stall. At that point you will need to decide is #1 more important or #2. If #1, then calories will need to come up. I recommend doing it the reverse of losing bodyfat, the so called reverse dieting approach, 250 calories at a time. If #2, then changing programming will be needed (actually it will probably be needed in both circumstances, and continue the gradual calorie cutting.

As for SS NLP, I did a modified version (less squatting and more deadlifting; happy to provide the breakdown if you want). You can do it or you can do The Bridge as I know Jordan has mentioned as his standard recommendation a few times for novices of late. Either way, you will probably only do the SS NLP for about 6 to 8 weeks. So it is only 2 months of your life. I can recommend not to listen to SS that the only way to get stronger is through a fork. Total bulldust.

Of course, the above is more nuanced that what I have laid out. Programming will have a bit to do with strength accumulation, thus the BBM templates and BBM type training.

I know this has not answered your question of which of the three caloric intakes is best for you. That is because I don’t know. You have to start somewhere. The keys in order of importance are: 1. caloric balance (energy in - energy out)
2. protein intake (200g is about right for a 205lbs male)
3. …
4. the rest (including carbs v fat amounts for the remaining calorie sources)… The above make fat loss, in my piddling opinion, less nuanced as it is. Number 1 in the list is the inviolate law of thermodynamics and number 2 is the protein required to maintain or gain muscle, and then the rest make up a lesser impact on the total fat loss (or muscle gain) equation. The caloric calculator I like to use is the Muller equation as it is quite recent, takes into account prior research, also takes into account age and bodyfat (approx). https://tdeecalculator.net/. I would ignore the fat loss / muscle gain calories further down the page. The incremental approach I suggest I feel is better and will individualise your caloric intake for your body and your training at that specific point in time.

Hope that helps.

3 Likes
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That helps alot. I appreciate the detailed explanation. I believe I will start with the higher calories at first. Then every 2 weeks get on a scale and waist measure myself. If I see 1 & 2 doing what I want stay there if not then I will bump down the 250 like you recommend until things dont do what I need it to do. Also if you can i would love to see your modified LP you did. Also why did you scale back squats and up your deadlifts on your Modded LNP?

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Regarding the scale measurement, I do it every day and watch the trend. This is due to things like water weight fluctuating day to day. For some that is too often and twice a week seems to work well. This is to iron out any outliers, which would not be caught with weekly or fortnightly weighing. So weigh yourself at least twice a week or up to every day and watch the trend (say the 5 or the 7 day average).

Because fuck squatting being the “holy grail” of every fucking exercise or movement evar (sorry for the rant). SS seems to produce squatters and that is it. Deadlift stalls as it is not trained enough, and press and bench press never move for many due to, surprise surprise, lack of volume. The SS model is, ironically enough, the perfect evidence for volume producing progress. The squat progresses, and almost nothing else. Thus the eat through sticking points, which is rubbish. Yeah, I feel strongly as I got fat doing it (or what I think of as fat).

Ted’s NLP:

Day 1
Squat 3 sets x 5 reps
Bench 3x5
Barbell rows (pendlay style) 3x8

Day 2
Deadlift 3x5
Press 3x5
Chin Ups (palms toward you) 3x whatever reps you can do

Training frequency and volume is equal across all movements. I will note that I did 1x5 for deadlifts when I did my version as I didn’t know any better. Now having trained BBM style for a bit, I can tell you that deadlifts are not as taxing as SS would lead you to believe, especially when paired with a substantially less taxing movement as presses. I left 5 minutes between working sets to eek out as much weight as possible, but no longer (none of this 7 minutes or 10 minutes crap).

Once bench and press stall, you can use the BBM plugin. In reality I would just move on to The Bridge. You will get better results, particularly on the upper body movements.

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Hot damn your a god send. I really like your LP and will be doing this come Monday. I planned on doing Bridge after I was done. When do you know to switch? Where as bench and press will stall faster than the other 2. Or is it something you’ll just know when to move on.

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Re: Daily weighing. Some people freak out over the variability, but if you track your weight for a while with daily measurements you’ll see that ‘large’ fluctuations up or down are fleeting and not worth panicking over.

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No worries @Coffeeman

You know, when you know. You know? Kidding. But not really.

You could define a stall as two or three workouts in a row where the weights don’t go up. Say one Day 1 session you bench 80kgs for 3x5, then next training Day 1 session you get 1x4 at 82.5kgs and 2x5 at 80kgs (in my version you can drop the weight a bit). Then the following session you get 1x4 at 82.5kgs (as you go again at the increased weight) and 2x4 at 80kgs. That is a full blown stall. SS would say strip 10% off the training weight (i.e. 72.5kgs work weight) and start loading again. I say just move on to The Bridge.

Usually the bench and the press will stall faster than the squat and the deadlift. Simply because they use less muscles to move the weight. That is the reason for the existence of the BBM press and bench plugin, to increase the volume for those two lifts to get progress moving again. I say, again, just move to The Bridge.

The reason I say you know, when you know, is that RPE sorta takes this all into account. Extra tough week at work? RPE allows weight adjustments, likely down. Tough week with little sleep with one of the kiddos sick? RPE allows weight adjustments, likely down. Good sleep, cruising through work, loving wife, and family stuff all good? RPE allows weight adjustments; yes, that means up higher than planned. A little thing you could do is practice RPE measurement of your lifts on the TDLP (see what I did there? ;)). Read The Bridge ebook about the RPE scale and then assess your performance on the TDLP. Of course, do the lifts increasing 2.5kgs or whatever each week, but assess your RPEs for each working set. You will find some days it may feel like RPE @8, and some @9 and sometimes @10 depending on your physical and mental state that particular day. Jot it down per working set and when you come to The Bridge you may be in a better place than most as you will have practiced RPE assessment a bit more than most.

Post The Bridge 1, there are a few posts about here on these forums as to what to do. I have spouted my thoughts here and there, but peeps like @PWard and others have their thoughts about the place too.

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I’m 46 and also weigh 205 with a 37.5-38" waist. I’ve been training for two years. I didn’t measure my food when I started SSLP two years ago. At that time I was 185lbs and over 39" waist. In the first 8 months or so of training I gained 20 lbs and dropped 2" off my waist. I just concentrated on single-ingredient foods, moderate bread/starch intake and increased veggies. After 8 months, weight gain/loss became harder. I tried to eat my way to bigger strength and put some more girth back around my waist which is where I am now, around 38" or a bit more at times. I think that was foolish at my age. I’m cutting at the moment b/c I want to be leaner and fitter looking. I don’t personally care about maximizing strength though I do want that to increase going forward.

My opinion is that if you are doing SSLP you’ll gain muscle, so just eat such good quality foods and get your protein right. Eat less carbs than protein, and watch your fat intake. You’ll see dramatic changes those first 2-3 months. After that, things will likely slow way down when all the easy gains are gone. But keep it up and see what happens after 3-5 years.