Body: 181lbs, 5'11" (18.9% BF)

Exercise: Push/Pull/Legs routine from this site:

Mon - Push

Tues - Commute Cycling (30-31min 8.5mi avg 15-16mph each way) + HIIT Circuit A

Wed - Commute Cycling + Pull

Thur - Commute Cycling + HIIT Circuit B

Fri - Legs

Sat/Sun - Rest Day

I use an Apple Watch 2 to keep track of my activity, and on Rest Days I burn 400 active calories. Each leg of the cycling commute is 350-400 active calories, so 700ish per day cycling. Gym routines burn 400-500 active cal over 90 minutes, and HIIT circuits burn 175-200cal. I've been losing 1-2 lbs per week while eating 1800 cal per day plus whatever I burn in exercise. Example Wednesday 1800 + 700 (cycling) + 450 (pull) = 2950 calories. The macros I aim for is 150g Protein, 90g Fat, and the rest in Carbs to keep up with workouts but still in a caloric deficit. *Note the watch gives me two calorie statistics (total and active. Active is always lower as it only tracks your HR for caloric burn when it feels like you're doing 'vigorous activity'... senses motion through it's accelerometer. In other words it doesn't count my HR when I'm at stop lights or in longer rest periods).

My issue is I identify as skiny fat. I can cardio at 150+bpm for hours, but I'm definitely a beginner lifter still despite years in the gym because I've always lifted while in a caloric deficit. When I have dropped down to 168lbs (15% BF), you can see my ribs and cheekbones, but I still have stubborn fat pockets on my chest and around my hips, and I get constant comments on how gaunt and unhealthy I look despite the obvious fat if I took my shirt off. So looking at the Skinny Fat video I'm taking it that I need to eat for lean gaining in order to work for Body Recomposition. The reason I always stay in higher BF%s is because unless I"m watching my macros like I am now, I would drink excessively (not drinking currently to help with meal plan and routine effectiveness) and eat 2 pizzas to cover a 2 hour bike ride, so eating all my burned calories back plus some.

My only caveat is I don't want to give up cycling. It is my zen moment for the day despite almost being hit all the time (like 3 times last week alone). Having the sensation of pure speed through my own strength and rushing by stopped traffic and keeping up with cars on backroads on my fixed gear is too much of my happiness to give up. And I like doing HIIT with it to keep my body loose and ready for the next lift day.

First thing's first.. I see you are getting 150g protein.. I'd like to see you increase that to probably at least 200g. You want at least 1g protein per pound of lean body weight while bulking.. when cutting it's better to be around 1.2g-1.5g protein per pound of lean body weight. If you go up to 200g then you'll be at about 1.3-1.4g per pound of lean body weight.

Increasing protein will help you therefore lower your carb intake, and that should help with fat loss. Also, try minimzing junk food and drinking. Just because you do 2 hours of cycling doesn't mean you need a pizza, you know? Like.. it's OK in moderation.. but you can easily eat those calories back with some nuts, avocado or peanut butter for healthy fats, and some chicken, fish, lean turkey for protein, rice or sweet potatoes for carbs.. you could have a good meal instead of a pizza, for example.

Nothing wrong with doing your cycling and HIIT. I'd say it will mostly be about your diet, and then maybe you could add one day of HIIT during the weekends - either circuit C or D, or just 15-20 minutes of some kind of cardio where you work hard for 1 minute, then do slow active recovery for 1 minute and repeat.

If you increase protein to 200g, what would that make your macros look like now if you were to hit say 3000 calories daily? By my count it would be 200g Protein, 90g Fat and just under 350g carbs. So you might even be better increasing fats so you can drop carbs into the 200s. Maybe try these numbers...

Protein: 220g (1.5g per pound of lean bodyweight)

Carbs: 280g

Fat: 110g

Total Calories = 2990

Thoughts?

Sounds great to me and should be as easy as adding a few more ounces of chicken to lunch and a touch bigger meat portion at dinner. Already doing a scoop of Syntha 6 Edge and a Syntha 6 Bar to help pre and post workout.

Definitely not drinking for a while and laying off the junk food. The higher fats means I can enjoy a bit more natural peanut butter and not worry so much about how much olive oil I use to cook my morning eggs or can have an extra half cup of fairlife milk with my cereal.

Should I always eat for 3000 cal or just on workout days?

Thx Scott!

Exactly man! If you're not already you could even add something like Greek yoghurt as a snack to help with protein.

Because you're trying to shed a bit of fat.. you could reduce carbs further on non-workout days. Maybe drop them to like 200g-250g but keep everything else the same. If you burn on average 400 calories for a workout, then even if you go all the way down to 200g carbs on off days that will take away 320 calories. That way you'll stay in a surplus but you won't need as much food on the day's you're not active.

Just still try to stay in a 250-500 calories surplus on non-workout days.