nned help, my brothers/sisters

[PMvegan]

Hello all. Haven't been on in a while, but I need to solicit some advice. This might be a longish post, but if you can read it through and give me some feedback it would be much appreciated! I've been working out for over a year, made some good gains. In December of 2008, for a few reasons, I started drinking heavily (heavily being the key word) and lost a lot of strength/gained fat. I slowly got back into working out late February and have gotten back to maybe 80% of where I was. I'm 6'2" and 208 lbs. The problem is, I need to LOSE FAT. I'd estimate my bodyfat is no lower than 17% and maybe even higher. I want to keep building muscle but to do this while losing fat is difficult. But if possible I'd like to accomplish both as nearly as I can. Here are some options, as I see them:

1) Go on a program geared toward fat loss, i.e. fasted morning cardio and maintenance weight training later in the day. Go on fat-loss diet. Use healthy fat burners like flax oil and yerba mate.

2) Weight train intensively. Eat clean but enough to gain strength/size. moderate fat loss may be accomplished

3) Try to do both 1 and 2: do fasted morning cardio, then weight train later in the day. eat clean. try to gain muscle/lose fat.

 

Which one of the above would be best? Also, what are some good weight training programs? Obviously there are lots of opinions, but my friend is singin the praises of German Volume Training. seems like overkill to me, but who knows.

 

The thing is, I'm not blessed with good fat setpoint genetics. Even when I exercise a lot/eat well, my bodyfat is still higher than I would like it. It frustrates me that some guys can drink dozens of beers and eat fast food, and still have a six pack.

 

Any advice you can offer would be appreciated.

[Richard]

Not that I am an expert, and things will work differently from person to person, but I'd recommend just aiming for muscle development, and the fat will go in the process, just try to avoid eating large amounts of fat and keep the calories at a sensible level so you aren't eating too much / excess to your requirements. You will burn more calories the more muscle you have, as far as I know, and the process of lifting the weights burns calories itself, there is some cardiovascular benefit in weight lifting