Firstly, you can't turn muscle into fat or anything like that. The two things are seperate. You build muscle and burn fat, two different processes.

If you're in a caloric surplus (bulking) then you'll be building muscle and if you're in a caloric defecit (cutting) then you'll be burning fat and and likely losing some muscle.

Toning up as you call it, is all to do with the amount of fat that someone is carrying. So if you're carrying almost no fat then you'll looked shredded no matter how much muscle you've got.

Honestly, you'll probably have a better idea of what you should do than us. If you think you're carrying enough muscle to the point where if you lost weight then you wouldn't look terrible then you could just focus on just losing weight.

At 6'3 250, you're pretty much forced to cut though because bulking up would put you at a very high weight, so I'd probably do a three or four month cut down to about 10% bodyfat then work on bulking from there and just fluxuate between 10-20% bodyfat with cutting and bulking until you've built a decent physique.

I highly doubt that there will be any muscle memory after not working out for two to three years though, so you'll probably be back to square one again in terms of strength. And if you're trying to lose weight then there's no point in lifting weights, since it's impossible to gain muscle while cutting.

To summarise, if I was you then I'd do a 3-4 month cut until you're at a pretty low bodyfat percentage (10-14% area) and then work on bulking and gaining muscle after that.

I don't know what to advise with your back since I don't know the injury and I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough with injuries to give worthy advice on it. But I do know that if you cut down to a lower weight then your back wouldn't be carrying as much weight, hence it would be under less strain.

Supplements don't really help much at all. Besides creatine and plain whey protein, they're basically all scams. Anything that's seriously going to change your body (steroids for example) are going to have negatives aswell as positives. I wouldn't recommend going down that route though lol.

Just purchase a tub of plain whey protein and a tub of creatine and you're good to go. Make sure you're drinking a lot of water if you're going to start creatine though, apparently it can cause kidney damage if you're not hydrated enough.

I could talk about dieting aswell but I think this post would be twice aslong, if you need any help with that too then I'd be happy to help.

Good luck though man,

Nudies wrote

Hey!

I think it is great that you want to get back into that routine and make a change in your body. I personally would go see a doctor first and ask if your body has recovered enough to start to workout. If the doctor gives you the go ahead then you're golden!

Doing high intensity cardio with help burn calories and help you lose body fat. Not too sure if swimming falls under that, but swimming does hurt! Watching what you eat makes a huge different also. Eating whole foods is a lot better than eating McDonalds and fast food (obviously).

I would for sure invest some time into looking at different supplements online and maybe just going into a GNC and asking an employee what they would recommend. I would suggest getting aminos since BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) are the building blocks for protein which builds muscle. You could also look at cycling on a pre workout if you would like more energy at the start of your workout. Creatine helps rebuild your muscles faster so you could train them more often which will lead to gaining muscle faster. Finally, you could look at fat burners or "cutting" pills to help burn fat faster and to kick start your metabolism.

Everyone will have different opinions on this and what you should do. I definitely don't know everything about working out/training, but everything I said is what has helped me get to where I am at. A nutritionist is always a good option to explore if you're serious about getting on track with a good diet/meal plan.

Good luck with the journey of getting back into fitness! Maybe give us an updated post a couple months down the road on how everything is going for you!

Yes, thanks for the awesome posts, I've already started cutting on how much i eat, and what I eat. I've also started making breakfast everyday, eggs and wheat toast. I never used to eat breakfast.

I was just looking into getting some link to some gnc products so that I can go in with a second opinion, I used to drink phase 8 protein drink, with creatine pills, and also a Mega man vitamins pack. But swimming can be hard cardio if you make it hard cardio. I used to be a decent swimmer so I can use sets from my old coach and tune then down a tiny bit and work to being able to do the whole workouts again. But if anyone could send me links to suggested supplements it would be much appreciated.

Motivational wrote Firstly, you can't turn muscle into fat or anything like that. The two things are seperate. You build muscle and burn fat, two different processes.

If you're in a caloric surplus (bulking) then you'll be building muscle and if you're in a caloric defecit (cutting) then you'll be burning fat and and likely losing some muscle.

Toning up as you call it, is all to do with the amount of fat that someone is carrying. So if you're carrying almost no fat then you'll looked shredded no matter how much muscle you've got.

Honestly, you'll probably have a better idea of what you should do than us. If you think you're carrying enough muscle to the point where if you lost weight then you wouldn't look terrible then you could just focus on just losing weight.

At 6'3 250, you're pretty much forced to cut though because bulking up would put you at a very high weight, so I'd probably do a three or four month cut down to about 10% bodyfat then work on bulking from there and just fluxuate between 10-20% bodyfat with cutting and bulking until you've built a decent physique.

I highly doubt that there will be any muscle memory after not working out for two to three years though, so you'll probably be back to square one again in terms of strength. And if you're trying to lose weight then there's no point in lifting weights, since it's impossible to gain muscle while cutting.

To summarise, if I was you then I'd do a 3-4 month cut until you're at a pretty low bodyfat percentage (10-14% area) and then work on bulking and gaining muscle after that.

I don't know what to advise with your back since I don't know the injury and I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough with injuries to give worthy advice on it. But I do know that if you cut down to a lower weight then your back wouldn't be carrying as much weight, hence it would be under less strain.

Supplements don't really help much at all. Besides creatine and plain whey protein, they're basically all scams. Anything that's seriously going to change your body (steroids for example) are going to have negatives aswell as positives. I wouldn't recommend going down that route though lol.

Just purchase a tub of plain whey protein and a tub of creatine and you're good to go. Make sure you're drinking a lot of water if you're going to start creatine though, apparently it can cause kidney damage if you're not hydrated enough.

I could talk about dieting aswell but I think this post would be twice aslong, if you need any help with that too then I'd be happy to help.

Good luck though man,

Im more of trying to cut my fat and get my muscle back. I wanna feel strong again but I also wanna be toned i know it's going to take a long time but I gotta starry some where and i have

I'm not an expert when it comes to building muscle/losing weight/etc but I'd recommend losing some of the weight first and then once you're in shape start using supplements after you work out. Good luck though.