Stubborn midsection fat!!!

[Mystic79]

Okay, so my dieting is going fairly well. I've consistency changed my diet and have incorporated cardio around 4-5 times a week.

I've lost about 12lbs and I feel and look leaner, however the fat around the waist (love handles especially) is SO hard to get rid of. I already feel like a bean pole sometimes, but I want to lose all that fat so I can have a v-taper, since my back is the strong point in my physique. I have a feeling if I keep losing fat I'll be 130lbs! Oh well, as long as I keep my strength up I'll be happy. That means my lbs for lbs strength will be good.

Anyways, does anyone else have problems with losing fat in the midsection? I am not trying to spot reduce (I know it's not possible anyways), but I really want this fat to go away. If I keep losing fat will it eventually get this way, or am I forever plagued with this?

[Tim Wescott]

Mystic,That`s usually the last fat on the body to go on men but you can get rid of it.

Here`s a few suggestions:

Don`t cheat
Lower calories
Increase cardio
Drink more water, to excrete more water
Cut out bread,dairy,and fruit, if eating any
Train 6 days a week to burn more calories(one bodypart a day)
Eat carbs early in the day, and at post-workout meal only
Go zero carbs for 3 days only
Train faster, with less rest between sets, for more of an aerobically intense workout, and to increase overall training intensity
Eat more protein and less fats, until you drop the desired weight/fat

I think it was you who said they are eating no carbs,if so I think you would be far better off cycling carbs as you need then for repair and replenishment as well as energy.

It would be a lot easier to help you out if you could post a typical day`s eating schedule.

This way I can give better and more precise input ,hopefully.Also what are you doing for cardio?

Thanks!!

[Mystic79]

Tim,

Great advice! What you say makes alot of sense. Right now I AM still having a cheat meal a week (must eliminate this to ZERO cheat meals). I'm drinking slightly over a gallon of water a day. I should bump this up to 1.5 or 2 gallons. As for cardio I do it 4-5 times a week which is usually a brisk walk/jog for a little over 3 miles. (45 mins/session). I've been doing the cycling mainly to have energy to study and workout. However, I'm a bit scared of eliminating carbs because I"m afraid I won't have energy to workout, especailly if I were to train 6 days a week. However, if I do higher reps and not focus so much on how MUCH perhaps I'll be alright.

It's hard to post my diet because every day it's different. I will for example give you a sample of what I did Weds;

Meal 1
1/2 plain yogart
1 protein shake


Meal 2
2 meatballs with sauce
mixed veggies

Meal 3
can of tuna
cup of Earl Grey tea

Meal 4
chicken curry
mixed veggies

Meal 5
can of tuna

meal 6
1 protein shake

This is a typical diet day for when I do the weights, on off days it's about the same except NO yogart in the morning w/ my shake.

[Tim Wescott]

Mystic, you are in dire need of complex carbs in my opinion.You should be eating the majority of your carbs at post-workout and early in the day.
You also need to increase protein big time.

You should re-group and get a diet and training journal going and record all your meals and anything else you eat on a daily basis.

Here`s how you should be eating to lose fat and gain muscle.This is just coming from my own personal experience here and nothing is carved in stone but I KNOW this would better help you achieve your goals.

Meal-1) 10 egg whites
1/2 cup of oatmeal (no milk)
water

Meal-2) 1 can tuna
salad with fat-free,low-sugar dressing
1 med. baked potato
water

Meal-3) 8oz. skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup Success brown rice
1 cup of veggies
water

Meal-4) 1 can tuna
salad (same as above)
water

Meal-5) 8oz.skinless chicken breast
water

Meal-6) Whey protein drink with 2 tbsp.olive oil to slow digestion while sleeping for slow protein absorption

You see you now have complex starchy carbs which burn slower and longer for energy use though they are not high by any means.

Protein is also way higher to help you retain muscle size while dieting.
Protein builds muscle so eat more to keep more when losing bodyfat.

Water at every meal and also througout the day.

2 gallons if you can do it.

Carbs are eaten early then decreased as the day goes on and activity level is lessened.

Check out my article on carb cycling which is pinned at the top of this section.

You`re right about training too.The muscles have no idea what numbers you are lifting and the word heavy is a relative term when it comes to training .

Heavy for 5 reps is heavy,heavy for 10-12 reps is still heavy as long as you are working hard to get those reps.

By no means should you train with wussy weight but low reps constantly is more like powerllifting and too often can lead to joint problems or injuries.

Cycle your training with heavy weeks followed by lighter weeks for best results.

I hope some of these suggestions help you out.

[Mystic79]

Tim,

Thanks for the diet. One thing I'm baffled about is why I need complex carbs? I mean, I am trying to lose fat and retain muscle, not gain muscle. Also how can I gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time? Isn't that an oxymoron? In order to lose weight must be in a calorie deficit and in order to gain muscle you must intake more than you expend, right?

Basically before I start bulking again and adding LBM I want to strip the fat I have now. Hence the reason to cut out so many carbs, (ALL simple), and some occasional complex.

Another observation, but that diet you gave looks to be an awful lot of calories. Keep in mind I am just a little over 150lbs, so I'm not a big guy.

About the training I agree, though, I will do the 1 body part/day and take shorter breaks in order to make it more "Cardio based" rather than strength/maxing out based.

As for the higher protein intake, if I were to get more protein I'd probably be eating more meat products which in turn would mean more calories. The main reason I stuck with my last plan is because I wasn't losing strength, but I was losing weight.

Again I am not trying to fight, just trying to understand. You know 100x's more than I do, so I take your advice very seriously. I will up the cardio, try the 6 day a week weight thing and incorporate more complex carbs and see what happens. That particular diet may work for me, I just want to understand the rationale as to why to eat carbs when losing weight.

Thx!

[Tim Wescott]

Mystic, There are more calories, but even for a guy weighing 150 pounds, it`s probably only a little over 2000 cals.
Your diet is way too low in both cals and protein.

You should be getting at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight as a minimum amount while training hard and especially while dieting.

You can also gain muscle while losing fat though it isn`t the easiest thing in the world to do.

This is accomplished by keeping protein intake high.Worse case scenario would probably be that you retained the muscle you have which is not a bad thing as the more muscle you buid the more calories you will burn even while at rest.

The complex carbs are only 4 calories per gram just like protein is,fat has 9 calories per gram so it`s not high either especially since the portions are not large at all.

You need more food to keep your metabolism moving and to build and retain size.

You lost weight because your calories were extremely low,too low in my opinion.

I really don`t know how you had enough energy to train without the complex carbs in your diet.They are not essential to the body but definately supply energy and they make dieting a lot easier.

The carbs are also eaten early so they are utilized better and not stored as fat.Just about all the carbs you take in after training will be used very efficiently by the body,if you take in around 50 grams or less not more though especially for a guy your size.

This is the way top bodybuilders diet and they lose fat and keep or gain muscle.
It work`s .

You can tweak it to your own needs but I do think it`s a better plan in the long run.

You might also want to look into HIIT cardio.

Whatever you decide ,good luck to you.

[Mystic79]

Tim,

I will take you up on that and try your diet you suggest and follow it to the T. Some questions...

- for the 1/2 cup oatmeal in the morning, will Quaker instant oats be okay? Do I just put it in warm water and heat it up, or should I add anything?

- I'm assuming the baked potato will be eaten plain, save for some salt and better, and maybe some garlic?

I'm a bit leary of all the carbs but... I am willing to give it a shot, I have nothing to lose. Last thing I want to happen is have my hard-earned muscle get eaten away at. Now I see with the oatmeal and baked potato I'll have ample energy for my weight workouts.

I've been discouraged a few times, and was close to just say "screw it" and start up my bulking cycling. However, I said to myself that I wanted to get a 6 pack, and I feel I MUST do everything in my power to get that far. As I said before, it may mean getting down to 135lbs, but my strength to weight ratio will be good, PLUS I will look and feel alot better. I'm sick of tired of having to lug around this BF.

[Tim Wescott]

Mystic, I`m glad that you are open to the suggestions and I really think you`ll be surprised with the outcome.

I truly beleive you will put on some size with this while losing the fat.

You answered your own question about the oatmeal,but you can add sugar-free maple syrup or cinnamon for taste.

As far as the potato goes you can bake it imn a microwave to save time by making slits in it with a knife andcooking for 6-8 minutes depending onthe size of the potato.
Skip the butter from here on in ,it dopes nothing good to promote fat oss or muscle building.

Cook in Pam cooking spray and try to eat your meals every 3 hours or so if possible.

Keep me posted as to your progress,I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck!!

[Maximum6]

don't use instant oatmeal. Eat plain old fashioned oatmeal. Instant won't do you any good...i believe it has added sugar and flavor ...and stuff. Eat plain Old Fashioned oatmeal.


And if you're going to have potatoes..i think you should go for Sweet potatoes..i believe they are overall better...taste, GI level, and i think it is not as starchy as potatoes. Other than that use Brown Rice..it is best in my oppinion.

[Mystic79]

Tim,

I went out to the grocery store and got everything I need. Monday I will start to impliment this diet and workout plan. Should I eat this same plan every day for a couple weeks? Or should I cycle the carbs (i.e. more one day, less the other) periodically?

[Tim Wescott]

Mystic you can mix and match meals but try to stay pretty close to the foods that I recommended as they are the best you can eat for gains and fat loss.

I mean you could substitute chicken brests in place of tuna or vice versa but eat all your carbs fairly early and eat approximately every 3 hours.I think you`ll add muscle while losing fat because the eating is so regimented if you follow it to the letter.Here`s a thing I wrote upo that explains how I cycle carbs ,If you have any questions about anything written in it I will be glad to try to answer them.

Carb Cycling
by Tim Wescott

I use this dieting strategy while training for contests with great results.I recommend it to anyone who is looking to lose excess bodyfat.That includes just about all of us here!

I think carb-cycling is the best way to drop bodyfat while still maintaining a decent energy level.I would advocate doing 3 low carb days followed by two slightly higher days.

A good starting point is to use 1-1.5 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight as your highest carb intake day of the week.So if a person weighed 200 pounds they would ingest 200 grams of carbs on their highest carb day!

Here is the way that I break it down when I`m trying to lean out and drop excess bodyfat.

Day-1)150 gms.
Dat-2)100 gms.
Day-3) 50 gms.
Day-4)125 gms.
Day-5)200 gms.

I just keep repeating this cycle as I go along through my diet.Of course your nutrition should be spot -on and you should eat "clean" foods only!!

Keeping protein high while carb-cycling is imperative, as this will help to ensure that you retain hard-earned muscle tissue.I would also recommend 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight for most people.

Some people like to arrange this cycle so that their higher carb days fall on the days of their most demanding workout.This is fine, but I do not think it`s necessary.Lower carbs, on a hard training day, will ensure that you deplete glucose and glycogen stores, thus burning fat as fuel.
For best results, do not go below 50 grams of carbs.The whole idea is to keep them low throughout the entire diet. The only exception to this rule is if you hit a fat burning plateau.
When this happens ,as it eventually will ,drop to zero carbs for three days, to kind of jumpstart the metabolism again.
The body does not want to lose weight .We are trying to force it to go against it`s own will so to speak.It will eventually adjust to this plan, or any other diet over time, and then you have to get the metabolism back into fat burning mode to combat the body`s resistance.
Zero carbs for 3 days accomplishes this task quite well.Do not stay at zero carbs for any longer than the recommended 3 days.

You burn fat very efficiently on the lower carb days, while still having enough energy to train,and on the higher carb days, you are replenishing glucose and glycogen stores for repair and fuel storage, for future training sessions.

[Mystic79]

Tim,

I'll stick to the letter as far as the diet/routine goes. I think for the next 2 weeks I'll eat exactly what you proposed above. Then once I lose more fat and want to get even leaner I will cycle the carbs.

Of course, on top of that I'll be workout out 6 times a week so that should kick start my metabolism even more for fat loss.

I will keep you posted. I start this routine/diet on Monday.

[Tim Wescott]

Sounds good Mystic, good luck on it and train hard!!

[Mystic79]

Thanks Tim, I think I'll do well on this. One last question, for those 10 egg whites in the morning, would it be okay to add 1 yolk because I usually scramble the eggs and it turns out better with a yolk. Also I'm going to add NO carb ketchup (>1g of carbs, and NO sugars added).

[Tim Wescott]

One or two yolks is fine to do.

A very minor calorie increase coming from the fat in the yolk .No biggie at all.

[cakeater]

just wanted to throw in my 2 cents even though I am no expert....complex carbs are almost as important as protein...without them you will not have as much energy, not recover as well and your muscles will look flat...just do what tim says...I actually like plain oatmeal and sometimes add a little splenda for flavor...but hey do not be scared to flavor your foods and eat a little fat. Ronnie is mister olympia and he adds cheese to his grits and eggs for flavor...that was offseason but he still is very lean...also change your diet often so you do not get sick of it..it really depends how strict you are and what you can afford. do not be scared to try new things.
Cake

[Tim Wescott]

Damn good advice Cake!!

[Mystic79]

Great advice! BTW, today was my first day on the new diet and I absolutely loved it! I cooked my grilled chicken with garlic, italian dressing and dipped it in dijon mustard. The salads were great as well, and helped to mitigate the fishy taste of the tuna.

Problem was I couldn't squeeze that final protein shake in. It's only 22g of protein, but tomorrow I'm goign to wake up earlier to get all my nutrients in.

Workout went great, by the way, I mentioned to Tim in a previous thread that I was able to "invent" a new way to do calf raises w/ the o-bar.

[Maximum6]

if losing fat is priority...try to eliminate all kinds of sauses..which includes Salad Dressing , Marinades, and any flavor enhancers besides herbs and spices such as garlic. Black Pepper and Curry Powder..(not paste) is your best friend.

[Mystic79]

Maximum,

What are you talking about? I got the diet from Tim and he said that having fat-free/no-sugar dressing was okay with ok. The dressing I use has no sugars or anything, and the dijon mustard doesn't even have any calories.