How to shift annoying fat around th emid section.

[nero120]

Coming here for some advice as I don't really know where to go from here. First off, some facts about me. I've been working out for years and am very fit and healthy, I have fairly decent muscle size (compared to the average guy of my size - 5ft 6, and weigh 66kg). I have good nutrition, always cook fresh food, meats, fish, veg, fruits, etc. No sweets and no fizzy drinks. Average daily intake consists of:

Breakfast: Protein shake or porridge
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Tuna with light mayo on wholemeal bread
Snack: Cereal/fruits bar or carrot
Dinner: Grilled chicked/fish with salad
Evening: Sometimes a protein shake

I don't drink much, never in the week but sometimes at the weekend if I'm out with friends. I'm not a heavy drinker.

So, I reckon I'm a pretty healthy person food wise. The trouble is, I've always had an annoying band of fat around my mid section, so I don't have a visible six pack (gay I know) and it pushes my waist out. This is so annoying considering the rest of my body is pretty lean. A month ago I decided to blitz it at the gym, and try and shift it for good. So, my plan was to stick to my good diet and do two spin classes a day. I did this for four weeks, and what did I achieve? Nothing. I lost 1 measley kg and there was no visible difference to my waist line. If anything, that kg was lost muscle mass, not fat! I knew this would happen but I did expect to shift the fat as well, and in my mind that was a worthy compromise. So I averaged around 8 spin classes a week for 4 weeks, and I spin hard, no slacking around at all. After every class I was dead. My fitness is through the roof but this ****** fat won't die!

So, my question is, what the hell am I doing wrong?! Is it my diet? I can't see how I can cut down any more, I'm barely eating a lot as it is! My portions are not big.

Any decent advice would be massively appreciated, and apologies for the essay.

 

[icecold]

May sound weird, but post a side on picture.

It's probably not the entire story but I'm guessing you have some hip rotation and lumbar lordosis which is causing your belly to stick out.

Other than that your diet looks fairly clean. To be brutally strict I would cut out the cereal/fruit bar as they're mostly sugar. Although if your portions are small this could also create problems.

I think some intense cardio may help, so look into HIIT.

 

[kai]

Personally i would increase water intake this is key !!! while increasing your protein, this does not appear to be enough. You are should aim forhigher protein intake, moderate fat and moderate complex carbohydrates.

Fat is good dont be shy (almonds, uds choice etc will aid this process)

might be worth looking at drinking green tea and performing HiiT x3 a week.

 

[nero120]

But surely more protein would just lead to it being stored as fat as my body doesn't need it.

Plus I don't think it is physically possible to do more cardio. Have you ever tried doing 8 spin classes in one week?

 

[icecold]

Sorry, didn't read the bit with the spin classes.

Maybe try a complete diet revamp. Something like IF or slow carbing.

What's your exact gym routine?

 

[platypus]

I've never figured it out, despite a good diet and insane levels of cardio work. If you find out, let me know .

 

[kai]

But surely more protein would just lead to it being stored as fat as my body doesn't need it.

Plus I don't think it is physically possible to do more cardio. Have you ever tried doing 8 spin classes in one week?

Too me this diet does not contain enough protein, however i dont know your weight, height etc.

You need to eat a high protein (low complex carbs) meal every 2/3 hours with aim for 6-8 meals a day.

Its not all about how much cardio you do - cardio will help yes; but not to the extent of 8 spin classes. HiiT three times to four times a week for 20 minutes should be suffice with a good diet....


Your Diet changes.

Breakfast: Protein shake or porridge - this is the most important meal! you need both e.g. Rolled Oats, Fruit Juice and Shake (Egg Whites are good also - scrammbled
Snack: Banana - almonds would be more sufficent
Morning Meal: - Steak and brown rice or Chicken and sweet potato
Lunch: Tuna NO MAYO on sweet potato ** add some vinegar, following meal a spoon of UDO Choice
Snack: Shake
Dinner: Grilled chicked/fish with salad and brown rice, spinach
Evening: ALWAYS a protein shake - a slow releaseing protein is ideal such as casein

 

[nero120]

Too me this diet does not contain enough protein, however i dont know your weight, height etc.

You need to eat a high protein (low complex carbs) meal every 2/3 hours with aim for 6-8 meals a day.

Its not all about how much cardio you do - cardio will help yes; but not to the extent of 8 spin classes. HiiT three times to four times a week for 20 minutes should be suffice with a good diet....


Your Diet changes.

Breakfast: Protein shake or porridge - this is the most important meal! you need both e.g. Rolled Oats, Fruit Juice and Shake (Egg Whites are good also - scrammbled
Snack: Banana - almonds would be more sufficent
Morning Meal: - Steak and brown rice or Chicken and sweet potato
Lunch: Tuna NO MAYO on sweet potato ** add some vinegar, following meal a spoon of UDO Choice
Snack: Shake
Dinner: Grilled chicked/fish with salad and brown rice, spinach
Evening: ALWAYS a protein shake - a slow releaseing protein is ideal such as casein

As I said in my OP, I'm 5ft 6 and weigh 66kg. That diet looks more like a bulking diet to me! 3 shakes a day plus 3 big meals and you expect to lose weight?! What do you do for a living, you must be some kind of bicycle courier!!

 

[icecold]

You don't need to eat 6-8 meals a day, even when bulking.

He is right though, potentially you do need to eat more protein.

Please post your gym routine, that might be where the problem is.

 

[kai]

As I said in my OP, I'm 5ft 6 and weigh 66kg. That diet looks more like a bulking diet to me! 3 shakes a day plus 3 big meals and you expect to lose weight?! What do you do for a living, you must be some kind of bicycle courier!!

That diet is NOT a bulking diet, 3 shakes a day is fine providing its something like Whey no high sugar content shakes. Plus with your 8 spin classes a week you need the substance!!! - prehaps you should take up a bike courier service!!!!!!

And yes i expect you to loose weight on a diet, qty was not specified but 100g of chicken and half cup rice is the sort of portions i would be looking to consume.

This was my cutting diet - which i achieved low bf %

7am 200g Oats (with water) and Phd Pharma Whey HT
10:30am 100g chicken & small sweet potato
1:00pm 100g chicken & small sweet potato
4:00pm PhD Synergy Iso 7 preWorkout
7:30pm PhD Synergy Iso 7
8:30pm 120g Turkey breast & half cup wholegrain rice
10:30pm Phd Pharma Whey HT

 

[nero120]

That diet is NOT a bulking diet, 3 shakes a day is fine providing its something like Whey no high sugar content shakes. Plus with your 8 spin classes a week you need the substance!!! - prehaps you should take up a bike courier service!!!!!!

Ha ha, I would probably die if I did on London roads. Okay, I'll add in more protein shakes, I use unflavoured whey protein shakes so that's not a problem.

And yes i expect you to loose weight on a diet, qty was not specified but 100g of chicken and half cup rice is the sort of portions i would be looking to consume.

This was my cutting diet - which i achieved low bf %

7am 200g Oats (with water) and Phd Pharma Whey HT
10:30am 100g chicken & small sweet potato
1:00pm 100g chicken & small sweet potato
4:00pm PhD Synergy Iso 7 preWorkout
7:30pm PhD Synergy Iso 7
8:30pm 120g Turkey breast & half cup wholegrain rice
10:30pm Phd Pharma Whey HT

Thanks for this, it's a good reference. Out of interest, what's your height/weight and how often did you train? Currently I'm only doing 2 weight routines a week to try and minimise muscle loss. For info, my weight routine (whilst I was doing lots of spin classes) is a combination of squats, pull ups, lat pull downs, seated shoulder press, bench press, cable cross overs and dumbell lateral raises.

 

[icecold]

What sets and reps were you doing?

Why are you only doing 2 days now?

 

[Rroff]

Don't eat a banna every day - shouldn't be more than 2-3 a week tops IIRC, likewise limit intake of tuna and other oily fish off the top of my head around 200grams a week tops or otherwise potentially can build up toxins and/or mercury.

Increase the amount of chicken and get some pasta in there IMO. kai's advice looks pretty solid to me, in the end its gonna be 2/3rds exercise and a 1/3rd diet to get the changes your looking for (again IMO).

You need to look at the way your body metabolises fat really rather than just go with a likely sounding diet and work against it this can include food consumption/patterns as well as exercise (which is where increasing water intake can help).

 

[kai]

Ha ha, I would probably die if I did on London roads. Okay, I'll add in more protein shakes, I use unflavoured whey protein shakes so that's not a problem.



Thanks for this, it's a good reference. Out of interest, what's your height/weight and how often did you train? Currently I'm only doing 2 weight routines a week to try and minimise muscle loss. For info, my weight routine (whilst I was doing lots of spin classes) is a combination of squats, pull ups, lat pull downs, seated shoulder press, bench press, cable cross overs and dumbell lateral raises.

Im 5ft 10 and im sitting around 67kg but just over month ago i was sitting at 64.6kg I was sitting in at around 76 kg before cutting at my heaviest. sitting around 10% b.f at the moment

I train 5/6 times a week so its pretty intense but i have set hard but achieveable personal goals. If i was you i would lower your cardio and maybe look at upping your weigh sessions to 3 times a week typical split with a rest day between.

HiiT is your freind 20 minutes & push yourself.... biggest advice i could give from personal experince is drink plenty of water through the day and keep to complex carbs; also dont be shy to have the odd cheat meal every once in a blue moon this actually helps metabolism

 

[nero120]

What sets and reps were you doing?

Why are you only doing 2 days now?

Because I'm concentrating on weight loss, not mass gain. And since I'm doing 2 spins a day, if I spend any more time at the gym I may as well live there!

 

[nero120]

Don't eat a banna every day - shouldn't be more than 2-3 a week tops IIRC, likewise limit intake of tuna and other oily fish off the top of my head around 200grams a week tops or otherwise potentially can build up toxins and/or mercury.

Increase the amount of chicken and get some pasta in there IMO. kai's advice looks pretty solid to me, in the end its gonna be 2/3rds exercise and a 1/3rd diet to get the changes your looking for (again IMO).

You need to look at the way your body metabolises fat really rather than just go with a likely sounding diet and work against it this can include food consumption/patterns as well as exercise (which is where increasing water intake can help).

Yeah I heard about the mercury thing the other day, and considering Tuna is pretty much my life that hit me for six! Canned salmon it is then...

I'll try and increase chicken and pasta as you say. The weird thing is, I've been training SO hard over the last month, to see practically no loss is so discouraging. It actually makes me think that weight loss has very little to do with exercise, it must be all about diet.

 

[[TW]Sponge]

Don't eat a banna every day - shouldn't be more than 2-3 a week tops IIRC, likewise limit intake of tuna and other oily fish off the top of my head around 200grams a week tops or otherwise potentially can build up toxins and/or mercury.

Care to explain the info about bananas? Also the tuna thing?

Genuinely interested.

 

[nero120]

Im 5ft 10 and im sitting around 67kg but just over month ago i was sitting at 64.6kg I was sitting in at around 76 kg before cutting at my heaviest. sitting around 10% b.f at the moment

I train 5/6 times a week so its pretty intense but i have set hard but achieveable personal goals. If i was you i would lower your cardio and maybe look at upping your weigh sessions to 3 times a week typical split with a rest day between.

HiiT is your freind 20 minutes & push yourself.... biggest advice i could give from personal experince is drink plenty of water through the day and keep to complex carbs; also dont be shy to have the odd cheat meal every once in a blue moon this actually helps metabolism

Hmm, you must be pretty lean at that height and weight. Thanks for the advice, I'll try switching over to a 3 day split, reduce the spinning, change diet and see if I get better results.

I have to admit, this is really hard! It's not the effort involved, it's the length of time and not knowing if what you're doing is even making a difference...

 

[nero120]

Care to explain the info about bananas? Also the tuna thing?

Genuinely interested.

Tuna's are quite old when they are fished so they have had a long time to absorb the mercury that exists in the oceans due to pollution and such. Other fish like cod or salmon are fished much younger so they have much less time to absorb before we eat it.

As for the bananas, I guess it's due to the amount of sugar in them.

 

[Rroff]

Yeah I heard about the mercury thing the other day, and considering Tuna is pretty much my life that hit me for six! Canned salmon it is then...

I'll try and increase chicken and pasta as you say. The weird thing is, I've been training SO hard over the last month, to see practically no loss is so discouraging. It actually makes me think that weight loss has very little to do with exercise, it must be all about diet.

A moderate amount of oily fish is very good for you. You have to eat quite a lot of it to build up significant amounts of mercury or other heavy metals, but theres been more than one case where it has happened - 200g a week is completely within safe limits.

The problem imo is you need to look at how your body metabolises fat in a lot of detail and thats not easy to do - tricking it into putting effort into other areas/not needing to store so much far is usually the key but its not simple to do.

I have the opposite problem, I can't get fat to stay on :S and its just as hard the other way around - tho a little easier to live with.