Well guys I admit it I am stumped. So when you are stumped I guess it is best to turn to the masters, the gurus. OK, here is my problem. I have above average genetics and would classify myself as a endo-mesomorph, but I have very poor fat distribution. After dieting I am able to get every measurement under five, using a set accu-measure calipers, except my umbilicus wich is stuck at about 10-15 range(other areas include-bicep,chest,thigh,subscapular,suprailiac). After an extented time dieting I seem to start catabolizing a lot of muscle and my fat loss ceases. My diet is clean and is around 2500 calories plus or minus 300, and I drop about 300 a day when fat loss subsides. I eat 35-40%protein, 30-35%carbs, and 30-35% fat. Plus I use MD6 as my thermogenic. My question is am I going to have to restort to other means to get rid of the fat (clenbuterol or anabolic)or is there another alternitive. Thanks
Clen is no better than MD6, actually it’s much less efficient in my opinion, but that’s another topic.
Question: Have you ever been overweight in the past? If you’ve ever been really fat, especially when young, you can “build up” a lot of fat cells. These fat cells can only be enlarged or shrunken later in life by diet and training. The hard-to-reach fat you have may be leftover pockets of shrunken fat cells.
I have some of this leftover fat myself as I was really overweight at one time. I’ve been down to 6% bodyfat (not a natural state for me; I felt like crap) and yet still had that bit of fat. It’s frustrating. But I couldn’t drop to 4%, or at least I couldn’t stay there and certainly couldn’t add muscle in that state. So I stopped worrying about it. I’m sporting a six pack now, yet still have that “leftover” fat on my obliques. If you’ve truly exhausted all the ways of getting rid of it through diet and training, then lipo is the only answer. (Steroids won’t help you either if this is your problem.) I know I look much better at over 200 and mostly lean than I did at 170 and super ripped. So I suggest you don’t sweat it and focus on adding more muscle.
good advice Chris, right on the money. What do you want to be super-ripped for anyway? Are you competing in a bodybuilding show or something?
Buff: Hang in there buddy… I have the same problem, and have been going in the direction that Chris mentioned. For me, I’m at 185 or so, and usually in the 6% range using a 9-site caliper measurement. It’s been calibrated to a dunk tank and bio-impedence, so it’s pretty close (it was about 1% low from the dunk tank, bioimpedence was in the middle).
I’ve found the that I looked much better at 182, 6% and making sure I was drinking an excess of water (close to 2 gal/day) then I did at 4.5% and 167 for some photos a while ago (I was following kinda a t-dawg diet when I was 182, and Ian’s workout programs). So, my suggestion would be try to bulk up a bit, and watch the water. But you may never get rid of that little extra fat on the obliques without resorting to surgery.
Oh, and BTW, I've been training regularly for about 4 years - before that, I was about the same weight as I am now, but up in the 20+% BF range (so, I was a fat-ass). My family is also quite overweight, so some of this is geneteic, but you can do quite a bit with it if you work at it.
Good luck!
Steve