Help Losing My Tire!

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ll make this as concise as possible…

I have a modest ‘pouch’ about my midsection that I desperately want to get rid of. My body is ecto-meso however my metabolism has markedly slowed down as i fast approached 30 - big surprise.

I workout intensively 6x/week for approximately 1.5hr per training session. Constrastingly my cardio regime consists of maybe half hour tops of elliptical or stationary bike.
I m 5’9 and weigh approx 200lbs and I IMAGINE that part, if not a great deal of the problem is from not eating enough food.

I cant give exact measurements but a typical day consists of canned tuna, cottage cheese (1%), eggs, yes bread (whole wheat) amongst other things. I probably should start logging what I eat and when. I believe I am not consuming nearly enough calories for my body weight and perhaps as a result my body clings more tenaciously to fat cells. I dont want to lose weight at the expense of losing muscle but perhaps that is inevitable. Anyhoo I just need a nudge in the right direction as to how I should proceed with losing these few added pounds.

I am a university student and expend most of my day in front of a computer screen when not at the gym,

2

Just search the site man, theres shit-loads of articles and tips etc to help you.

Stationary bikes dont burn as much cals as a treadmill.

Look into HIIT, and any diet/fat loss article on this site, Dr Berardi’s stuff is a good place to start.

3

I just read a thread on this very site a few days ago that mentioned something about that.

They said it had something to do with your posture and that people who had bad posture while standing or sat in front of a computer all day would tend to have a belly do to bad posture.

Can’t remember where I saw it or if there was a technical name for it, but that’s what they said.

4

Hard to believe

5

jonb

How can you fix what you don’t know? If you don’t keep a food log, yet your main current goal is fat loss, how can we help you? How can you effectively help yourself?

Yah, you could wing it for a while, but look how that’s working for you. If you aren’t interested in a quick fix, you can lose body fat wiothout any strength loss.

I see two issues upon quick review of your post.

  1. Too much working out. 6–1.5 hour workouts (intense) is probably too much. If you meant 6–1.5 hour weightlifting sessions then it is way too much.

  2. Not effective cardio plan for your goal.

For someone with a certain goal, you are going about it all wrong. You have no plan. Failing to plan…
This is especially true with this particular goal. It requires discipline and is a lot easier with a clear concise plan. You don’t have to be perfect in its execution, but you have to have the map.

6

How would weight training 6x a week at 1.5 hours per session impede me from losing fat?

I dont quite understand this please explain unless I misinterpreted your post.

7

A lot of it might have to do with the definition of “working out INTENSELY 6 x per week.”

Post your food log (timing) and sample workouts and it’ll provide a better picture.

TNT

8

Weight training rarely should exceed 1 hour as cortisol begins to increase after 1 hour. It’s possible your overtraining with 6 times 1.5 hours a week, more isn’t always better.

Also try using a fat loss program from this site…go to authors, and scroll until you see a fat burning article and look at it. Pick the one most suited to your goals/abilities and follow it.

Look at all of Berardi’s and Lowery’s nutrition articles, and other nutrition topics to get up to speed on that aspect. Also take a look at Christian Thibaudeau’s Carb Cycling Codex. Pick the best plan for you and take note of all the tips.

Consider adding morning walks as suggested by Lonnie Lowery (article titled 100 workouts to ripped city)

Consider taking something like HOT-ROX or other thermogenics.

9

[quote]jonb5150 wrote:
How would weight training 6x a week at 1.5 hours per session impede me from losing fat?

I dont quite understand this please explain unless I misinterpreted your post.[/quote]

Here’s how:

Either a) you’re not working out hard enough to get the results, or,

b) you’re working out too much and between cortisol and muscle breakdown, you are once again countering the very result you are trying to achieve.

I don’t think anyone who isn’t training at a very high(elite) level can benefit from 6–1.5hour workouts a week. My opinion.

10

I can symphatize with your problem. I’m an endo-mesomorph so I gain fat quicker and it all seems to go to one spot-my stomach. This is easily counterable with a strict diet and cardio sessions usually 45 min 4 times a week. But what is your goal? Either you should want to build muscle and bulk and not worry about maintaining a shredded midsection year round(which is almost unattainable despite what the supplement ads will tell you)or cut the bodyfat which undoubtably will cost some amount of muscle no matter how careful your dieting. But to want those 2 at the same time is next to impossible without drugs(which you didn’t mention whether you’d use). So choose bulk or cut and completely jump into it. And yes, 6 days a week at 90 minutes a session is far too much. After 60 minutes not only does cortisol take over but GH and IFG-1 levels are almost non-existant. And yes I read somewhere also that sitting for prolonged periods of time takes stress off the abdominal wall and causes it to slacken and become loose/saggy over time. To sum it up, diet and cardio. Works every time.

11

I started my eating log as of today and although this is of course day 1 it is fairly representative of the quantity of food i consume. However it should be noted that I skipped bfast as you’ll note my food intake begins at 12:45 (bad, huh).

12:00 3 cups veggie chilli (homemade) with 2 cups brown rise

2:00 Bagel w/ light becel margarine and 1 cup coffee

3:20 2 slices whole wheat toast. 5 egg whites, 1 banana and a cup of tea w. honey.

5:40 250ml cottage cheese (2%) with 1 banana

7:20 chicken breast w/ green peas, brussel sprouts and brocolli (maybe 2 cups of greens total) all of which were boiled.

8:23 tea w/ honey.

It is now 12:00 am and I am having mild hunger pangs and though its probably not wise to be eating at such a late hour, I will do so anyway:/

Im hungry damnit!

thats all for today

12

You didn’t attempt a 90 min. workout on this diet, did you??? You can’t race a Ferrari on an empty tank. NEVER skip breakfast. Skip anything else, but not breakfast.

TNT

13

Bro, a couple of observations:

-You are 200lbs and you are getting tops, 140grams of protein. Up your protein intake

-Eat protein at every meal

-Ditch the bagel and wheat bread. There are plenty of better carbs for you when trying to lean out than bread.

-Where are the fats? Start ingesting quality fats and throw the margarine away

-As mentioned, why the hell are you skipping breakfast. Not only does it set the tone for the whole day, but logically think of it like this: if you go to bed at 12am every night and you don’t eat until 12pm the next day you are fasting for 12 hours! (and from your post it seems it could be more like 15) Please explain to me why you think this is condusive to muscle building/fat loss.

-Also, if your training regimen is as rigorous as you make it seem, you aren’t eating enough! (I know this has been mentioned a few times, but it bares repeating).

Those are just a few observations that immediately came to mind. Read some of the nutrition articles on this site by Lowery and Berardi

14

Yea…

the one article that impressed upon me the virtue of a good diet was Outraining your Diet.

Of course it is ludicrious to believe this is possible but I am operating under such fashion.

At this point I realize that the many hours i expend at the gym each week are quite possibly wasteful as I feel my body isnt reflecting all the work I am putting into it (at least in terms of weight training).

My body is probably consuming muscle at times and at others clinging onto fat as my eating habits are irregular.

I am not convinced that whole wheat bread is not a good form of carb per se but what did you have in mind?

I am also trying to derive my protein from other sources such as legumes rather than just meat and poultry. Another thing I USUALLY take (though not the last few weeks) is protein whey at about 40grams (protein) on training days. ISO XP by NX care is the powder I am currently taking but from my understanding protein whey is protein whey.

15

By quality fats do you mean things like nuts?

16

No

I do train today however.

For bfast at 8 AM i ate 2 eggs and 2 saches of oatmeal and a banana

at 12PM i had a grilled chicken pita wrap with lettue, oinion, tomato.

4:30 turkey noodle soup (campbells canned) with 3/4 can of romano beans.

7:40 dinner baked halibut, frozen mixed veggies, and roasted potatoes.

17

[quote]jonb5150 wrote:
Yea…

the one article that impressed upon me the virtue of a good diet was Outraining your Diet.

Of course it is ludicrious to believe this is possible but I am operating under such fashion.

At this point I realize that the many hours i expend at the gym each week are quite possibly wasteful as I feel my body isnt reflecting all the work I am putting into it (at least in terms of weight training).

My body is probably consuming muscle at times and at others clinging onto fat as my eating habits are irregular.

I am not convinced that whole wheat bread is not a good form of carb per se but what did you have in mind?

I am also trying to derive my protein from other sources such as legumes rather than just meat and poultry. Another thing I USUALLY take (though not the last few weeks) is protein whey at about 40grams (protein) on training days. ISO XP by NX care is the powder I am currently taking but from my understanding protein whey is protein whey.

By quality fats do you mean things like nuts?
[/quote]

I don’t think I said wheat bread is a bad carb, but if I did I retract my statement.

I eat wheat bread very often - when I’m bulking

What I was aiming for was - there are BETTER carbs you can be consuming if you are trying to lean out.
Specifically - Rolled Oats, Vegetables, Brown Rice, Sweet Potatos/Yams.

Prior/During/Post workout you should be consuming high GI carbs with whey protein.

You should really be supplementing your protein intake with a quality protein shake to make sure you are getting a 1g per lb of body weight, as well as proper before/during/post workout nutrition.

I am a big fan of Lowery’s school of thought that when leaning out, carbs should restricted to breakfast and post-workout. It has worked well for me.

As far as workout, I think you may benefit from switching to a 3x week fullbody workout, at least for a while. I would also consider taking a full week off or at least dropping volume and weight down dramatically.

And yes by good fats I mean:

Walnuts
Almonds
Fish Oil
Flax Seed
Olive Oil
Etc.

Make up a sample plan and post it here so people can give their thoughts.

18

i am eating almonds as we speak. How awesome is that?!?!?

19

which Lowery article in particular should I read?