I have a question regarding my spare tire that resides around my waist. For the last 8 months I’ve been doing Chad Waterbury’s Total Body workout (3 days a week, 4 main exercises, 2 supplemental). I lifted before that, just on a different program. My diet is fairly good, I keep trimming it down to healthier, less destructive food. My main issue is I cant seem to shake the last bit of fat around my mid section. The rest of my body is getting where I want it.
I have a desk job, which has caused a lot of these issues to arise, before this job I didn’t have this problem. I don’t do a lot of heavy cardio, just some stair stepping a couple times a week. I’ve run across a few workouts that are more “explosive” in mixing cardio and weight lifting. I was wondering if anyone could throw me some suggestions.
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
I have a question regarding my spare tire that resides around my waist. For the last 8 months I’ve been doing Chad Waterbury’s Total Body workout (3 days a week, 4 main exercises, 2 supplemental). I lifted before that, just on a different program. My diet is fairly good, I keep trimming it down to healthier, less destructive food. My main issue is I cant seem to shake the last bit of fat around my mid section. The rest of my body is getting where I want it.
I have a desk job, which has caused a lot of these issues to arise, before this job I didn’t have this problem. I don’t do a lot of heavy cardio, just some stair stepping a couple times a week. I’ve run across a few workouts that are more “explosive” in mixing cardio and weight lifting. I was wondering if anyone could throw me some suggestions.[/quote]
Read some articles here on proper nutrition and fat loss training. Some scary statements in your post that makes me think you might need some more general ideas than anything terribly specific. For example: Eating clean and busting your ass works better than anything else for fat loss. It really doesn’t need to be any more specific than that right now.
L Alright I’ll start from the top. Since I work 40 hours M through F for breakfast I typically eat trail mix, cottage cheese, or oatmeal. About 1 cup per item, I never mix the three. On weekends I typically eat 3 to 5 eggs in the morning, occasionally 4 strip of bacon. Lunch wise I’m eating a protein (chicken, beef, tuna) with either spinach, rice, or quinoa. For dinner I typically eat similar to lunch. I usually indulge more when I go out with friends on the weekends. I’m not a drinker though, so it’s all food related.
I limit my processed food items to the occasional triscuit, wheat thins, and candy bar. I do also take Metabolic Drive after working out. I’m currently on Waterbury Total Body Workout. I do light cardiovascular like stair stepping for 12 minutes. I was thinking of starting to do some bag work or swimming on my off lifting days. So you guys advise that I add another day to my lifting schedule?
I’d start by ditching the trail mix at least, stuff is usually loaded in sugar/carbs, and possibly if you can ditch the oatmeal in favor of more eggs/bacon on those days. Start there.
Once you get that down add some veggies to breakfast.
Once you do that, ditch the rice/quinoa at lunch and dinner for favor of more veggies.
Don’t do it all at once. Follow the order, or start where you feel more confident yuo can be successful with. My gut tells me the eggs/bacon breakfast will be tough for you time wise (hence your choices you have now). Prepare the eggs/bacon the night before, this is what I do since I leave my house at 545am.
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
L Alright I’ll start from the top. Since I work 40 hours M through F for breakfast I typically eat trail mix, cottage cheese, or oatmeal. About 1 cup per item, I never mix the three. On weekends I typically eat 3 to 5 eggs in the morning, occasionally 4 strip of bacon. Lunch wise I’m eating a protein (chicken, beef, tuna) with either spinach, rice, or quinoa. For dinner I typically eat similar to lunch. I usually indulge more when I go out with friends on the weekends. I’m not a drinker though, so it’s all food related.
I limit my processed food items to the occasional triscuit, wheat thins, and candy bar. I do also take Metabolic Drive after working out. I’m currently on Waterbury Total Body Workout. I do light cardiovascular like stair stepping for 12 minutes. I was thinking of starting to do some bag work or swimming on my off lifting days. So you guys advise that I add another day to my lifting schedule? [/quote]
Your diet isn’t terrible. Though that’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement.
Your breakfast is the thing that stands out the most to. I’m guessing you are short on time(who isn’t)in the morning so I would recommend some type of shake. You can throw in protein powder(Metabolic Drive would be a great choice here), yogurt, heavy cream, eggs, fruit, anything you can think of to make it calorie dense and keep you from being ravenous by 10am.
Other than that the only thing that seems iffy to me is maybe you aren’t eating enough? I know it seems counterproductive to fat loss, but if you are eating too few calories, that will stall your progress as well. The problem with severe calorie deficits is that they tend to make people lethargic. It isn’t a lack of calories that makes one lean but rather the effects of the activity that burns fat stores. Get an idea of what your maintenance intake is and then experiment. The trick to most of this is using the guidelines that the science has laid out for us and then seeing what works best for the individual. Which means there is a lot of trial and error and rarely does one diet fit all.
It’s also very possible that your “weekends with friends” are completely sabotaging your efforts. Try to keep the food indulging to a minimum. You can find healthy meals on just about any menu, or at least meals that won’t totally screw your diet over. It gets hard if you are dragged to Cheesecake Factory, Cold Stone, and Burrachos in a single evening though. Just use your brain.
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
L Alright I’ll start from the top. Since I work 40 hours M through F for breakfast I typically eat trail mix, cottage cheese, or oatmeal. About 1 cup per item, I never mix the three. On weekends I typically eat 3 to 5 eggs in the morning, occasionally 4 strip of bacon. Lunch wise I’m eating a protein (chicken, beef, tuna) with either spinach, rice, or quinoa. For dinner I typically eat similar to lunch. I usually indulge more when I go out with friends on the weekends. I’m not a drinker though, so it’s all food related.
It’s also very possible that your “weekends with friends” are completely sabotaging your efforts. Try to keep the food indulging to a minimum. You can find healthy meals on just about any menu, or at least meals that won’t totally screw your diet over. It gets hard if you are dragged to Cheesecake Factory, Cold Stone, and Burrachos in a single evening though. Just use your brain.
[/quote]
Yeah, that stood out to me as well, something to look at OP after making some initial adjustments.
I drink almost only water, with occasional orange juice. I might be at a caloric deficit, I started eating less thinking that would woul help. I actually have a couple questions regarding eggs. Is it true that eating the yolks is bad for you? I always hear people eating “egg whites.” Also, can I mix raw eggs in the blender without fear of food poisoning? What about the workout section of my question?
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
I drink almost only water, with occasional orange juice. I might be at a caloric deficit, I started eating less thinking that would woul help. I actually have a couple questions regarding eggs. Is it true that eating the yolks is bad for you? I always hear people eating “egg whites.” Also, can I mix raw eggs in the blender without fear of food poisoning? What about the workout section of my question? [/quote]
No, the yolks are not bad. The idea that they raise cholesterol is not true for the vast majority of people, even the people that may see a bump, it’s only a slight bump in total cholesterol. Even then, the idea that “high” cholesterol is bad for us is a bit too simplistic.
Name one other animal in the world that would discard a yolk, or they would get heart disease (if you want a common sense approach to things)
Eating the yolks will actually help memory and eye health, along with keeping you fuller longer.
Yes, you can add a raw egg to a shake, but there is an approx. 1:20,000 chance of food poisoning, probably less if you local and/or pastured eggs. Also, if you are younger you should (barring good digestion) have more HCL in your stomach to battle any “bugs”.
Fat loss rarely comes down to exercise assuming you are lifting weights a few times per week and putting in decent effort. Nutrition will provide the biggest bang for your buck. Not to say exercise can’t be maximized to help results.
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
My main issue is I cant seem to shake the last bit of fat around my mid section. The rest of my body is getting where I want it.[/quote]
What’s your current height, weight, and general fat level (not percentage, but other than your midsection, are you still pudgy, kinda normalish, getting lean, ripped with a 4-pack)?
What kind of work did you do previously? Something active/on your feet all day? And were you eating the same or differently then?
Not for nothing, but I kinda doubt this is any kind of excuse for anything, ever. The overwhelming majority of guys here work hours like this, if not more.
One cup of trail mix or one cup of cottage cheese is a snack, not breakfast. One cup of oatmeal is a breakfast waiting to happen… just waiting for a protein source.
Along the lines of what JFit suggested, check out this article for a step-by-step plan to arranging your nutrition:
8 months is a pretty long time to have been following Waterbury’s TBT program, so you’re ready for a change. Something noticeably different, like more of a bodypart split, would be a good idea. 3-4 lifting days with 2-3 days for complexes would be a solid fat loss plan.
It’s as true as the little winged fairy who sneaks under children’s pillows and collects their fallen teeth.
Plenty of people do eat raw eggs, though there is a (small, small, small) risk of salmonella.
I’m currently 5’10’, I got myself to 200 just to see if I could, now I want to rope it back to about 185. I’m currently about 195. My shoulders and upper arms are ripped like a beast, the rest of my body is leaner but not hing magnificent. My lower abdomen is just a bit flabby.
On the job front, the only reason I put in 40 hours is because I sit almost the entire time. The only time I;m not sitting is when I get up to walk around. My old job was in retail so I was always moving. I’ll look into the workouts you guys posted up, and try to figure out a plan of action. I appreciate all the contributions.
On a side note, I just watched a TED talk where the guy espoused that we all need to become vegetarians and stop eating so much meat. He didn’t pull up any facts elated to meat being bad. The facts he brought up: Fast food being very unhealthy, processed grocery foods being bad, and no home cooked meals are certainly bad things. Though none of it is related to protein consumption. MY favorite part is how he said protein has no link to body size and composition. Where do they find these quacks?
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
On a side note, I just watched a TED talk where the guy espoused that we all need to become vegetarians and stop eating so much meat. He didn’t pull up any facts elated to meat being bad. The facts he brought up: Fast food being very unhealthy, processed grocery foods being bad, and no home cooked meals are certainly bad things. Though none of it is related to protein consumption. MY favorite part is how he said protein has no link to body size and composition. Where do they find these quacks?[/quote]
TED used to be great, but now every asshole and their brother is on there spewing shit they have no business talking about. That vegetarian pussy is pretty much par of the course now. Yes, fast food is bad so we should all stop eating meat. Hilarious considering prior to the removal of trans fats, the fries were the worst offenders at most fast food joints.
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
On a side note, I just watched a TED talk where the guy espoused that we all need to become vegetarians and stop eating so much meat. He didn’t pull up any facts elated to meat being bad. The facts he brought up: Fast food being very unhealthy, processed grocery foods being bad, and no home cooked meals are certainly bad things. Though none of it is related to protein consumption. MY favorite part is how he said protein has no link to body size and composition. Where do they find these quacks?[/quote]
TED used to be great, but now every asshole and their brother is on there spewing shit they have no business talking about. That vegetarian pussy is pretty much par of the course now. Yes, fast food is bad so we should all stop eating meat. Hilarious considering prior to the removal of trans fats, the fries were the worst offenders at most fast food joints.
[/quote]
[quote]Jungleman wrote:
My shoulders and upper arms are ripped like a beast, the rest of my body is leaner but not hing magnificent. My lower abdomen is just a bit flabby.
[/quote]
Lower ab is the last thing to clean-up on most men, and it will not happen without a fight.
I’m actually up for a program that might be more fast paced for fat burning purposes. The complexes look great, I’ve been searching T nation’s website for a good 3-5 day bodypart split program. Any recommendations? 3 day would be best, though I could possibly squeeze in 4.