Why Won't the Fat Burn!?!

Training Bodybuilding
22

[quote]TheWookie wrote:
I apologize for not having references handy, but I have read swimming can actually inhibits fat loss in some people. Some one Google it.
[/quote]

This is something you see every once in a while, but there’s no credible evidence to support it. One study found that people who were not on a controlled diet lost more weight running than swimming.

The explanation offered is that swimming enhances appetite (which sounds right) and/or running suppresses appetite. The take home for me, from that study is, swim, but stick to your diet and save your knees.

The other piece of “evidence” people often present is that competitive swimmers have higher body fat than competitive runners. This gets it backwards. People with a genetic predisposition to retain fat, even when burning thousands of calories each day during training have an advantage in the pool, because fat = buoyancy. The same people have a disadvantage on the track, because there fat = dead weight.

From these two bits of “evidence” people then launch into a ridiculous explanation based on the diving reflex. Or more accurately, their ignorance of how the diving reflex works (hint: unless there are icebergs in the pool, it’s not an issue.)

23

Far as I know you haven’t listed your height weight or bodyfat. How would anybody here know why you are not burning fat?

You haven’t listed how much weight you lift so we don’t know if your lifting intensely or not. Theres a certian point when a lifter crosses over from his body learning how to lift and actually lifting to effect muscle. Just because you are doing 6 reps doesn’t mean you are lifting heavy. Just means you did 6 reps.

What is your 30 minutes of cardio? Is it fast slow? hard? easy? Shit Many professional bodybuilders when they are cutting are known to spend an hour or 2 every day, so how is a track athlete expecting to cut with 30 minutes of cardio a day?

Unless you want to stay small do not starve yourself or stick to under 2000 calories except if your 5’1 of course. Based on you saying your in college I’m assuming your in the 17 - 22 age range. PRIME of your natural hormone life. You can build track muscle run faster, recover better, and lose fat given your eating enough calories. If your worried about speed sticking to under 2000 calories will NEVER help. So why do you want to lose weight?

You said you haven’t lost/gained weight. That’s not always a bad thing. If your strength has gone up, it might be slightly possible you gained muscle and lost weight.(althought doubt it with only 2000) calories.

Your competing for track? Mentioned world class athletes, and not one supplement you take? hell even cola would be better than nothing at least you get caffeine? Word class athletes are using a billion and 1 supplements where are yours?

At your age regardless of how much you think you know there is somebody who has been through all the steps your going through. You can spend weeks and months researching finding out what works and what doesn’t.

But unless you can get more accurate with your training research your just wasting time. If your really seriuos about competing find a decent trainer. It’ll save alot of time. It might cost a few dollars but it might also be worth it when you think back and say hey I won this and that.

Last but not least. Higher game? does this mean you play basketball frequently? If so it will hinder your results alot if you don’t plan according.

24

[quote]undeadlift wrote:

Err, CT, where did 42 meals come from? Isn’t that supposed to be 35 (5x7=35)?
quote]

You got me… I had 13 clients yesterday, I’m a zombie right now, give a poor man a break:)

25

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
The thing is, the 30 minutes of cardio every day and swimming should be enough to keep the weight down while I build muscle. I try to use 6-10 reps with each major lift to focus on getting a good burn, and I only rest 45 seconds in between sets.
[/quote]

My guess is that you have made 2 common mistakes.

  1. You have reduced your calories by too much too fast and you have reached a plateau (which is inevitable). This is why you should gradually reduce calories and increase cardio, otherwise you will never get that lean as you will plateau or enter starvation mode.

  2. Looking at the quote above you are asking about losing fat while concentrating on gaining muscle. Most people who try to cut and bulk at the same time fail at both. If you want to cut, concentrate on losing fat while maintaining muscle. If you want to bulk, concentrate on building muscle while limiting fat gain.

26

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
My diet is decent, with less than 10% calories being empty, but with a bit more being less than ideal.

I don’t pay much attention to eating throughout the day due to my schedule, but I do manage to keep my daily intake less than 2000 calories.[/quote]

Watch what you shove in your mouth you son of a bitch!

:slight_smile:

27

I usually warm up by running moderately for 20 minutes or so, and finish off by sprinting and resting for the last 10 minutes.

I heard the rule of thumb is to multiply your body weight by 12 to find the number of calories to “bulk” muscle (I need to cut), 10 to find the break even point, and 8 to find a good level to burn fat at. I weigh 195 pounds. So, I aim to eat between about 1600-2000 calories a day.

Since I burn an estimated 2000 calories a day (average), and 3600 calories make a pound, I should be losing a pound every 14 days if I eat 1800 average, along with gaining some muscle.

By the way, a lot of college students have jobs too, to the asshole who suggested I’m a rich frat boy or some shit.

28

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
So, I aim to eat between about 1600-2000 calories a day.

[/quote]

Does someone really have to explain why this is a negative?

29

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
I heard the rule of thumb is to multiply your body weight by 12 to find the number of calories to “bulk” muscle (I need to cut), 10 to find the break even point, and 8 to find a good level to burn fat at. I weigh 195 pounds. So, I aim to eat between about 1600-2000 calories a day.
[/quote]

That’s an erroneous estimation. Heck Dr. Berardi recommends the 10 calories/pound figure in his ‘‘Get shredded’’ article, but he recommends that for a very short term fat loss ‘‘blitz’’ since 10x BWT is way below maintenance.

10x bodyweight is a decent approximation of your basal metabolic rate (i.e. the amount of calories your body ‘‘burns’’ everyday while doing absolutely nothing). To calculate how much calories you are really ‘‘burning’’ you must factor in activity level.

If you are moderately active you must multiply the figure by around 1.5 … so your maintenance level would actually be around 3000 calories per day.

Now, since you have been consuming approximately 50% of your daily need for a while, chances are that your metabolism is shot, meaning that it will be extremely difficult to lose fat until you ‘‘reset’’ your metabolis.

Sadly that means going off of your diet for 1-2 weeks (even more time might be necessary) then starting a new smarter diet… but you won’t be doing that, even if it’s the only solution because the short term result will be a slight gain in body fat.

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
I should be losing a pound every 14 days if I eat 1800 average, along with gaining some muscle.
[/quote]

It doesn’t work that way at all.

Unless you are a total beginner or coming off of a long layoff (or are a genetic freak) it is IMPOSSIBLE to:

a) gain A LOT of muscle while losing some fat

b) lose A LOT of fat while gaining some muscle

Sorry, ain’t gonna happen. Building muscle requires a caloric surplus for several reasons:

  1. to give your body the nutrients it needs to build the muscle tissue. Building one pound of muscle ‘‘costs’’ anywhere from 10 000 to 20 000 calories. This is the necessary amount to fuel the various muscle building processes than goes into constructing that pound of muscle. Many peoples make the mistake to think that only protein is needed to build muscle… they reason that as long as their protein intake is high, they can build muscle even on a caloric deficit… THIS IS NOT THE CASE… protein represent the bricks needed to build the house, but if you don’t pay the workers, they wont lay the bricks. Total caloric intake represent that pay.

  2. to create an hormonal milieu conductive to muscle building. If you are in a caloric deficit your catabolic (muscle wasting) hormones go up while the anabolic (muscle building) hormones goes down. This makes it all but impossible to add muscle mass.

Now, FAT LOSS requires a caloric deficit. So fat loss and muscle gain are somewhat opposite goals. It is possible to add a little muscle while losing a little fat, but doing one to any significant extent requires you putting the second objective on hold.

30

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
I heard the rule of thumb is to multiply your body weight by 12 to find the number of calories to “bulk” muscle (I need to cut), 10 to find the break even point, and 8 to find a good level to burn fat at. I weigh 195 pounds. So, I aim to eat between about 1600-2000 calories a day.
[/quote]

That’s an erroneous estimation. Heck Dr. Berardi recommends the 10 calories/pound figure in his ‘‘Get shredded’’ article, but he recommends that for a very short term fat loss ‘‘blitz’’ since 10x BWT is way below maintenance.

10x bodyweight is a decent approximation of your basal metabolic rate (i.e. the amount of calories your body ‘‘burns’’ everyday while doing absolutely nothing). To calculate how much calories you are really ‘‘burning’’ you must factor in activity level. If you are moderately active you must multiply the figure by around 1.5 … so your maintenance level would actually be around 3000 calories per day.

Now, since you have been consuming approximately 50% of your daily need for a while, chances are that your metabolism is shot, meaning that it will be extremely difficult to lose fat until you ‘‘reset’’ your metabolis. Sadly that means going off of your diet for 1-2 weeks (even more time might be necessary) then starting a new smarter diet… but you won’t be doing that, even if it’s the only solution because the short term result will be a slight gain in body fat.

[quote]Higher Game wrote:
I should be losing a pound every 14 days if I eat 1800 average, along with gaining some muscle.
[/quote]

It doesn’t work that way at all.

Unless you are a total beginner or coming off of a long layoff (or are a genetic freak) it is IMPOSSIBLE to:

a) gain A LOT of muscle while losing some fat

b) lose A LOT of fat while gaining some muscle

Sorry, ain’t gonna happen. Building muscle requires a caloric surplus for several reasons:

  1. to give your body the nutrients it needs to build the muscle tissue. Building one pound of muscle ‘‘costs’’ anywhere from 10 000 to 20 000 calories. This is the necessary amount to fuel the various muscle building processes than goes into constructing that pound of muscle. Many peoples make the mistake to think that only protein is needed to build muscle… they reason that as long as their protein intake is high, they can build muscle even on a caloric deficit… THIS IS NOT THE CASE… protein represent the bricks needed to build the house, but if you don’t pay the workers, they wont lay the bricks. Total caloric intake represent that pay.

  2. to create an hormonal milieu conductive to muscle building. If you are in a caloric deficit your catabolic (muscle wasting) hormones go up while the anabolic (muscle building) hormones goes down. This makes it all but impossible to add muscle mass.

Now, FAT LOSS requires a caloric deficit. So fat loss and muscle gain are somewhat opposite goals. It is possible to add a little muscle while losing a little fat, but doing one to any significant extent requires you putting the second objective on hold.

31

Another thing is that I think you are approaching the problem from the wrong angle.

You are analyzing the situation going from the basic premise that you are doing everything right. Peoples have been giving you good advice so far, BUT since it goes against your basic premise instead of accepting the recommendations you justified why you are indeed correct.

Let me tell you this: if you are not having results, YOU ARE NOT DOING THINGS RIGHT… simple as that. So intead of justifying your methods and looking for some unknown secret you might be missing you should really re-evaluate your own plan.

Regarding muscle growth… adding muscle is probably dead last on your body’s list of priorities. Survival comes first, then fueling daily activities and finally growth.

Your body will need X amount of calories to fuel the internal organs, repair damaged tissues, etc. The surplus (if there is any) is then used to fuel your daily activity. Then IF THERE IS ANYHTHING LEFT you will be able to initiate the muscle growth process. So if you are barely consuming enough calories for survival and energetic purposes, there is no way you’ll be adding muscle mass.

32

Just wanted to say that you are very fortunate to be having Christian Thibaudeau replying to your thread with great advice.

If you’re serious about your goals, follow his advice.