Advice needed on body fat

Ph3n0m

Been going to the gym minimum 3 times a week, with 80% success rate of good sound nutrition (there have been the odd slip, I can be honest about that)

Basically I carry most of fat on my torso - specifically my stomach.

My routine is a combination of weights (low) and cardio (high routine) - however I am wondering is there any exercise/etc that I could be doing to concentrate on shifting the old stomach.

I have been dropping weight at a reasonable rate - but I just feel the stomach is still balloon like and am afraid to do more then my set routine of situps, as I want to decrease stomach size not harden it up and increase it with muscle

Any ideas? Or should I just keep going in the direction that I am

DubNside

Sounds like your doing the right things. There's no such thing as spot reduction, so general cardio and ab work is all you can do.
Get your body fat down towards 12% and you'll notice a great difference.

Try go to the gym 4-5 times, increase cardio to 40 mins, and weights to no more than an hour, and keep the intentsity high, and weights low.

Lay off the beer, and no carbs in the evening time.

Dragan

DubNside wrote:

and no carbs in the evening time.

When you eat strachy carbs should depend entirely on when you work out, not some generic, "don't eat carbs after six rule."

If you workout in the evening, have some carbs with your post workout shake, and have some carbs with you next meal. You need to replace lost muscle glycogen in order to aid recovery for the next day. If you don't take in any carbs after training then you will be costing yourself.

Once again, when you eat carbs should always be based around when you workout. Obviously have some nice slow digesting carbs like oats in the morning, then stick with fruit and veg for carbs during the day. Have your fast digesting carbs after your workout and then maybe a small ammount of rice or spuds or whatever with your dinner if you train after work, as many people do.

Ph3n0m

DubNside wrote:

Sounds like your doing the right things. There's no such thing as spot reduction, so general cardio and ab work is all you can do.
Get your body fat down towards 12% and you'll notice a great difference.

Try go to the gym 4-5 times, increase cardio to 40 mins, and weights to no more than an hour, and keep the intentsity high, and weights low.

Lay off the beer, and no carbs in the evening time.

Currently gym time is in the morning 7am (ugh) - no food, just water
Breakfast is the ceral (usually museli, low milk) and a smoothie

Weight routine normally takes about 30 minutes - just exercising the main muscle groups - not focusing on anything specific yet

Cardio is 25 -30 minutes - either cycling or skiing machine

As for eating in the evening - I dont eat after 8pm. And as for water around 2 litres a day (slow kidneys mean anymore and I am up during the night peeing like a fountain)

And drinking - drink whiskey - but not every week - more like once a month

TerrorFirmer

Sounds familar.

I've been following the advice on this forum and its been superb - I've lost loads of weight and am literally several pant sizes smaller. Yet, like you describe, my stomach is still huge - my legs, arms, and upper body are much more defined and slim, but I still have really bad problems with my stomach...

My diet is good, mostly consists of porridge, brown bread, chicken, pasta, veg, fruit etc on a day to day basis with the odd exception. I go to the gym 3 times a week and do weights the other four days.

It's a bad blow to motivation when you're so light onthe scales, and then visually have this large stomach...

I'm not trying to hijack this thread, but what would someone else do with this - I've been doing this healthy regime for about 8 months and the stomach won't shift. Sometimes I wake up, and its's almost flat, and then I eat a bowl of porridge, and it blows out so I quite literally look almost pregnant - is this just the worlds worst bloating or what? It's really getting me down as of late...so very frustrating.

justsomebloke

Ph3n0m wrote:

Currently gym time is in the morning 7am (ugh) - no food, just water

Are all your gym session at this time without food or is it just your LIT training

Dragan

Guys, you need to work on stomach control. Having a perfect six pack is about more than crunches and leg lifts.

Even when you have that chiseled looking gut there is a still a degree of subconcious control involved in keeping it tight. You need to work on that.

Patto

I have slightly different goals (I am tring to lose about 4Kg to bring my BF% down to around 10% and maintain strength) but something that seems to be working for me in the past few weeks is giving up eating bread completely and replaced the bread with fruit and salads. I have also discovered avakados (sp?) they are great for energy. I still eat porridge in the morning and rice/pasta or potatos for lunch, I don't eat any starchy carbs after that. I still have loads of energy for playing football 3 times a week and lifting weights twice a week. Gotta keep the protein way up though.

g'em

Dragan wrote:

Even when you have that chiseled looking gut there is a still a degree of subconcious control involved in keeping it tight. You need to work on that.

he's right y'know. there's a technique used by some of the old school BBers that's slowly making a comeback called the stomach vacuum which teaches you how to contract your stomach muscles and hold it, helping to prevent distenstion of the abs.

Ph3n0m

jsb wrote:

Are all your gym session at this time without food or is it just your LIT training

I dont eat at all until I have finished in the gym and am in work

DubNside

A post workout shake, such as Cyclone contains enough carbs after an evening workout, obviously you should try and eat the main amount of your daily carb intake during daylight hours.
Although eating a big plate of starchy carbs in the evening will make your stomach bloated.

Dragan

Ph3n0m wrote:

I dont eat at all until I have finished in the gym and am in work

So you wake up after 8 hours sleep, go the gym which lets say take 45 mins to get to, you spend 60 mins there and about 30 mins to get to work and eat, and i'm being generous there.

So thats about 11 hours your body is going, with no food, and you expect it to work???

Dragan

DubNside wrote:

A post workout shake, such as Cyclone contains enough carbs after an evening workout,

Cyclone contains 21grams of carbs per serving. You really feel thats enough after a workout??????

Ph3n0m

Dragan wrote:

So you wake up after 8 hours sleep, go the gym which lets say take 45 mins to get to, you spend 60 mins there and about 30 mins to get to work and eat, and i'm being generous there.

So thats about 11 hours your body is going, with no food, and you expect it to work???

What do you mean "expect it to work" - expect what to work?

Dragan

Ph3n0m wrote:

What do you mean "expect it to work" - expect what to work?

your body, to it's optimal level.

Would you not eat anything all day if you were going to the gym in the evening???

Ph3n0m

Dragan wrote:

your body, to it's optimal level.

Would you not eat anything all day if you were going to the gym in the evening???

I am literally up and out the door to the gym when I wake up - and I honestly am not hungry when I wake up nor am I "starving" when I finish in the gym

So I am curious - what would you suggest

Dragan

It doesn';t really matter what you feel, the simply fact is that you have not eaten in 8 hours, or however long you have been asleep. Your body is now in a catoblic state ( not what you want ) it's low in glycogen and amino acids and it's going to have to work.

This is not ideal.

You need breakfast, especially if you are going to be getting a workout in. You need carbs and protein to replenish what is lost, otherwise your body is taken it from stored sources ( muscles for amino acids ) and you are hindering your gains.

I would suggest you eat breakfast, even if it means getting up early.

Regardless of the time i train on Saturday i get my breakfast in, sometimes i wake up at 6:30 on Saturday morning so i can get my breakfast then go back to sleep for an hour or so. I can literally feel the difference between a work out with and without breakfast.

Ph3n0m

Dragan wrote:

It doesn';t really matter what you feel, the simply fact is that you have not eaten in 8 hours, or however long you have been asleep. Your body is now in a catoblic state ( not what you want ) it's low in glycogen and amino acids and it's going to have to work.

This is not ideal.

You need breakfast, especially if you are going to be getting a workout in. You need carbs and protein to replenish what is lost, otherwise your body is taken it from stored sources ( muscles for amino acids ) and you are hindering your gains.

I would suggest you eat breakfast, even if it means getting up early.

Regardless of the time i train on Saturday i get my breakfast in, sometimes i wake up at 6:30 on Saturday morning so i can get my breakfast then go back to sleep for an hour or so. I can literally feel the difference between a work out with and without breakfast.

duely noted

Keedowah

So people who go to the gym early in the morning - like at 6.30 or 7 should only do so if they get up at, say 5.30 - have a bite to eat - go back to sleep and then head to the gym?

I am looking join a gym - but i would probably be working out early in the morning - and i want to do it right.

How about having a shake before heading to the gym in the morning? or would this cause problems?

Dragan

Keedowah wrote:

So people who go to the gym early in the morning - like at 6.30 or 7 should only do so if they get up at, say 5.30 - have a bite to eat - go back to sleep and then head to the gym?

Nope, i am merely giving myself as a very extreme example

If you will be going in the morning i would suggest you have some kind of whey shake , the amino acids will get to your system very quickly, and something like oats for energy.

Just get your breakfast in is the important thing!!!

DubNside

Dragan wrote:

Cyclone contains 21grams of carbs per serving. You really feel thats enough after a workout??????

Post workout, yea.

I mean i finish at around 8-ish, and usually only have a light meal containing mostly protein.

Up early have porridge, eggs/toast..

Flex

DubNside wrote:

Post workout, yea.

I mean i finish at around 8-ish, and usually only have a light meal containing mostly protein.

Up early have porridge, eggs/toast..

Right after my workout I have at least 80-100 grams of carbs along with my protein shake regardless of what time it is

supergirl2

Hi, It's hard work! Your getting the results you want on other parts of your body but not your stomach, maybe you suffer from I.B.S. and it's more of bloatedness than fat?
A guy i work with lost 9kg in 12 weeks (he rows competitively so has to loose winter weight fast) by drinking 3/4 cups of Green Tea (boosts your metabolisim) and a **** load of exercise and eating no carb's after 7pm.

Dragan

DubNside wrote:

Post workout, yea.

I mean i finish at around 8-ish, and usually only have a light meal containing mostly protein.

Up early have porridge, eggs/toast..

I reckon you could up that by about 3 to 4 times, you'd make better gains and shouldn't add any body fat.

But thats just my opinion based off my own actions and results.:)

DubNside

Flex wrote:

Right after my workout I have at least 80-100 grams of carbs along with my protein shake regardless of what time it is

Right so if your finish your workout at say 7.30/8pm, Sit around watch a bit of TV or whatever, go to bed at 10pm or so....what does your body need 100grams of carbs for?

Flex

DubNside wrote:

Right so if your finish your workout at say 7.30/8pm, Sit around watch a bit of TV or whatever, go to bed at 10pm or so....what does your body need 100grams of carbs for?

Im not too sure on the whole exact science behind it, but as far as I know (someone correct me if Im wrong) getting carbs into your body right after a workout replenishes glycogen levels and helps recovery and is generally a good thing for building/repairing muscle tissue.

EDIT: One step ahead Dragan BTW, if I finished my workout and had my PWO shake and carbs at 7.30pm Id have a PWO meal at 8.30 or so when I got home aswel

Dragan

DubNside wrote:

Right so if your finish your workout at say 7.30/8pm, Sit around watch a bit of TV or whatever, go to bed at 10pm or so....what does your body need 100grams of carbs for?

It actually needs them a lot more than it does at 12 o clock in the day. A good, heavy, intense workout is HUGELY glycogen demanding, so when you are done your target muscles should be low in glycogen, and overall blood glycogen will have been depleted.

If you don't replace this you can't grow to your optimal level.

It's not as if your JUST sitting down all evening, after a good workout eat your big carb meal, on your rest days, don't.

DubNside

I've read that glycogen replenishment can occur within 20 hours via adequate energy intake?

Dragan

DubNside wrote:

I've read that glycogen replenishment can occur within 20 hours via adequate energy intake?

Sure, to bring levels back to "normal" but what about the lack of muscular repair over those 20 hours????

21 grams of carbs is simply not enough, in my opinion, after any sort of a decent workout. Thats assuming that your work rate in the gym is high, which i assume that it is.

At the end of the day dude, do what you want to do. All i'm saying is that i reckon your gains can be better and you might be costing yourself a little bit. Maybe up the carbs post workout and see what happens, if you add more adipose you will see it happening, and won;t wake up one day as a tub because you had an extra 40 grams of carbs post workout.

On the other hand, you could add some easy lean mass from making a small change.

Over the last 6 years i have read every sort of conflicting thing about sports nutrition, and see all sorts of crazy **** on the net. The only way to see what works is to do it my friend.:D

DubNside

Dragan wrote:

Over the last 6 years i have read every sort of conflicting thing about sports nutrition, and see all sorts of crazy **** on the net. The only way to see what works is to do it my friend.:D

Yeap well at the end of the day, thats the best thing, everyone is different, and you have to do what works for youself.

I've been thinking of having an additional Protein shake(Promax Extreme) in skimmed milk just before bed, in addition to my post workout Cyclone shake..any views on that?

Dragan

DubNside wrote:

Yeap well at the end of the day, thats the best thing, everyone is different, and you have to do what works for youself.

I've been thinking of having an additional Protein shake(Promax Extreme) in skimmed milk just before bed, in addition to my post workout Cyclone shake..any views on that?

Vital , like i said previously, your looking at an 8 hour fast in your sleep, so you want to dose up just before you hit the have. If you don;t have casein, then mixing whey with milk is a good way to slow down digestion.

Cottage cheese is also a good option.

On another note, i would drop the Maximuscle stuff. Your just paying more for marketing and athlete endorsement, your not getting anything other products won't give you at a cheaper price.

Besides, the only reason to buy Cyclone would have been HMB, though i still believe it to be a rubbish product, and that has now been declared a "medicine" in the UK so i'm not sure if they can keep adding it to the Cyclone.

TerrorFirmer

Dragan, do you consider Maximuscle an outright crap product, or just poor value for what it is? Or both...:)

Dragan

HavoK wrote:

Dragan, do you consider Maximuscle an outright crap product, or just poor value for what it is? Or both...:)

Just poor value, not worth paying the price they are asking really. There "Promax Protein" is maybe 3% more bio available than normal high quality whey isolate, so why pay twice the price????