Loosing the battle of the bulge - please help.

dakan

Hi Folks

I have been lifting weights for about 3 years now and am happy with how I have bulked up from the scrawny fella that I was. However there is a stubborn layer of fat around my midsection that I'm finding very hard to get rid of. So does anyone have any advice on how to loose fat and build muscle at the same time.

My stats are
183 lbs/83kgs -- 27 male -- 6' 1” / 185cm
I went for a fitness test in Crunch fitness and I think my body fat was 25-27%. Can't remember the exact number but it was twenty-something percent.

My diet
6.00am
Bowl of Supervalu supreme muesli + two heaped table spoons of Linwoods Flax seed meal with low fat milk.
Two slices of MacCambridge soda bread + butter and honey.
A cup of tea.

9.15m
100g of raw cashew nuts.

11.20am tea break.
I bowl of dried banana chips – dates – dried cranberries – sunflower seeds and either fresh fruit salad or a yogurt on top, depending on whats there.

12.00am 5g of creation mixed with water.

12.15pm to 1.50ish Workout Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
100g of whey protein powder mixed with water straight after each workout.

2.00pm Lunch
Usually two sandwiches made with brown bread, turkey slice or tuna or diced chicken and veg (onion, cucumber or sweetcorn)
Sometimes a meat and two veg dinner.

6.50pm dinner – usually stir fry -- 60g Cannellini Beans -- 40g whole grain rice -- 120g diced chicken breast -- 30g John West tuna chunks -- a few cashew nuts -- Uncle Ben's stir fry sauce
some combination of vegetables – onions, bell peppers, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, babycorn, bean sprouts, glove of garlic.
Some weeknights and at the weekend I do something else, maybe read meat or fish and steam broccoli etc.

9.00pm – bed time snack.
A mix of cottage cheese, natural peanut butter, more flax-seed meal, a scoop of whey protein and Udo Choice oil all blended togeather.

Workout
Monday - Chest and Biceps and Sit-ups.
Tuesday - Back and Triceps
Wednesday - Shoulders & Legs
Friday - Cardio
30 – 35 min Crosstrainer increasing and decreasing levels at different intervals.

Diet changes I'm thinking of making.
1.Have tuna or turkey slice peta-bread sandwiches instead of the cashew nuts. Although this might be a problem eating them at my desk, if there is a tuna/onion smell.
2.Take something like Nutrition X – RAM after the workout instead of just whey protein powder.
3.I have a hiatus hernia so I'm looking to try and not eat late at night, thinking of not eating the cottage cheese snack and have the protein powder then.

I would be grateful for any advice
Thanks Dakan

Esse85

Its very hard to reduce fat and build muscle at the same time, you could expect better results if you just concentrated on one.

To get rid of the gut:

Increase cardio to at least 3 times a week for 45 mins

Try this for a few weeks, if you dont see any change, drop your calorie intake and increase cardio.

Keep the cottage cheese for late at night as this will slowly feed your muscles through the night whereas protein powder would be quicker absorbed (provided its whey)

Coileach dearg

HIIT, HIIT and more HIIT. Watch the fat strip off!! This is the only advice you need.

dakan

Thanks for the advice folks.
Coileach dearg pardon my ignorance but what does HIIT mean?

bob04

High Intensity Interval Training or something like that i think

Google it, you will get lots of tips

A great saying that i firmly belive in is as follows "a 6 pack in made in the kitchen, not in the gym"

I think you diet needs to be looked at if you wanna loose that spare tyre

From what i can see, you need to increase your protein intake, and decrease your carbs (not cut them out completely)

Im not a dietican, i can only tell you what worked for me in the past