Belly Fat!

K09

Hi,

I have been very happy with my training over the past 2 years. I am now quite strong and toned in all areas but for my belly!

In the past 2months I have cut bread from my diet and also hugely cut down on other carbs.
My typical daily diet is...
Breakfast: 3egg scrambled; Porridge with banana
Lunch: chicken; lettuce; tomato; cheese; ham (and on training day 1scoop casein with 400ml milk)
Evening Snack: 1-2 tins of tuna; nut mix (on training day)
Dinner: fish and veg or lasagne or chicken fajitas
Before bed: 1scoop casein with 400ml milk

Would have 1 cheat day on weekend.

Now I was hoping my improved diet would mean an end to my belly fat and a move towards a possible 6pack. However, to date this has not happened. I am still trying to build overall muscle so need to get in high number of calories.

Are there areas of my diet I should cut? Could dairy products - milk - be my issue?

My training is weights 2days per week. Football 1 day. Cardio (40min sessions) 3 days.

Would appreciate any advice! And would love to hear from people who had similar issue.

Thanks!!

Peanut007

HI,
Sounds like a good, solid & steady regime. I do weights 4 to 5 days per week, don't do the cheat day, and have been in calorie deficit mode for about a year. Don't do any cardio yet, bar the occasional 3km walk (too occasional I'm afraid!) and eat clean 95% of the time. I've dropped about 50 lbs, gone from waist size 36 to 30, and am now about 11 stone (10 12 to 11 2 area). Now if you were go give me those stats a year ago I'd have pictured myself as a lean adonis, but alas the belly fat is still there, as stubborn as can be. However as I'm aged 40 I figure its taken me 4 decades to get out of shape, I'm not going to lose it all in the space of 1 year. My overall body fat percentage has gone from about 35% to 20%, these are numbers I get from a biometric weighing scales and their accuracy can best be described as 'ballpark'. I've done a lot of reading on the subject, looked for a miracle cure etc, but the inevitable answer always seems to be that there is no miracle or shortcut out there (boo hoo). Slow and steady will eventually win the race, but the mathematics of calorie deficit will play a major part, be it low cal with minimal exercise or medium/high cal with higher calorie burns through intensive exercise. I know that I need to get on the cardio buzz at least 5 times a week for an hour a day if I want to see a shift in stubborn body fat, so thats my 'operation 2013' plan. I aim to get to about 12-14% body fat. And realistically I expect it to take at least another year. I think patience is the key and managing your own expectations is crucial, I tried previous lifestyle changes in the past but they petered out as they were built around quick fix success, which I firmly believe does not exist.
Best of luck with your mission, its mission difficult not mission impossible! And remember, you can't out exercise a bad diet!!
P.

Col_Loki

The key to seeing abs is having low body fat. Ab exercises will help build the muscles but they will not show with a layer of fat in front.

You need to reduce your calorie intake to say ~500kcal under maintenance which will have you losing ~1lb Fat per week (keep up protein levels and keep training to maintain muscle).

The most efficient way for body recomp is to "cut" and "bulk" , in cutting phase you are looking to reduce calories and maybe increase cardio thus leading to weight loss, in the bulking phase you are eating extra calories and the focus is on muscle building.

Bottom line If you want to see your Abs...you need to start eating less.