Small bit of belly fat - Tips

chops018

Hi all,

So the last few weeks I've noticed the ould belly fat appearing, only a small bit mind you. Usually I'm grand when I stand up but it's only when I sit down it appears, well as I said, littlest one is starting to appear. This could be that Body Dysmorphic Disorder thing either as I ALWAYS think I have a fatter belly than I do.

My usual plan is to just seriously lower calorie intake for 5-6 weeks i.e. 60% of my diet being fruit, and just meat and small bit of veg for dinner, and LOTS of water. Along with a lot more cardio. This usually sorts it back to what I'm happy with.

However, I'm putting the work in the gym at the moment and taking plenty of creatine etc. So I suppose it would defeat the purpose to do the above if I'm talking supplements to get a bit bigger from the workouts. So lowering the calorie intake wouldn't be a good idea, and the creatine would add some weight too I assume? Is it just going to the wrong places?

Has anyone any tips to lose the belly fat and keep lifting heavy in the gym? Or should I take 5-6 weeks off the heavy lifting and creatine and try concentrate on more cardio, more ab work, and maybe a couple of light weight sessions?

Any tips/advice/pointers/experience welcome.

Squat Rack Curler

You can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, pick one or the other.
You should be lifting heavy when both bulking and cutting.

nice_guy80

Squat Rack Curler wrote: »

You can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, pick one or the other.
You should be lifting heavy when both bulking and cutting.

errr, yes you can

silverharp

Op 60% fruit? Doesn't sound good , the majority of your volume of food should be veg , and green veg a good % of that. Ploughing through bananas and the like won't help you loose weight. An apple a day and a portion of berries is fine if loosing weight and maybe a banana after a workout.

Alf Veedersane

Your proposed diet is way too extreme for the 'problem'. You don't need a sledgehammer to crack a nut (it's a nonsense diet anyway even if you had a weighgt problem).

You don't need to drop your calories so low down. Keep training, maybe drop by 200-300 calories tops and you'll be grand.

TimeToShine

nice_guy80 wrote: »

errr, yes you can

No you can't unless you are taking anabolic steroids or a complete novice (and even then the latter is debatable).

papu

TimeToShine wrote: »

No you can't unless you are taking anabolic steroids or a complete novice (and even then the latter is debatable).

Yes you can , with enough protein a relatively small calorie deficit and enough muscle stimulus you can most definitely increase strength (Gain muscle) while on a cut.

chops018

chops018 wrote: »

My usual plan is to just seriously lower calorie intake for 5-6 weeks i.e. 60% of my diet being fruit, and just meat and small bit of veg for dinner, and LOTS of water. Along with a lot more cardio. This usually sorts it back to what I'm happy with..

No... meat, meat + veg, meat + veg ... where meat also includes fish
and fruit just not 60% of diet being fruit

Squat Rack Curler

nice_guy80 wrote: »

errr, yes you can

papu wrote: »

Yes you can , with enough protein a relatively small calorie deficit and enough muscle stimulus you can most definitely increase strength (Gain muscle) while on a cut.

No, you can't unless you are obese and untrained and even then it's not efficient.
OP is neither

9bred4

Squat Rack Curler wrote: »

No, you can't unless you are obese and untrained and even then it's not efficient.
OP is neither

So if the OP does a healthy diet whilst hitting the gym, you're saying they won't drop bodyfat % whilst putting on muscle...??

Squat Rack Curler

9bred4 wrote: »

So if the OP does a healthy diet whilst hitting the gym, you're saying they won't drop bodyfat %? ?

If he is in a caloric defecit, yes of course he will lose fat, but he will not build muscle at the same time.

9bred4

Squat Rack Curler wrote: »

If he is in a caloric defecit, yes of course he will lose fat, but he will not build muscle at the same time.

The gut can act as a calorie source if needed. So the eating calorie deficit can be made up with this. Plus they won't be gymming for mass but for a cut so it's a win win.

papu

Squat Rack Curler wrote: »

If he is in a caloric defecit, yes of course he will lose fat, but he will not build muscle at the same time.

Yes he will , I've done it , plenty of other people have done it , its completely possible .

Tigger99

Of course it's possible to loose fat and gain muscle. I've done it, as have many others I know. I really wish people wouldn't post such mad notions as there are people reading posts that are depending on your answers for information.

Squat Rack Curler

9bred4 wrote: »

The gut can act as a calorie source if needed. So the eating calorie deficit can be made up with this. Plus they won't be gymming for mass but for a cut so it's a win win.

ok

papu wrote: »

Yes he will , I've done it , plenty of other people have done it , its completely possible .

Science must be wrong then because anabolic signalling pathways are depressed in a nutritional defecit.

papu

Squat Rack Curler wrote: »

ok



Science must be wrong then because anabolic signalling pathways are depressed in a nutritional defecit.

Is a nutritional deficit the same as a caloric deficit?
Science is never wrong , hypotheses on the other hand are fallible
Here is a study Link

The group that combined cardiovascular with resistance exercise were able to lose fat (7.4 kilograms or 16.3 pounds) while gaining muscle (4.3 kilograms or 9.5 pounds) at the same time. over a 14 week period.

Yes they were very fat , yes they were beginners but the principle is the same.For less fat more highly trained individuals it just takes allot longer..

9bred4

Squat Rack Curler wrote: »

ok



Science must be wrong then because anabolic signalling pathways are depressed in a nutritional defecit.

OK mister science man. Like many others I let results do the talking. I'm going to go about my day now.

Squat Rack Curler

papu wrote: »

Is a nutritional deficit the same as a caloric deficit?
Science is never wrong , hypotheses on the other hand are fallible
Here is a study Link

The group that combined cardiovascular with resistance exercise were able to lose fat (7.4 kilograms or 16.3 pounds) while gaining muscle (4.3 kilograms or 9.5 pounds) at the same time. over a 14 week period.

Yes they were very fat , yes they were beginners but the principle is the same.For less fat more highly trained individuals it just takes allot longer..

No, it's not the same. When you get fat, you're hormones get all messed up which is why you can do both at the same time for a short period of time.

A caloric defecit is a form of nutritional defecit.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20300017
See study above to see how dieting affects hormones.

9bred4 wrote: »

OK mister science man. Like many others I let results do the talking. I'm going to go about my day now.

ok.

chops018

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Some food for thought in the posts.

arse..biscuits

OP asks question.
A few helpful responses.
A scientific debate breaks out and thread derailed.

Fairly standard.

nice_guy80

Watch your diet - cut out bread and other wheat products

eggs for breakie with porridge
eat lean meat and loads of veg for dinner
salads and protein for lunch

Train really hard.
Combination of resistance and high intensity workouts (can be cardio or weights based)

Good luck with it

metamorphosis

A pretty common rule of scientfic hypotheis is looking at application and relevance. Looking into caloric and nutritional circumstances for a competing bodybuilder is not going to transfer conclusively to the circumstances if the OP. The demands and pressures of what the body OP is under are going to be different to that of a competing bodybuilder, especially during the prep phase of a competition!

Squat Rack Curler

metamorphosis wrote: »

A pretty common rule of scientfic hypotheis is looking at application and relevance. Looking into caloric and nutritional circumstances for a competing bodybuilder is not going to transfer conclusively to the circumstances if the OP. The demands and pressures of what the body OP is under are going to be different to that of a competing bodybuilder, especially during the prep phase of a competition!

Fair point, but honestly a lot of research has shown that protein synthesis is pretty much not activated at all in a caloric deficit.

mTor is the main pathway for signalling protein synthesis and in a deficit it is inhibited greatly by various things, namely leptin and AMP kinase. It is further inhibited by lowered testosterone and insulin levels. It is absurd to think the OP can gain muscle while losing his belly(If it was possible, nobody would bulk/cut)

If you want studies I can post them later