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ctplayer
New Member
| Joined: | 25 April 2008 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 25 April 2008 03:56 pm |
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Hey everyone,
Just a primer: I'm 20, 6' 1'', about 160 lbs and my body mass index is 20.6.
I have been going ot the gym 2-3 times a week and completing a 5K on a treadmill in about 35 minutes, and also doing some light free weight lifting. I've toned down my diet, eating a salad for lunch and controlling my portions during dinner (I rarely eat breakfast because of class & time restrictions).
All of this is supposed to be in support of a goal to lose stomach fat. I'm getting a little pudgy, and I'd like to lose it before the summer, but after completing three weeks, I've seen absolutely no progress. If anything, I'm gaining more stomach fat.
Does anyone have specific tips on how to deal with this?
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trimB
Moderator
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Posted: 25 April 2008 10:50 pm |
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In order to lose stomach fat, you will need to lose fat over your entire body. To do that, you have to make sure you have a calorie deficit (burn more than you take in) but not so much of one that you are burning muscle. Burning muscle will not help your stomach flab at all! Have you ever thought about counting calories to VERIFY what your deficit is?
Explore the great calculators on this site and check back if you have specific questions about them.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 April 2008 11:28 pm |
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1) get your body fat % tested (one way or another) and track that. You need to reach single digits (i.e. 9%) to see your abs
2) as trimB says above, somebody already so close to goal needs to be very precise to get results - not too eat too much nor to eat too little
3) whilst agressive measures such as lower-carb dieting are in general not required to lose weight, they might be if you are already lean
(Male,20,6'1",160lb) your unadjusted RMR is 1790 calories. As a 'lightly active' person you can maintain existing weight eating 2461 calories.
In the first instance I would count calories and aim for around 2000 calories, this should lose 1lb per week. If this does not work at all then my next idea is to cut down to 1800 and/or increase exercise.
If you want to zig-zag, I would start with 3 days at 1800 calories then one (or more) days at 2500 and repeat. You could make the low calorie days also low-carbohydrate (that's called 'carb cycling').
The Lyle McDonald variation on this would allow you to go as low as 1250 calories on the low carb days but if you lose muscle doing such an extreme regiment, don't complain to me, you've been warned.
(any zig-zag period requires both 'zig' and 'zag' days; you can't just have the low days.)
Final note: don't do more than you need. If cutting calories to 2000 works, don't be tempted to cut them further etc.
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ctplayer
New Member
| Joined: | 25 April 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 26 April 2008 04:45 am |
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trimB wrote: In order to lose stomach fat, you will need to lose fat over your entire body. To do that, you have to make sure you have a calorie deficit (burn more than you take in) but not so much of one that you are burning muscle. Burning muscle will not help your stomach flab at all! Have you ever thought about counting calories to VERIFY what your deficit is?
Explore the great calculators on this site and check back if you have specific questions about them.
I use Calorie Connect @ About.com... I usually come about 300-400 calories under my burn rate for the day.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 26 April 2008 02:17 pm |
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| Can you state the actual numbers of calories you are consuming?
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ctplayer
New Member
| Joined: | 25 April 2008 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 26 April 2008 04:37 pm |
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Nir wrote: Can you state the actual numbers of calories you are consuming?
Well, for instance, on the 22nd, I consumed 1,369. On the 23rd, I consumed 1,630. On the 24th, I consumed 1,933. On the 25th, I consumed 2,288.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 26 April 2008 04:44 pm |
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| Have you actually stalled or are you still losing, just slowly? (remember as you are lean you should not expect large movement on the scales)
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ctplayer
New Member
| Joined: | 25 April 2008 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 26 April 2008 04:48 pm |
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Nir wrote: Have you actually stalled or are you still losing, just slowly? (remember as you are lean you should not expect large movement on the scales)
Well, I just completed my fourth week of exercise (I have increased the amount of times I go to the gym per week to 4 from 2)... and I have to be honest, it seems like I am either status quo or a little bit heavier in the stomach area than I was before. That feeling is what frustrates me so much.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 26 April 2008 05:16 pm |
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| If you did an average of the calories you ate in the last month, what do you get?
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ctplayer
New Member
| Joined: | 25 April 2008 |
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| Posts: | 5 |
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Posted: 26 April 2008 06:19 pm |
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Nir wrote: If you did an average of the calories you ate in the last month, what do you get?
To be honest, I only started counting my calories in the past week. I have been controlling my diet since I began exercise, but it wasn't until I became frustrated with the lack of results that I turned to a calorie counter.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 27 April 2008 08:08 am |
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Fair enough. So the plan is going to be to gather some numbers, monitor results, and adjust accordingly.
(As you are also weight training, I want to mention that there i always the possibility that muscle gain is masking fat loss, so if isn't too much troube it is a good idea to periodically measure body fat %. Too popular methods are plastic calipers, and BIA scales - for more, see Calculating Body Composition)
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