Advice for the layer of fat around lower stomach

mattyice1989

I realize this section is for gaining but I wanted to see if any body builders could help me with losing lower stomach fat. I'm a 6'6" ~235 lb male, would consider myself relatively thin but athletic in build. Roughly 6-8 months ago, with the general goal of getting to 250 lbs, I was eating whatever I wanted and paid little attention to the ring of fat developing around my lower stomach. I understand that fat comes as part of the bulking process. Now that I'm paying much more attention to my diet/macros, I'm trying to balance losing that layer of fat while maintaining my strength and some mass. There seems to be such a fine line in getting the right amount of macros to sustain muscle-building, energy to support my workouts, incorporating some cardio (how much?), and all the while burning that last little layer away to reveal the lower abs. Any successful strategies here? Do I need to start getting super specific with my calorie count? I have a 4-day split that involves quite a bit of ab work and will randomly do some cardio on one or two of my rest days. I appreciate any insight.

psuLemon

It really is simple (but aggravating). You just need a moderate deficit. If you want to maintain mass, consume around 200g of pro and continue to lift hard.

ndj1979

psuLemon wrote: »

It really is simple (but aggravating). You just need a moderate deficit. If you want to maintain mass, consume around 200g of pro and continue to lift hard.

this...

I would also add that you will probably need to tighten up your logging and eating habits, and maybe cut down on the calorie dense items...

mattyice1989

@psuLemon Side note - is there some preferred method to tracking calories expended during any given day? I have a Fitbit but I find it hard to believe the accuracy.
@ndj1979 Assuming you looked at my food log history (which has been largely unused for months), my diet now is dramatically different from how it used to be. Currently consists of chicken, beef, tilapia, eggs, greek yogurt, protein shakes, sweet potatoes, some fruits, veggies, mixed nuts, and avocados. I have to assume I'm still operating at a surplus though.

psuLemon

mattyice1989 wrote: »

@psuLemon Side note - is there some preferred method to tracking calories expended during any given day? I have a Fitbit but I find it hard to believe the accuracy.
@ndj1979 Assuming you looked at my food log history (which has been largely unused for months), my diet now is dramatically different from how it used to be. Currently consists of chicken, beef, tilapia, eggs, greek yogurt, protein shakes, sweet potatoes, some fruits, veggies, mixed nuts, and avocados. I have to assume I'm still operating at a surplus though.

I dont use any other technology. I just track my calories and figure out my tdee based on actual results.

Rusty740

psuLemon wrote: »

mattyice1989 wrote: »

@psuLemon Side note - is there some preferred method to tracking calories expended during any given day? I have a Fitbit but I find it hard to believe the accuracy.
@ndj1979 Assuming you looked at my food log history (which has been largely unused for months), my diet now is dramatically different from how it used to be. Currently consists of chicken, beef, tilapia, eggs, greek yogurt, protein shakes, sweet potatoes, some fruits, veggies, mixed nuts, and avocados. I have to assume I'm still operating at a surplus though.

I dont use any other technology. I just track my calories and figure out my tdee based on actual results.

Many people say fitbit overestimates the calories burned during exercise. I have a Garmin w/ HR, my wife has a FitBit w/HR. Neither of us rely solely on them to be very accurate (the proof is on the scale), but they do provide a decent guess. They also do updates that change their calculations from time to time, but you might not know they've done it. I'll give you an example that you might apply.

I have used my Garmin, MFP, digital kitchen scale, digital body scale and a spreadsheet to track my weight loss and my predicted weight loss every day since Aug 6, 2016 based on 3500 calories per day (which isn't quite right anyway, but it's close enough and 1 lb muscle ain't close to 3500 cals). For instance the Garmin says I used 1840 calories yesterday (I work in an office, am 5'6", 134 lbs) and I did absolutely nothing yesterday for exercise (it was a rest day what can I say) and MFP says my intake was 1656 calories. Over this time I have lost 13.0 lbs as of yesterday morning and the prediction over that time using the data tells me I should be at 13.8 lbs lost. I'd say that's pretty accurate, but you have to take the time to figure out all these details to know whether or not what you are doing is working and that's the ticket.

I believe the single best way to get a good reliable answer to "is this working" is to get a digital body scale and measure yourself each and every morning. Put this in a spreadsheet with a graph and trendline that sucker.

Just as an aside, don't believe the added exercise calories MFP adds on either.

ndj1979

mattyice1989 wrote: »

@psuLemon Side note - is there some preferred method to tracking calories expended during any given day? I have a Fitbit but I find it hard to believe the accuracy.
@ndj1979 Assuming you looked at my food log history (which has been largely unused for months), my diet now is dramatically different from how it used to be. Currently consists of chicken, beef, tilapia, eggs, greek yogurt, protein shakes, sweet potatoes, some fruits, veggies, mixed nuts, and avocados. I have to assume I'm still operating at a surplus though.

I know for me, that I can eat at maintenance and not track my calories; however, if I want to to cut or bulk I need to go back to being accurate so that I really know that I am in surplus or deficit.

I would suggest logging your food for a week to see where you are. If still in a surplus, then cut down to about a 250 calorie deficit and keep lifting...

psuLemon

ndj1979 wrote: »

mattyice1989 wrote: »

@psuLemon Side note - is there some preferred method to tracking calories expended during any given day? I have a Fitbit but I find it hard to believe the accuracy.
@ndj1979 Assuming you looked at my food log history (which has been largely unused for months), my diet now is dramatically different from how it used to be. Currently consists of chicken, beef, tilapia, eggs, greek yogurt, protein shakes, sweet potatoes, some fruits, veggies, mixed nuts, and avocados. I have to assume I'm still operating at a surplus though.

I know for me, that I can eat at maintenance and not track my calories; however, if I want to to cut or bulk I need to go back to being accurate so that I really know that I am in surplus or deficit.

I would suggest logging your food for a week to see where you are. If still in a surplus, then cut down to about a 250 calorie deficit and keep lifting...

This is how I am, too. No problem eating at maintenance without logging... did it for years. But to cut, especially as I am fairly lean, I need to track calories.

mattyice1989

@psuLemon @ndj1979 Appreciate the advice guys. Going to startup the ole log again.