I seriously need some good advice, not bs criticism please!

sneckerdoodle

Ok I need some useful advice as to how to get rid of belly fat, it's not a lot, but it's enough. So here is my normal routine, keep in mind that every time I log an exercise I wore my heart rate monitor. I workout 6 days a week, right now 3 days of strong lifts 5x5 with extra lifting and an ab workout and 3 days of Insanity with rest day on Sunday. I have been changing up my routine every 2-4 months between, P90X1, Insanity, P90x/Insanity hybrid, Lifting, & Walking for the last 2 1/2 years. I like to stay busy and I'm addicted to working out. WHAT I NEED TO KNOW IS! How to get rid of the last little bit of fat on top of my abs and some on my outer thighs without losing all my muscle? Some people say go all weight lifting it will eat the fat, then others say you have to do all cardio to get rid of the fat but I will lose my muscle, so what the hell do I do. I always stay in my calorie range which I have set at net 2200 right now. Granted I'm not completely sure exactly how many calories I should be eating cause I average a 400-700 calorie burn those 6 days, but if I listen to those who say eat more to lose then my weight jumps up so that sucks but if I drop under my cals, then I am starving. Since I started 2 1/2 years ago my stats have went from this:

SW: 162.8 # CW: 148.8# GW: 135-140#
SBR% 32.8% CBF% 25.6% GBF% 22%

I am 33 yr old female at 5'6" tall, my diary is open, so feel free to check that out and please help by telling me the best way to get rid of the fat without losing my muscle. and what kind of net calories I should be eating everyday. thanks in advance for all your help.

neandermagnon

lift weights (heavy ones) and eat at a slight deficit, very slow fat loss, e.g. aiming for 0.5lb a week, and be patient

regards your weight jumping up if you increase your calories - over what time scale are you monitoring this? You can expect a water weight gain when you increase your calories due to your body storing glycogen. This is a good thing, and it's not fat, and won't stop you from losing fat, in fact you may find you feel more energetic. You need to let your body store more glycogen, ignore the scale, then once your body's finished storing the extra glycogen, if you're still in deficit, the weight will start going down again as you lose fat. If you're at maintenance, then after the glycogen/water weight gains finish, your weight will be stable. If you do turn out to be at maintenance, then subtract 200 or so calories and eat that amount, for slow fat loss.

Water weight gains happen quickly, e.g. overnight or over a few days. Fat gains happen slowly. You have to eat 3500 calories over and above your TDEE to store just one pound of fat, so if you're seeing the scale go up by a couple of pounds overnight or over a few days and you're eating a normal amount of food, then it's not fat gain. Even if you are slightly over your maintenance calories, it'll probably take about a month to gain 1lb of fat, so there's plenty of time to monitor what's going on with the scale and adjust your calorie goal accordingly.

AJ_G

Weight lifting does not "eat fat". It's impossible to only remove fat from a specific area. There is no exercise in the world that will target fat from an area on your body. The only way to get rid of that fat is to keep losing weight and eventually the fat will come off there. In terms of how to get rid of the fat without losing muscle? Keep lifting heavy weights regularly, eat plenty of protein, and lose the weight slowly with a conservative calorie deficit. The slower you lose weight, the higher the percentage of your weight loss will be fat. If you lose the weight slow enough, lift heavy and hard enough, and eat enough protein it's possible to limit muscle loss to almost negligible amounts.

peleroja

It is impossible to spot reduce; you can't choose where it comes off when you lose weight.

Strength training and a calorie deficit is the best way to reduce fat while retaining as much lean body mass as possible.

Strength training doesn't eat fat; it simply helps you to retain muscle while losing fat.

Cardio can help you burn fat because it increases your calorie deficit, but it's not magic either.

Bottom line? Keep eating less that your TDEE and keep exercising, and eventually it'll go away. I know it's not the answer you want, but it's true.

astrampe

You NET 2200 - so you eat around 2800 to 3000 cals per day? That's a LOT of food for somebody your size, even if you are active.... Try upping your protein (so you stay full) and drop a few 100 cals and see if that works better......

Yep, just looked at your diary - you are eating a huge amount of carbs - and LOTS of calories...At 33 your are probably beginning to experience the unfortunate gradual slowdown of metabolism....Cut your carbs and up your protein - try the 40p/30c/30f ratio and cut a couple of 100 calories per day...All the sugar and refined carbs will spike your bloodsugar and make you feel like you are starving - and with that amount of calories it is not possible.....

amysj303

I am sure people will tell you that you cannot "spot reduce" 'cept for lipo but I have been looking at strategies for losing fat when you are close to goal and there are things that can help.
You should join our group-not that heavy girls:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/391273-not-that-heavy-girls-links-to-great-resources

Intermittent fasting can be really effective for fat loss, and Intervals training, calorie and carb-cycling.

good luck with your goals!

astrampe

According to the Scooby calculator you need to eat around 2499 cals(your TDEE) a day if you want to lose fat and gain muscle, and 2275 if you want to eat at a 10% calorie deficit to lose more fat.... BMR 1s 1447
There are total calories - because I've included 5-7 hours of strenuous exercise per week, so in this case you do not eat calories back.... Just set MFP at 2500 or 2250 and log exercise as 1 calorie....

DoNotSpamMe73

Weight will come off wherever it damned will pleases, though you can do certain exercise to build muscle in say the arms, stomach or legs. If you lose weight at some point it will come off where you want it too.

usmcmp

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161603-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach
^Written by me, a woman who has lost a lot of weight after having kids and I have visible abs.

I also think you are eating far too much. I lift hard 5-6 days a week, I'm 5'9", 155 pounds and I maintain around 2300-2400.

SezxyStef

Well abs are made in the kitchen...it's all about the deficet.

I have to agree I am surprised by the amount of calories you eat.

I am a bit older and not as active (I only lift 3x a week, HIIT 2x a week) but am heavier and I eat 1700 a day and I lose 3/4lb a week.

Best advice is lower calories and up protien and do Heavy lifting 3x a week. Keep doing some cardio but perhaps give yourself 2 days off instead of just 1...

Find your TDEE from various websites (average at least 3 as I find they are a bit off most of the time) and work with those calories.

Or do this calculation based on your won intake in 3 consecutive weeks

total calories consumed +(pounds lost x 3500)/21

__freckles__

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161603-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach
^Written by me, a woman who has lost a lot of weight after having kids and I have visible abs.

I also think you are eating far too much. I lift hard 5-6 days a week, I'm 5'9", 155 pounds and I maintain around 2300-2400.

^^Agree. Also took a look at your diary. Are you actually weighing out your food with a food scale?

BENNYDOOR

My question is, what are you eating? Sugar turns directly to fat.. almost every processed food has sugar in it. I would try to avoid sugar the best you can. Remember that carbs turn to sugar as well. Good luck

Rogiefreida

Don't stop lifting, that's for sure. Fat loss happens by eating at a deficit, and comes off from where it's predisposed to come off first. I have the same exact problem you do, in that the last place the fat is going to come off is over my abs and inner thighs. It is slowly (very slowly) disappearing, but I think the only way it's going to happen without sacrificing much muscle is to go slow and be patient. I do some cardio (I'm finishing up Jamie Eason's live fit trainer and it has a ton of cardio at the end, which I don't care for but I'm doing it because I promised myself I'd finish the program), I don't know if the cardio is really making much difference. I have also had to play around with my calorie and macros to find a sweet spot where I'm losing, so you may want to try that. For whatever it's worth, your TDEE seems quite a bit higher than mine (which is 2100), but everyone is different. Also, I have had better success calculating off TDEE rather than adding in exercise calories, but that's what works for me, and everyone is different. :flowerforyou:

geekyjock76

If you've been weighing in and recording, you should notice a trend in scale weight. If your weight has stayed relatively stable, then cut your portions by about 300 calories worth. You should also use a digital scale to be as accurate as possible since it's easy to erase a small deficit.

eric_sg61

My question is, what are you eating?Sugar turns directly to fat.. almost every processed food has sugar in it. I would try to avoid sugar the best you can. Remember that carbs turn to sugar as well. Good luck

NO it does not.

heybales

neandermagnon did a great job commenting on and having some good questions on your diet and weight.

I've got some comments on the exercise routine.

You seem to have proven that more doesn't accomplish what you want, for a very good potential reason.

Frequent intense exercise without proper recovery is just plain old stress to the body. Stress that keeps cortisol elevated (spikes are beneficial, not elevated), and guess where cortisol encourages fat to be stored.

So anyway, taking in to account this fact.

Exercise if done right tears the body down.
It's the rest for recovery and repair that builds it back up, stronger if diet allows.

Where is your rest?

And in a deficit, if you are in one, it's even harder to recover.

Have you even done a week with only the SL5X5 without that high carb burning muscle loading other workouts in between?
I really bet you've never been able to compare, or it's been a long time, see how the SL's feel when you can do them on rested muscle.

Why comment on this about fat loss in the stomach?

Because I'll bet the workouts are not actually causing the body to need to repair as much because they can't do as much with tired muscles. And the cortisol fact.

If you feel you are at healthy weight already, just not liking the fat where it's at, then eating at true maintenance will give your workouts (with proper rest) the best bang for the buck.

Oh, if you are eating back exercise calories for SL's based on the HRM - badly inflated if you are lifting correctly, which again, at this point I'll bet not as good as you could.
But HRM calorie estimates are inflated for anything besides steady-state same HR for 2-4 aerobic cardio only.
Everything you listed is opposite of steady state, and a bunch of anaerobic stuff - so really inflated to varying degrees.

So probably good, that may have helped recovery at tad eating close to maintenance.

Though your answers to Neandermagnon will highlight if eating at deficit or not.

SunofaBeach14

If you're not weighing your food then weigh your food and also make sure you're getting 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Once you weigh, see if the fat starts coming off. If not, start cutting it by 200 calories at a time but no more. Otherwise, you're doing the right things but need to be patient.

psych101

My question is, what are you eating? Sugar turns directly to fat.. almost every processed food has sugar in it. I would try to avoid sugar the best you can. Remember that carbs turn to sugar as well. Good luck

umm no...

heybales

My question is, what are you eating? Sugar turns directly to fat.. almost every processed food has sugar in it. I would try to avoid sugar the best you can. Remember that carbs turn to sugar as well. Good luck

Therefore avoid fruits and vegetables and bread too, all carbs, all sugar, and from this, all fat eventually.

Some of the above is true.

Lesa_Sass

I got rid of my by running and pilates Lean protein and low gi carbs such as quinoa and sweet potato.

catchtheislands

PSMF google it.

Lesa_Sass

My question is, what are you eating? Sugar turns directly to fat.. almost every processed food has sugar in it. I would try to avoid sugar the best you can. Remember that carbs turn to sugar as well. Good luck

<<<<19% body fat on this 45 year old woman would disagree with this statement. Besides its just silly. Please take the free nutrition class at https://www.coursera.org/

Unknown

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mccindy72

My question is, what are you eating? Sugar turns directly to fat.. almost every processed food has sugar in it. I would try to avoid sugar the best you can. Remember that carbs turn to sugar as well. Good luck

Wrong. As long as you eat in a deficit, it doesn't matter what you eat. You will lose weight. Eat smart in a deficit, do some cardio and lift weight and you will lose fat.

mccindy72

I eat well and do cardio and lifting and am at 16% body fat. My diary is open, feel free to look it over if you'd like. You can't spot lose fat, you just have to put in the time and stick with your calorie deficit and stick with your cardio and weights.

Anniebotnen

I saw virtually no fruit (except a few apple slices) or any vegetables except the occasional potato when I looked at your diary. As others have said, adjusting your calories to lose slowly would probably be your best approach. One way to lower your calorie intake would be to replace some of the bread you are eating with fresh vegetables and a little fruit. They are loaded with vitamins and minerals and the fiber helps you feel full!

ElliottTN

It's all about that caloric deficit and patience. Keep your lifting up. Don't be afraid to use cardio as a tool. As opposed to some on here who preach, it ain't gonna come close to eating your muscles away unless you are running for hours and hours on end. Find your true caloric maintenance level (not what some website told you it was, they are only as accurate as they can be) and net 500-700 below it. You will get there soon enough.

Galatea_Stone

It's all about that caloric deficit and patience. Keep your lifting up. Don't be afraid to use cardio as a tool. As opposed to some on here who preach, it ain't gonna come close to eating your muscles away unless you are running for hours and hours on end. Find your true caloric maintenance level (not what some website told you it was, they are only as accurate as they can be) and net 500-700 below it. You will get there soon enough.

This. As you get closer to goal, you can lose at a slower rate. Realistically, you will see abs when you get to around 17-19% body fat. That's when mine pop out. And even then, some women only see them in the morning or when glycogen is depleted.

Pattyrobbins

I'm wondering if maybe the fat around the middle is stress induced? I'm just finishing nursing school and understand that every time we feel stress the hormone cortisol is secreted from the adrenal glands. If it is not used for energy shortly after it's released, it is stored on our waist as fat. The body does not know the difference between good stress and bad, so it doesn't matter if your stress is from worry or from hitting the lottery-either way-use it or store it. Also, our body's favorite source for energy are carbohydrates, it's what your brain uses to run best and it will always be the 1st source the body uses for fuel. Therefore, if you have a bunch stored, or from a recent meal, you will not burn fat. Period. We only burn fat once the carbs are depleted. I am not advocating eliminating carbs, but if your diet is carb HEAVY and you don't burn them, they land on the waist.

mereditheve

First, your calorie intake is higher than it should be. Increase your protein and fiber intake and reduce your sugar intake so you don't feel as hungry since you say that any fewer calories and you feel like you're "starving." What you appear to be eating are calorie-dense foods; if you opt for lower calorie, higher volume, you will still feel full without adding unnecessary calories.

Are you doing exercises to strengthen your core? While that does not reduce belly fat significantly, it does help with posture which can make you look leaner. As a previous poster said, you can't spot reduce fat -- you'll lose it wherever your body decides it wants to lose it. Where you carry weight is largely genetic.

Graelwyn75

Just for reference to those saying she is eating too much at 2800-3000
I lose on 2400-2800, and I am 135Ibs, so different strokes for different folks and all that.