Going too far with eating at a deficit .

marc_s_johnson

I've been reading these boards for a few months now and the general advice I see for getting rid of stomach fat (which is my main target) is to eat at a deficit, eat clean, do cardio and strength training.

Now I've been following that advice but I'm starting to think that I can't do it anymore, I'm a 5'7 male and have dropped right down to 9 stone 4 lbs, I just ordered a new pair of 28 inch waist jeans as my 30 inch ones had too much room in and to my horror I've got room in the 28inch jeans.

I can't lose anymore weight, I'm looking ok now and feel good but anymore and I think I will start to look ill, I realise you can't target the stomach to lose that last bit of lose skin/fat but is there any other way people could suggest to get that flat stomach without eating at a deficit (I say eat at a deficit but my deficit is not eating back my exercise calories most days)

The last thing I want to do is start eating a load of junk for the sake of eating extra calories, right now I'm eating plenty and never go hungry so i'm just wondering what some of you would do in this situation.

My daily exercise routine is now 10 mins of cardio through the Insanity warm up routine and then Bob Harper's total body sculpture.

JenMc14

I'd suggest going on a bulk cycle. Slowly up your calories over the next month or two until you're 200-300 over maintenance. LIFT ALL THE THINGS. You've gain a bit of fat, but if you minimize your cardio, get a good, heavy lifting program going and give it time, you'll gain some muscle, too. Either pick a time frame or a weight gained goal (6 months,10 pounds,,etc.) and when you get there, assess your progress. If you feel soft, go back to a deficit, while still lifting all the things, and you can shed your newly gained fat 9which will hopefully be minimal) along with some of the stubborn prior fat due to having more muscle. You'll have a better base, so you might like the way you look better as well. If you decide you are ok with how you look, you can keep bulking until you hit another 'goal", then reassess again.

SoDamnHungry

I'm going to second lifting.

Edit: Typo

marc_s_johnson

I'd suggest going on a bulk cycle. Slowly up your calories over the next month or two until you're 200-300 over maintenance. LIFT ALL THE THINGS. You've gain a bit of fat, but if you minimize your cardio, get a good, heavy lifting program going and give it time, you'll gain some muscle, too. Either pick a time frame or a weight gained goal (6 months,10 pounds,,etc.) and when you get there, assess your progress. If you feel soft, go back to a deficit, while still lifting all the things, and you can shed your newly gained fat 9which will hopefully be minimal) along with some of the stubborn prior fat due to having more muscle. You'll have a better base, so you might like the way you look better as well. If you decide you are ok with how you look, you can keep bulking until you hit another 'goal", then reassess again.

Thanks, I will give that a go, was thinking about cutting cardio out completely do you advise that?

JenMc14

That's going to come to a personal preference. Doing lots of cardio is going to be counter-productive to muscle gain, but if you like it or like the health benefits, you can put in a few short sessions. Most bodybuilders on bulk cycles limit cardio. If you want to cut it completely for awhile, that would be up to you. You can try it and see how you feel. In the end, working out, eating right, gaining, losing, it's all just a big science experiment.