Seeking six pack / loosing tummy fat
TheTrimTim
Posts: 220 Member
Hi. I need help! I'm seeking those darn six pack abs and I'm struggling to loose some of my tummy fat.
As my ardent followers will know, I do 3 hours of weights each week with my PT (which include a small amount of warm up/warm down cardio). During such sessions, we target different body areas and especially when we do core/abs sessions, my heart rate is relatively high (around 15 minutes above 145 bmp and 25 minutes between 127 bmp and 144 bmp). This equates to loosing roughly 600-650 calories per hour for me.
For my diet, in a typical week I eat 570g of fat, 1365g of carbs (incl 515 of sugars) and 1314g of protein. This equates to an average of 81g of fat, 195g of carbs (incl 74g of sugars) and 188g of protein each day. For more specifics, my diary is open for full viewing.
My last measurements were: 69kg, 5'11", 32.8inch waist (around belly button) and 34inch hips. They have been at this point for a good 8 weeks.
Using http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/ I'm currently at 19% body fat.
I suppose I'd like some feedback on whether my food intake is correct (perhaps too much fat and sugar?), or whether I need to do some more cardio specific workouts as well as the 3 PT sessions I have each week, or whether I just need to be more patient and realise that I could really take me many, many months to get to where I want to be.
Many thanks in advance.
As my ardent followers will know, I do 3 hours of weights each week with my PT (which include a small amount of warm up/warm down cardio). During such sessions, we target different body areas and especially when we do core/abs sessions, my heart rate is relatively high (around 15 minutes above 145 bmp and 25 minutes between 127 bmp and 144 bmp). This equates to loosing roughly 600-650 calories per hour for me.
For my diet, in a typical week I eat 570g of fat, 1365g of carbs (incl 515 of sugars) and 1314g of protein. This equates to an average of 81g of fat, 195g of carbs (incl 74g of sugars) and 188g of protein each day. For more specifics, my diary is open for full viewing.
My last measurements were: 69kg, 5'11", 32.8inch waist (around belly button) and 34inch hips. They have been at this point for a good 8 weeks.
Using http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/ I'm currently at 19% body fat.
I suppose I'd like some feedback on whether my food intake is correct (perhaps too much fat and sugar?), or whether I need to do some more cardio specific workouts as well as the 3 PT sessions I have each week, or whether I just need to be more patient and realise that I could really take me many, many months to get to where I want to be.
Many thanks in advance.
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Replies
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What did your PT say about this?0
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At the moment, he's upping the amount of core work we are doing, and doing core/ab sessions more frequently than we were doing 1-2 months ago - as well as working harder/stronger. (I've only been doing PT sessions for 2 months now - I assume that's not very long in the grand scheme of things). I've not discussed with him yet the thought of doing more cardio. He seems to think my food intake, etc is fine, but obviously I'd appreciate second opinions on that.
Oh and I'm currently consuming around 2250 calories per day. Is eating less (i.e. reducing calories) without increasing cardio an option?0 -
Bump0
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how much leg work are you doing?? dead lifts and squats can make a big difference.0
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that list bit of stomach fat is far more about diet than it is about exercise.0
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A little bit. I'm probably doing 2 upper, 3 core and 1 leg sessions in rotation of 6 sessions. Obviously core involves legs too but I'm not doing many dedicated leg sessions. That said, my session yesterday was legs, with nice squats and lunges. My legs ache today.
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You need to drop your body fat percentage to be able to see your abs, not do more core work. I'd consider dropping that trainer if they have told you the additional core work will get you abs.
To burn fat, I'd add a few sessions of HIIT to your workout schedule each week. Or, if you aren't into max burning in minimal time, do steady cardio more often. Here is the best article I've found on HIIT: http://www.brinkzone.com/training-programs/hiit-training-are-you-really-doing-it/0 -
do more dead lifts. lots of them.0
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I believe most men don't start seeing abs til around 10-15% bf. So your doing great otherwise, your just not quite there yet. As long as your eating on a deficit and following your instructors work outs you'll see those abs in no time 0
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It's about body fat. You probably have the 6 pack....and that's about diet and cardio! Muscle helps with fat burn of course but here is what I would do..if you are maintaining right now..I would cut calories back by around 300 per day and add extra cardio.,.start drinking green tea and add a tablespoon of coconut oil to your post workout protein shake. That should give you a nice deficit and some added fat burning from the gt and co. I would also cut any refined and white carbs...which will probably help you cut the 300 and give up alcohol until you've achieved your goal. Im not a pt..but that's what a pt told me and I'm melting the fat away! Good luck!0
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I'm at 9.5% body fat and still don't see my abs.
But for the first time in my life my tummy is firm. It is no longer in competition with JLo's butt.
I agree with others, most of my changes are from Deadlifts/Squats or lifting heavy in general.
Btw, I went from 22% body fat to 9.5% body fat with no cardio. It is all your diet. I do high intensive workouts and am usually broken into a sweat within first 15 mins. I do however do a lot of biking/hiking over the weekends. I was a 34" waist and can now comfortably fit into 30 inch slim fit pants. 0 -
You need to lose fat, so you need to eat less. Drop your cals by maybe 200 per day and see if your weight drops for a week or 2.0
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do 10,000 crunches0
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I'm at 9.5% body fat and still don't see my abs.
This is where Core work helps. You should see abs at 10-12% easily if you put in core work. The only way I can believe you are truly at 9-10% BF and not see abs is if you dont put any strength training into your exercise routine.
I'm currently at 20% BF down from 24% and I'm seeing the top portion of my abs. The way I've lost BF%, I am estimating that by 15% I should have a strong showing and by 13% I will be ripped.0 -
get it!0
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ABS are made in the kitchen. You can do all the core work you want. In fact, you can pass out and you won't see abs. To get abs, you need two things. Cardio, and a high protein diet. Drop your sugars. That helps too. Each body is different.
Getting abs is easy but it takes commitment. Once you get them, it's REALLY easy to maintain them. Unless you are looking for 5% body fat, then yeah, you won't be able to maintain that unless you eat 100%.
If you are cheating every now and then, you won't get abs either. You need to get them first, then you can cheat.
You should drop your PT and eat less. I would say to get them quick... about 1900-2100 TOTAL...0 -
Here is some advice I just gave to a friend. I will paste it here because I think it has everything you need set up a plan.
"Losing fat anywhere on the body is more to do with a calorie deficit than any particular exercise. With that said the fat will burn off from wherever the body decides. You can not control this and it usually comes off in the reverse order it went on.
To lose "weight" put your calories in a moderate deficit. Notice I said "weight". To make sure the majority of your weight loss comes from "body fat" you will need to do resistance training. Muscle is very expensive to maintain calorie wise. If you do not convince your body that the muscle is necessary it will get rid of it. This can look great on the scale but is terrible for body composition. This site is full of people who reach their weight loss goals and are not happy with the way their bodies look. This is usually do to excessive calorie deficit (from severe dieting or excessive cardio) and no resistance training (lifting relatively heavy weights on the big compound lifts).
Is cardio necessary for fat loss? Nope. You can lose weight just with diet alone or diet with strength training combined to maximize fat loss.
Should you do cardio anyways? Yep. Many benefits of doing cardio but I recommend high intensity cardio. 20-30 minutes as hard as you can go. Try HIIT training at first. Do that about 3 times per week. Spending hours on a treadmill will burn calories but is so inefficient that I think its a waste of time. "
Read this and the attached study but do NOT lower your calories that low:
http://fitnessblackbook.com/dieting_for_fat_loss/maintain-muscle-mass-on-800-calories-per-day/
Watch this video for setting up calorie goals and macros (protein, fats, carbs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bakMu9ddQ5I
Watch this video on which kind of cardio to do but ignore her obnoxiousness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5n86VGC3c 0 -
I'm not working toward six-pack abs. I'm just trying to decrease body fat, but it is to my understanding that your abs will only show with decreased body fat, AND that the less body fat you have the harder it is to lose.
I say be more patient. I know it's hard. I want to see much more dramatic results than I'm seeing, but it's just not going to happen overnight. I say stick with your program. Wait 3 to 6 months and if you still don't see your abs, THEN maybe consider making changes.0 -
Here is some advice I just gave to a friend. I will paste it here because I think it has everything you need set up a plan.
"Losing fat anywhere on the body is more to do with a calorie deficit than any particular exercise. With that said the fat will burn off from wherever the body decides. You can not control this and it usually comes off in the reverse order it went on.
To lose "weight" put your calories in a moderate deficit. Notice I said "weight". To make sure the majority of your weight loss comes from "body fat" you will need to do resistance training. Muscle is very expensive to maintain calorie wise. If you do not convince your body that the muscle is necessary it will get rid of it. This can look great on the scale but is terrible for body composition. This site is full of people who reach their weight loss goals and are not happy with the way their bodies look. This is usually do to excessive calorie deficit (from severe dieting or excessive cardio) and no resistance training (lifting relatively heavy weights on the big compound lifts).
Is cardio necessary for fat loss? Nope. You can lose weight just with diet alone or diet with strength training combined to maximize fat loss.
Should you do cardio anyways? Yep. Many benefits of doing cardio but I recommend high intensity cardio. 20-30 minutes as hard as you can go. Try HIIT training at first. Do that about 3 times per week. Spending hours on a treadmill will burn calories but is so inefficient that I think its a waste of time. "
Read this and the attached study but do NOT lower your calories that low:
http://fitnessblackbook.com/dieting_for_fat_loss/maintain-muscle-mass-on-800-calories-per-day/
Watch this video for setting up calorie goals and macros (protein, fats, carbs)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bakMu9ddQ5I
Watch this video on which kind of cardio to do but ignore her obnoxiousness:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5n86VGC3c
WINNER. This dude covered everything you need to know to get six pack abs. And even when you try to maintain your lean muscle mass, you will lose some. It's very hard to keep it all. But he is right, you want to try to keep as much as you can.
One last thing I will add is that your body fat drops EVERYWHERE. The LAST thing to go is your stomach fat. It only took me about 2 months to get them. My body fat was around 15-18% at the time.
I did P90X and I followed a fat shredder diet with 1900 calories. It worked.0 -
bump0
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I did P90X and I followed a fat shredder diet with 1900 calories. It worked.
TeamRIPPED???
Abs are made in the kitchen... Stick to a strict calorie deficit, stay active to help burn more calories (the gym work you're doing is fine), and BE PATIENT. for most males you'll have to get to 10% to start seeing abs and often times the stomach is the last place the fat is lost.0 -
BUMP0
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Many people doing IF tend to get to very low body fat levels with little to no effort. You should consider this if you really want a Six Pack. It's not necessary to beat up your body doing all that work to obtain a low body fat level. Google Lean Gains, East Stop Eat, Fast Five, The Warrior Diet, and consider dropping your carb intake.0
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Wrong. Believe it or not, 6 pack abs does involve some genetics. Some don't see anything until they get in the 5-6% range.I'm at 9.5% body fat and still don't see my abs.
This is where Core work helps. You should see abs at 10-12% easily if you put in core work. The only way I can believe you are truly at 9-10% BF and not see abs is if you dont put any strength training into your exercise routine.
I'm currently at 20% BF down from 24% and I'm seeing the top portion of my abs. The way I've lost BF%, I am estimating that by 15% I should have a strong showing and by 13% I will be ripped.
Define "ripped". In my mine, nobody is ripped at 13%. 10% you're getting there.0 -
Like others have said before, you need to drop body fat to see abs. Make sure your diet is clean, keep your sodium, and sugars low, drink lots of water. If you are below 10% body fat, and not seeing your abs, core work can help, but most likely you are retaining too much water. You might want to reduce your carbs, and double what you are drinking in water, now. I read an article a few years ago on T-nation that mentioned what bodybuilders do to get real ripped about a week before a competition. You may want to look it up.0
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Wrong. Believe it or not, 6 pack abs does involve some genetics. Some don't see anything until they get in the 5-6% range.I'm at 9.5% body fat and still don't see my abs.
This is where Core work helps. You should see abs at 10-12% easily if you put in core work. The only way I can believe you are truly at 9-10% BF and not see abs is if you dont put any strength training into your exercise routine.
I'm currently at 20% BF down from 24% and I'm seeing the top portion of my abs. The way I've lost BF%, I am estimating that by 15% I should have a strong showing and by 13% I will be ripped.
Define "ripped". In my mine, nobody is ripped at 13%. 10% you're getting there.
I think it also is determined by the method, and accuracy of the method of how you determine your body fat %. When my abs started showing my calipers had me at about 10%, but the Tanita scale at my gym told me I was at 6%.0 -
Wrong. Believe it or not, 6 pack abs does involve some genetics. Some don't see anything until they get in the 5-6% range.I'm at 9.5% body fat and still don't see my abs.
This is where Core work helps. You should see abs at 10-12% easily if you put in core work. The only way I can believe you are truly at 9-10% BF and not see abs is if you dont put any strength training into your exercise routine.
I'm currently at 20% BF down from 24% and I'm seeing the top portion of my abs. The way I've lost BF%, I am estimating that by 15% I should have a strong showing and by 13% I will be ripped.
Define "ripped". In my mine, nobody is ripped at 13%. 10% you're getting there.
Genetics is definitely a factor but so is building up the muscles. Obviously the larger the muscles the sooner they will show through the fat. Abs and obliques are muscles and can increase in size with training but like others have stated above getting them to show is far more about body fat percentage than growing them larger.
You can get them to show by leaning out. You can get them to show faster by leaning out and training them. How much faster? Who knows. : )0 -
Thx guys for all of the advice. There's lots to take in but one thing I can do pretty easily is drop my calories. I'm thinking of going to 1800, which I used to maintain 8 weeks or so ago.
Regarding reducing sugar, is there a gram amount I should aim for, or not exceed? I'm at around 50-75g/day now, most of which is via dried fruits or sugar in protein bars.
I'll check out HIIT and examine my cardio too.0 -
I did P90X and I followed a fat shredder diet with 1900 calories. It worked.
TeamRIPPED???
Abs are made in the kitchen... Stick to a strict calorie deficit, stay active to help burn more calories (the gym work you're doing is fine), and BE PATIENT. for most males you'll have to get to 10% to start seeing abs and often times the stomach is the last place the fat is lost.
Yep!0 -
Wrong. Believe it or not, 6 pack abs does involve some genetics. Some don't see anything until they get in the 5-6% range.I'm at 9.5% body fat and still don't see my abs.
This is where Core work helps. You should see abs at 10-12% easily if you put in core work. The only way I can believe you are truly at 9-10% BF and not see abs is if you dont put any strength training into your exercise routine.
I'm currently at 20% BF down from 24% and I'm seeing the top portion of my abs. The way I've lost BF%, I am estimating that by 15% I should have a strong showing and by 13% I will be ripped.
Define "ripped". In my mine, nobody is ripped at 13%. 10% you're getting there.
Genetics is definitely a factor but so is building up the muscles. Obviously the larger the muscles the sooner they will show through the fat. Abs and obliques are muscles and can increase in size with training but like others have stated above getting them to show is far more about body fat percentage than growing them larger.
You can get them to show by leaning out. You can get them to show faster by leaning out and training them. How much faster? Who knows. : )
Maybe I am not at 9.5% body fat. I am basing this off of the hand held body fat calculator. I know they are not accurate. But you can see the pics on my profile. You *can* see the upper abs but when I say you cannot see them, I meant you cannot see them without me trying to flex/suck my tummy 0
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