Losing Excess Fat

[BuckyBadger]

Hey All

I'm somewhat new to lifting. I lifted a bit in HS, nut nothing to serious. I picked lifting up again about a month ago. My starting weight was 168, and now I'm at 174. So I'm seeing some gains, mostly in my arms, shoulder and back. But I seem to be struggling to lose weight in my lower stomach area and in my thighs.

My goal is to push my weight to 200 solid pounds of muscle while having a slim waist and the defined "6 pack."

My lifting schedule consists of Arms (incline press, flat bench press, curls, and flys) on Mondays and Thursdays, then Legs (squats/calf raises/shrugs or power cleans/pullups) on Tuesdays and Fridays, with off days on Wednesdays and weekends. Each day is followed by a ten minute incline run on a treadmill and then ten minutes of crunchs and situps on an exercise ball.

Each day, I take in roughly 2300 calories in 5-6 meals, spaced 2-3 hours apart. I take 3 protein shakes a day (Muscletech Nitrotech Hardcore) and also 4 pills - Creakic in the morning, Gakic 30 minutes before I lift, Leukic right before I lift, and one more Creakic afterwards. I also take in 6-8 glasses of water each day.

I was looking through a Men's Fitness mag. and came across an ad for VPX Meltdown. So I googled that (thats how I also came across this site) and found a topic on here. I searched through that thread, and didnt find anything that directly related to my questions.

So now my question(s) is, why can't I lose the excess weight around my stomach and thighs? Is their some wrong in my diet thats not allowing me to? Am I going about this whole thing wrong? Could I try a fat burner like Meltdown, while maintaining my same diet and lifting schedule, and lose the excess fat while still pushing my weight up to 200 pounds?

Like I said, I am new to the art of lifting, so I'm sorry if some of my questions are "Elementary."

Thanks in advance for any feedback I get.

*I posted this in the Diet and Nutrition thread as well. Not sure where it belonged. Sorry

 

[Hoglander]

Diet.

 

[DiGiTaL]

You can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

So if you want to push to 200, you will gain some fat here and there.

Then you go on a lean cut, meaning you try to maintain or lose very little muscle while losing the fat.

Keep in mind, fat maybe in your belly or arms, you can't spot reduce fat. Key is Diet and exercise to maintain the muscles.

 

[T_man]

I'm not an expert but this is what I know.
To burn 1lb of fat a week you need to intake a 500 calorie deficit to your base metabolic rate, plus the calories you burned in a day. This accounts to 3500 calories a week which is what is needed to "burn" 1lb of fat as long as your diet is in check.
To build 1lb of muscle a week you need a 500 calorie surplus a day over your base metabolic rate and your daily calories burned.

So in order to build muscle and burn fat; you need to have a 500 calorie surplus and defecit at the same time which..... work it out for yourself.

However, it is technically possible to do both at the same time, however it will be painfully slow. If you're in the process of building lean muscle (almost perfect diet to make sure you're not getting much excess fat), you can still burn fat if you have a decent metabolism doing things through the day. If you maintain an anabolic state in your body then you can burn fat and lose muscle due to the high energy demands which cause the fat to be burned, yet keeping the muscles with a steady supply of nutrients which will be enough to grow, yet not even the wrong sort of nutrients, or even a few calories over or else you'll start to put that fat back on.

But technically that's almost impossible unless your LIFE is based around bodybuilding/fitness. I don't mean go to work/school, be with kids/homework then squeeze out an hour in the gym 3 times a week. I mean your job is to lift weights and you have a personal trainer and nutritionist who have calculated all the difficult sums. But as you said, it's nothing serious so I don't think it's serious.

Anyone please feel free to correct me on any misconseptions I may have made.

 

[Gazhole]

The ONLY situations where it may be possible to lose fat and gain muscle at once are when you're a 100% newbie and just start training or when you're genetically gifted. Pumping yourself full AAS would probably be a third situation, but i honestly don't know enough about them.

You need to pick a goal and stick to it. Sure, you have your overall goal, but you need to split that up into smaller-scale goals to accomplish it.

Bulk up to about 220lbs then cut down to 200lbs ripped. Youll be a fat fuck for a while, but the ends justify the means, lol.

Focus on a balanced program of the biggest compound freeweights movements, and hit the weights hard. None of this isolation crap, real hard work.

Squats, Deadlifts, Military Press, Pullups, Bench Press, Rows, Good Mornings, Lunges.

Difficult rep ranges like 5x5, 4x10, 3x14 etc etc will be your friends, but the most important aspect is to EAT A LOT. Train hard, and eat harder. Worry about cutting later.

 

[Ben dur]

Squats, Deadlifts, Military Press, Pullups, Bench Press, Rows, Good Mornings, Lunges.

Difficult rep ranges like 5x5, 4x10, 3x14 etc etc will be your friends

"will be your friends"
hardly

they make me want to hurl almost daily


unfortunately this is what works




and the "hurling" is good for the cut portion of your journey

 

[sendit08]

I'm not an expert but this is what I know.
To burn 1lb of fat a week you need to intake a 500 calorie deficit to your base metabolic rate, plus the calories you burned in a day. This accounts to 3500 calories a week which is what is needed to "burn" 1lb of fat as long as your diet is in check.
To build 1lb of muscle a week you need a 500 calorie surplus a day over your base metabolic rate and your daily calories burned.

So in order to build muscle and burn fat; you need to have a 500 calorie surplus and defecit at the same time which..... work it out for yourself.

Dont get hung up on formulas like this. (you can run a 3500cal deficit/week and loose several pounds if you are starting severely overweight)
Also, no two people are alike. (some people loose faster than others)
so whoever or wherever you got that info from is just trying to sell you some BS.
Just make sure you count your cals and macros to a tee and then look at your results. This way you can tweak your diet to best suit both your lifestyle and your goals.

 

[Gazhole]

"will be your friends"
hardly

they make me want to hurl almost daily


unfortunately this is what works




and the "hurling" is good for the cut portion of your journey

In my experience my best friends drive me insane, so its not so inaccurate

 

[BuckyBadger]

Thanks everybody for your help. I have a better idea now. Thanks.

 

[Merkaba]

Track your calories and quit wasting money on all the crap you see in the magazines. And eat solid food.

 

[T_man]

yea merkaba is right.
apart from protein shakes and maybe creatine you don't need anything else.

stuff like zma pshh yea right LOL, it's just zinc, magnesium and vitamin b6 which you can get in a multivitamin LOL

and stay away from protein shakes which have many different "ingredients", for example maximuscle stuff. It just has creatine which makes you load water and you get bigger but it's not muscle mass. Most people don't know this and testify to "great gains of 4 lbs a week"

don't waste your money

 

[Merkaba]

Well find a shake that doesnt have many different "ingredients"

As far as creatine goes, it will make you retain some water but it is generally proven to help with short term strength, which can lead to eventually more hypertrophy.

 

[OuiSwim]

Being one of those Newbies the moderator mentioned, I'll tell you what I do. Works for me, may not work for you.

I cut out ALL fats from my diet(including dairy) which keeps my body fat % low(around 6%). Only problem with this is before I workout I feel drained, I'll usually take 2-3 scoops of naNO Vapor which gets me in the mood to work out. Take 2-3 scoops of protein per day.

My Workout:
It's pretty bland, nothing for gaining super muscle but it will get you "defined".
I run 3 miles every other day, and only do 3 workouts: Pull-ups, Leg-Lifts(for abs), and Push-ups. That seems to target everything I need so I don't see the need to add anything.

It works for me, but then again my body is relatively new to building(less than 2 years).

Hope this helps.

 

[tucker01]

Why the hell would you cut out fats?

 

[Built]

No shit!

 

[Gazhole]

Hate to break this to you, but your body kinda needs dietary fats, dude!

 

[OuiSwim]

Not sure

I was given bad info on building a long time ago, and it just has stuck with me, I'd like to blame my swim coach. She is the one who practically controls what we eat during the season.

 

[tucker01]

Very poor info.

especially considering you are an athlete.

And shit you eat less then 1000 cals a day... how the fuck do you swim?

 

[OuiSwim]

naNO vapor, gives me the energy I need to get through meets usually. I just want to keep the body fat % low but gain weight, how should I go about that?

 

[OuiSwim]

Mostly I just eat peanut butter sandwich's. Bread gives me carbs for a little energy and peanut butter gives me more protein, pretty piss-poor diet, eh?

 

[tucker01]

You realize Peanut butter is loaded with fats.

But yes piss poor diet is right. And is detrimental to your training and your swimming.

 

[Built]

Peanut butter isn't a protein source - it's a fat source. There's very little protein in peanut butter.

 

[Ngordyn]

lol i cant leave my bed on less than 1000 calories

 

[Ben dur]

Peanut butter isn't a protein source - it's a fat source. There's very little protein in peanut butter.

i agree but not 100%
peanut butter is primarily a fat source, but
i do count the protein content of peanut butter


in your defense
i also count the CALORIES

to consume enough protein through peanut butter, id be running WELL over maint.

 

[Ben dur]

id have to say, you are in need of some overhauling!

at 150 you should be consuming probably around 2400 cals maint
thats minimum i would think, without actually knowing you

and if your a swimmer, more than likely you should be consuming considerably more than that

 

[Ngordyn]

id have to say, you are in need of some overhauling!

at 150 you should be consuming probably around 2400 cals maint
thats minimum i would think, without actually knowing you

and if your a swimmer, more than likely you should be consuming considerably more than that

it would be so much easier if metaolism was the same for every one at helping people with calories they need depending on weight

lol im 160 m maint is about 2000 even ....but does make it easier to bulk

 

[Built]

Bendur, quite right, of course, there is SOME protein in it. Just not much.

Really tasty though. I love me my Adam's crunchy, salted.

 

[natural^]

Bendur, quite right, of course, there is SOME protein in it. Just not much.

Really tasty though. I love me my Adam's crunchy, salted.

Nutrition wise, does crunchy vs. creamy make much of a difference?

I didn't think so but i can't recall.

 

[Merkaba]

Being one of those Newbies the moderator mentioned, I'll tell you what I do. Works for me, may not work for you.

I cut out ALL fats from my diet(including dairy) which keeps my body fat % low(around 6%). Only problem with this is before I workout I feel drained, I'll usually take 2-3 scoops of naNO Vapor which gets me in the mood to work out. Take 2-3 scoops of protein per day.

My Workout:
It's pretty bland, nothing for gaining super muscle but it will get you "defined".
I run 3 miles every other day, and only do 3 workouts: Pull-ups, Leg-Lifts(for abs), and Push-ups. That seems to target everything I need so I don't see the need to add anything.

It works for me, but then again my body is relatively new to building(less than 2 years).

Hope this helps.

Please, any forum member looking for knowledgeable information please ignore the above paragraphs.

And Nano doesnt GIVE you energy, you get energy from buring food. Which you don't get much of. Its ok, the muscle youre burning has lots of calories in it!

 

[Built]

Nutrition wise, does crunchy vs. creamy make much of a difference?

I didn't think so but i can't recall.

LOL - I just like the texture!