The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Oh, I feel silly asking this. Intellectually I realize what is going on. I'm not going to ask, "What do I do?" I'm going to ask, "How long will it take?"
I'm 33 years old and barely 5'10". About 13 months ago I was 245lbs. I suspect that I was around 27% body fat....but thats just a guess based on Leigh's body fat percentage video. I actually thought it was much worse until I compared myself to the examples she used. I'm now down to 190lbs. I think my body fat is around 20%. I've used electrical bioimpedance and it put me at 22.6% about 6 weeks or so ago. Since then I've lost 4lbs and gained in strength, I've also added more cardio since then.
But, I carried that extra weight for years...slowly adding another 5 or so pounds each year. Now, that I'm losing weight and staying fit I'm getting lean (or leaner) in most places. My arms, shoulders, and especially my legs are lean and showing some definition. It seems like most of my body fat is still being carried around my midsection. I've got a bit of a belly, and some love handles.
I know that this is the last to go. And I know that to lose it I just need to keep on the path that works. But how long until that stuff starts going away? I look pretty good in a short sleeve shirt and shorts, but I'm not taking my shirt off at the pool yet!
Weren't you telling me in the other thread that you wanted to do all kinds of plyos, cardio, and other such, and that you weren't concerned with further weight loss because you'd already lost plenty of weight?
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I told you that weight loss was secondary to my goal of increasing my overall athleticism and strength.
Don't we all want to be 6% body fat, run a 4.2, 40, and deadlift 600lbs? I mean really, we want it all. I'm no different.
Weight loss is important to me. But, I'm trying first and foremost to increase my athleticism and my relative strength and power. I feel confident that if I reach my athletic goals that I've set for myself that the body composition will follow. I've been eating an average of 2,000 calories per day for the last 3 months. Prior to that I was also restrictive with my diet, but I wasn't keeping a food journal so I can't claim to know how many calories I was eating. Over the last two weeks I've started to up my calories to 2,400-2,500 per day. But, I'm also going from about 4 to 5 training hours (in that other thread I said that it was over 5 hours, but in retrospect I think it was really 4-5) to about 7 training hours per week. I'm doing 4 hours of resistace training, 1.5 hours of cardio, and 1.5 hours of GPP which is mostly plyos, sprints and other forms of GPP stuff. I'm doing what I can to improve my sprint times, increase my pull ups, increase my jumps, and my maximal strength. I won't accomplish those goals by gaining fat. So, I can accomplish my body comp goals without fat loss being the sole purpose.
Do you think that I'm wrong? I'm here to ask for advice. I'm here to get input from others with more experience than myself. That doesn't mean that I'm blindly going to take every piece of advice that comes my way. I'd be like a yo-yo that is constantly traaveling and getting no where.
In the other thread to which you refer, you posted an article regarding training stress and weight loss. Below is a quote from that article.
Quote:
Remember one thing: getting in shape is a different matter from staying in shape. The former requires hard training and recovery - to include nutritional support - and is not really compatible with dieting. The latter is just a matter of paying attention to diet; you’re already in shape, and thus don’t have to use up any water (recovery ability) to stay there. Someone that wants to get in shape is going to have to tap into that reserve.
I need to get in shape! And that is the primary goal. Who wants to be skinny and out of shape? I don't believe the idea that by getting in shape I won't improve my body composition. Perhaps I'll be proved wrong. But, I don't buy it.
If your intentions are truly to help me then I appreciate your efforts. If I'm being stubborn tell me so. I'm looking for input, so don't try to protect my feelings. You won't be the first person to call me hard-headed!
I need to get in shape! And that is the primary goal. Who wants to be skinny and out of shape? I don't believe the idea that by getting in shape I won't improve my body composition. Perhaps I'll be proved wrong. But, I don't buy it.
People who are close to "in shape" and a little chunkier than they like can do both. Maybe even you, but I'll share that I've lost 75lbs and still have a bit of belly fat. Last summer, I was in the best shape of my life from a strength and conditioning standpoint, but still had no abs and a remnant of belly from being heavy.
Getting highly conditioned takes a lot of energy. Going from lean to lean enough to lose that last fat takes a deficit, which makes it hard to recover and push hard enough in your conditioning workouts. You might be able to do it, but you might burn out and still have a belly.
Getting highly conditioned takes a lot of energy. Going from lean to lean enough to lose that last fat takes a deficit, which makes it hard to recover and push hard enough in your conditioning workouts. You might be able to do it, but you might burn out and still have a belly.
Well put. There are a few reasons why I think it will work. One is that I'm operating at a small deficit right now with good recovery and good fat loss. Admittedly, I'm only beginning this phase of increased activity. But, I can listen to my body and watch the measurables to see if its working. Secondly, I'm still enough of a beginner to experience beginners gains. So, while someone who has been training for five years may not be able to pull this off, I've been training for less than six months. I've been dieting for longer than that....but only working out for about 5 months or so.
20% body fat on a guy is not really a little belly. That isn't the stage or point that I would focus on just performance or body recomposition. You still have a pretty significant amount of fat to lose so jumping and bouncing around can be fun but your performance is going to increase at a faster rate with those kinds of things based on just losing some body fat.
I can't really tell, what are your goals?
Being a beginner, doing plyo work, and trying to lose fat is not at your advantage, but the opposite. So you have got to state clearly and figure out what your goals are specifically so that you know you are training for them. As of right now they seem a little all over the place so advice is a bit hard to give.
Well, I've said on here a couple of times that my primary goal is to be more athletic. But, its not as though I'm training for a sport. I equate being athletic to being healthy....so I guess that my first goal is to be healthier!
I've always thought that body composition would come as a result of eating well and being more athletic. So, I've been putting it second. I've been focusing on eating as cleanly as I can and keeping as active as I can...I figure that I'm moving in the right direction so I must be doing something right. But, I'm making changes to up the calories and the activity. Do you think that this is the wrong direction to head?
I eat a pretty clean diet and I'm pretty careful about my calorie intake. But, I only started keeping the food journal since the beginning of the year. I measure much of what I eat, though its not always practical. When I'm unsure I attempt to err on the side of writing down more than I actually ate rather than undercounting. I can give you the details and you can tell me if I'm not eating as cleanly as I think I am.
My body fat evaluation is really a guess. When I had it checked several weeks ago the person assisting me said that he thought that it (the handheld device) was reading me too high at 22.6%. But, what do I know? I'm guessing its 20% now, but it could be 18% or 22%. I've still got pounds of fat to lose. No Doubt, Gwen Stefani! Its just that most of it is centered around my belly! I can see a difference in my shoulders, chest, and legs from even two or three weeks ago. But, I can pinch the belly fat now...where I used to be able to grab a disgusting handful!
Do you think I'm going about it the wrong way? Should I not spend any time doing plyo's and sprints? Should I instead use that time for something else, or do you think I should lower the calories back to 2,000 and lower the activity? Keep in mind that this extra work is on top of weight training and cardio.
I'm stubborn. But, I do listen to what people say.
So, I've decided that you're right. I do need to lose that fat now, and worry about these other ambiguous goals of "athelticism" at another time. I think that I was a bit burned out from a long time of losing fat and needed a break. So, I did that for a few weeks and realized that you all were right!
So, I'm eating 1800-2000 calories five days per week and eating a bit more (2500-3000) on Saturday and Sunday. This works for me. I'm down to 181lbs as of this morning. I wish I had a way of doing body fat percentages!
To hijaack slightly, I'm reading that belly fat is made up of both subcutaneous and visceral (submuscular, organ) fat, and that the visceral fat has some pretty serious health consequences.
Is there any way to gauge how much belly fat is one or the other? (besides a CT scan)
Actually visceral fat is typically easier to lose for some reason. The guys with the hard beer bellies (visceral fat) can lose them pretty fast, while the love handles, etc take longer.
http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/News/6599
That study indicated that vigorous activity did a better job of eliminating visceral fat that low intensity activity (visceral fat was lost even faster than fat overall).
I'm just wondering how to measure it. My own fat seems to be fairly well distributed between visceral and subcutaneous. But that's just a guess.
I don't think that I have much visceral fat, but who knows. I don't have a way to test body fat. However, I took some measurements this morning and plugged them into an online body fat calculator. It came out to 18.9% BF. But, who knows how accurate it is.
How long to lose that Belly Fat?!?!?
Great info as usual. Thanks, Leigh.
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