Fat loss - how to lose the bulge and gain the ripples

[SociallyChallenged]

Considering you need a caloric surplus to gain muscle, won't you have to be on a surplus to build a six pack too? (and go on a cut later on to make them visible). I have seen many people doing abs only during a cut thinking since the abs will show only at a low bf they might as well start working it only during a cut. Isn't this approach wrong?

No, not at all. Typically, the muscle mass that people have underneath the fat is sufficient to create the desired look. Because of that, you just need to reduce the body fat percentage. Working abs only during a cut is silly both functionally and aesthetically. If you feel you get sufficient ab-work via big compound lifts, you don't need to change anything. Doing ab-work during a cut is less efficient than doing it during a bulk or during maintenance for hypertrophy, but you do still get some increases in muscle mass.

 

[darkxshade]

Considering you need a caloric surplus to gain muscle, won't you have to be on a surplus to build a six pack too? (and go on a cut later on to make them visible). I have seen many people doing abs only during a cut thinking since the abs will show only at a low bf they might as well start working it only during a cut. Isn't this approach wrong?

Everyone has a 6 pack, even joe schmoe who's obese at 500 lbs has abs... you just need to have the right bf% to show it.

 

[Todd33]

For a first-hand account on losing weight, refer to brikis' blog post on how he lost 43 pounds in 8 months. I hope this brings a realism and encouragement to everybody's progress.

This goes against what most studies, old and new, say. It is in direct contradiction to what Gary Tauben's wrote about in "Why we get fat". This guy may have lost weight, but he probably did it the hard way and most of it was due to just cutting high GI foods because he was eating more protein and less food overall. So in a sense he got lucky.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

This goes against what most studies, old and new, say. It is in direct contradiction to what Gary Tauben's wrote about in "Why we get fat". This guy may have lost weight, but he probably did it the hard way and most of it was due to just cutting high GI foods because he was eating more protein and less food overall. So in a sense he got lucky.

Wait, what point are you trying to make? Carbs are good? Carbs are bad? Fats are bad? I don't understand what you're saying - you didn't really state an argument, just that brikis got lucky.

 

[Saint Nick]

Hi everyone, I'm back. My GF has stuck with me for the past couple weeks and she's doing great and eating right. Yesterday, she mentioned she wanted to have a lot nicer legs and butt. Her legs are good, but she has a little cellulite (and I mean miniscule).

What exercises do you recommend, and how would you recommend her to modify her diet so she can achieve that? She has been doing Rippetoe's workout and some cardio with me. I told her to cut out all refined carbs, but I don't want to steer her in the wrong direction.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Honestly, she'll just have to clean up her diet as stated in the sticky and maybe cut some calories. There's no special advice here - just follow the original post and she'll see improvements.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

So my BMR is 2250. Does that mean I should consume that much or a hair more like 2400 or something? Also how reliable is that calculator? I'm in terrible shape (6'3" 225lb 28yo, I consider this 40lbs overweight) with what is probably very low metabolism, poor strength and poor stamina. Despite this I manage to maintain very low blood pressure, go go gadget genes. These seem like they would be indicators that I should consume less than normal for my size but wtf do I know. Poor portion control is one of the main things that got me to where I am.

I JUST started going to the gym to try and get this shit in check but am just kind of flubbing my way along. I try to run through most of the nautilus machines and do about 45min of cardio. Based on my history of when I've abruptly started physical activity, that high intensity stuff is completely out of the question. I look at these elipticals and stuff and they have preprogrammed workouts like fatburn that focus on a fairly low target heart rate and I don't feel like I'm doing that much. So far I've decided to keep it around 140 instead, but what would you consider moderate? I'm considering starting that 5-5 weight lifting regimen but free weights make me a bit nervous so maybe I should grab a trainer to help my form the first time or something.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Yeah, at your size, if you're trying to lose weight, eating around 2400cal is probably the least you should eat.

I'm against machines because they build very poor motor programs that use a lot of large muscles, but don't use the stabilizing musculature. The issue with that is you can get significant imbalances between the two and injuries as a result. The 5x5 or 3x5 can work at any intensity you want it to. You start at a given weight. You increase the weights. It doesn't have to be really, really high intensity. It just has to be challenging and progressive. You don't have to have a trainer - you just have to be keen on watching a lot of videos, taking it slow, and working on your flexibility. Many of the trainers in gyms don't actually utilize proper form anyhow. The only thing you need to get certified as a trainer is taking a really basic exam. IMO, it would be a waste of your time and money.

At 28, your estimated max heart rate is around 192. 140/192 = 73% of your max heart rate. Max heart rate varies A LOT for different people and 73% of your max heart rate here is really only around 57% of your VO2max (which is a better indicator of how hard you're working). Typically, if you're going for conditioning or significant weight loss, it'd be better to work at 60%+ of your VO2max (preferably 70%+), but whatever intensity you maintain will translate into weight loss in the long run.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Soooo.... I clocked in right at like 2000 calories today and that's with a glass and a half of red wine and my girlfriend being a bastard and bringing ice cream home (300cal). Hitting 2400 would be a whole extra meal for me and the only way I see that happening is by continuing my late night boredom eating pig outs which are a big part of what got me into this mess in the first place. Are you sure about 2400? Also what the hell is VO2max?

BTW, tracking your calories fucking SUCKS when you make everything from scratch.

 

[Saint Nick]

Ever since I started lifting, I noticed my sleep quality has worsened. I find myself waking up very hungry between 4am and 7am. I will get up and eat, but then I just can't get back to sleep.

Am I doing something wrong that is causing me to get so hungry? Or is my body just wanting more and more food?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Ever since I started lifting, I noticed my sleep quality has worsened. I find myself waking up very hungry between 4am and 7am. I will get up and eat, but then I just can't get back to sleep.

Am I doing something wrong that is causing me to get so hungry? Or is my body just wanting more and more food?

Eat more during the day or eat right before you go to bed to increase satiety - something high in protein will maximize the length of time you feel full.

 

[RbSX]

So I'm looking at changing my diet around from a high calorie gainer diet to a cutting diet and switching to your breakdown of fats/proteins/carbs with a slight change.

I'm doing to do 30/25/45 because there's simply no way I can get 157 grams of proteins into my body every day. A) I can't cook that much meat B) I can't chug that many protein shakes in a day. I don't want to be on a purely liquid diet.

But I've got a few questions. My BRM is around 1950 and my Caloric Maitenance rate is around 2700. Roughly how many calories should I be aiming for? I'm targeting around 2100 because it gives me a little bit of wiggle room to eat a salad with my friends or have a drink or two at the bar when I go out with my friends. A 2100 calorie diet leaves me with a breakdown like this: 70g of Fats/131.25 of proteins/236.5g of carbs.

Each day I kick start my day with a gainer shake because it's a pretty solid balance of carbs and proteins to kick start my day. Each serving has 125g of carbs/25g of proteins/2.25g of fat. Which leaves a balance of 111.5g of carbs/105g of proteins and 70g of fats for the rest of the day.

What's the most glaring problem in this? My fats and what looks like a mostly liquid diet. Where the hell am I supposed to get my healthy fats? Should I start picking up some whole milk? I've got almonds, but peanut butter is usually eaten on toast so I'm not really sure what to do here. How about the ground beef? Is it okay if I don't get extra lean ground beef?

Any recommendations? Should I ditch the meal replacement shake because the proportions are off?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

So I'm looking at changing my diet around from a high calorie gainer diet to a cutting diet and switching to your breakdown of fats/proteins/carbs with a slight change.

I'm doing to do 30/25/45 because there's simply no way I can get 157 grams of proteins into my body every day. A) I can't cook that much meat B) I can't chug that many protein shakes in a day. I don't want to be on a purely liquid diet.

But I've got a few questions. My BRM is around 1950 and my Caloric Maitenance rate is around 2700. Roughly how many calories should I be aiming for? I'm targeting around 2100 because it gives me a little bit of wiggle room to eat a salad with my friends or have a drink or two at the bar when I go out with my friends. A 2100 calorie diet leaves me with a breakdown like this: 70g of Fats/131.25 of proteins/236.5g of carbs.

Each day I kick start my day with a gainer shake because it's a pretty solid balance of carbs and proteins to kick start my day. Each serving has 125g of carbs/25g of proteins/2.25g of fat. Which leaves a balance of 111.5g of carbs/105g of proteins and 70g of fats for the rest of the day.

What's the most glaring problem in this? My fats and what looks like a mostly liquid diet. Where the hell am I supposed to get my healthy fats? Should I start picking up some whole milk? I've got almonds, but peanut butter is usually eaten on toast so I'm not really sure what to do here. How about the ground beef? Is it okay if I don't get extra lean ground beef?

Any recommendations? Should I ditch the meal replacement shake because the proportions are off?

Honestly, while cutting, liquid calories should be cut out for the mostpart so you can optimize satiety. If you don't, you may be hungry and mess with your caloric intake. You're overthinking the whole process. It should be a rough estimate - not exact calculations. On top of that, it's actually very easy to get 150g of protein - meat, eggs, peanut butter, cottage cheese, almonds, cheese, etc - they are all pretty high in protein. Healthy fat sources: fish, avocados, nuts, olive oil are some of the easiest.

 

[RbSX]

I'm currently interning in New York working 12 hours a day and living in a dorm room with a kitchenette, it's not that easy for me to get healthy sources of protein.

 

[RbSX]

I also think I should ask this question, how should I adjust the intake if I'm skinny fat?

I'm 6"2' and 180 pounds, not a big guy by any extent of the imagination. so I'm not sure how I should adjust this because I don't actually want to lose any weight, I actually want to stabilize where I'm at, or maybe gain 5 pounds in muscle mass and shed the flab.

In the last few weeks the lack of serious exercise and eating has turned my fairly skinny but fairly muscular body into one that's packed on a serious spare tire.

What suggestions and adjustments to your plan would you make, because I actually don't really want to 'lose weight', rather I want to cut the flab and put on some of the muscle I've lost the last few weeks (which is fairly noticeable). I can definitely notice that my muscle mass has been converted into flab. Eff.

Like I said above, my BRM is 2100, but my caloric maitenance level is around 2800. I'm wondering if I should aim a little bit higher if I'm looking to keep my weight up.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

No real changes to the plan. You can either cut or bulk accordingly. Honestly, if you want to be the same weight, but less fat, you need to gain some muscle mass and then cut the fat. You can bulk with the same plan, but in a caloric surplus. There's no real changes here - resistance training at a fairly high intensity will work at almost all body fat %s. The only time this shouldn't work is if you're trying to go from 10% to lower body fat %.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I'm currently interning in New York working 12 hours a day and living in a dorm room with a kitchenette, it's not that easy for me to get healthy sources of protein.

If you think ahead on the weekends, it's actually pretty easy to prepare meals (or at least lunches) for the week. I'm busy from 8am to 8pm, but I still manage to maintain an appropriate diet. It's all in the amount of motivation you have. If you say you don't have time, you don't. If you are determined to gain/lose weight, you learn to make the time.

 

[RbSX]

If you think ahead on the weekends, it's actually pretty easy to prepare meals (or at least lunches) for the week. I'm busy from 8am to 8pm, but I still manage to maintain an appropriate diet. It's all in the amount of motivation you have. If you say you don't have time, you don't. If you are determined to gain/lose weight, you learn to make the time.

And what I'm saying is that if I can get it in liquid format, why not?

Anyways my next question is, eventually I'd like to bulk up a bit more.

Would you recommend cutting and losing my flab and then bulking up? Or bulking first and then cutting?

One thing that has been consistent from everyone that I've talked to is that bulking generally means putting a little bit of flab on, and I'd prefer not to do that right now since my midsection has ballooned in the past 3-4 weeks to the point where it's actually uncomfortably (I'm natually a lanky and lean person, so all my suits are tailored to that figure which makes my belt line a bit tight right now).

 

[SociallyChallenged]

And what I'm saying is that if I can get it in liquid format, why not?

Anyways my next question is, eventually I'd like to bulk up a bit more.

Would you recommend cutting and losing my flab and then bulking up? Or bulking first and then cutting?

One thing that has been consistent from everyone that I've talked to is that bulking generally means putting a little bit of flab on, and I'd prefer not to do that right now since my midsection has ballooned in the past 3-4 weeks to the point where it's actually uncomfortably (I'm natually a lanky and lean person, so all my suits are tailored to that figure which makes my belt line a bit tight right now).

If you do it right and a bit more slowly (lower caloric surplus), you can minimize the amount of fat you gain when you bulk. I almost always suggest bulking first so you only have to cut once, rather than cutting, bulking, then cutting again. You don't have to put on flab - just don't eat crap and don't eat a 1k calorie surplus. Keep the caloric surplus lower to 300-500 calories and lift hard and you'll gain muscle but little fat.

 

[Saint Nick]

Is there anything else I could eat for breakfast that isn't eggs and isn't a dairy product? I'm getting mighty tired of microwaved eggs w/ cheese on them.

Also, my sleep is still sucking. I have to get up at night to take a major piss. When should I focus on stop consuming fluids? Oh, and I hate a massive PB sandwich the past few nights and I still get hungry around 6am. I'm about to completely give up trying to be in shape because frankly my sleep is horrible. I can't even think striaght anymore.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Just use your common sense here. Explore different breakfast foods. Drink less fluid 4h before bed, eat more food throughout the day. These are easy things to remedy, if you just think about it.

 

[Saint Nick]

GOMAD is a bitch.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

GOMAD is a bitch.

You can go half GOMAD while upping your seed/nut consumption. Trader Joe's unshelled sunflower seeds sell for $2 per pound and have over 2k calories in each bag. It's a lot of fat, but so is GOMAD. Time to get creative

 

[Pray For Death]

First of all, thanks a lot for the guide SC. It's an awesome read, and I learned lots of stuff from it!

I'm 5'11" and weigh around 167 pounds. My upper torso and arm muscles are decent, but I have lots of fat in the belly, buttocks, and thighs areas that I'm trying to get rid of. (not noticeable when standing, but very annoying when sitting.)

I hate going to the gym (very monotonous), so for the past 2 months I've been doing 60 push-ups / day (2 sets of 30) and 100 stomach crunches / day (2 sets of 50) plus some shoulder workouts with light dumbbells (cause I read somewhere that getting bigger shoulders can give the illusion that you have a trimmer waist. LOL) These workouts are done in 2 sessions (usually one in the morning and one at night.)

I also started taking daily bicycle rides in the neighborhood (hilly area, very tiring) for 45 mins. I've been doing that for 2 weeks now.

After reading your guide, I realized that my diet is awful. I eat too much bread (too many carbs in general), too little protein, etc, etc... (but I always make sure to stay hydrated).

I live in the middle east, and our food includes various kinds of vegetables (beans, peas, carrots, cabbage, spinach, artichokes, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and many others.), tomato sauce, sometimes yogurt, olive oil, and lots of white rice. There's meat too of course, but not enough in my opinion.

I noticed that you mentioned white rice as a good complex carbs source. Is that true? I always thought white rice was bad and felt somewhat guilty after eating it.

I'm trying to cut down on my carbs intake to get into a caloric deficit (while staying above my 1800ish BMR) by removing bread from my breakfast/dinner and lowering the amount of rice I have with lunch.

So after changing my diet here's how it goes now: I've started having oatmeal with honey and milk for breakfast, plus a boiled egg sometimes. My snack at work is usually a handful of nuts (almonds, cashew, pistashio, etc...) or fruits like bananas, peach, apricot, cherries, etc...

Lunch is usually a middle eastern meal comprised of the various ingredients listed above. In our culture Lunch is the main meal for the day (rather than dinner in the west), so my dinner can be fruits, a small tuna salad if I'm feeling hungry (lemon juice and olive oil sauce with tomatoes and lettuce), or some other light stuff.

First I'd like to know if you have any remarks about my diet or workout; what do you think needs improvement? And I'd like to know how I could possibly increase my protein intake (without resorting to protein supplements as I don't do real body building). I also tend to drink lots of filtered coffee (American coffee) with milk and 2 tspoons of sugar. It used to be 2-3 cups a day, but now I'm trying to limit it to just one cup in the morning. How badly does it affect my trying to lose that fat? And finally, is white rice okay?

Thanks in advance,

p.s: I'm 24 btw.

 

[Pray For Death]

One more thing... It's been said that you need to stop eating carbs to maximize fat burning during workout, yet you also need to eat carbs to get enough energy to perform the workout. So how do you solve this dilemma? (as someone trying to get rid of their body fat)