Perfect diet/Cannot get rid of love handles

[pittguy578]

32 year old male. I am 5'9, 165 I was one of the few guys with an eating disorder so I have been eating healthy since 8th grade. Low fat diet. Not a lot of carbs. I have some muscle definition. I have never been huge, but I work out 3-4 days a week. I do cardio, free weights, and total gym.

The one area I have always had problems with is my love handles. They are not huge. My waist is not large..33 inches. 40-42 chest. I don't have huge muscles, but I am fairly strong. I can bench press 250/8 times and can do 200 on the military press 8 times.

I am not sure if I will ever get rid of them. I have tried everything. I will lose fat everywhere else but those area.. Nothing really to change in my diet. I don't eat fat or junk at all. I do cardio 3-4 days a week. I don't do more than that because I don't want to start going catabolic and losing muscle mass.
I have tried diet pills/green tea/cartinine stack and even tried nicotine gum...I can't get rid of that fat.

Is there anything I can do other than liposuction? If I could get rid of these handles, I would be happy. They are not unsightly or gross. Just bigger than I like.

[ZamaMan]

The awnser is simply. If you want less fat on your body than keep cutting. Simple as that. It's actually surprising how 10% bf has more fat around the lower stomach than you'd think.

[Island_Girl]

Unfortunately you cannot target fat loss. We all have 1 area that the fat comes off last. Diet and cardio is what burns off fat.

[hypo]

You may be eating healthy, but do you count calories? Try fitday, its a free calorie/macro counter. Find out what you're consuming per day, on average, and cut out 500 or so per day.

The equation for losing weight, as you know, is simple! Since you're already doing lots of cardio cutting calories is the way to go.

[heavypieces]

You may be eating healthy, but do you count calories? Try fitday, its a free calorie/macro counter. Find out what you're consuming per day, on average, and cut out 500 or so per day.

The equation for losing weight, as you know, is simple! Since you're already doing lots of cardio cutting calories is the way to go.

Or if you have an iPhone check out the application LoseIt. Drop your total calories, eat 1.5 g protein per lean body mass lb and lift 4x a week and those love handles will be gone in 3 months.

[james122]

Unfortunately you cannot target fat loss. We all have 1 area that the fat comes off last. Diet and cardio is what burns off fat.

^^what she said^^ Its not what I wanted to hear when i had the same question, but its true.. more diet, more cardio, try 5 days a week, or 7.

[STPlover]

Hows your sleep?

[mixedup]

have you tried a topical fat burner??? napalm worked wonders for me when I'm cutting

[David Dunn]

32 year old male. I am 5'9, 165 I was one of the few guys with an eating disorder so I have been eating healthy since 8th grade. Low fat diet. Not a lot of carbs. I have some muscle definition. I have never been huge, but I work out 3-4 days a week. I do cardio, free weights, and total gym.

The one area I have always had problems with is my love handles. They are not huge. My waist is not large..33 inches. 40-42 chest. I don't have huge muscles, but I am fairly strong. I can bench press 250/8 times and can do 200 on the military press 8 times.

I am not sure if I will ever get rid of them. I have tried everything. I will lose fat everywhere else but those area.. Nothing really to change in my diet. I don't eat fat or junk at all. I do cardio 3-4 days a week. I don't do more than that because I don't want to start going catabolic and losing muscle mass.
I have tried diet pills/green tea/cartinine stack and even tried nicotine gum...I can't get rid of that fat.

Is there anything I can do other than liposuction? If I could get rid of these handles, I would be happy. They are not unsightly or gross. Just bigger than I like.

You are considerably lacking muscle mass. For a 5'9" and 165" you have a large waist and little upper body mass.

You have the classic skinny fat physique and I suspect it is because your are under eating. You may want to consider giving all the dieting a break for a month or more and putting on some more muscle mass and pick up on the fat loss through cardio rather than caloric deprivation and supplements.

[MrBEEF]

I have the EXACT same problem. I am actually sort of in your ballpark #'s too, except weight:

203 lbs, 13/14%bf, 5'9", bench 380 lbs 1RM....

I also have love handles from being overweight (up to 257 lbs) in my undergrad days. I slowly lost weight, but my skin around that area is slightly stretched out. Like you, it's not horrible but it bothers me the same. My diet M-F is baller, but weekend I mess up a lot. For me, I think b/c of the tad looser skin, it tend to exaggerate the fat in that area. I also notice that when I hold water (salt, etc.), I also hold it there and it kills my side-tapered look...depressing.

Unfortunately, the answer is there...it's your diet. I used to try to take a bunch of crap like T3/Clen etc. etc. hoping it would go away. But honestly...it comes down to your diet. I am not sating your is bad but you gotta really look at it and see what/how you can improve it.

Perhaps trying a low-carb, or healthy fat diets vs. the dry diet...or some sort of alternation to keep metabolism up...like a hybrid.

Perhaps go 3 days low-carb/higher fat (>80-100g Carbs), and then hit up a single day of dry( < 20g fat).

If you want to consider a fat burning supplement, I'd recommend something like a T3/Clen (while on anabolic cycle, AAS or PH), or perhaps a Clen Transdermal like people do...the Clenviscerate.

Bottom line is probably no one has the exact answer for you, but you got some options....never give up.

For me, I think "oh..my diet is perfect" and it is....M-F lol, until I go to donutman LOL.

Work on consistancy and perhaps mix it up a bit.

[Nitrox]

You may be eating healthy, but do you count calories? Try fitday, its a free calorie/macro counter. Find out what you're consuming per day, on average, and cut out 500 or so per day.

The equation for losing weight, as you know, is simple! Since you're already doing lots of cardio cutting calories is the way to go.

This.

It doesnt matter if you are eating low fat, or how much cardio you do. It all comes down to how much energy you expend vs how much food energy that you take in. Usually the more you train the hungrier that you get. If you eat to your appetite you are probably not going to lose much because your body does not like to lose weight.

Make a meal plan at 500 calories below maintenance and stick to it for a couple weeks. Aim to lose 1 lb per week. Adjust calories as necessary. The first time you do this you probably wont get it spot on.

Keep the weight training up to preserve muscle.

The rest is gravy.

[pittguy578]

In terms of calories, I am not sure where I can cut back. This is my usual diet.
Bowl of Special K High Protein or Kashi cereal (the high protein-low sugar one) One Met RX protein bar mid morning. Two protein shakes throughout the day (EAS with Skim Milk) and for dinner..usually eat at work. I put a can of chicken and a can of chic peas together and use fat free/sugar free dressing. That is probably the highest "calorie" meal of the day. Probably around 500-600 calories, but 50-60 grams of protein.

So let me see. 300 for cereal
400 for the METRX Bar.
Two protein shakes with skim milk (maybe 600 total)
and the dinner which is around 600 calories. No junk in between.
I am guessing the total amount of calories I take in is around 2000-2100.

Even when I was "cutting" before..good diet..25-30 minutes of cardio a day.
I could not get rid of the
love handles. I put on a few pounds over the past 2-3 months (maybe 5-6 ) because I was lifting and switched to whole milk protein shakes to get more calories in. I have not gained or lost more than 5 pounds since my senior year of college. I have never had a "weight problem". I was probably one of the few guys that had an eating disorder..had it back in high school..and have always eaten very healthy.

Are topical weight loss solutions my only hope to target love handles?

[David Dunn]

In terms of calories, I am not sure where I can cut back. This is my usual diet.
Bowl of Special K High Protein or Kashi cereal (the high protein-low sugar one) One Met RX protein bar mid morning. Two protein shakes throughout the day (EAS with Skim Milk) and for dinner..usually eat at work. I put a can of chicken and a can of chic peas together and use fat free/sugar free dressing. That is probably the highest "calorie" meal of the day. Probably around 500-600 calories, but 50-60 grams of protein.

So let me see. 300 for cereal
400 for the METRX Bar.
Two protein shakes with skim milk (maybe 600 total)
and the dinner which is around 600 calories. No junk in between.
I am guessing the total amount of calories I take in is around 2000-2100.

Even when I was "cutting" before..good diet..25-30 minutes of cardio a day.
I could not get rid of the
love handles. I put on a few pounds over the past 2-3 months (maybe 5-6 ) because I was lifting and switched to whole milk protein shakes to get more calories in. I have not gained or lost more than 5 pounds since my senior year of college. I have never had a "weight problem". I was probably one of the few guys that had an eating disorder..had it back in high school..and have always eaten very healthy.

Are topical weight loss solutions my only hope to target love handles?

You need to invest more in knowing exactly what you are eating. "Probably", "guessing", "maybe" and "around" is not quite knowing and can be a very big deal.

1 -1.5 gram of protein per lb of body weight.
20% of your total calories from EFA (healthy fat)
Balance of calories from lo GI carbohydrates.

What exactly is this "eating disorder" you refer to?

[pittguy578]

Only thing that may be slightly off is the cereal in the morning depending on how tired I am. If I am off, it is not by much. Worst case scenario even if I put more Special K in the bowl than normal, my total calories would go up to 2100-2200. Back in the 8th grade, I became anorexic. I was always really skinny growing up, and then through my parents divorce, I put on some weight. I started dieting and couldn't stop. I am not as crazy as I was back then, but I just have always eaten healthy-no fat and no junk sugar. I don't eat candy..no fast food..etc.

[schwellington]

dunn it sounds kinda like he is mildly anorexic OR has a body image disorder that he is referring to as an eating disorder


These are just guesses im not a professional in any way, I have experince with body image disorder tho


either way man good luck

[pittguy578]

I am fine now. No body image issues. Just want to get rid of these love handles They are getting on my nerves. I am just worried about losing muscle mass if I go on the cardio too hard and have a major calorie deficit.

[pittguy578]

I will take some pics in a bit. I just went to the gym to do more cardio. I did 20 minutes this morning. I did 45 minutes this evening. On the treadmill at a 15% incline and 4.1 MPH. According to the machine, I burned over 900 calories today.

[dsade]

Looking at your diet, you are lacking EFAs big time.

[pittguy578]

Ok I attached a pic. Just took it this evening. Not sure why it is slightly out of focus. I had a remote shutter for the camera, but the battery died on the remote.

[David Dunn]

Enough with the dieting already. You are wasting away the little muscle mass you already have.

Add 20lbs to your frame and your proportions will balance out.

Enough with the dieting!