A Little Frustrated

[mcgwirefan37]

Ok, I'm eating more vegetables and eating less carbs (I used to eat less vegetables). Trying to keep up my meat intake (mostly beef and chicken, seafood is too expensive around here.)

I'm trying to ditch abodominal fat/ "love handles" (Seriously need to change that nickname.) you know. Currently jogging, calves look good, quads need work. I have the muscle mass I want I just need to cut the fat with the right kind of hard work.

So what work outs do I need to focus on? I don't have a gym, wanting to do without the gym if possible, costs money, screw that I'm chronically broke as it is.

[SXIPro]

I'd go with HIIT and also a lot of stair climbing/hill climbing. That's where I burn the most calories. Of course lowering your caloric intake a bit will speed the process.

[mcgwirefan37]

Yeah I'm doing hill climbing now actually. It's a hill covered area around me so I'm glad I might be doing something right. Chances are I'm eating less calories now than I did when I started so I'm making progress I think... I don't want to step on a scale I just wanna keep going and stay focused and not have my brain messed with by a scale.

This is the first time I've had to actually focus on dropping body fat. They try to teach you in high school but it never sticks, your metabolism is so high at that age that you can eat whatever you want so you don't pay attention. Now I'm having to actually learn what works and what doesn't. But yeah I have two hills right now that are kicking my ass. My gut gets to burning and I have to slow down and then pick it up when it quits.

[SXIPro]

Sugar and beer are my biggest enemies. If I cut those out, I slim up in no time.

[mcgwirefan37]

hmm. I check off both of those then. I rarely drink beer and I prefer spicy foods over sugar. I'm also enjoying ice water more, it's more oxygenated it tastes better than basic water in a glass.

[Geoforce]

What kind of strength training are you doing/can you do? If you don't have dumbbells or kettlebells at home that might be worth an investment. If not you can get a lot done with furniture and bodyweight exercises. You need to be doing some type of strength training even if you're happy with your size. Muscle speeds up your metabolism and it isn't like you can get huge without a lot of weights.

[mcgwirefan37]

I don't have dumbells or kettle bells unfortunately (Would like to have a man sized [and affordable] set of kettle bells to work with so I can start appropriately and still work toward progress.). All I've seen thus far have been the female size sets (starting off with a like 5 lbs or under that you can send screaming from one side to the other. Great for some workouts, not for all of them though).

I've heard Jason Statham has had great success in using bodyweight excercises. His look is probably close to what I'm after.

I probably do not need to work on my pectorials. My mom's physical therapist told me once after I told her a symptom I noticed that I need to strengthen my back muscles because it was basically messing with my shoulder joints because my pectorals were stronger than my back muscles (Bull dog with the turned in front "shoulders" look, not good apparently).

exercises with a rotating movement (stretches too it seems) I have to be careful with. A botched surgery to remove ear tubes left a hole in my ear and has screwed up my equilibrium ever since. Needless to say, I can't ride roller coasters either.

That's about it I think.

[EasyEJL]

I have the muscle mass I want I just need to cut the fat with the right kind of hard work.

So what work outs do I need to focus on?

what you've got there is the first mistake, the workouts won't particularly lose fat, accurate control of diet will, then it almost doesn't matter what your workouts are like. So more than just "more vegetables and less carbs" try tracking calories for a few days to see where you are at and then start slowly lowering them

[mcgwirefan37]

Well apparently I'm eating right. I lost weight before I started eating more veggies and now that I made the adjustments I'm still making some progress I'm just trying to tweek it to help myself out.

Seems like every time I post on this forum somebody chimes in and brings up what I eat as if I'm a fat 300 lb slob draining a bag of cheese puffs and never leaves the house. I'm on a low cholesterol diet which means lean meat, even if I'm screwing up I'm still doing better than some fat guy that doesn't care. lol Geez.

[EasyEJL]

My point is you can walk, run, chinups, pushups, weightlift, circuit train, whatever, and it has minimal impact on fat loss. 85% of fat loss + muscle gain happens on your fork. tweaking it to help yourself out would be putting together an idea of what calories you actually eat, and planning future changes based on that.

And a low cholesterol diet is usually a bad idea.

[mcgwirefan37]

Yeah and you can eat right sit on your rear end and still gain weight. One doesn't work without the other. It's like saying matches by themselves cause arson. lol

I'm not looking to gain muscle mass man. I've already done that to my satisfaction. I'm looking to drop body fat and get lean. Kind of a difference there.

It's like you're saying that the only possible way known to mankind to burn fat, is to become the Hulk. Mean while there are several skinny women that are not She Hulks that work out and pull it off every single day.

This equation does not work. Sounds like some "math" is off.

[Geoforce]

Yeah and you can eat right sit on your rear end and still gain weight. One doesn't work without the other. It's like saying matches by themselves cause arson. lol

I'm not looking to gain muscle mass man. I've already done that to my satisfaction. I'm looking to drop body fat and get lean. Kind of a difference there.

It's like you're saying that the only possible way known to mankind to burn fat, is to become the Hulk. Mean while there are several skinny women that are not She Hulks that work out and pull it off every single day.

This equation does not work. Sounds like some "math" is off.

What Easy is saying though is that nutrition is most of the battle. You can't out train a bad diet. And he is saying you haven't given enough info on what your nutrition looks like and maybe you don't know. More vegetables and less carbs is what you said. Less than what? How much of more? The secret to weight loss isn't in the workout it's in the kitchen. For most people the main difference between a bulking program and a cutting one is the diet. It's not the magic workout part.

I can lose fat with a ton of different workouts as long as my nutrition is solid. What does that mean apparently you're eating right? Apparently you're having issues because you're posting here for help. And people are trying to help you. You're just making it difficult on them

[mcgwirefan37]

Then just ignore this topic from now on. I had a feeling I was going to meet the nutrition police anyway. Just forget it. Later.

[rsnake21]

Then just ignore this topic from now on. I had a feeling I was going to meet the nutrition police anyway. Just forget it. Later.

All I can say is wow

[EasyEJL]

I'm sure since you know so much, you'll achieve results to match

[Swanson52]

Then just ignore this topic from now on. I had a feeling I was going to meet the nutrition police anyway. Just forget it. Later.

You've been here since 2005 and still this much of a whiny poo-say?

Clean the sand out of your vag and listen to advice.

[SXIPro]

It's simple math really. Burn more calories than you take in on a consistent basis.
If I were sitting on a couch all day, and my inactive body was burning 2000 calories a day, and I was eating 1500 calories a day of lard and lollipops, guess what??? I'd still lose weight.

If I was doing HIIT and jogging 26 miles a day and was buring 5000 calories a day but eating 5500 a day worth of lettuce and chicken breasts, I'd gain weight.