Loe handles!!!! Help!!!

[Michael89]

Hello everybody, I'm Michael. I'm 22 years old and consider myself physically fit. I've served in the British Army for a period of 4 years and have alway succeeded in physical aspects of training/exercises ect. Last year I left the armed forces and began to gain weight fast. Anyways it took me around 6 months of being slightly overweight to decide it wasn't for me! I wanted to loose weight and get fit again. I joined my local gym and started hammering the cardio, at this time I didn't see big results as I was in denial
about my diet.

After speaking to people in the gym and friends from the army I were told about a fat burner "grenade thermo-detonators" I considered these to be quite expensive at £46 for only 100 tablets! If I were going to spend that much on just 100 tablets I was definitely going to change my diet aswell.

Cutting a long story fairly short, within one month of eating right I lost over 16lb and have been able to maintain my current weight which I am more than happy with! I have now invested in a pre workout supplement "jack3d". I find this to be brilliant, gives me a lot of motivation before a workout and also lifts my mood, as well a enhancing my performance! I have started to gain mass, I'm getting definition in all the right places and are really happy with my progress, although I still have a long way to go until I reach my ideal appearance.

Here's the BUT... Since loosing weight and toning up I've been left with these hideous love handles which seem impossible to shift! I'm on a low carb diet and never eat what people would consider as junk! I've read and read and read information on getting rid of these and have come to the understanding the only thing you can do is eat right and hammer the cardio, there is no use spot training this area I constantly hear and read.

So I've been rowing 3km and running 10km daily 6 days a week, aswell as eating healthy and drinking plenty of water, all after 9 hour day at work where I am constantly lifting sheet metals and are always active. No matter what I seem to do nothing seems to work! There has to be somebody out there who has had this problem and have been able to improve the appearance of these not so "loveable" love handles! Please help me! I am really unhappy with my appearance because of this! All advice/information will be very much appreciated!

 

[burnstacp]

My love handles we're the last to go it seems too. Just have to keep plugging away and stay in a deficit until what have have looks the way you want it to. There's really no other way. Mine honestly didn't get to the point that I was satisfied until I was single digit BF, but I was probably focusing in on them like a skinny girl thinking she's fat lol.

 

[ludbg]

My love handles we're the last to go it seems too. Just have to keep plugging away and stay in a deficit until what have have looks the way you want it to. There's really no other way. Mine honestly didn't get to the point that I was satisfied until I was single digit BF, but I was probably focusing in on them like a skinny girl thinking she's fat lol.

this.

 

[adeadbodyman]

Man, I know what you mean also. At my gym we have a couple ab machines that I use. One of them is like a old school crunch machine that you can pin different plates, and the other one, you do these "seated twists" which you can also pin different plates. Do you have anything like that? I know on the twisty one I can get my sides just absolutely burning....

 

[ludbg]

try HIIT and do some stairs

 

[burnstacp]

Stairs are awesome for burning off calories. I'd highly recommend spending some quality time on a stair climber or stair mill. A good long high volume leg day will do wonders as well.

 

[TJGUNN]

Yo can anyone give me some advice on how i can loose only body fat. dont want to loose my streanth or muscle at all. Ya im 290 but i got like 40 pounds of fat right in the mid section and luv handles instead of going anywhere else. Ya i do sit ups like 2 hundred after workout and did the whole low cardio after workout for 20 min. Its hard because i live 40 min from the gym so i cant stay to long because i gotta hit that window of getting a shake after workout. O also i workout 6 times a week of weight training.

 

[ThunderHumper]

Great wall of text batman!

Anyways, low stomach and love handles are always the last to go for us guys. U should really lift weights at least 3 times a week, its more effective than cardio because it raises your bmr fr the next day rather than just directly burnig 400 calories at a time. Youre also going to want to eat below maintenance on calories. Try to aim fir high protein, low-moderate carbs and fat. Fat burner will not do the work foryou so dont waste your money. Diet is 80% of the battle.

Once u get down to roughly 15% body fat, youre going to have to do very low carbs and fat as well as high protein to preserve as much muscle as possible. For this portion, eat several servings of greeny fibrous veggies and a chunkof protein or every meal 4-5 times a day while staying below maintenance.

Its a lon battle and takes a lof discipline to finish, but u were in the armed forces so i think dieting should be an eay change for u

And do not ever completely cut fat from your diet. If u dont eat any fat, your test levels will dip. If your test levels take a dip, you'll start feeling girly, emotional, and will probly give up while also losing muscle during the caloric deficit

 

[TJGUNN]

ok so go low on carbs and Calories sounds good my diet to this point was only 100 g of fat 300 carbs and 260 protein iv been doing that for a while but I can see what ur saying maybe I'm taking to much carbs for my body lol everybody is different so il start doing that what about cardio like I said I liv far from gym so can't be there to long need to hit that window

 

[survey]

I carry my water weight in my love handles. They seem to disappear after I have sweated hard then come back if I eat too much salt. Seems weird, I know, but you may be the same. Hit the treadmill for 30-45 mins at a slow pace and work up a good sweat. This usually makes mine go away.

 

[ThunderHumper]

ok so go low on carbs and Calories sounds good my diet to this point was only 100 g of fat 300 carbs and 260 protein iv been doing that for a while but I can see what ur saying maybe I'm taking to much carbs for my body lol everybody is different so il start doing that what about cardio like I said I liv far from gym so can't be there to long need to hit that window

What window are u refering to?

Cardio help speed the process up but i strongly believe it is not needed as much as heavy lifting. And by your macro count, youre somwhere around 3000 calories. U should be eating somwhere in the vicinity of 2000 per day to cut. Even lower once u hit 15% bf. Ur fat and protein is a little bit high and your carbs are way high.

U only need 1g protein per lb of lean body mass. As hard as this might to believe, i dont think youre too far over 200lbs if muscle

U should try eating dense fiber foods fibrous foods to help leep you full long. Oats are a great source of for breakfast. Steel cut isnt necesary because they are more calorie packed. Just go with quaker oats non flavored. If u hate the taste like i do, try this recipe for breakfast. 2 cups skim milk, 1/3 scoop of whey protein for flavor. And half a cup of grinded oats. Overall this is about 350-400 calories. Make sure grind the oats in a blender or processor to keep it somwha smooth. Otherwise this shake will taste like chalk.

Lastly, u need to calculate your bmr and eat under it. Just look one up on google theyre all the same. It takes 3500 cals burnt to lose 1lb kf fat. This burn is from either cardio, lifting, or just your bodies dailly caloric needs. By running, u burn about 400 cals per 45 minutes. By lifting, u burn even less. But heavy lifting raises your bmr dependant on how often u lift. Typically it will raise your bmr to 1.35 of normal. For typical size men, thats about 600-700 more calories per day up to the day after your last workout. See where im going with this? 400 cals in one run, or over 1000 cals from one intense workout

In the end its calories in vs calories out. Its that simple

 

[TJGUNN]

alright sounds good il bring my calories down than and ya I workout 6 times a week and lift anywhere from 6,10 reps I'm just trying to get my stomach down and love handles to look better for all my workout or body part I do a couple hundred but then u see the 40 lb atleSt gut on me lol
looks bad o and the window is the time you have after a workout to get your protein in iv been lifting for years and that's what I taught
what about cardio fellas should I stick with 20 min worth after workout of low cardio I try to do high I'm so burnt out by then I'm done

 

[ThunderHumper]

Anabolic window you refered to is fake dont believe it anymore. Ur body is at an increased caloric need for 24-36 hours after your workout, not just 30 minutes. That window is just part of the supplement industry's web of lies

U also dont need to lift 6 times a week. Just do 3-4 times with days off between that way u dont over train. U can also do cardio on off days or after lifting days or both to maximise the calories burned. Just dont overwork yourself. if u do, you'll find yourself more tired than usual every day and will be tempted to quit

 

[TJGUNN]

wtf no **** those bastards wow thanks for that info so after you workout the next 24 hours your body is like in anabolic state whatever you eat goes to muscles **** been doing it wrong for years and ok I'm over training I guess so il try to start off with another off day and 3-4 day splitt is for gaining muscle , stregth and mass **** gunna have to rethink whole workout

 

[ThunderHumper]

Now youre seeing it

Biggest difference between cut and bulk is calorie intake. Not so much routine, but u can change it to better suit the goal. Personaly, i train splits for bulks and cuts because they feel better to me than circuit training or whole body workouts. And if u want strength, its best to hit the muscle several times a week. Size is best for once a week