17 yr old needs some help with cut.

[jerseyboy101]

Hey im a long time lurker but recently needed some advice im 17 yrs old been lifting for a year about 6 foot 2 and a half pushing about 215 pounds at id say 15-18% bodyfat, now im pretty knowledgable about nutrtion and lifting and what not just never really applied it to my own life. Im in good shape i play baseball and will play collegiately next year, im pretty strong have a good deal of muscle but for the life of me i just cant seem to lose fat. I know it comes down to diet because i train hard. I just started up basketball again since weather is nice playing 3-5 times a week, i carry most of my fat in midsection in clothes i look fine but without a shirt on i have a gut and i hate it.

I have a few questions before i go into diet, now my family is historically overweight on my dads side they all have big bellies and all rather large my moms side is opposite, but could it be some genetics that i just cant seem to strip the fat away at all. Now im a high school student so my diet isnt going to be perfect but i need some help, i only drink water nothing else i try to get in a good amount of protein from chicken and what not but i need some guidance. Considering im in high school whats the best thing to do? i know generally you want 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day but during school i cant do that. Should i eat just my 3 meals a day with snacks in between. Let me lay out a normal day and hopefully you can give some suggestion as to the types of food i should be eating.

These are the ranges of times i usually do things throughout the day lunch isnt an hour long but sometimes i eat at 11:30 sometimes 11:00 you get the point

Breakfast 6:00-6:30
School 7:30
Lunch 11:00-12:00
Workout- 2:30-4:00
Dinner- 5:30-6
Bed- 10:00-11:00

I usually drink water throughout the day and for lunch i usually get a Wheat Wrap with chicken, lettuce, cheese and a bottle of water usually i eat two wraps for dinner its whatever my mom makes usually chicken or pasta, i have a post workout protein shake at 3:30-4:00 everyday, im just trying to find some things to snack on and what i should do for breakfast. Now i had a stint of time where i just wasnt eating breakfast thinking it would cut on cals and id lose more weight but i didnt whats up with that?

I'll probally have more questions as time goes on but desperately need some help i have an end of the year party for seniors where there will be a pool and i really want to be in good shape for that among other things as im very insecure about my midsection.

 

[manbeast31]

not eating breakfast is the worst thing for you. that meal there pretty much gets the body in gear!! as far as the meals you ARE eating thats not the best either whats your typical workout like? ps. throw bout 4 or 5 boiled eggs in there breakfast with a shake

 

[EustisPanther]

I was pretty much the same stats when I was your age (17). My worst was in 8th grade at 14 I was 5'8" 245 lbs. Check out my thread on my 4 week diet, I followed it between 18-19 I think. It took a lot of dedication but in a month I dropped about 20lbs of fat.

I'm not saying it's the only way to loose weight but it certainly worked for me.
I would advise you though to disregard some of the supps I used, like the ECA.

Good Luck to you, find what works for you and stick with it.

 

[skidalybop50]

Since you're in the 15-18% bf range little changes can make a big difference, it's not like you're trying to get to 4% bodyfat for a competition, so here is some less technical but i think helpful advice.

Here's the short version:
Nutrition and HIIT. Do that and no reason you can't be down to 195 with a lot lower bf% by june.

Here's the long version:

Be aware of what you're eating. You don't necessarily have to count calories, but an example if what I mean is a little caesar's pizza. A lot of guys can put away the whole thing in one sitting and since it's only 5 bucks, come back for seconds. It has 2000 calories, and a ton of fat. A lot of people, including myself in the past, don't really recognize that at first glance. Unless you're Michael Phelps or Lance Armstrong training 6-8 hours a day that sort of thing is gonna get ya fat. Personally I don't think it could hurt you to count your calories for a couple days and see where you're at. If you're eating 4000 a day, try cutting out a few hundred calories a day and it'll make a difference.

a lot of the bro science dudes around here will get all uppity when i say this, and tell you it has more to do with blah blah hormones blah blah insulin levels, which is true but the fact remains:
Calories in - calories out = fat gain/loss
If you're eating more than you're burning, the body stores it as fat.
3500 calories = a pound.
If you cut out 500 excess calories a day, that's a pound of fat a week. By the time school gets out you could lose 15-20 pounds just from that simple rule. Don't eat the twinkie at lunch, and have oatmeal for breakfast instead of poptarts and sugarpuffs and that's your 500 cals right there. PS, do eat breakfast, it gets your metabolism started at the beginning of the day.

Another thing that really helps is HIIT and that will take the boredom out of long cardio sessions and be helpful for running bases etc.

Basically you warm up, then do intervals of all out sprinting, or rowing, or pedaling, or eliptical etc for a minute, then do a moderate pace for a minute. Rinse and repeat for 10-15minutes and that kicks trash.

There are a lot of articles out there that go into more depth if you're willing to look into it more, it won't let me post links. The way I see it is it kinda works for the same reasons lifting weights to get stronger does. If you overload your muscles, they adapt and get stronger. If you don't overload them, they don't get stronger.

Same goes for cardio, if you run at a 10 minute mile pace everyday, your body adapts to be able to run 10 minute miles. Which means it doesn't necessarily need to shed too much fat. Whereas if you're sprinting all out you're body says, oh crap i need to adapt to make this more efficient, time to drop some fat. And you end up with a higher Resting Metabolic Rate, and metabolism, and all kinds of other technical stuff that ends up with you burning more calories throughout the day, even when you aren't in the gym.

 

[liftallday123]

Try splitting ur meals to 6 a day. say ur on a 3000 calorie diet that means u would have 500 calories with each meal. try eatting throughout these meals all natural foods. Remember to have a perfect/successul diet u wana keep urself full and not starving. I found by cutting back to much food actually causes me to gain weight but when i keep myself full by eating clean foods i drop body fat. Also eat breakfeast like a king would!!! When sleeping at night ur body goes 8-10 hours without food so try eating a big cup of oats some egg whites and a protein shake to kick ur body in gear. Protein is very important thoughout my diet also. I try to get 25-50 grams of protein in with each meal. also keep cardio high and lift some weights. I ussually try to get at least 20 mins of cardio a day and i lift weights 5 days week. Thats pretty much it. Hopefully I was some help!!!