Basically i've been in good shape all my life. Not ripped with 2% body fat but solid build with nice biceps-triceps-trapezius and pecs. Can't see the abs though because they've been hidden behind my belly-fat for about 5 years. I play football (soccer) at a semi-professional level and training takes a lot of my time so I don't have any time left to workout in a gym. Last year I busted my ACL so I got the opportunity to rehab in this nice facility and was going about 3-4 times/week. I mainly focused on my knee but also on my upper-body, and in 3 months I saw amazing results. However, I couldn't get this belly-fat out of the way. Right now I feel very comfortable with how my body looks and don't want to get any bigger, I just want to lose the belly-fat. Any tips? Here's some more information on my diet/workout/etc: - Just turned 22. - Just started the summer camp with my team yesterday and weighed in at 82 Kg (180.4 lbs), I took 6 lbs during the summer considering I weighed at 79kg (174.165 lbs) just after the last game of the season. - I'm 1m84 which is about 6 ft 0 (?) - I drink heavily on the weekends with my friends when I go out. - Been on vacation for the past 2 months and haven't done much sport. Mostly partying and eating in nice restaurants. - Don't care much about my diet (soft drinks, fast food, you name it). - Practice with the team consists mainly of running (endurance and explosiveness), not gym-workout. I know for a fact that I can get back to 79kg (174 lbs) in a couple weeks by solely changing my diet (eating less, cutting alcohol and only drinking water) and I plan to do so. However, i'd like to get down to around 74-75kg and (most importantly) cut my body-fat and loose my belly so I can work on getting my abs back I'd rather consult the interwebs and mighty clutchfans members' for tips before giving my money away to a probably useless diet-planner. Thanks!
Your weight is okay but you have to transform the fat into muscles. Eat healthy, tone down the alcohol, work out a lot, sleep enough every day.
I believe someone here said you have to get your body fat to about 12 percent for abs to show up. I'm currently at 14. It's hard to lose another 2 percent.
It takes 10 minutes of working out to burn off 100 calories that you can eat in about 20 seconds. Reduce your intake of calories a little bit. 85% of weight loss in intake. You mentioned that you drink heavily. That's no bueno for weight since most alcoholic drinks are high in calories, plus you tend to eat extra when drunk. Try to cut down on the calories when you drink. You mentioned you've been in pretty good shape, so it sounds like you have good genes, and you tend to be active, so you have all that going for you. I bet if you cut out about 300 calories a day in intake you'd notice a big difference in about a month.
More specifically, if you switch from junk to low sodium food and drink, you will probably start seeing a more 'cut' look in a few days. And drink at least a gallon of water a day.
Basically you have already admitted the areas you need to improve and know that without these things you can get the results you want. Your training is plenty of exercise for someone at your age that the rest of the results will come mainly from diet.
^ Reducing your calorific intake, or Kilojoules depending on the system, is the way to losing fat considering fat is stored energy which is not used in the metabolic process. Also start to work out, running and aerobic exercise is great but will only raise your metabolism (which you will need to prevent fat storage) temporarily Working out will increase your muscle mass which requires more energy to maintain therefore easier to keep fat off. Be sure to work out your whole body. Your abs do increase in size when targeted but not that much, do ab exercises but dont expect to get ripped just by them alone
I think you know what to do, but the hard part is doing it. I think the easiest thing to do is to spot drinking calories, but increase the amount you drink. That should cut a lot of calories for you.
I won't have a hard time changing my diet because i've done it in the past and i'm pretty strong mentally. Furthermore, outside of alcohol (which I drink mainly for the effect it procures and socially) I can easily stay away from junk-food. The problem I have is that I feel like the workout sessions I do with my team will help me lose calories/weight and reduce my body-fat but don't help me burn the belly-fat. (not sure if I made myself clear?) I need to find specific exercices I can do additionally to help me get rid of these little love-handles
I think you'll like this xD <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PYfNA_lmkHM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Hate to say, but there is no such thing as spot reduction...especially belly fat. You have to simply clean up your diet and eat clean for 4-8 weeks. No cheating! Keep doing what you do as excercise and you will soon start seeing the shape of your abs. You generally have to be between 8-12 percent BF to start seeing your abs. You can do all the sit-ups and crunches in the world and you still will not lose the belly fat if you don't tweak your diet. You'll just have stronger abs under a cushion of fat.
Unfortunately genetics plays a significant role in where fat is stored. You will need to decrease total body fat. As I said earlier, workout and strengthen your core to give that toned look
There are already too many threads I've given my advise on getting fit, so here's a cliff notes version: cut out the sodas get ur ass outside and run swim do abs when u go out to eat, try and eat healthy (get a grilled chicken sandwich rather than a chicken fried steak, etc). done. you'll lose a few lbs and get more toned quickly. shoot, at 22, that really shouldnt be too hard.
Like someone else said on here, first you need to get your body fat % down to a good amount. What i did to lose the love handles was i used the stair master at the gym for 30 minutes every time i would work out. On top of that i would also do a circuit ab workout.If you already have visible abs you only need to workout abs for about 5 minutes honestly. If you have a flat stomach and your abs are beginning to show id say 15 minute is ok. 9 sets in total hanging corkscrews- 8 each side physioball tuck circles-8 cw 8ccw oblique crunches(lots of different variations for this)-16 reps repeat this 3 times sometimes i also used this p90x routine...http://www.freeworkoutguides.com/workoutguides/p90x-ab-ripper-workout/ Heres some pics I've post before of my transformation, so you know I speak from experience. Some people here might give you advice(good advice), but they might not follow it themselves or might not work out at all, so you can't know how effective it is. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
OP, as long as you don't have young kids, you can do what you want. If you WANT abs, you can get them, you just have to do what it takes, no matter when you have the time. if it's Time you want to spend, then spend the time. If you don't have the time to spend, I suggest the modified diet. You don't have to pay someone to cook health meals, you just need to learn some ab shredding recipes!
You will cut your calories in half with this method if you cook them in a healthy manner. When my Dad went veg in the late 80s for health reasons, he basically said you can eat as many veggies as you want and you'll lose weight. Stuff yourself with broccoli. Take beano.
Nice tranformation. You need to get your skin in better shape though. Here's a tip I use that I learned from Lee Labrada and other body builders. Use a loofah in the shower instead of a wash cloth. Use a dry brush(buy it @Wholefoods) and dry brushing your entire body for 5-10 mins before showering. I've always got compliments for my skin even though I turned 51 this year.
