I have been sticking to a strict diet, lifting 4x a week, and i take those fish oils.
It has been 2 months and my abs are beginning to be visible. But lately it’s as if i had hit a brick wall and the fats around my abdomen are still there. I find this rather annoying because i need to lose them before i can start running faster but i just cant. Maybe i should approach this in a different method?
Tell us more about your diet, please.
How much fat is there?
Well im not sure about those but my diet is mainly consist of tunas, eggs, and chicken breast.
I learn that by contracting your abs when you squat/bench, it will help. is that true?
Core stability, yes. Reducing fat, no.
I didnt mean fat in the diet, what I meant was how much fat do you have left around your gut and why do you feel you need to lose it? If you focus mainly on losing that fat it could affect your training adversely.
Oni,
hang in there. Yes you did “hit a brick wall” this is perfectly natural and what your body was designed to do. I train boxers who have to cut weight so i see this alot.
The best way to explain what is going on is to look at the exact opposite. Most americans consume more calories than they need. If for example i am 200 lbs at age 20 and i consume an excess of calories over a year that causes me to gain 10 lbs. If i maintain that level of food consumption i should be 500 lbs at age 50, and 700 lbs at age 70. Now, most americans consume an excess number of calories from their teenage years into old age, and are overweight, but you don’t see alot of 500 pounders walking around. WHY? Because the body’s metabolism ajusts to the increased calorie intake and as a result, while in the first year i gained 10 lbs, in the years that follow my weight increase is lower.
The exact same thing happens when you are trying to cut weight or fat. Just as you said, at first you see some real improvement, or weight loss. Then your body freaks out and changes its metabolism. This is a survival mechanism. You are at the point where most dieters quit and go back to being lard asses because it gets harder at this point. What you have to do is give the body time to ajust to your new levels of fat and metabolism. With time the body will accept them as normal or baseline. At that point, another slight decrease in calories or increase in physical training (your workout) will cause another nice drop in weight or fat. But this is not something you can rush. If you do, it will be at the expense of quality training. Thats why alot of boxers who try to cut alot of weight quickly before a fight, usually pay for it by getttin their ass beat.
hope this helps. hang in their till your body adjusts, then take it down somemore.
td
TD, so you i should just continue whatever it is im doing and eventually i will see results?
and marshall i cant really describe how much fat there is around my guts but its on the verge of making my abs visible. so if i just ate a large meal… my abs would not be visible anymore until metabolism kicks in.
Oni,
yeah,
if i’m reading you right your at what i call the second most critical stage of an athlete. The first stage was to make the initial commitment, which it sounds like you’ve been doing for the past few months. The thing is that you get the most reward for your effort in this first stage. Now in the second stage it will take more intense effort to achieve the same level of reward. Again, think about it. When you first started lifting weights the amounts, or reps that you could do went up at a rather fast level. If you kept a record you’ll notice that you may have even doubled some lifts in only afew months. Now the gains will come much slower. If this was not the case, we’d have guyz benchpressing 1500 lbs or squating 3000 lbs. Arnold was benching 500 lbs in his mid 20’s, but he wasn’t benching 1000 lbs in his early 30’s. And it wasn’t from lack of effort. The gains just come slower.
Your at the point where the men are separated from the boyz. How bad do you want it. It ain’t gonna be easy no more.
TD
Oni,
Read up on EFA’s, insulin levels, re-feeds, glycemic indexes and any other useful diet information you can get your hands on. Knowledge will get you a six pack.
Yep, its called Body Fat Set-Point.