Hi!

i have been exercising in the gym for about a month and have achieved quite a remarkable success in the waist dept. However I still flabby and feel I have not changed that much, I deviated from the diet and particularly the low carb part, I have made gains but very slightly, I was following a bodybuilding diet but honestly I dont want to be all bulky, I think I prefer to be slender and very well defined, maybe only bulky arms but that is it.

My BMI is about 26-27 according to fitday, but I really want to lower my body fat % so here is what I started to do this week:

Decided to go locarbing at a nearly 0 carb level (initial stage) while upping my protein and water intake so I hope my body starts turning to ketosis.

I keep doing my weight-lifting exercises at the maximum weight possible so I can keep it as a challenge to my muscles and after that I do 30 mins of cardio on a life fitness elliptical machine that I love and helps me burn, according to the monitor, about 400 calories.

I also use take hydroxycut before going to the gym and some other days redline vpx.

So my question is: do you think I am doing the right thing for a noticeable fat loss during this month of june? I mean all those factors above combined should really help me drop fat and keep any muscle I might have, I have felt great and think I could achieve remarkable success, the only thing I fear is what if I end up looking skinny fat? or will the skin adjust itself over time?

Your input or take on this is very well appreciated, I really want to be a guinea pig and see where I can go! hehe!

Thanks for your comments!

Regards
Antonio

Since body fat reduction is your primary goal, I would structure weight lifting sessions to be more like interval/circuit training. You can do them with heavy or low weight and as your conditioning improves, you can add in active rests periods and perform the circuits more times. Calorie burning will be greater with this type of training than typical bodybuilding.

As for whether or not you are doing enough to see noticeable fat loss for the month, it comes down to your diet. If you are burning 400+ calories per day, then provided your excess calories doesn't exceed 400+, then you should be good.

If after two weeks, you are not at least half way where you expected, then make an adjustment to what you're doing.

Going to almost zero carbs while upping your weight routine may be tough.... I find that I become futigued much quicker if I don't eat my carbs.

Just keep in mind that you can't spot reduce any weight loss, as much as we'd all like to. I'm sure you know that!

Overall I say that your idea might jump start some fat loss... Are you doing the same weight routine? It can also help to alternate your lifting routine every 3 months or so.

Hi!

Thanks for your comments, yes I am aware I cannot spot reduce (as much as we all would like to do that), but I think I need an overall assault on my body fat shocking it, I also feel kinda fatigued when I am bodybuilding and lowcarbing but this time I am aiming for extreme fat loss so therefore I think I need to keep going since I dont want to be building muscle but stripping fat mainly.

Another Idea I have tought is grab some free weight and do lots of exercises with them in the gym so my heart rate can go up with the resistances training and then just hit the treadmill or the elliptical to keep it going.

As kbfunth mencioned, I think I need to keep a close watch into my daily calorie intake so that I check if I effectively create a calorie deficit that allows my body to burn fat, I plan to achieve this by eating lowcarb/lowfat so there is very few insulin on my body and it switches to using all the fat I might have lying around.

Of course all this is temporary so later on I can start packing some muscle but just packing muscle without removing fat will make me look and feel fatty and will obviously demotivate me!! Last night I went to the steam and sauna and I can swear the water loss was the most in my love handles, they seemed to be ironed out! I loved it! haha!

Will keep you posted!

Thanks!
Antonio

Hence the interval/circuit training I mentioned before.

IMO, going low fat and low carb is BAD. The fat is necessary for lots of things, but especially energy conversion. Fat is the preferred fuel, so don't drop it down to much. 25-30% fat should be fine.

yes you are right on that, in fact I have not lowered fat that much because going LC and LF is not so easy, and as soon as my body starts ketosis there is no problem since fat is being flushed. Am I right on that?

Thanks!
Antonio

Make sure you don't fall into the same trap i did. I joined a gym and started lifting weights seriously about 9 months ago, with a focus on losing fat and gaining maybe a little muscle at the same time. I kept the carbs very low and switched to leaner protein sources, and the fat started coming off pretty quick... unfortunately about 3-4 weeks into I started feeling very run down, and my fat loss slowed down to a crawl (metabolism shut down). I continued with it though, and lost another 25-30 lbs or so over the next 9 month, all the while feeling like crap. I had to keep lowering my calories more and more to keep the weight loss going, and i my energy levels kept dropping. At the end my calories were sometimes less than 1000 per day. I even started having memory & concentration problems, not fun.

Just last week i said enough is enough and did up a bodybuilding-style menu plan, 2200-2400 calories spread over 6 meals per day with about 80-120 g of carbs spread throughout the day, all low glycemic (brown rice, salads, oatmeal, lc yogurt, etc). I was 203 lbs when i made the switch (i had been trying for a month on <1200 calories to get below 200 lbs with no luck). My weight went up to 207 the first day or two, because of the muscle glycogen/water weight being restored... that was pretty scary but i made a commitment to do this for at least 2 weeks and see how it went. I felt full all the time, not just "not hungry" but full... but over the course of a few days that went away and i found myself actually a little hungry by the time my next meal was due.

I'm glad i kept with it because my energy levels shot through the roof and my lifts & cardio endurance went up big time. Then amazingly the weight started to drop very quickly... it's only been 8 days since i started this and i'm already down to 202 lbs and i'm still eating carbs.. if i were to have a few days of low carbs to lose the water weight i would undoubtedly be <200.

I also picked up a pair of calipers to test my bodyfat last week and i've dropped from 19.6% on May 31 down to 17.2% yesterday (gained 3.4 lbs of muscle and lost 5.4 lbs of fat)... i'm not even sure that is possible but i guess where i was so low in calories for so long my body is rebounding. I'm sure at least a third of the weight i lost in the past 9 months has been muscle due to the combination of low carb/low fat/low calorie. Also while eating that way i couldn't resist cheating every weekend (I ratioalized it as a 're-feed' but it was really a mega-cheat). Now since switching to the new moderate carb, 2200-2400 calorie diet i was amazed to find out it was easy to make it throught last weekend without even thinking about cheating.

I really think you should give this a try... you may not want to look super-muscular but you'd be amazed how much lean mass you can gain and just look fit, not like a wrestler or muscle head. The complex carbs really do make all the difference when you are lifting. I also recommend you calculate your daily calorie needs to maintain your weight (i found out mine was 3000! that's 15x bodyweight) then subtract 500-800 from that, no more. If you subtract more then you are only slowing down your metabolism.

I also recommend an eBook by Tom Venuto called "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle"... i've read dozens of diet books (low carb, low fat, food combining, bodybuilding, etc) but this one beats them all hands down. http://www.burnthefat.com

The most valuable thing i've gotten from the book so far is what he says about burning fat rather than starving it:

"As paradoxical as it may seem, it’s always better to eat more and exercise more than it is to eat less without exercise. Ironically, most people do the latter: They slash their calories to starvation levels and exercise little or not at all. This slows the metabolism, decreases lean body mass and invokes the starvation response. Exercise allows you to create the calorie deficit and burn fat while increasing the metabolism."

"Most people are afraid to increase calories and increase cardio simultaneously because they figure the two will somehow “cancel each other out.” Surprisingly, the opposite is true; they enhance each other."

Sorry about the long winded post, but PLEASE don't make the same mistake i did. In the past 9 months i believe i could have easily lost 100% fat and gained muscle to a lean 180-190 lbs, rather than the skinny-fat 202 lbs i'm at now.

-John-

Thanks for sharing that, John. I checked your gallery and you are getting pretty buff... so don't sell yourself short amigo!

Mark

Thanks for sharing. This is some good information.

You hit the 'nail on the head' with these two paragraphs.

["As paradoxical as it may seem, it’s always better to eat more and exercise more than it is to eat less without exercise. Ironically, most people do the latter: They slash their calories to starvation levels and exercise little or not at all. This slows the metabolism, decreases lean body mass and invokes the starvation response. Exercise allows you to create the calorie deficit and burn fat while increasing the metabolism."

"Most people are afraid to increase calories and increase cardio simultaneously because they figure the two will somehow “cancel each other out.” Surprisingly, the opposite is true; they enhance each other."]

(80-120 g of carbs) Ideal carb intake for your calories IMO.