Losing the Gut, Love Handles and Butt

As a 26 year old male that had serious issues with any weight gain when i was younger, besides always having a huge ASS, i have put on a few pounds. I started working out last year. Jim Stopanni’s Shortcut to Size. I ate well religiously and made some good progress in the 3 months. I then fell of the wagon due to personal reasons and ended up packing on the weight. Leaving me with a belly, love handles and the same ol ASS!

I have been eating clean for 14 weeks now and training extremely hard. Normal upper/lower split.

but my progress seems to be really slow.

Is there any advice on how to lose this weight in unwanted areas and still build/maintain muscle that i have.

Stats:

220 pounds
6 feet

Diet.

What, exactly, did you eat yesterday?

If Stopanni’s short cut to size was working so well last time, why not just do that again? Same goes for the diet plan you had previous success with.

[quote]Drice21 wrote:
If Stopanni’s short cut to size was working so well last time, why not just do that again? Same goes for the diet plan you had previous success with.[/quote]

I wouldn’t do the shortcut to size nutrition regiment if one is truly looking to cut fat and that’s the preeminent goal at the time.

Stoppani’s “shortcut to size” diet regiment calls for 18 calories/lb of body weight on non-workout days and 20 calories/lb of body weight on training days. That’s not going work well for someone that truly wants to shed fat mass.

Here’s what I’d recommend:

  1. Start logging all food - even bites, licks and tastes. Track your daily caloric intake meticulously and don’t deceive yourself.

  2. If you’re okay with a gradual loss of fat mass (1-2 lbs/week) and not seeking anything rapid, shoot for something like eating at maintenance calories 3-4 days week, preferably training days, then shooting for a 500 calorie deficit on the other 3-4 off days. Basically you can eat whatever you want, but I’d strive to get 80+% of my calories from whole, minimally processed foods. The other 20% or so can come from whatever you like, as long as you stick within your caloric guidelines.

On training days, you could do 1g/lb of body weight in protein, 1 g/lb of body weight in carbs, and allow the remaining 0.5g/lb body weight to come from fat, or whatever other combination you prefer between carbs and fats. On off days, I’d keep protein intake set at 1g/lb body weight, then keep carbs at or below 100g, and the remaining calories from fat, which allows for an approximately 500 calorie deficit.

There are many cutting approaches, from low carb to low fat, but everyone pretty much agrees that you have to be in a consistent caloric deficit to lose fat, so ultimately controlling calorie intake is what matters. You want to consume enough carbs so that performance doesn’t suffer, so how you choose to manipulate carb vs. fat macros is your choice. You can certainly choose a lower carb or a lower fat approach, but protein intake should be kept consistent at probably 1g/lb of body weight, and you want to strive to stay within your set calorie intake on a regular basis.

  1. Pick some form of conditioning that you enjoy, and have at it at least 2-3x/week for 30-60 minutes.

Thanks all for the great responses.

This is basically my diet.

breakfast
Protein shake upon waking up
3 whole eggs
3 egg whites
50g oatmeal
Multi vit
omega 3
CLA
Calcium

Snack 1
Greek Yoghurt fat free
banana/biltong (think its jerky in America)

Lunch
Tuna 5 oz/Chicken breast 100g
Mixed salad/brown rice

pre workout

Creatine 5g
Protein shake

Post workout

Dextrose
Protein Shake
Creatine 5 g ( as per Jim)

Snack 2
mixed nuts
cottage cheese

Dinner

Steak/Fish/Chicken breasts
mixed Salad

Snack 3

Cottage cheese
Protein Shake

Anything i can change here?

[quote]Gino89 wrote:

Anything i can change here?
[/quote]

What does this all break down to in terms of daily caloric intake, i.e., protein, fats, carbs and total calories?

What is your maintenance caloric intake? What is your target deficit goal per week?

From there, figure out whether or not your are in a deficit on a week to week basis. If you are, and you are losing 1-2 lbs of fat mass per week, continue accordingly. If not, adjust as necessary. If you are losing too fast or finding that performance is suffering, bump it up a few hundred calories on training days. If fat loss is too slow or non-existent, cut 100-200 calories per day and reevaluate in a week or so.

[quote]Gino89 wrote:
Thanks all for the great responses.

This is basically my diet.

Anything i can change here?
[/quote]

Most people’s issue is not with putting a list of food together. It’s sticking to their plan, especially when time tightens up and stress comes along. That means, skipping meals, replacing healthy meals with shitty meals when a few hundred calories is the difference between weight loss and small gain and having an extra snack, creamy coffee, etc.

Like training, you’re probably better of with principles, habits and understanding what works for your body.

Anyway, don’t mean to be a downer, you’re on a good start - remember to adjust with how your body responds.