Love handle help!!!! Please tell me what I am doing wrong

[bdodge2]

I have always held fat around my mid section and chest....
I am 40, 6'1" at 224 now aprox 11-12% bf...

I had dropped from 235 at 33%bf to 194 at 17%bf last fall and still held fat in these areas. It took me 8 months and I was endurance training for marathons, so I lost a lot of muscle mass.

I have now put on a lot of muscle and leaned out a bit, but I am still holding these stubborn areas.

here is an average day diet for me:

8 am
2 scoops myofusion, 1 banana, 2 tsp flax meal, 1 tbls almond butter, 1-2 tbls fish oil - 607 cal 50g pro

10 am - 4 eggs, 4 egg whites, broccoli, or premium protien shake or 1 cup sardines in tomatoe sauce or 6-8 oz chicken breast - some form of protien

11:30 no xplode pre workout drink

12- workout

1:30 - post workout protein shake - apple or banana

2:30 - 8 oz chicken, fish or beef, broccoli or peppers - 2 cups

5:30-6 - 8-10 oz chicken/beef/fish - 2 cups of greens

9 pm - 2 scoops myofusion, 1 tbls flax meal, 1 tbls fish oil, banana


I will mix in carbs depending on how flat I feel, but usually will add oatmeal in the am, or brown rice/yams etc to dinner.

My average cal consumption is usually around 23-2700 cal, with 200-230 g protien, 120-150 g carbs, 90-110 g fat

I know there are swings here...but I need a bit of flexability.


I train 5 days a week.

Mon - legs - back squats 4x6, lying curls 4x6, db lunges, KB front squats or stairs - 30 min cardio - treadmill intervals increasing inclines from 4 - 15 at 3mph

Tuesday - Chest - BB bench - 4x6, incline DB press 4x6, pec dec 4x6, weighted dips, 1 hand PU and stabillity ball PU depending on what I feel like. - 30 min cardio - HITT intervals on bike 1 on 2 off.

Wednesday - Back/Bi - variations of pull ups 4-6 to failure, BB rows 4x6, single arm DB rows 4x6, cable lat pull downs 4x6, low cable rows 4x6, preacher curls 2x8, standing db curls 2x8, Cardio - treadmill incline intervalse like Mon.

Thursday - Shoulders/Traps - standing overhead BB press - 4x6, standing BB shrugs 4x6, standing single arm overhead shoulder DB press 4x6, cable shoulder flys/extension 4x6, KB back/trap swings, seated side raises on machine 4x6, cardio - bike as per Tuesday

Friday - Abs/Core - plus second lighter workout on whatever body part I think can take it.........

Sat/Sun off.....or Mountain Bike rides - usually moderate 8-10 miles.

I am 6 weeks into t-bol/test cycle...just switching now to 225 tren/test this week.

Everyone tells me I am getting big...but I can't see past the fact that my abs still are not cutting up and I can see muffin top at my love handles.

Maybe I want results too fast...but please cut me up.....tell me what I am doing wrong!!!!!!!

[gbrice75]

I have always held fat around my mid section and chest....
I am 40, 6'1" at 224 now aprox 11-12% bf...

I had dropped from 235 at 33%bf to 194 at 17%bf last fall and still held fat in these areas. It took me 8 months and I was endurance training for marathons, so I lost a lot of muscle mass.

Congrats on the big transformation! Would love to see before and afters if you have em

I have now put on a lot of muscle and leaned out a bit, but I am still holding these stubborn areas.

That's where we all hold the fat bro, it's going to be the very last to go.

here is an average day diet for me:

8 am
2 scoops myofusion, 1 banana, 2 tsp flax meal, 1 tbls almond butter, 1-2 tbls fish oil - 607 cal 50g pro

If the point of a shake here is just to get some quick protein in, then i'm ok with it, but otherwise this should look more like meal 2. If you keep this meal, meal 2 should come sooner than 2 hours. Drop the banana. Also, way too much fat in this meal IMO. I'd drop all the fats here (save for 2nd half of your day) and do complex carbs, try 1/2 - 1 cup of oats instead

10 am - 4 eggs, 4 egg whites, broccoli, or premium protien shake or 1 cup sardines in tomatoe sauce or 6-8 oz chicken breast - some form of protien

Make it 2 eggs and 6 whites. Keep the broccoli. Don't do a shake here, only real food! Tomato sauce is usually high in sugar, and sardines are oily and fatty - that's a lethal combo. I'd stay away from that meal too. Do more complex carbs here, maybe another 1/2 cup of oats

11:30 no xplode pre workout drink

No no no! Real food. lean protein, and def. do a complex carb here to fuel your workout

12- workout

1:30 - post workout protein shake - apple or banana

Whey shake I take it? Drop the apple or banana, add a complex carb to aid in recover. I mix oats into my shake

2:30 - 8 oz chicken, fish or beef, broccoli or peppers - 2 cups

If you want to drop carbs at this point, that's fine. Here's where you should start adding back in those fats we removed earlier. Broccoli yes, no peppers

5:30-6 - 8-10 oz chicken/beef/fish - 2 cups of greens

Good!

9 pm - 2 scoops myofusion, 1 tbls flax meal, 1 tbls fish oil, banana

Make this a casein shake. Keep the fats, add PB if you want (don't do too much fat in one meal though) - drop the banana


I will mix in carbs depending on how flat I feel, but usually will add oatmeal in the am, or brown rice/yams etc to dinner.

My average cal consumption is usually around 23-2700 cal, with 200-230 g protien, 120-150 g carbs, 90-110 g fat

I know there are swings here...but I need a bit of flexability.


I train 5 days a week.

Mon - legs - back squats 4x6, lying curls 4x6, db lunges, KB front squats or stairs - 30 min cardio - treadmill intervals increasing inclines from 4 - 15 at 3mph

Tuesday - Chest - BB bench - 4x6, incline DB press 4x6, pec dec 4x6, weighted dips, 1 hand PU and stabillity ball PU depending on what I feel like. - 30 min cardio - HITT intervals on bike 1 on 2 off.

Wednesday - Back/Bi - variations of pull ups 4-6 to failure, BB rows 4x6, single arm DB rows 4x6, cable lat pull downs 4x6, low cable rows 4x6, preacher curls 2x8, standing db curls 2x8, Cardio - treadmill incline intervalse like Mon.

Thursday - Shoulders/Traps - standing overhead BB press - 4x6, standing BB shrugs 4x6, standing single arm overhead shoulder DB press 4x6, cable shoulder flys/extension 4x6, KB back/trap swings, seated side raises on machine 4x6, cardio - bike as per Tuesday

Friday - Abs/Core - plus second lighter workout on whatever body part I think can take it.........

Sat/Sun off.....or Mountain Bike rides - usually moderate 8-10 miles.

I am 6 weeks into t-bol/test cycle...just switching now to 225 tren/test this week.

Everyone tells me I am getting big...but I can't see past the fact that my abs still are not cutting up and I can see muffin top at my love handles.

Maybe I want results too fast...but please cut me up.....tell me what I am doing wrong!!!!!!!

Can you post up some pics so we can see what you're talking about? You probably know by now that you are the worst person to judge yourself! Really would need to see macro info for each meal, but for now I made some suggestions above in bold.

[bdodge2]

Thanks so much for the advise...
I will take picts now...and post them tonight.
I have one from 235, 196 and then 220 at 18%, and now....so there is a good progression.

I try to keep the bananas in there for potassium...I find that it is something that I need in my diet...any suggestions as to where to get it...I guess vitamin supps.

I have dropped the noxplode pre workout already...I find it really did not do anything.

I will stick to the "real foods" in the am. I only had the sardines in there as MD mag had a good article on how they were high in protein and omega 3's and they looked like a good idea.

I like the idea of adding in more oats....

I will rework a plan and post it with picts...

[gbrice75]

Thanks so much for the advise...
I will take picts now...and post them tonight.
I have one from 235, 196 and then 220 at 18%, and now....so there is a good progression.

I try to keep the bananas in there for potassium...I find that it is something that I need in my diet...any suggestions as to where to get it...I guess vitamin supps.

I have dropped the noxplode pre workout already...I find it really did not do anything.

I will stick to the "real foods" in the am. I only had the sardines in there as MD mag had a good article on how they were high in protein and omega 3's and they looked like a good idea.

I like the idea of adding in more oats....

I will rework a plan and post it with picts...

Looking forward to seeing the pics. Yea, i'd suggest vitamin supps for the potassium - the bananas are just too high in sugar.

The sardines are ok by themselves, but not in the tomato sauce, and if I remember you had carbs in that meal which I don't like mixing with fats.

[Damienm05]

You get what you put in. Step up the cardio to 6 days per week; at least 45 minutes. You'll get the results you want very quickly. Of course, I second all diet advice you've been given.

[bdodge2]

So here is the progression so far
fat1 is January 09 - 235 - 35% , Fall is Sept 09 - 196 - 18%-20%, the beach pic is March 10 - 224 18%, and the last 2 are today - 222- callipers said 12.4 last week.

The ones from today are taken by my 7 year old so excuse the composition.

I am holding alot of water as I went carb crazy camping this weekend...say I'm back up to the 13-15 %, I would guess, no weight gain though, just not as cut looking. Looked at the picts and said I look like crap. Didn't realise how undefined my back is.

You can see the extra fat on my lower abs and back at the love handles.

[gbrice75]

Dude, like I tell everybody (but just can't grasp this for myself!) - you are the worst judge of your own progress. You put on ALOT of mass, I wish I had done that well! Can you stand to lose more bodyfat? Absolutely. Do I think you're 12%-ish? No, I think you're more like 15%. Still, look at pic 1 vs. pic 4 - you should be PROUD!

[bdodge2]

thanks for the kind words....

It is amazing how I can go up and down like a yo-yo.

I put on BF really easy. That is why I said I looked like crap after this weekend because I know I got back to the 15% mark....

Time to dial in again and get going

[bdodge2]

One more question...

what are your thoughts on Cardio.....

I don't want to go catabolic and still want to work on strength gains...I haven't really been working on hypertraphy, just strength and the size has come.

I did a lot of long distance endurance last year...1-2hrs on the treadmill at 6-7 mph. but I lost a lot of mass. I would run 25-30 miles a week.


I stopped in Oct. so it will take me a while to get back to this...plus the leg pumps suck now.

I have been doing treadmill intervals at 3mph increasing the angle up to 15 ie 2 min at 0, 1 min at 5, 1 min at 9, 1 min at 12, 1 min at 15, repeat for 30 min.

I have also started 1 min on 1min on HIT on the bike for 15 repeats.

Should I just start going longer.....ie 45 min to an hour LIT or up the HITT duration? I thougth that HITT over 25 min becomes counter productive??

Please share ideas

thanks

[gbrice75]

IMO, LIT cardio for 45 mins would be great (I can only get 1/2 hour in) - keep heart rate at around 130 - 140 BPM.

[lovbyts]

I would like to add a couple things, not really to the diet because the suggestions look good.

How long have you been doing the diet? It does take time. You look like you are about where I was 3 years ago. It took about 3-4 months of me following a similar diet for me to see the results and about a year to really loose the love handles.

I still have minimal at my back area. Most people would say none but I can see/feel them. Also I have a little fatty area on the very bottom of my chest. I always have and like said it's one of the last places to go but I have not done really cut yet. I am waiting about another 9 months before I cut but will keep the diet clean until then.

In all honesty you should not be doing a cycle yet. Give it another year. Your body fat is still to high to get proper gains and you are at higher risk of getting gyno and other side effects.

Remember there is no way to spot burn fat, it's all or nothing so as suggested, cardio cardio cardio along with the diet.