Need some fitness/health help and advice.

[LosingFocus]

What do you think that is?

I want to tone up the midsection/core - not lose weight. But you would have known that if you had read the thread rather than wet yourself with excitement and try the old "I told you so" routine.

Just for clarification then, I want to tone up the old belly and chest, without losing overall weight or - in fact - gaining weight either. So, you known, shift fat gain muscle. Before it was purely fat shifting hence the restricted calories of 1400 (and even that was an overestimation). When I hit my weight I was happy with (after going too low and looking crappy), I upped my intake to suit - but no weight gain!

 

[LosingFocus]

Did you not say you put weight back on in the OP?

I did, I put on a bit when off exercise due to a shagged knee. Nothing to do with increase of calorie intake, just less being used up. Since Jan 1st I've increased the calorie intake but seen no weight gain.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

I want to tone up the midsection/core - not lose weight. But you would have known that if you had read the thread rather than wet yourself with excitement and try the old "I told you so" routine.

A bit less I told you so, more "calorie intake too low". The core is a notoriously hard area to lose from anyway, before you limit calorie intake. You want to put on lean muscle which requires calorie surplus - you want to lose fat (indeed weight) which requires a deficit. Very very few can naturally get the balance right. Most pick one until success then do the other.

Just for clarification then, I want to tone up the old belly and chest, without losing overall weight or - in fact - gaining weight either. So, you known, shift fat gain muscle.

As above.

Before it was purely fat shifting hence the restricted calories of 1400 (and even that was an overestimation). When I hit my weight I was happy with (after going too low and looking crappy), I upped my intake to suit - but no weight gain!

Would probably suggest that your intake it still low. But then as below you did gain weight.

I did, I put on a bit when off exercise due to a shagged knee. Nothing to do with increase of calorie intake, just less being used up. Since Jan 1st I've increased the calorie intake but seen no weight gain.

You shouldn't have put on weight. It suggests that your maintenance cal intake was lower than your actual intake at that point.

 

[ayceejay]

Why do these type of questions always end in acrimony? Should we add health and fitness to politics and religion as subjects people have fixed ideas on making civilized discussion impossible?
As I said above: to emphasize calorie intake without considering the source of those calories is a mistake. To state another fact: muscle is heavier than fat so weighing oneself without any other consideration is another mistake.
Losingfocus combines both of these misunderstandings, as is common.
I will see how my post is received before spending any more time on it.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

To state another fact: muscle is heavier than fat so weighing oneself without any other consideration is another mistake.

You see, it isn't a fact.

Muscle is denser than fat not heavier and takes up a lot less space(ie: 1lb of fat is exactly the same weight as 1lb muscle), it is however heavier by equal volume only.


Therefore if you can lose exactly 1lb of fat off your body and replace it with exactly 1lb of muscle. You may look slimmer, but be the same weight overall.

 

[ayceejay]

I stand corrected but weighing oneself is not the best guide nevertheless. In the context of the question, "You may look slimmer, but be the same weight overall" as you say, is the result the OP is looking for.
So back to square one, how do you achieve this?

 

[Trevrev]

I cut out all those bad Simple Carbs. It worked for me.......Loads more energy and not one bit of a gut. I know it's poopooed by a lot of people, but it's worked a treat for me.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

I stand corrected but weighing oneself is not the best guide nevertheless. In the context of the question, "You may look slimmer, but be the same weight overall" as you say, is the result the OP is looking for.
So back to square one, how do you achieve this?

With careful balance. Putting on lean muscle requires calorie surplus - losing fat requires a deficit. Both can be done simultaneously but it is(generally) incredibly hard, beyond the genetics of being male.

Muscle does though have the quality of being metabolically active. Every KG adds something like 35-50cals per day to your BMR, so resistance training may well be the better route to go down, instead of trying to do both. But you can also run the risk of having mega definition under a layer of fat if your surplus is too high.

Like most of these things it is a long and slow process when done right. Persevere and the results come.

 

[Nosaj]

Losing Focus perhaps it is not just tweaking pure calories and exercise but tweaking your macro nutrient split (carbs/protein/fat) I'm 12.2 stone and my maintanence calories are circa 2,250 I try to get a split roughly 50C/30P/20F, however if I go higher on Carbs (and it is really easy to OD on Carbs). then I tend to put on a bit. Following a very low calorie diet eventually your body goes into starvation mode and actually stores everything that you eat.

Anyway for some practical and some far better advice than I can give you go over to the UK muscle bodybuilding forum they have tips on how to split your macro nutrients based on your current activity levels. Obviously this is just a generic guide and you have to tweak your splits to suit you and your lifestyle, you may find that your calorie intake is way too low but your macro nutrient split is all to cock and this is what is preventing you from dropping that pesky last bit of fat.

I don't think you will have to go as Anal as the BBers on there logging every single food stuff all the time, however you do get to a point where you have to be a little bit anal to get rid of that last pesky bit. If your diet is similar each week then track everything for 2 weeks establish your splits and go from there.

Hope this helps

 

[Becs]

Eat a bit more (especially slow-releasing good carbs and protein) and lift decent weights/do pec fly's etc, lots of ab work and a bit of pilates and you'll look better in no time. As a girl that does less cardio than you (although is somewhat taller) I was told by my personal trainer (back injury rehab) to increase my calories from 1400 to at least 1650 as I was getting run down and having symptoms of overtraining without really doing that much, so it is likely that you are under eating. Lifting heavy weights (by the 12th rep of each set I am broken!) has changed my physique no end (trimmed the tum and preserved the tits) without really changing the scales. With the added bonus of testosterone from your man berries this should happen even quicker for you!

 

[SonicRob]

ok on the weights side a program i run with my clients and always seems to help then gain strength and burn the fat is as follows
so its 9 weeks 3 workouts a weeks
Week 1/4/7 is 5x5 reps /sets looking at lifting heavy rest time around 1 min between sets
Week 2/5/8 4x10 reps/sets looking at lifting bit lighter than week 1 rest time 20-30 seconds
Week 3/6/9 3x15 reps/sets looking at lifting same weights as week 2 rest time 10-15 seconds , then you would go back to the 5x5 week 1/4/7 and be aiming to lift more that you first did and so on etc
How i break it up about 6 exercises a workout
workout 1 Chest / Back
so eg
1DB Chest press
2DB bent over row
3 Chest Press machine / bench press
4 LAt pull down
5 Press ups
6 Pull ups / inverted row
Workout 2 Leg/core
1.Squats
2. CC Anti Rotation
3. Deadlift
4. Ball Rollout
5.Step up / lunges
6. Renergade rows
Workout 3 Arms
1.Shoulder press
2.CC Bicep curls
3.CC tricep pull downs
4.Internal external rotation / cheerleader
5. BB Bicep 21's
6.BB tricep 21's

Whenever looking at doing a new program always seek a fitness instructor in the gym to make sure you doing things right also you said you had knee issues so some the the leg exercise you may need to look at alternatives. Your not going to get big from doing a program like this , to put size on takes alot more work

 

[LosingFocus]

Thanks all, I'll take this on and create myself a new training an diet regime for the spring/summer and see how it pans out.