Need advice on losing my belly fat

[jaredt82]

I am 5ft 10 weigh 148 im thin everywhere but my belly. I am 31 so my metabolism has gone down quite a bit. I jog on the treadmill 5 days a week around 3.4 miles. I eat healthy no sweets no junk food no sodas. I drink water and unsweetened tea. I am trying to get rid of this belly fat before end of March I have a trip overseas. I am also taking Garcinia combogia to try it out so far it doesnt work for me. I just got my fitbit one yesterday and like it so far. Can I get some tips or advice on what I can do to accomplish this goal?

[au4all]

50 calories per pound of muscle is a totally obsolete and incorrect number. 6 calories is the correct value.

Here's the latest research and reference:

The value of 6 cal/lb at rest for muscle (~13 kcal/kg) comes from a chart in this paper

Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2001 Mar;4(2):143-7.
Dissecting the energy needs of the body.
McClave SA, Snider HL.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11224660

http://www.fatlossboss.com/does-fat-burn-fat/

[jaredt82]

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@Naomi94 wrote:

Hi Jared,

First, you appear to be healthy and in shape to me. At the age of 31, your metabolism has not gone down THAT  much. After 30 is when your metabolism will go down, this is due in part to muscle loss. In this response, I will be linking you to a few YouTube videos that will better explain my response. 

How to have a 6-pack. Rule #1: Abs are made in the kitchen. Rule #2: you can do crunches and situps for years, develop great abs but never see them if they are covered by fat. 

SOLUTION

1. Make a weekly diet for yourself.

Eat 1500 - 1600 calories per day, spread out over 5 meals per day. Print it out, and post it on your fridge. Your BMR is 1666.24 calories every day. By the end of March you need to loose about 5 pounds of body fat. 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. You must creat a calorie deficit of 17,500. That number looks like a lot on paper, but really it isn't. 

2. When you are jogging, do not look at the distance you jog anymore. In fact - ignore the distance jogged. From now on, you are looking at time and speed only. You will start interval training. Run 9 mph for 60 seconds, or until you cannot continue running at that speed anymore. Then stop, and walk until you catch your breath. Repeat this interval a minimum of 5 times during your cardio workout. If 9mph is too fast, then do less, but you must run more than 6mph. Get your heart rate past 150 BPM. This is ESSENTIAL to losing the belly fat. It will also trigger the afterburn effect. 

I did read your response above that you will continue with the slow and steady approach on the treadmill. This is a mistake. I recommend that you do not continue slow walking. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT INTERVAL TRAINING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAgT-zrszo

3. You did not mention your weight training at the gym. Three days a week, BEFORE your cardio workout, hit the weights. Trust me: hit the weights before your cardio. WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT CARDIO AFTER WEIGHTS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm8s2NW1rH4    

The more muscle you build, the more you will increase your metabolism. This means that your body will burn more calories at a resting state. Put on that muscle. 

4. Watch some good tutorial videos about belly fat. You will find that building up over all muscle tone, interval training, and eating within your calorie range will do the trick for you. 

Here are three additional videos I recommend about belly fat and diet: 

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxU1w51GQVo

2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APHDrYEHQaY

3.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfY_4m3RVRc

Remember that you cannot loose fat in one area in the gym. The only thing that can do that is liposuction. Have a goal of loosing overall body fat. Build up those muscles because once you loose the fat, we will see the muscles hiding underneith. Good luck, feel free to send me a private message if you need further help. My facebook is linked to my profile

Naomi 

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Thank you for the long detailed reply I read over it a few times and believe I have a plan set in mind now. I was getting mixed reviews from people on here to take it slow stay in the fat burning zone and others saying dont do that just strength train and continue jogging. I will try out what you have said tomorrow and let you know how it goes. So first Ill need to start off with strength training then head to the treadmill for the intervel training. I probably wont be able to run 9mph for 60 sec but i will test it out and see how fast I can go. I calculated my calories and came to the conclusion that if I burned 500 calories more a day then consumed I would lose 5 lbs in 35 days. Is this correct? Also food I am already eating pretty healthy I dont eat junk food or sweets I drink lots of water. I am doing away with bread and bagels. I just need to figure out a good meal plan and stick to it. Thank you again.

[abb123]

Thanks @au4all 

It seems you are correct that it burns far less than 50 calories per day per pound, but I have also been reading that estimates are anywhere between 5 and 15 calories, not necessarily the definitive 6 that the links you provided point too.  

Regardless, adding muscle does increase your RMR and just like cardio, lifting weights can increase your heart rate into the "fat burning" zone.  

I'm going to continue reading more about the subject though. Thanks again for the insight.

[jaredt82]

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@Naomi94 wrote:

Hi Jared,

First, you appear to be healthy and in shape to me. At the age of 31, your metabolism has not gone down THAT  much. After 30 is when your metabolism will go down, this is due in part to muscle loss. In this response, I will be linking you to a few YouTube videos that will better explain my response. 

How to have a 6-pack. Rule #1: Abs are made in the kitchen. Rule #2: you can do crunches and situps for years, develop great abs but never see them if they are covered by fat. 

SOLUTION

1. Make a weekly diet for yourself.

Eat 1500 - 1600 calories per day, spread out over 5 meals per day. Print it out, and post it on your fridge. Your BMR is 1666.24 calories every day. By the end of March you need to loose about 5 pounds of body fat. 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. You must creat a calorie deficit of 17,500. That number looks like a lot on paper, but really it isn't. 

2. When you are jogging, do not look at the distance you jog anymore. In fact - ignore the distance jogged. From now on, you are looking at time and speed only. You will start interval training. Run 9 mph for 60 seconds, or until you cannot continue running at that speed anymore. Then stop, and walk until you catch your breath. Repeat this interval a minimum of 5 times during your cardio workout. If 9mph is too fast, then do less, but you must run more than 6mph. Get your heart rate past 150 BPM. This is ESSENTIAL to losing the belly fat. It will also trigger the afterburn effect. 

I did read your response above that you will continue with the slow and steady approach on the treadmill. This is a mistake. I recommend that you do not continue slow walking. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT INTERVAL TRAINING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAgT-zrszo

3. You did not mention your weight training at the gym. Three days a week, BEFORE your cardio workout, hit the weights. Trust me: hit the weights before your cardio. WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT CARDIO AFTER WEIGHTS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm8s2NW1rH4    

The more muscle you build, the more you will increase your metabolism. This means that your body will burn more calories at a resting state. Put on that muscle. 

4. Watch some good tutorial videos about belly fat. You will find that building up over all muscle tone, interval training, and eating within your calorie range will do the trick for you. 

Here are three additional videos I recommend about belly fat and diet: 

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxU1w51GQVo

2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APHDrYEHQaY

3.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfY_4m3RVRc

Remember that you cannot loose fat in one area in the gym. The only thing that can do that is liposuction. Have a goal of loosing overall body fat. Build up those muscles because once you loose the fat, we will see the muscles hiding underneith. Good luck, feel free to send me a private message if you need further help. My facebook is linked to my profile

Naomi 

---

Finished my workout today I did strength training dead lifts, free weights, bench press, and shoulder press? I then went on the treadmill ran 8 mph for 60 seconds two times then 9 mph 60 seconds 3 times. I then tried jogging with 2-3.5% incline it was hell I couldnt make it to .5 mile 😞 I was starting to get a side ache. I am burned out right now but I have a problem I havent burned as many calories today compared to yesterday. I am watching what I eat very closely and right now I can only consume 1200 calories to meet my quota on 500 calories a day. 1200 seems very low I have also eaten 3 small meals so far today 2 more left. What do you think about all that?

[Dominique]

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Finished my workout today I did strength training dead lifts, free weights, bench press, and shoulder press? I then went on the treadmill ran 8 mph for 60 seconds two times then 9 mph 60 seconds 3 times. I then tried jogging with 2-3.5% incline it was hell I couldnt make it to .5 mile 😞 I was starting to get a side ache. I am burned out right now but I have a problem I havent burned as many calories today compared to yesterday.

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What did you use to determine your calories burned? Your Fitbit? If so, it will give you very little credit for your weight lifting. Same with the HIIT stuff, it's too short for Fitbit, which won't capture its intensity. Fitbit is quite accurate at counting calories burned during longer, step-based steady-state cardio activities. For anything other than that, you'll have to get the calories in another way.

[jaredt82]

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@Dominique wrote:

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Finished my workout today I did strength training dead lifts, free weights, bench press, and shoulder press? I then went on the treadmill ran 8 mph for 60 seconds two times then 9 mph 60 seconds 3 times. I then tried jogging with 2-3.5% incline it was hell I couldnt make it to .5 mile 😞 I was starting to get a side ache. I am burned out right now but I have a problem I havent burned as many calories today compared to yesterday.

---

What did you use to determine your calories burned? Your Fitbit? If so, it will give you very little credit for your weight lifting. Same with the HIIT stuff, it's too short for Fitbit, which won't capture its intensity. Fitbit is quite accurate at counting calories burned during longer, step-based steady-state cardio activities. For anything other than that, you'll have to get the calories in another way.

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Yes I am going by the fitbit to determine my calories burned. Not sure how else to determine what I burned from HIIT and strength training. Any ideas?

[Dominique]

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@Naomi94 wrote:

I did read your response above that you will continue with the slow and steady approach on the treadmill. This is a mistake. I recommend that you do not continue slow walking.

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Here is a divergent point of view @jaredt82 may want to consider:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/going-steady-5-reasons-to-do-steady-state-cardio.html

Many people have achieved great results (lost fat, improved fitness etc.) with steady-state cardio, which is basically what Fitbit promotes with the standard goal of 10,000 daily steps.

[Dominique]

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Yes I am going by the fitbit to determine my calories burned. Not sure how else to determine what I burned from HIIT and strength training. Any ideas?

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 For HIIT, a heart rate monitor would probably be the most convenient way to do it (though it wouldn't account for the alleged "after-burn", but you can always add it manually ). For strength training, search the internet for tables that give you estimates based on intensity, length etc. I seem to remember @JenniLacey was quite knowledgeable about this. I personally don't care too much about calories, so I wouldn't know the details.

[jaredt82]

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@Dominique wrote:

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Yes I am going by the fitbit to determine my calories burned. Not sure how else to determine what I burned from HIIT and strength training. Any ideas?

---

 For HIIT, a heart rate monitor would probably be the most convenient way to do it (though it wouldn't account for the alleged "after-burn", but you can always add it manually ). For strength training, search the internet for tables that give you estimates based on intensity, length etc. I seem to remember @JenniLacey was quite knowledgeable about this. I personally don't care too much about calories, so I wouldn't know the details.

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Thank you for your responses I have ordered me a HRM it will be here tomorrow cmon Amazon! Do you think the HRM will be somewhat accurate when coming to strength training? The HRM is suppose to be very accurate according to the reviews when doing HIIT.

[Dominique]

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Do you think the HRM will be somewhat accurate when coming to strength training? The HRM is suppose to be very accurate according to the reviews when doing HIIT.

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 The HRM is probably going to be better with calories than your Fitbit (with strength training), but it will probably underestimate them. This is because strength training doesn't elevate your HR that much compared to the effort being produced.

[jaredt82]

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@Dominique wrote:

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Do you think the HRM will be somewhat accurate when coming to strength training? The HRM is suppose to be very accurate according to the reviews when doing HIIT.

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 The HRM is probably going to be better with calories than your Fitbit (with strength training), but it will probably underestimate them. This is because strength training doesn't elevate your HR that much compared to the effort being produced.

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Ok but what about the HRM and HIIT I feel like the fitbit couldnt keep up with what I am doing.

[Dominique]

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Ok but what about the HRM and HIIT I feel like the fitbit couldnt keep up with what I am doing.

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The HRM should be quite good with HIIT. However, you may be disappointed by the total number of calories burned during your HIIT workout. This is purely because of duration: if it's very intense (as it should be), you probably won't be able to sustain it for very long (especially if you're new to it). Even 5 minutes of HIIT (including recovery pauses) can seem like an eternity. And there are only so many calories you can burn in 5 minutes, no matter how hard you try. There may be many other benefits in HIIT, but strictly from a calorie burn point of view, you'll certainly burn more in absolute terms by power-walking at a steady pace for one hour.

[jaredt82]

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@Dominique wrote:

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@jaredt82 wrote:

Ok but what about the HRM and HIIT I feel like the fitbit couldnt keep up with what I am doing.

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The HRM should be quite good with HIIT. However, you may be disappointed by the total number of calories burned during your HIIT workout. This is purely because of duration: if it's very intense (as it should be), you probably won't be able to sustain it for very long (especially if you're new to it). Even 5 minutes of HIIT (including recovery pauses) can seem like an eternity. And there are only so many calories you can burn in 5 minutes, no matter how hard you try. There may be many other benefits in HIIT, but strictly from a calorie burn point of view, you'll certainly burn more in absolute terms by power-walking at a steady pace for one hour.

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At what pace do you thing is good for walking? I was doing 4mph seemed pretty slow. I was thinking about strength training first then HIIT followed by walking what you think?