\u201cI have been working hard to be healthier and more fit, but I can\u2019t seem to lose the little bit of belly fat that I have carried for years. I eat right, have done P90X, P90X2, INSANITY, and now P90X3 \u2026 but my one-pack is still there\u2026Help!\u201d\u2014Jeff R.<\/p>\n
The beginning and the end of your fitness program are the two most difficult times, with the latter being by far the most frustrating.<\/p>\n
Losing those last few pounds, whether it\u2019s off of your stomach, hips, thighs, shoulders, or triceps, can be brutally hard.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a brief look at why, and then we\u2019ll go into some strategies you can employ that will guarantee you\u2019re ready for summer.<\/p>\n
First, you can\u2019t \u201cspot reduce\u201d a\u00a0trouble area.<\/p>\n
Thanks largely to genetics, we all hang onto our last vestiges of body fat somewhere.<\/p>\n
Usually, guys are stuck with the gut and the ladies get the hips \u2014 but the process to get rid of it remains the same for all of us: Reduce your overall body fat percentage and eventually, you\u2019ll lose in those \u201cproblem areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Focusing on them may develop the muscle there, but if you want to get rid of the fat on top of that muscle, the key is patience. It\u2019ll happen, but it\u2019ll take time.<\/p>\n
This means all of your training (i.e., working out or exercising) should work the whole body, and you\u2019re going to need to turn the screw a notch when it comes to diet.<\/p>\n
The beginning of a weight-loss program is pretty straightforward. If you eat less and exercise more, you tend to drop pounds at a fairly consistent clip.<\/p>\n
Your body considers its fat stores to be emergency fuel sources. It doesn\u2019t know you\u2019re under-eating and working hard by choice; it thinks you\u2019re in an emergency situation and responds accordingly.<\/p>\n
But then something counterintuitive happens. Your body composition \u2014 the ratio of muscle to fat tissue \u2014 changes, further increasing your metabolism.<\/p>\n
And yet, your weight loss slows. What\u2019s up with that?<\/p>\n
The reasons for this are sundry and intertwined, but the gist of it is that your body doesn\u2019t know when the emergency situation will end, so it adapts hormonally to hold on to that emergency fat.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, a little fat on your body is a good thing.<\/p>\n
That six-pack you so eagerly seek simply isn\u2019t part of a normal state of being for most body types, so your system is going to push back, making those last few pounds a challenge.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry; you can still be healthy and have washboard abs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just that this counterintuitive situation requires a counterintuitive solution:\u00a0You need to eat more, something that\u2019s always hard for first-time dieters to adjust to.<\/p>\n
This can happen long before you\u2019re at your final stage of weight loss, but that\u2019s irrelevant.<\/p>\n
Once weight loss starts to slow, follow the steps below in order to keep the weight falling off and your six-pack chiseling into form.<\/p>\n
Although you can certainly cherry-pick the solution you think will best work for you, I\u2019d recommend starting at the top.<\/p>\n
You probably lost weight quickly when you began working out but you need to redesign your attack on the last hurrah.<\/p>\n
By targeting a one- to two-pound-per-week loss, you can eat enough to fuel workout performance and recovery, which will keep your metabolism revving, which is the key to everything you\u2019re after.<\/p>\n
Shoot for a caloric deficit of 300\u2013600 calories a day. If that\u2019s not working for you, you might want to\u2026<\/p>\n
Also called \u201crefeeding\u201d in bodybuilding lexicon, zigzagging means eating more calories on some days and less on others to determine the number of calories that works best for your goals.<\/p>\n
For example, if you\u2019ve been eating a low-calorie diet you can assume you need to add calories. To find out how many, try increasing by about 400-500 calories.<\/p>\n
Eat that way four days per week while keeping calories where they are now on the other days.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that, as your fitness increases, so do your caloric needs, so if this stops working, it\u2019s probably time to go up even more.<\/p>\n
Adding some morning exercise on an empty stomach also improves fat mobilization and is a good way to burn some extra calories and not negatively affect your hard training session of the day.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re looking to cut the last few pounds, this \u201ctrick\u201d is effective, but be careful.<\/p>\n
Too much exercise, especially when your diet is lean on calories, can make you catabolic (burning muscle as well as fat) and that\u2019s something you probably don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n
The catabolic risk means that this is probably not a great tactic for those with figure and bodybuilding goals, and should be saved for those whose ultimate goal is weight off of the scale.<\/p>\n
With this in mind, if you\u2019re doing a harder workout upon waking up, it\u2019s not a bad idea to grab a small carb snack before.<\/p>\n
Protein is made up of amino acids, the building blocks for many things in the body, including muscle.<\/p>\n
Therefore, protein is vital for muscle building. And muscle building is vital for performance. And performance is vital for results.<\/p>\n
How much protein depends on the individual, but Beachbody (now OzHelp) nutrition plans are designed to make sure you get plenty.<\/p>\n
That said, it might not hurt to consider supplementing protein intake with a post-workout supplement like Beachbody Performance Recover (whey and plant-based).<\/p>\n
Strategic use of carbohydrates for fuel is vital for performance, and performance is how you gauge how your diet is working.<\/p>\n
While dramatically cutting down your carb consumption can be helpful in the initial stages of weight loss because your body isn\u2019t fit enough to train very hard, it\u2019s a huge mistake to cut carbs once you\u2019re fit.<\/p>\n
Carbs fuel both your muscles and your brain. They are also more muscle-sparing (slowing muscle breakdown) than either proteins or fats when you\u2019re training, so you need them so that you don\u2019t go catabolic.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not an invitation to try the All-Bread, All-Day Diet, however, since many carbs, particularly bread, pasta, and other starches, as well as added sugar, can add up quickly calorically.<\/p>\n
Shoot for somewhere in the 40 percent of your total calories, depending on your training, is best for this stage in your nutrition arsenal.<\/p>\n
According to a review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, dietary fat intake is believed to impact anabolic hormone levels\u00a0\u2014 and that includes testosterone, a known performance enhancer.<\/p>\n
A safe range for dietary fat seems to be about 20 percent to 30 percent of your calories.<\/p>\n
But keep in mind that fats have more than double the calories of proteins and carbs, so keeping them at this level means your diet should hyper-focus on the healthiest choices: fish, avocados, olives, nuts, and seeds.<\/p>\n
Look, there\u2019s just no simple way to get your body to weigh less than it naturally wants to, which is what you\u2019re attempting when you go for a chiseled look, without some sacrifice \u2014 and by sacrifice, I mean the usual suspects like added sugars, fried foods, alcohol, soda, etc.<\/p>\n
Notice I just cited the importance of every macronutrient food group. Junk foods have no importance, except (arguably) for pleasure.<\/p>\n
If you follow all these steps, in all likelihood, you\u2019ll nail your goals.\u00a0But also keep in mind that those last few pounds probably don\u2019t matter that much.<\/p>\n
Human beings can be perfectly healthy and be a little soft around the edges. Sure, it\u2019s pretty rewarding to get totally ripped or swimsuit competition-hot sometimes, but that should be temporary.<\/p>\n
This advice isn\u2019t intended to dissuade you from going for a six-pack. It\u2019s just there to offer some perspective.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need to lose those last few pounds; you want to lose those last few pounds.<\/p>\n
So don\u2019t stress about it \u2014 because excess stress is the enemy of results. You\u2019ll get there. Just be patient.<\/p>\n
Once you get there, enjoy your moment and then relax a little.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, making sure there are periods in each year when you eat more actually benefits your fitness. Athletes spend at least part of the year eating all they want (within reason), perhaps even more than they need, to ensure they have the reserves to train as hard as they can.<\/p>\n
Fighting weight, race weight, or competition shape is a phase. Bodybuilders and fitness trainers don\u2019t walk around in contest shape all the time. It\u2019s not because they\u2019re lazy.<\/p>\n
Six-packs look awesome in photos and impress your friends at reunions, but your body functions better with a little more \u201creserve.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been working hard to be healthier and more fit, but I can\u2019t seem to lose the little bit of belly fat that I have carried for years. I eat right, have done P90X, P90X2, INSANITY, and now P90X3 \u2026 but my one-pack is still there\u2026Help!\u201d\u2014Jeff R. The beginning and the end of your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}