Belly fat won't go and can't build muscle despite 3 years of working out!

[guilhermecardoso]

22 y/o - 170 cm - 65 kg - male

I have had this belly for 4 years, before this I used to be extremely skinny, I think I had below 10% body fat percentage and I could eat a lot without gaining weight, then I passed through extremely bad mental health for like 2 years ( extreme stress and depression ) but I'm okay now, however my belly is still extremely large for my weight despite all my trials:

1-I did a lot of cardio and bodyweight workouts and dieting for 4 months till I become 59 kg, I got smaller with same belly. Didn't work.

2-I tried bulking & going to gym for 2 months with proper diet, became 68 kg, most gain was fat despite eating cleanly with nearly 140 gm protein daily and 2700 kcal. My belly became even bigger

3-have been working out with bodyweight (and gym occasionally) for like an year, with maintained calories, constant weight of 65 kg and belly fat don't go, I can't grow muscle whatever I do.

I really hate how my belly looks, I know a lot about nutrition and working out, I read a lot about it on the internet. I tried everything on the internet, I try to have at least 7 hrs of sleep a night. The only thing I can't really help with is my stress, I pass through a lot of stress that I can't help with through my day. I know how this affect cortisol and hinders muscle growth, but I don't think that it stops it completely this way. I tried intermittent fasting as well.

I think I'm genetically defined to be this way. I have friends who works out a lot less and eat carelessly and they have much better body composition than am I, and I'm not whining. This is how it is.

Is there any hope? I'm currently considering giving up working out forever as I have been working out for 3 years with no results, and just continue doing cardiovascular exercises for the long term wellbeing. I believe I'm genetically uncapable of building muscle and GYM isn't for me anymore.

Read this about genetics https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/12/health/why-some-people-won-t-be-fit-despite-exercise.html

 

[alex440]

@guilhermecardoso Lol it’s not genetics. You did cardio for 4 months and lost weight. You tried bulkin and lifting at a gym for 2 months. Then doing body weight for a year with maintenance calories. So cut, bulk, maintenance.

You’re not gonna grow much muscle doing body weight movements. You’re just not. You don’t give things enough time. And you’re not combining workout programs and nutrition the right way. You need to decide are you wanting to gain muscle/ bulk? Or cut and lose weight? Or maybe recomp? I’d HIGHLY recommend hiring a coach. You might have read stuff online but your knowledge and approach is not working.

 

[hazel77]

@alex440 I second the coach recommendation.

 

[dawn16]

@guilhermecardoso Define “a lot of cardio.” How many calories were you taking in while dieting? How many were you taking in while building? What were your macros for those? Stubborn fat will be the first place excess fat goes and the last to come off and it usually involves very detailed tracking. Above all — have you had bloodwork done recently? This could easily be a hormonal issue. A symptom of low testosterone is depression. It can also be a cortisol issue. I have dealt with cortisol issues for YEARS. Also understand that this stuff takes time...a long time. Don’t let the fitness influencers fool you with their quick transformation photos. MANY of them are chemically enhanced, which creates such a skewed set of expectations for the general population when it comes to fat loss and muscle gain.

Your arms and legs will lean out first usually. Then it gets a little harder. As a female, it’ll be my abs and my stubborn glute-ham area that are tough. I don’t get abs coming in unless I’ve tracked everything and been in a deficit for about 12 weeks, with 5 days a week of training and about 30-40 minutes per day of cardio (or 10k steps) and that’s only if my cortisol is under control. Otherwise I will be super watery in the midsection. I don’t start to see my glute-ham tie-in until about 16 weeks. It is a PROCESS.

 

[kingdavid123]

@dawn16 Sounds a lot like inconsistency to me. If OP wants to lose belly fat, he needs a consistent calorie deficit while doing strenght training - from there he can add a small surplus and lean bulk. Ofcourse getting your bloodwork is a good idea but there seems to be a lot of inconsistency and impatience from OP.

 

[guilhermecardoso]

@kingdavid123 How can this be inconsistency & impatience ? It's been 3 years of workout ! I should have seen at least some improvement. I swear all my friends are much less consistent than am I yet they have much better physique, and no, I'm not whining, that's just how it is.

 

[rojer]

@guilhermecardoso Body fat comes from diet. You can maybe attribute ten percent to working out.

It could be a hormonal imbalance also. Ways to reset these systems are through fasting, abstinence and cold showers, and diet. In terms of diet pinpointing problems is hard many start on very restricitive diets and add things in as problems get better.

It's hard to compare to someone elses routine unless you live with them. I heard similar stories about bigger girls moving in with skinny girls. They realized they really do eat that much more.

 

[guilhermecardoso]

@dawn16 Enough of cardio that I became 59 kg which is extremely underweight, up to 7 hrs of cardio a week. I ate 1500-2000 CAL during this period. I tracked macros, and I am not ignorant about nutrition really. and I didn't do any bloodwork, do you think I really need it?

 

[dawn16]

@guilhermecardoso Yes, I think you need bloodwork. Everyone needs routine bloodwork.

And more cardio is not always better. Higher intensity isn’t always a better. You may have a cortisol issue. You need to start on the low end. 20 minutes per day a few days a week. Example: My stomach actually looked worse and worse the higher and more intense my cardio got and I felt worse. I was at 40-60 minutes a day doing stairs. Switched to incline walking for 30 min (walking has been touted as cortisol lowering) and the weight practically fell off my midsection and I felt better so my NEAT was higher. My cortisol levels dropped.

In no way was I suggesting you were ignorant. What I am saying is that when you’re getting into areas of stubborn body fat, you must be INCREDIBLY detailed...weighing everything, tracking every macro daily for weeks and weeks at a time, and training with intention in a way that coincides with your exact goals. Eating “between 1500 and 2000” is way too big of a variance. You could be taking yourself out of a deficit completely with that much fluctuation. You need a very specific caloric target. Example...I was 120 pounds. Didn’t have much to lose this go-around but in the past, my intakes have been higher. My calories were first just below 12 times my body weight, so 1400. I slowly dropped over a period of about two months. Then dropped it to 1,300 when I felt like progress had stalled and I still had more left in the tank. That’s about 500 calories below my maintenance of 1700-1800. You need about a 500-calorie deficit created through diet and/or activity to lose a pound a week, although for me, it was more like a half pound, if that, because I was doing some recomping.

One big thing I’ve learned since taking over my own training and diet for the last several years and I can’t emphasize this enough: This stuff works when you’re working WITH your body and not against it. Routine bloodwork to determine what’s going on with hormones, rest days and even periods of rest, diet breaks, cutting cardio/lower intensity cardio, deloading, lowering training intensity — those are all avenues that should be explored.

 

[guilhermecardoso]

@dawn16

bloodwork

I'm really thankful for you. What bloodwork you think I should do? minerals/vitamins/hormones?

 

[amyf90]

@guilhermecardoso I think you are mistaken about your knowledge and skill level. Approach this as if you know nothing. Determine your TDEE, determine your cut rate for a daily deficit, and weigh your food.

You need to seriously evaluate what exercise you are doing, what intensity level they are, what progression you want, and a lot more. Go to /r/Fitness and read the wiki. You belong there.

 

[guilhermecardoso]

@amyf90 I did all of this 3 years ago when I started. I weigh my food and track every calorie in.

I don't workout on my own, I do workout with friends who are years into it and have great physique. I think I workout hard enough to see some improvement.

 

[amyf90]

@guilhermecardoso If you’ve been doing this for 3 years without results then I have to disagree.

 

[yeesern]

@guilhermecardoso You're not getting results because you don't know what you're doing and looking for every excuse why it is not your fault. You WILL gain muscle if you train hard and apply progressive overload. You WILL lose fat if you are in a caloric deficit. If this is not happening for you, it's because you are not doing it despite thinking you are. Stop looking for excuses why it's not working, take responsibility for yourself and change what you are doing instead of being a pussy and giving up. Get actual guidance from someone who is actually qualified if necessary.

 

[gerthor]

@guilhermecardoso Use MyFitnessPal religiously. Your perception of the math of weight loss is distorted. Your cutting requirement is more like 1750 cal.

Genetics play a role in how you look: I'm similar. Even at 13.5% BF I still have a small belly because I carry most of my fat there, while having a chiseled jawline, vascular arms & hands, and defined legs & glutes (I cycle). You can't change how your body distributes fat, what it comes down to is keep losing weight via caloric deficit until it eventually falls off. The other thing you can do is increase the size of the muscles underneath. For example, 12% bodyfat + larger ab muscles = You will have abs showing when you flex no matter what.

 

[kimutaikim]

@guilhermecardoso Eat less, move more. No one is beyond the laws of thermodynamics.

My guess is that you’re overeating. Grab yourself a scale and start counting everything that goes in your mouth.

 

[guilhermecardoso]

@kimutaikim I swear to god I have some friends who eat like 5000 CAL a day without even consistent working out yet they have perfect abs. I do count everything going through my mouth and I weight every food I eat.

 

[kimutaikim]

@guilhermecardoso I have those too. My college roommate survived on Dominos pizza and coke and stayed shredded year round.

Post your food and exercise journals. A Google sheets link will work.

 

[guilhermecardoso]

@kimutaikim So, your roommates broke the law of thermodynamics ?

I have came to believe it's about genetics, you should read this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/12/health/why-some-people-won-t-be-fit-despite-exercise.html

 

[kimutaikim]

@guilhermecardoso No, he ate under maintenance and exercised daily. He ate like shit and his urine tests showed his kidney function was garbage, but he looked good.