How do I ditch the spare tire??

T

tomatheist

New member
Hi y'all.

35 year old male, 5' 8" 163 pounds. I maxed out at about 190 about a year ago, and have been working my way down ever since. I've found a lot of success in just being consistent with a 30-45 minute work out every day and eating better overall (nothing unsustainable). My workouts tend to be a run of 1.5-3 miles depending on the day, some work with weights (curls, presses) and sit ups (regular and oblique-focused).

Here's the problem: I'm tightening up everywhere but my stupid spare tire around my gut. Are there specific things I can add to my routine to focus on that? It's not like extra skin or anything, it's just a collection of fat that refuses to go away. I've always been sort of built that way -- but when I'm skinny (like under 140) it goes away. But I don't want to be skinny, I want to be like 150 with some muscle definition. But at 150 I have the spare tire, which is so frustrating. How do I fight this stupid biology?

Thanks!
 
@tomatheist You can’t spot reduce fat, so to ditch the belly fat, you just have to lose weight overall. Right now for you that means be under 140 lbs. If you’d like to be leaner at a higher weight, you need to focus more on gaining muscle. To do this, follow a good, balanced lifting program, and eat a good chunk of protein at each meal.
 
@tomatheist You lose fat by being in a caloric deficit.

Protein is needed to build and retain muscle.

Eat the same amount of protein but reduce total calories.
 
@tomatheist If you're a tire, at that weight and size... either there's a beer or booze situation or more fat than muscle. Also 5'8 at 210, with about 16 years of sports/athletes.

Edit more context: this size sucks for me at least either I'm too skinny for stuff or too fat. Proportional in body across the board... it was being active and having workouts that I could tell. So my suggestion to you as a same height/goofy build... calories aren't your friend.
 
@tomatheist All good. I've became the office/drinker hence the 200+. I'd focuse on protein and working out. Push ups/squats/jump rope if you aren't the gym type all while staying in a deficit.
 
@tomatheist When you are lean (which is about 140 for yo, you don't have the spare tire).

If you don't want it (i.e. you want to remain lean) and be above 140lbs, then you need to build muscle mass.

There is no magic where your current body is lean at 155 or whatever.

You either keep the fat and build muscle, then later lose the fat but have more muscle (thus be lean at a heavier weight) Or you lose the fat, go to 140-iwh, and add muscle from there and work up to being heavier by adding lean mass while remaining as lean as possible.

Up to you. No magic solution though. Persian my, I'd get lean, then just work on getting bigger though a lean bulk.
 
@tomatheist I'd suggest doing a beginners lifting program. Any A/B style 3x a week program akin to starting strength. Jim Wendler has an A/B style program associated with the 5/3/1 mindset called Beginner Prep School. It's a variation on that with a bit slower pacing, and prescribed conditioning work. Not that the other is innately an issue, I'd have no issue recommending it to somebody younger. But since we're in fitness30plus, I'm assuming you are taking your age and current lifestyle into consideration. Building strength and mass is a time game. But it is faster at the beginning, so these programs take advantage of that. The root concept in 5/3/1 is longevity. 5/3/1 goes a bit slower than some other options, which doesn't make a big difference in the long-run, but will help allow you to be consistent and make continuous progress.

5/3/1 isn't the best at X or the best at Y. It's generally simple to follow. And based on what you described, seems like it would fit in well and it's a proven thing that you can do for a long time. And it won't be much different than the time you're committing now.

If you eat properly while dong this (getting plenty of calories, but cut back a little if you start putting on fat), you'll make mass and strength gains fairly quickly for a while. If you play your calories right, you can reasonably recomp. You won't be maximize adding muscle or losing fat, but your weight will stay generally steady.

If you get done with prep school, 5/3/1 has a lot of other options that follow the same concept of taking it a bit easier in general (but still will ways of pushing yourself). You could also considering running the push/pull/legs program on /r/fitness.
 
@tomatheist Unfortunately can't spot reduce fat. Try a caloric deficit (250 - 500/day good starting range) and if needed increase step count. Keep up protien intake to not lose as much muscle mass when cutting.
 
@banon6983 Good advice — thank you. Question about calorie deficit: if my daily maintenance is 2200, and I eat 2200 but burn 500 exercising, am I at -500, or 0? Not sure how to factor in exercise calorie burning into the net calories.
 
@tomatheist I typically don't count exercise. It's difficult to properly estimate and easy to overshoot. Targeting a doable deficit (maybe ~1,950 total calories to start) and assuming exercise is just extra icing on the cake feels easiest. Now if you're swimming or running for hours, maybe that starts to matter more, but weights/walking I just assume no need to eat to offset.
 
@banon6983 For example, I just finished a workout that was a 3 mile run and about 15-20 minutes of sit-ups/squats/weights. Would you count that? I agree not to count like a walk in the neighborhood or light lifting.
 
@tomatheist 3 mile run is quite a few, probably worth counting if you set your activity level as sedentary in tdee estimation. Usually around my threshold fwiw - 300+ or so calories of exercise not accounted for in tdee, then I'll log it. Anything under that (lifting, bodyweight exercises, walking/yardwork, light rucking, etc), I just assume it offsets any caloric logging inaccuracies when I have to ballpark stuff like eating out.
 
@tomatheist Time and consistency friend. I’m fighting the same battle. Although I have found more success focusing on strength training than when I was running a lot. Prioritizing Protein in my diet made a big difference as well.
 
@tomatheist The whole thing with being skinny-fat or having visible abs comes down to a few key factors. One being genetics, which you can’t control anyway. But the more muscle you put on, the more bodyfat you can also have on your frame and still have that kind of muscularity be visible.

Thats why you lost it when you were 140, but also didn’t have the muscle either, whereas other people can be heavier (at the same height) and still look cut.
 
@tomatheist I started losing weight right before my 35th birthday. Lots of belly fat. Consistency and time is key. Took me 5 years to get to where I wanted to be. The scale difference was 50 lbs, but weight training was a part of my routine from day one. I believe I lost more weight in fat, but replaced some with muscle. Diet is key. Low carb, low fat is what worked for me. I’ve maintained about 9 years. Some ups and downs. As you get older diet (not dieting) is more crucial. You can do this!
 
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