Shredding that good ole fat

[MrNate]

Alright, for those of you that don't know me, I'm MrNate.

 

I'm 21, and I'm a collegiate powerlifter.

 

I also enjoy long walks on the beach and fishing.

 

I graduate this month, so I won't be lifting competitively anymore. I've jumped up in weight classes throughout the season, so natrually along with the muscle, I've gained some fat as well. As far as working out goes, I don't have any questions. I do squats, deadlifts, and bench press workouts; as well as other accessory exercises. I look at myself and I think I'm around 15-16%. I want to get some definition and vascularity though. I know a rule of thumb is to get that down to about 10% or less.

 

If it helps, I know a lot of my problem is my diet. Namely food. I know what foods are generally bad, but I also know that there are foods that I should probably avoid all together (which is impossible being a college student).

 

So I guess my question is: What kinds of foods should I avoid and what kinds should I eat more of? Should I incorporate some sort of light cardio routine?

 

All advice is welcome. (Preferably males)

[Feelin Frisky]

You have to develop a totally new philosophy about food than what you had to support that body building. It's too long a list of things to avoid so change your overarching position to food. See it as not a reward or pleasure system and take taste and romantic ideas of what you like out of your head. Plan your meals for several days at a time according to calories and carbs versus your activity and time between eating your last meal and going to sleep. Keep the goal of looking good and being confident up front in your head. Make an effort to downsize your wardrobe as you down size your heft. Once you make it to ideal BMI you can say, eat a bigger portion on a date or something like that but don't fall into addiction to pleasure of food which is easy to do if you don't reinforce your new philosophy with steady action. Take it from a person who has done the wrong things until I finally realized that food is functional and not a mood altering pleasure.

[norajane]

You do need some cardio to burn more fat. Try the High Intensity Interval Training. If you google HIIT, you'll find a ton of sites that tell you how to get started and how to do it, with all kinds of specifics. But, it's just short intervals of high intensity cardio, followed by short recovery, rinse, repeat etc. It's great to alternate with weight training days, and you'll find the body building sites all have sections on HIIT.

 

As for food, minimizing sugar, white flour, and other processed carbs is a good way to go. They have no nutritional value, so are just empty calories. And their impact on your blood sugar levels (high spike, followed by sharp drop in blood sugar) is what makes you hungry again shortly after you eat. Look up glycemic index - there are sites out there that list foods and their glycemic index. The lower the glycemic index, the less impact they have on your blood sugar. Those processed carbs and sugars are what help accumulate belly fat.

[USMCHokie]

So I guess my question is: What kinds of foods should I avoid and what kinds should I eat more of? Should I incorporate some sort of light cardio routine?

 

 

Light cardio isn't going to do much for you. Like norajane said, HIIT would be great for you to work towards your goals...since you already know the types of workouts you need to do, I won't add anything in that regard...

 

As far as diet, as this point it's just a matter of getting your body used to consuming less food altogether...3500 calories a day of the most healthy food is still the same as 3500 calories of crap food...but as far as general foods, go with whole grains with plenty of fiber, leafy dark green vegetables, and lean meats and fish...at your age, alcohol is the number one contributor to weight...so consume sparingly or lay off of it altogether if possible...

[MrNate]

Light cardio isn't going to do much for you. Like norajane said, HIIT would be great for you to work towards your goals...since you already know the types of workouts you need to do, I won't add anything in that regard...

 

As far as diet, as this point it's just a matter of getting your body used to consuming less food altogether...3500 calories a day of the most healthy food is still the same as 3500 calories of crap food...but as far as general foods, go with whole grains with plenty of fiber, leafy dark green vegetables, and lean meats and fish...at your age, alcohol is the number one contributor to weight...so consume sparingly or lay off of it altogether if possible...

 

Hm, HIIT you say? But I don't want to do so much cardio to the point I lose muscle. Would that be an issue?

 

As far as the calories go in my diet.. it's just a matter of me eating less? Or is it more of eating smarter?

[alphamale]

What kinds of foods should I avoid and what kinds should I eat more of?

i think you should avoid taco bell and eat more fruits and vegetables, especially lentils

[norajane]

Hm, HIIT you say? But I don't want to do so much cardio to the point I lose muscle. Would that be an issue?

 

No, you won't lose muscle since you'll still be weight training. You may not gain much muscle, though, when you're focused on losing fat.

 

Seriously, go out to your favorite body building site, and search on HIIT. You'll see that they recommend it for fat loss. Plus, you're only doing it for maybe 20 minutes at a time. The point of it is that it kicks your metabolism into high gear so that you continue to burn calories for 24 hours after you do it.

 

You could do light cardio for an hour, and use up an equivalent number of calories as 20 minutes of HIIT. But, once you stop the light cardio, that's it. There's no post-workout continual burn like with HIIT - that's your body recovering from the HIIT.

 

Here's an article that explains it rather simply:

 

http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_100/135_fitness_tip.html

 

And one that goes into in more depth, particularly for body builders:

 

http://www.criticalbench.com/bodybuilder_interval_training.htm

 

As far as the calories go in my diet.. it's just a matter of me eating less? Or is it more of eating smarter?

It's probably a little of both. As I said, the high glycemic impact foods (sugar, white flour, pasta, high sugar fruits and juices) are the ones that impact your blood sugar and which cause you to store belly fat. So eating smarter will help you for sure. As for the number of calories, I don't know how many you're eating and how many you need in order to maintain your current weight vs. lose weight.

[tman666]

Hill sprints

 

Prowler Pushes----> see EliteFTS.com

 

 

 

I personally have been able to lose the grease in the past by doing conditioning sessions that generally consisted of ~6, 40 yard sprints on a football field, then 5 rounds of 12 pull ups, 50 BW only squats (or lunges), and then 35 push ups. All as fast as possible.

 

I did this kind of stuff about 3 days a week, while lifting about 3 days a week.

 

I always needed a day to recover/sleep in/eat copious amounts of pancakes.

 

I might start doing this again now that the weather is warm and I need to lose the winter blubber.

 

Also, you might need to tighten down the way you eat. I know powerlifters aren't exactly known for their strict dieting habits, but you could probably do ok just decreasing the portion size and lowering the carbs a bit.

 

What's your height, weight, and best PL total by the way?

[MrNate]

Hill sprints

 

Prowler Pushes----> see EliteFTS.com

 

 

 

I personally have been able to lose the grease in the past by doing conditioning sessions that generally consisted of ~6, 40 yard sprints on a football field, then 5 rounds of 12 pull ups, 50 BW only squats (or lunges), and then 35 push ups. All as fast as possible.

 

I did this kind of stuff about 3 days a week, while lifting about 3 days a week.

 

I always needed a day to recover/sleep in/eat copious amounts of pancakes.

 

I might start doing this again now that the weather is warm and I need to lose the winter blubber.

 

Also, you might need to tighten down the way you eat. I know powerlifters aren't exactly known for their strict dieting habits, but you could probably do ok just decreasing the portion size and lowering the carbs a bit.

 

What's your height, weight, and best PL total by the way?

 

You are spot on about the dieting. I won't even argue there lol. It does need to be cleaned up, I will also incorporate some cardio.

 

I can't lift on the collegiate level anymore since I'm graduating, which sucks. So I'll probably stay on raw cycles.

 

I've only been in the sport for a year, but the I'm satisfied with the gains I've made. Best total= 1,310

 

 

 

Height: 5'11

Weight: 213

[tman666]

That's a strong total for only being in the sport for a year!

 

What gear, if any, did you use?

 

Since you've got such a solid strength base, you could probably do whatever you wanted, athletics-wise.

 

Aimlessly being big and strong is fun too, even if you're not competitive.

[allina]

I don't think any food needs to be completely avoided. For people that are healthy and in decent shape it's all about balance and making good overall choices.

 

Always eat breakfast, something filling and healthy to get you going. I like a whole wheat english muffin with low fat cream cheese, a hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit.

 

If you're having pizza for lunch, don't have 4 slices of deep dish, extra cheese meat lovers. Make it 2 slices of something with less fat and add a side of veggies or a salad (don't cover salad with ranch dressing, bacon or anything cheesy or creamy).

 

If you have a super heavy lunch, do a lighter dinner.

 

Delis can be healthy, skipping cheese and mayo and going for whole wheat breads on your sandwich makes a big difference.

 

Like I said, I don't think it's about giving anything up, especially since you're pretty fit already, just make little changes here and there and keep it balanced.

 

Adding cardio will make a huge difference too. Can you run? Start with a 2 mile run 3 times a week. If you can't do that work up to it. You will feel great and drop weight quickly.

[MrNate]

That's a strong total for only being in the sport for a year!

 

What gear, if any, did you use?

 

Since you've got such a solid strength base, you could probably do whatever you wanted, athletics-wise.

 

Aimlessly being big and strong is fun too, even if you're not competitive.

 

Inzer squat suit, knee wraps, and wrist wraps. And a Rage bench shirt.

 

lol true. I think i'll have no problem building more muscle, which is why i just want to lose some fat. Honestly, I think doing powerlifts along with accessory exercises will help tons.