Hit and Miss my story

[telfordredden]

Been lifting on and off since I was 16 got serious about 15 years ago but had a major car accident almost 6yrs ago with multiple major injuries mainly to left knee, lower back, hips, ribs and abdomen.

Anyway the past 12 months against all the professional advice I started dieting and training again as I gained a massive 36lb through boredom eating and my body refusing to do anything (chronic pain and huge amounts of medication).

I have now lost the 36lb and am trying to get my muscles to return to the maturity and fulness they used to be (still have to be mindful of my injuries and constant pain reminders).

I now look far better than ever but I am running out of ideas to keep me motivated my aim is to get the abs out but they seem to be illusive.

I have a layer of fat around my mid lower belly and back that is not budging.

Advice required would be portion size per meal as sometimes even though what I eat is good it seems like a large meal.

My goal is to be lean and still maintain my size.

I train 5 days a week all free weights as gym access is limited at the minute due to small child around the house (he is in school next year).

I do mainly weight lifting with some boxing for cardio. My current routine is 2 days (split) of heavy barbel work hitting all body parts and 2 (split) days of high rep dumbbell work hitting all body parts finally one heavy dumbbell day hitting all major muscles and a small jog after. Each body part is trained 2 or 3 times a week and abs are trained 5 times a week.

My training is drug free but I do use supplements.

Any thanks for reading any advice is gratefully received.


ATB

Telford.

[jett69]

you can train your abs seven times a week and still wont see your abs unless you lose the fat.

Congrats on losing 36lbs but you'll have to lose a lot more so keep at it. Track your marcos, its the best and proven way to lose/gain weight. download myfitnesspal and enter everything you eat. You should be eating 300-500 calories less a day to lose 1lb a week. I recommend starting at 300 and work your way up to 500 if you dont see the results. I hate people that start off eating 1200 calories a day and have great success to only find out later their metabolism has stalled.......then what? you cant drop any more calories. So start off slow and track every week and adjust as needed.

Good luck

[telfordredden]

you can train your abs seven times a week and still wont see your abs unless you lose the fat.

Congrats on losing 36lbs but you'll have to lose a lot more so keep at it. Track your marcos, its the best and proven way to lose/gain weight. download myfitnesspal and enter everything you eat. You should be eating 300-500 calories less a day to lose 1lb a week. I recommend starting at 300 and work your way up to 500 if you dont see the results. I hate people that start off eating 1200 calories a day and have great success to only find out later their metabolism has stalled.......then what? you cant drop any more calories. So start off slow and track every week and adjust as needed.

Good luck

I will give it a go thanks.

[bodyhard]

You have to lose the BF man to see your abs.

[jett69]

I will give it a go thanks.

Your traps, shoulders and arms look great so I see the hard work. Dropping calories is hard...at least for me but your body gets use to it. Tracking food intake and weighing foods are a pain in the butt at first, but I usually eat the same food most of the time so it becomes a lot easier.

[telfordredden]

Your traps, shoulders and arms look great so I see the hard work. Dropping calories is hard...at least for me but your body gets use to it. Tracking food intake and weighing foods are a pain in the butt at first, but I usually eat the same food most of the time so it becomes a lot easier.

I like the app you suggested but need to get a month with of meals in it before I can get an accurate prediction. At the minute it suggests I need 500 more calories a day.

[jett69]

I like the app you suggested but need to get a month with of meals in it before I can get an accurate prediction. At the minute it suggests I need 500 more calories a day.

It's just a general suggestion since everyone is different. That's why you need to track your weight every week and adjust. If you're losing too much weight, increase. too little weight, decrease.

[pondman]

At my age If I want to maintain abs, I've got to eat meat, eggs, and vegetables. The problem with that is I don't have any energy to do anything. If I work out at all on a diet like that, I start craving toast and cereal. So it's a very fine line.

[tank316]

Same boat, working hard at trying to my abs...Had a few sets backs here and there. Your doing great!!! Be patient.