Doing things right. Please help. Anyone.

[relax187]

Well, I have come to the conclusion that in my efforts to cut in 2 months for summer will not be with the aid of a stupid "magic" caffeine pill by the name of hydroxycut(sick of the increased stress and anxiety + restless nights of sleep sometimes). I have noticed that for the past 3 weeks that I have been taking it, the reason I have gotten more tone and athletic was due to my own handwork of dieting and hard exercise alone. I will describe my attributes now and what I hope to achieve and hope I can get some really good advice. I am 19 years old, 5'8 around 152 pounds and 16.5 percent body fat. I would describe my body as 65 percent toned as much as I have been trying to stay away from unhealthy foods and eat accordingly. The biggest problem I have, which i would like to get rid of is the pouch in the bottom half of my stomach/abs which ever way you wanna describe it. I feel like my chest is very toned as are my arms but when it gets to my stomach you see like the first 4 ab muscles and then it goes into like a little pouch or stomach fat :/ lol. I have tried incorporating strong cardio at the end of my lifting but it's hard because of how boring it can really be. Well I apologize for this brick wall of text but im at my witts end.

Appreciate any insight and help given.
Thank you in advance.

[bryanAK52]

first off, you dont need the hydroxicut. im 18 years old, 5'8 and currently 155 lb. im a couple days away from my first show and your your situation sounds similar to mine when i first started off. im gonna make it easy for you and tell you what you need to do step by step cus it sounds like you're desperate for help. First, start an acount on www.myfooddiary.com. you can set weakly weight loss goals, and it will set out a number of calories you can consume each day along with counting calories, carbs, fats, protein, ect. Now onto eating habbits. try to consume 6 meals a day and eliminate snaking. Drink 1-2 gallons of water, make sure you have breakfast every morning, limit your carb intake, and stay the hell away from fast food, and yes that includes subway. here's what my meals were like for each day...

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal(measured dry), 1 egg, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1 scoop whey protein, cup o' coffee
Mid morning snack: apple, 1 scoop whey protein
Lunch: 6 oz lean meat, carrots, lucerne light yogurt
mid afternoon snack: 1 scoop whey protein, 2 tbs chunky peanut butter
2 scoops whey protein after workout
Dinner: 8 oz lean meat(dont worry bout sodium right now) vegetables
2 scoops whey protein before bed

and i cant stress enough about the water consumption, it will make all of the difference. as far as the lower belly fat goes, i had the same dilema. sad to say, but its pretty much the last thing to come off when your cutting, which sux i know. i didn't start to notice real change till after a couple months, and only in the last two weeks have i seen all of my abs, it just takes time. as far as your workouts, you need to be doing at least 30 minutes of cardio a day and gradualy increase how much cardio you do. each week add 5 minutes of cardio a day till you get up to an hour total, i do it on the elipticals and turn up the resistance, burns more calories which is what you need to do. throw in 3-6 set of ab exercises in each workout. The key to weight loss is commitment. as long as you stick with your diet and exercise regiment you will see results.

hope this helps bro and best of luck to you.

[relax187]

Thanks a lot for the extra effort bryan by putting in exactly what you did. I will attempt to follow everything as strictly as i can even though sometimes it's hard due to the fact that my university at the moment offers a huge fat filled buffet with lots of temptation. Also you were right about being desperate ha. I wanted to ask about the whey protein, do you consistently drink it with water or skim milk throughout the day? because i know that can get old.

[correll28]

sounds perfect..

[bryanAK52]

i just drink it with water, i found using milk just added calories that i didnt want or need. and ya the diet can seem pretty bland and boring at times, but you get used to it after a while. my biggest thing was finding a flavor of protein i really liked, less likely you get sick of it and you have less of a problem taking it.