Newbie (sorry)

[arnonick]

Hi all I have just joined this forum and still finding my way around, but have to admit I love the site but I am still finding it all a bit confusing, could someone please give me a simple answer? I am 42 and train 3 times a week cardio followed by weight routines, I have been doing this since september, my aim is not to get huge, at 42 I think I might have passed the point of this! all I want to do is lose the over 40 body fat that has been gathering since 35 and build a nice physique. This is going well so far I have gone from 92kg down to 74kg by eating sensibly and working out, the trouble I am having is losing that lower ab fat, but I feel I am now losing too much weight, does this make sense? I thought about using a whey protein shake would this help by helping to build mass? or would i need a weight gainer? also do you have any recommendations? Sorry for the probably confusing questions, but I would like to start things right.
Nick

[dazlittle]

The first thing pretty much everyone on here will ask you is, what is your daily calorie maintenance and how many calories under that are you eating every day.

start here and work out your TDEE

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703981

[ChicagoWineGeek]

Always do cardio after you lift...

[magic15]

Hi all I have just joined this forum and still finding my way around, but have to admit I love the site but I am still finding it all a bit confusing, could someone please give me a simple answer? I am 42 and train 3 times a week cardio followed by weight routines, I have been doing this since september, my aim is not to get huge, at 42 I think I might have passed the point of this! all I want to do is lose the over 40 body fat that has been gathering since 35 and build a nice physique. This is going well so far I have gone from 92kg down to 74kg by eating sensibly and working out, the trouble I am having is losing that lower ab fat, but I feel I am now losing too much weight, does this make sense? I thought about using a whey protein shake would this help by helping to build mass? or would i need a weight gainer? also do you have any recommendations? Sorry for the probably confusing questions, but I would like to start things right.
Nick

You have not passed your timetable to get in shape, you said you lost weight but now you seem confused if you stilll want to lose weight. Make your mind up what you want to do so your not flip-flopping. Besides other things definetly make sure your getting in your protein and water, whey protein is just another protein food, their is nothing magical about it. Stay away from the weight gainer, and try to aim for 1 pound of gain/loss a week in whichever your trying to gain or lose

[Get-n-fit]

if you want to lose weight, you can't do it by gaining mass. Get your macros in check, know you TDEE and daily calorie intake. Eat at a deficit, start with a 500 caloric deficit. If you want to lose the belly fat, that's the only way. You can do a slow, clean bulk later and put muscle on the right way and not just add more fat.

[shapetime]

Hi all I have just joined this forum and still finding my way around, but have to admit I love the site but I am still finding it all a bit confusing, could someone please give me a simple answer? I am 42 and train 3 times a week cardio followed by weight routines, I have been doing this since september, my aim is not to get huge, at 42 I think I might have passed the point of this! all I want to do is lose the over 40 body fat that has been gathering since 35 and build a nice physique. This is going well so far I have gone from 92kg down to 74kg by eating sensibly and working out, the trouble I am having is losing that lower ab fat, but I feel I am now losing too much weight, does this make sense? I thought about using a whey protein shake would this help by helping to build mass? or would i need a weight gainer? also do you have any recommendations? Sorry for the probably confusing questions, but I would like to start things right.
Nick

First off, you can not spot reduce and just lose weight in the areas you want. Reduction in weight happens with a caloric reduction as compared to your TDEE. A protein shake is a good way to get the protein needed to help with the repair of the muscle tissue from lifting. I see that you do your cardio at the start, I do cardio after my lifting as I want to have the energy needed to lift heavy enough to get results. If you feel that you are losing to much weight, then you should increase your intake slowly until you are losing the amount you want. Tighten the diet as much as possible so you you are taking the right macros in each area for your goals and program. Shoot me a PM and I can explain in more detail if you like.

[arnonick]

Thats fantastic, thanks all, You have all given me something to think about hopefully not too much ha ha, I think I have sorted out cals/tdee and macro's needed per day I just need to figure out exactly how many I am actually taking in now and adjust. I was in two minds as I had people saying that I looked thin, and I dont want to get too thin and ill if that makes sense? doing various online checks it works out I could have a body fat % of somewhere between 19 and 22%.Cheers

[tryintorebuild]

Without pictures, I'm just guessing here. 74kg sounds pretty thin, but I don't know your height. Sounds like you have lost quite a bit in about 3 months. It will take your skin a little while to catch up with the fat loss. So your abs may not be as bad as you think. Then again... you may not have the ab muscle to make your abs look like what you're aiming for.
That's the problem I've had and am slowly overcoming. You can't spot reduce fat, but you can spot increase muscle. You might try big exercises that incorporate your core. Squats and deadlifts are great for that. A lot of people ignore squats because they don't care to have big thighs, but there's a real benefit to squats.
Are you a male or female? 74kg is really not big for a guy and (if you are a guy) my guess is you aren't lifting weights to be small. Eat clean and lift heavy compound lifts. That would be my suggestion. In fact that would be my signature, but my body does not yet reflect that.
Good luck.

[arnonick]

I have been watching what I eat for about 7 months now but only hitting the gym since september, I do cardio first then do an overall routine, like I say I dont want to be huge just have a good physique, I am 6.1 and about 77kg, my routine includes legs. I can see my abs coming through so something is working, I just dont want to get too skinny, like in an earlier post I can always bulk later without adding fat, that is my only concern, after losing a fair bit of body fat I dont want to add it back now. I think I will keep an eye on calories etc stay on the whey protein and see what happens.
cheers

[michail71]

Hi all I have just joined this forum and still finding my way around, but have to admit I love the site but I am still finding it all a bit confusing, could someone please give me a simple answer? I am 42 and train 3 times a week cardio followed by weight routines, I have been doing this since september, my aim is not to get huge, at 42 I think I might have passed the point of this! all I want to do is lose the over 40 body fat that has been gathering since 35 and build a nice physique. This is going well so far I have gone from 92kg down to 74kg by eating sensibly and working out, the trouble I am having is losing that lower ab fat, but I feel I am now losing too much weight, does this make sense? I thought about using a whey protein shake would this help by helping to build mass? or would i need a weight gainer? also do you have any recommendations? Sorry for the probably confusing questions, but I would like to start things right.
Nick

Cardio after weights!

It took me about a year and a half to get rid of my belly fat. That involved a while to build up some strength and then I went on a cut until I got under 10% body fat. It takes some effort to get rid of a gut but once you do eating within range and lifting seems to keep it away.

[bennuk]

Cardio after weights!

Why is this important though? Doesnät an all-round pass give same results?

[arnonick]

Thanks all,I think I am doing things right, it seems to be working, I just need to be patient, something I'm not unfortunatley ha ha

[Singe03]

Why is this important though? Doesnät an all-round pass give same results?

Not really, we are of course assuming you want to maintain the muscle you have while burning off some fat. If that is a goal, then you need to keep the muscles as stimulated as possible and intense cardio before lifting is taking energy that could be expended on weights.

Weight loss is more about diet than anything else, you can lose weight sitting on your couch watching television if your diet is dialed in correctly. The trick is influencing the body to burn fat preferentially over muscle when dealing with a calorie deficit, which is where weights and dietary macros come in. You'll never be able to burn 100 percent fat and 0 percent muscle off, but you can influence the ratio in your favor (Almost everyone can explain it better than I can).

The point is, cardio is good for cardiovascular heath and wind and some cardio is a great thing, especially at our age, but it is not necessary for weight loss, and can be counter productive in meeting your goals. The weights are what will keep the muscle you have on and if your goals are as you state, should be your primary focus.

FYI: I do 5 minute of low intensity cardio, just get on an elliptical, before I lift just as part of my warmup, then lift, then go back and do real cardio if I'm not spent, which I often am.

Don't worry about people saying your skinny, most people don't know what healthy looks like anymore. I had people constantly asking if I was sick when I finally got things right and starting burning off the 40s 40.