Body fat / physical health

Hi,
I’m 37 and have been going to the gym regularly for around ten years. I’ve always had an issue with belly fat that I’ve never really been able to get rid of.

I have mainly been doing full body workouts - although I have changed occasionally I have pretty much worked:
Deadlift
Some variation of a bb bench
Squat
Row
Over head press


Usually 3x 8-12 for each movement
3 days per week

I currently weigh 83kg
Calorie intake around 3200 daily

I always push myself as far as I can each workout.

Despite this, I always have belly fat. The rest of my body develops but that stays.
It seems to be having an impact on my overall physical health aswell.

My systolic b/p is around 140, although my diastolic is 75 and pulse is 55.
Total cholesterol is around 3, however triglycerides are 4.91 - which is obviously very high.
I’m pretty certain the high triglycerides is resulting in the high systolic so I’m keen to bring them down.

The only issue is however as soon as I bring the calorie intake down I lose muscle mass.
I used to compete competitively in combat sports, and last year I had my final fight. I needed to cut around 5 kg. This comes easy to me but I lost muscle and have really struggled to put it back on. For years I was around 85kg, and my calorie intake is an attempt to get back to this, but it’s stalled and i just seem to put it on on my belly.

I’m also vegetarian and I’m not sure if this is having an impact on trying to build muscle, I am however getting 190-200g of protein a day.

Any advice anyone is able to give would be appreciated. I’m thinking at the moment I am just going to have to work out harder at the gym for longer.

Cheers

What’s your diet like, just saying meat free doesn’t help much and family history of cholesterol/heart health

You list your weight but what's your height? Training for combats sports/fighting is not the same style of training compared to bodybuilders who can diet down and keep most of their muscle. I'm guessing at the time you were cutting you were doing a good amount of cardio as part of your training. You should not be losing muscle the minute you lower your intake. If you want to keep muscle while dieting down lower your rep ranges, lift heavier and keep cardio at a minimum.

Usual diet looks like this most days:

Morning
Greek yogurt, granola
4 pieces of fruit
Protein shake

Lunch
Some form of wrap

Afternoon
Fruit and nut mix
Protein bar

Dinner
Usually x2 serving of rice/pasta
Quorn

Protein shake

I track it all with my fitness pal and come below the max saturated fats

My height is 5 10’
Yes I have to do lots of cardio before fights, usually 5/6 days.

I would make the first goal to lose the body fat where you want to.
Use pictures from month to month and a reliable BF measurement to track your progress.
Try to maintain as much strength as you can but don't get down if you lose some as you first goal would be to lose body fat.
Once you reach the goal you established then turn you attention to gaining real muscle not bodyweight.
This process could take a long time if your a natural bodybuilder.
Five pounds of muscle year would be considered a good gain so you need to be in for the long haul.
Also review your diet and training to see if doing the most effective protocols on each.
Good luck.

What's your blood glucose? High triglycerides are usually the result of high glucose. Your body will not metabolize fats while sugar is high. Period.

Advice, drop carbs below 80 grams daily for two months and then retest triglycerides. Also, add hiit and you'll drop it fast.

Imo triglycerides are the easiest marker to improve.

I'd suggest a simpler approach. Keep everything roughly the same but try to reduce calories by 300 a day. It won't be fun :(