hi fellas,

i don't know how it happened, but at the start of this month i became very critical of my physical image. maybe lebron has to do something with it. a couple weeks ago i saw a before/after photo of him. he went on this no carb diet for 2 months and lost a ton of weight. this kind of gave me motivation to eat better/exercise more.

i don't think im overweight, but i might be? currently i weigh 155 pounds. i am 5 feet 10 inches tall. everything looks ok except for my GUT.

so the past 17 days, i've completely changed my diet. my meals look something like this everyday now:

breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 apple w/ skin, 1 banana.

lunch: 1 grilled chicken breast seasoned with salt/pepper/tabasco sauce, broccoli, and tuna salad(i use squeezed lemon juice and vinegar as dressing).

dinner: same as lunch, but without tuna salad.

dessert: fruits such as grapefruit, grapes, or whatever i can find in the fridge. if i get hungry between any meals, i snack on baby carrots with squeezed lemon juice and salt.


i've completely given up on junk food. no cookies, chips, ice cream, cake, etc. also gave up on soda, and have been drinking water only. i've also cut out carbs. this is pretty hard b/c i come from an asian background, and all we eat is rice. so whenever i eat Asian food, i substitute tofu instead of rice. also no bread, pasta, noodles, etc. i'm kind of becoming a carbophobe.

my diet was an all time low before all this. i had an addiction for fast food. living in a big city, there are fast food chains on every single block. i use to eat out 4-5 times a week, sometimes twice a day for lunch+dinner. i pretty much abused fast food(supersize/larging everything, ordering another burger from the $1 menu, etc..). this went on for the past 4-5 years. i was spending about $250-$300/month on fast food. i just did not give a **** for my health. the most i've weighed was 195 pounds back in mid 2011. i don't know wtf happened, but i still managed to eat bad during that time and lost 20 pounds and by early 2013 i was at 175 pounds. i don't remember what i weigh earlier of this year, but currently im at 155 pounds. i was 150 pounds out of high school which was 8 years ago.

as for exercise, i have been jogging 4.5 miles a day for the past 17 days at a rate of 10 min/mi. is this good or bad? should i take some days off jogging? i also do some exercises with 12 pound dumbbells via mike chang(youtube fitness). i have a 10 year old bowflex that i use lightly maybe 3 times a week. i know bowflex isn't real weight, but it's better than nothing, and im working with what i have now. i also just got into HIIT exercises via youtube. i did my first 20 minute workout on Sunday, and i am still sore after 3 whole days.

my goal isn't to be all jacked up. i just want to be tone with a bit of muscle cuts showing, and to LOSE THIS GUT! now i know that you can't spot treat, so doing crunches/sit ups are useless. my question is, should i lose more weight and keep this diet going? i don't know how much more weight i need to lose before the fat comes off my gut. i hear gut fat is the last to go. does this mean i have more fat around my body? legs, arms, chest, lower back, etc???












that line under my pecs/top of gut is the fat folding when i'm sitting down too much. also i might not notice, but do i have a hint of man boobs???

any tips/help would be great! i am a complete noobie when it comes to health+fitness.

A serious case of the skinny fats itt. You need to get yourself under a barbell asap

+1. If you're really 5'10" and 155, then you are the poster child for skinny fat. That is a seriously unfortunate fat distribution you have.

People throw that term around here all the time but you are it. The standard advice for the skinny fats is to lift, and you should definitely do that. However, realize that just lifting is not going to get rid of the gut, but it will probably get you looking better overall.

So screw the diet and all the running? Just start lifting heavy? Last time I benched real weights, I couldn't even bench 100 pounds. I have a bowflex, should I just start to lift heavier with that? Or do I need to hit the gym?

No worries, I dont feel offended, and its the first time I've heard 'skinny fat'

OP, start by reading this to get yourself up to speed and on right track wrt nutrition/diet:

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/...-calories-out/

and/or this:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the...-diets-part-1/

And for the love of jeebus, join a gym, pick a beginner lifting routine a'la Starting Strength or Greyskull linear progression or similar and even lift.

If I were you, I'd get rid of excessive bodyfat first and then start a slow bulk to build some muscle.

You look a lot like I did when I lost weight with just cardio and never lifted.

Something like a Starting Strength program at maintenance, 200kcal below maintenance or 100-200kcal above maintenance are all good options for you imo.

If OP wants to prioritize fat loss, something I'd certainly do if I were in his spot given that his goal is basically "look better naked", I'd take up Pummi's advice. Eat at a deficit of ~25%, start lifting, do some light cardio if desired, reevaluate after some time.

Agree with Pummi and Soulman. Just don't make your diet too extreme, because you are just going to lose your mind (like no carb at all or something similar)

OP definitely has excess belly fat, but I think most of the protrusion is due to a complete lack of tone in his abdominals/obliques. Basically they're just super relaxed and flaccid, so his stomach/other innards kind of just hang out. In that regard direct ab work should actually have a significant impact on his physique. But getting under a barbell and building some strength is the most important step right now.

Good things OP is doing
-Diet is definitely in the right direction. Calories look reasonable and protein looks adequate. Carb phobia is kinda standard when starting out and I actually think it's the way to go when not lifting heavy.
-Jogging will certainly do something to accelerate fat loss.
-Experimenting with some HIIT work is great.
-17 days in a row of compliance to this plan indicates motivation has been strong.

Things OP needs to change
-12 lb dumbells will do literally nothing. Literally. Nothing.
-Same with 3x a week light bowflex work. Complete waste of time. I also started with a bowflex in high school. Sorry for wasting your money, dad.
-Joining a gym and doing Starting Strength religiously for 6 months will accomplish more than anything else OP can do in that amount of time.
-If OP isn't ready to be in a gym environment then at the bare minimum he needs to do some form of bodyweight work. The pushup, pullup, squat, lunge, etc programs here are actually not complete dog****.

Can anybody give an estimate of this guy's body fat percentage?

I would definitely prioritize weight training of some sort (and I am not the expert to recommend which sort). If my quick calculation is any good that is six and a quarter hours a week you are spending jogging. I wouldn't feel at all bad about substituting some of this jogging time for weight training.

OP,

Listen to DFII. He is wise.

SS's advice is spot on too; I think GSLP may fit your eye slightly more than SS since you appear to be more concerned with aesthetics than lifting a lot of weight, but either should be fine.

gslp>>>SS imo

I think for most people starting out starting with SS until they stall then switching to GSLP is the best way to go.

That's exactly what I did but looking back I think squatting 3x/week is too much when you're deadlifting on top of it.

5'10 155?!!!

SS + GOMAD


Pictures are not coming out on my phone so not sure why people are getting riled up over a little skinnyfatness. Just know 5'10 155 would be standard "SS + GOMAD" advice from Saw. So going with it too.

That is a bit unfortunate to be so light yet still have that spare tire around your waist.

No offense but you have the upper body of a 12 year old. I think if you start lifting heavy weights (but make sure your form is good) your chest, shoulders, and back (among other things) will start to develop and your gut won't look as silly.

At my lightest, after a 3 week bout with mono in college, I was 6'0" 147 and there was no way I had a gut. I was a walking skeleton.

It's like you forgot to log in to your Dr. Broscience gimmick before typing this.

All the other advice is solid, as is the ab work. I just don't think that ab work is going to pay off in gut appearance the way you think, as superficially plausible as what you say sounds.

I do think that a large part of the unfortunate gut appearance is simply his posture in the pics (i.e., his abdominal musculature is purposefully relaxed). I suspect that he is standing in such a way to emphasize it, since his point is to get help to fix it.

A protrusion like this can be mitigated by creating a more regular tension in the 'exterior' core muscles - but a more pronounced difference will come with things that train the "inner" core - the Transverse Abdominus and internal obliques. The "inner weight belt" as it were. Squats, deadlifts and the versatile everyones favorite but hella boring plank.

In all seriousness, start holding it in. KStarr says everyone should keep something like a 20-30% 'tension' in their abs at all time for purposes of posture and continued usage of the muscles to prevent total muscular tone loss. Your gut looks like years of forward leaning posture while sitting at a desk. So does your upper body.

Nobody cares, truly, except you. Only farmboys, rock climbers and people who are simply regularly athletic gain "natural" strength - so don't worry about it. You can't be expected to "have muscle" unless you have done something that actually requires it.

Melkerson — I think it's more of a case of, posturally, his gut will look much better if there is any tightness in his abs throughout the day. It's like OP has "ab amnesia" and isn't tightening his core even 10% throughout the day or whatever or intentionally meditated and achieved 0% core tightness while still being able to stand up before taking those pictures.

So basically what nuclear said. And training abs specifically will help the OP learn how to actually engage and activate them.

Yeah +1 to "nobody cares" what you bench. People are always concerned about this for some reason. I can assure you not one person at the gym cares. Nobody is paying attention to you. Just go do your lifts and get stronger. If they did notice you, at most, they would think good for you for trying to get stronger. Especially if you are doing useful **** like squats and using good form. And don't be afraid to ask a strong intimidating guy to help spot you. In general, people are glad to help.

Clearly you misunderstand what the word "tone" means in this context. While "tone" is very misused verb in the fitness world, which is probably what makes it sound brosciency to you, it is an actual property used to describe a muscle's default tension. Which is the definition I'm using here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_tone

It is trainable through exercise of a muscle. It is also directly related to posture. And it is why OP's stomach hangs out.

Report back when you see the pics.

Thin. Loose. Permeable.

I refuse to believe that OP isn't forcing his gut out as much as possible in the pics