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malteseman
New member
Hi,
Before I start I will warn this is going to be a big post but I am grateful to those who have the patience to read it
I've been training regularly now for about 9 months now with mixed results (with around a month off period of non working out due to my missus giving birth). My initial aim in starting training was to get healthy and not be a big tubby person any more - of course I am now getting greedy once I achieved my initial aim and I've slowly gained a fitness compulsion.
When I started training mid-way through September last year I was about 16 stone (I'm about 5 foot 11). I basically starved myself (maximum of one meal a day, if that!) during training to get my weight down to about 12.5 stone within the first 3 months. During my initial training I was basically doing 90% cardio - a mixture between cross trainer and treadmill while using the odd weight machine. I was going to the gym about 4-5 times a week generally during this period.
I knew that my diet wasn't healthy or sustainable so when I felt I was at a decent weight I began to eat a full healthier diet - I also moved my workout from 90% cardio to about 90% resistance training.
From about Christmas onwards I have been going to the gym about 5 times a week while starting to cut it down to 3 times a week over the last month because of family commitments.
It seems over the last 6 months that my progress has considerably slowed compared to that of the first 3 months (when I was doing basically all cardio). While I am definately gaining a lot of muscle I am finding it hard to shift the remaining fatty areas. My weight has rose to about 13 stone but I think this is definately gaining muscle mass rather than fat.
After losing so much weight in the first few months I was left with chicken-fillet-esque manboobs. I have managed to slowly reduce these to about half what they were, but they still stick out a bit and I am finding it difficult to gain any shape on my chest (ya know when you your chest still wobles while running on the treadmill
) - whilst the likes of my arms are looking much bigger and very much more muscular.
I am also have issues trying to tone my belly area. Whilst the initial pregnancy type strech marks have now disapeared my belly still feels very wobbly and flabby. I have went from a size 38 inch waist to needing a belt with most 32's and my rib cage extends much further out than my belly - the flabbyness in this area does not seem to have improved at all over the last 4 months.
In terms of diet - I have basically transformed how I eat but I am not sure how much good it is doing. Living in the mediterranean a few miles south of Italy I tend to eat a lot of pasta.
I know pasta is not great in large amounts but it is just as practical to eat here as McDonalds is in the UK (in that its cheaply available everywhere). At the minute I eat a pasta dish on average about once a day (usually chicken pasta dishes at that).
Other than a pasta dish my daily diet would usually also consist of about 2 bananas, a low fat fruit yogurt and a packet of peanuts/bowl of cerial. I'd indulge in maybe one pizza or lasagne a week also (the whole Italian thing again). I should also mention that I'm quite fond of a pint of beer and would definately consume 10+ pints a week.
Really I am happy with my current size - I am quite broad and built looking and only want to stay the same but get rid of the extra flabby bits and be more toned. I know a lot of guys on here are serious muscle builders and look something like the guys in the pictures above these forums but I don't particularly want to look like that.
Basically what I am looking for is dietary and training tips on maintaining/slightly gaining muscle whilst toning. I've been thinking of things like whey supplements etc but don't know if these are any good for my requirements. I've read quite a lot of stickys but these seem to be advice on serious mass building rather than toning while slightly building.
Any help you guys could provide would be great.
cheers
Before I start I will warn this is going to be a big post but I am grateful to those who have the patience to read it
I've been training regularly now for about 9 months now with mixed results (with around a month off period of non working out due to my missus giving birth). My initial aim in starting training was to get healthy and not be a big tubby person any more - of course I am now getting greedy once I achieved my initial aim and I've slowly gained a fitness compulsion.
When I started training mid-way through September last year I was about 16 stone (I'm about 5 foot 11). I basically starved myself (maximum of one meal a day, if that!) during training to get my weight down to about 12.5 stone within the first 3 months. During my initial training I was basically doing 90% cardio - a mixture between cross trainer and treadmill while using the odd weight machine. I was going to the gym about 4-5 times a week generally during this period.
I knew that my diet wasn't healthy or sustainable so when I felt I was at a decent weight I began to eat a full healthier diet - I also moved my workout from 90% cardio to about 90% resistance training.
From about Christmas onwards I have been going to the gym about 5 times a week while starting to cut it down to 3 times a week over the last month because of family commitments.
It seems over the last 6 months that my progress has considerably slowed compared to that of the first 3 months (when I was doing basically all cardio). While I am definately gaining a lot of muscle I am finding it hard to shift the remaining fatty areas. My weight has rose to about 13 stone but I think this is definately gaining muscle mass rather than fat.
After losing so much weight in the first few months I was left with chicken-fillet-esque manboobs. I have managed to slowly reduce these to about half what they were, but they still stick out a bit and I am finding it difficult to gain any shape on my chest (ya know when you your chest still wobles while running on the treadmill
) - whilst the likes of my arms are looking much bigger and very much more muscular.I am also have issues trying to tone my belly area. Whilst the initial pregnancy type strech marks have now disapeared my belly still feels very wobbly and flabby. I have went from a size 38 inch waist to needing a belt with most 32's and my rib cage extends much further out than my belly - the flabbyness in this area does not seem to have improved at all over the last 4 months.
In terms of diet - I have basically transformed how I eat but I am not sure how much good it is doing. Living in the mediterranean a few miles south of Italy I tend to eat a lot of pasta.
I know pasta is not great in large amounts but it is just as practical to eat here as McDonalds is in the UK (in that its cheaply available everywhere). At the minute I eat a pasta dish on average about once a day (usually chicken pasta dishes at that).
Other than a pasta dish my daily diet would usually also consist of about 2 bananas, a low fat fruit yogurt and a packet of peanuts/bowl of cerial. I'd indulge in maybe one pizza or lasagne a week also (the whole Italian thing again). I should also mention that I'm quite fond of a pint of beer and would definately consume 10+ pints a week.
Really I am happy with my current size - I am quite broad and built looking and only want to stay the same but get rid of the extra flabby bits and be more toned. I know a lot of guys on here are serious muscle builders and look something like the guys in the pictures above these forums but I don't particularly want to look like that.
Basically what I am looking for is dietary and training tips on maintaining/slightly gaining muscle whilst toning. I've been thinking of things like whey supplements etc but don't know if these are any good for my requirements. I've read quite a lot of stickys but these seem to be advice on serious mass building rather than toning while slightly building.
Any help you guys could provide would be great.
cheers
I had the same problem, with the dead weight still covering my abs a little bit, and what I learned was that I greatly needed to add in some intense core type training; such as deadlifts and squats. I would try some core training added into your workout and see how that goes.
