Lazy for a year, and now have fatty area on my belly, need help!

[adam11]

I ran track and did soccer in high school and was really lean, but last year in college I wasn't very active and ate junk food. I'm still skinny (6'2" , 150 lbs) , but now I have flab under my bell button, which is covering the tone of my ab muscles, and probably a little more fat through out my body.

This year I've been running a lot more, and I've been to the gym more often, but I don't know what i should be doing exactly to burn off this fat since I read a lot of things that contradict eachother. Also, I was wondering if trying to gain muscle would interfere with losing fat through the diet or workout.

Someone told me that running for long periods, which is what I do, puts your body into a catabolic state where i will lose muscle. I don't want to lose muscle though, just fat.

Also, I'm not sure exactly what kind of foods i should concentrate on eating since some sources say that complex carbohydrates (pasta, rice, bread) are necessary for losing fat, and others say that they just add more calories to burn and will turn to fat. I was always able to eat whatever i wanted and be really skinny, until this year it seems to have added some fat. Right now my diet is pretty inconsistent, but i eat eggs and waffles with syrup and usually potatoes for breakfast, then for lunch i eat breaded chicken sandwich with mayonaise, and for dinner i usually eat the same as for lunch or maybe pizza that has no meat toppings. I know that probably has a lot of fat, but I don't know what I should replace it with.

So basically, what would you suggest for a skinny young person to do to lose the fat on his belly and other places?

 

[MrDan]

Complex carbs are more of a vege group. You should stay away from simple carbs that are refined.. Note** not refined (i.e. cookies, pastries, white bread, white rice) Instead, have brown rice, wheat bread, etc. Plenty of carbs for energy and have plenty of lean protein sources. Eat more often... 5-6 meals/day

Potatoes = nono ,, sorry not too much time, i'll explain later.

Good luck my man.

 

[abear]

i would suggest 3 days of lifting with 3 days of cardio. still hit the weights hard, none of this light weight high rep stuff. thats for warmups.

keep protein intake high and be sure to get in the good fats. if you need to reduce calories, do so from carb sources. and dont forget about fiber and water intakes.

 

[tbal]

That's right - drink plenty of water and ELIMINATE AS MANY OF THOSE DARNED MANUFACTURED CARBS AS POSSIBLE!! Processed carbs, even whole wheat bread, will make it harder to diet, and therefore, harder to shed bodyfat. When I go on a competition diet, I completely eliminate any processed food in every meal except breakfast (I do that because the insulin spike helps to wake up the body) - that means only natural, grown foods: fruits, vegetables, legumes (beans, peas, etc.), and nuts (and of course, some chicken). If eat processed foods you will likely get headaches from confusing your body into thinking it is starving itself; this is due to the way it spikes the body's insulin levels (and yes, contrary to what many people believe, most breads labeled as 'whole' wheat bread have a significantly high glycemic index, and some are as bad for your insulin as white bread). So, what I recommend is eating as much natural food as you can; fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. Definitely include a lot of peanuts or walnuts in your meals toward the end of the day; these have Omega-3 fatty acids (those incredibly healthy fats found in fish) and have some of the lowest glycemic indexes of any food.