Reached my goal but I have a question.

I've finally reached my goal of 170, down from 225. I'm 5'10'' and I'm fairly happy with my weight now. (I think the average for my height is like 160 or 165.

Anyways my problem is that I still have a little bit fat left around my stomach and I was kind of going for a flat stomach. My question is that if I eat clean at my daily calorie requirement and continue to lift and do cardio, would I over time loose that fat or atleast tighten it up with muscle? Or would I have to continue to loose weight until my stomach flattens out and then work on building up muscle?

My other question is about cardio. I usually do 45 minutes of cardio running on an elliptical and I usually do it either 6 days a week or sometimes everyday throughout the week. I also lift for 4 or 5 days a week. I was thinking, would doing that much cardio be bad if im trying to build up muscle? Or if I take enough protein is it okay to do that much cardio?

And I also wanted to thank the forum and its members. I don't post much but I do check it every few days and I learned some useful information that helped me loose the weight that I have lost. Thank You.
 
You are almost there! Here is my answer to your questions.
First, Yes, you will probably have to lost a LITTLE bit of weight to get rid of the extra body fat but not much as long as you are building muscle while you are doing it.
You DO NOT need to wait until you lose the weight until you start working on building up muscle, in fact that is the last thing you want to do!!
You need to incoroporate more weight training because that is the only way your core will get build up. Try and stay away from machines and use a lot of free weights because they use more of your core (hence flat stomach) .
Doing that much cardio is not bad but it sounds like you need to switch it up a little bit. Do some interval training such as, ALL OUT sprints for about 20 sec, then rest for 20 sec and repeat 10-15x. It will take a lot less time and it helps maintain muscle instead of break it down. If you have ever looked a track athlete, they NEVER run for more than 15-20min but it is ALL OUT EFFORT and they have the best abs out there:) You can also do hill intervals. You will spend a lot less time in the gym and see better results. Try substituing at least 2 of your cardio days doing intervals and make sure you are building muslce because for every pound of muscle you have on your body it burns anywhere from 35-50 extra calories a day. Researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%. This is because muscle is 'metabolically active ' and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you're not moving. So if you build 10 lbs of muscle your burning up to 350 EXTRA calories a day and befor eyou know it your stomach will be flat without having to change too much. let me know if you have any specific questions!
 
I've been getting pain in my left knee, which is why I do my cardio on the elliptical since it supports the knees. Would doing interval training on an elliptical be efficient or should I eventually make my way to the track?

Thanks.
 
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