Shaving off a small amount of body fat/toning up

[Nespanona]

Hey all, recently i've decided I want to get back into the shape I was when I was younger, i'm 6'3 and 22 now and around 174 pounds which seems to be my weight no matter what I eat, it just sticks, my metabolism is pretty good as I played Soccer and other sports throughout all of my childhood and early teens but my diet is pretty poor to be honest, I eat at all kinds of random hours, not sticking to specific meal times and up until recently there was too much Soda in my diet, not to mention fatty foods etc, it wasnt incredibly unhealthy, but they was all sprinkled into my diet a little bit more than they should have been. I've cut out the soda now, and i'm drinking a lot more water, now I need to sort out the food side of my diet, so any tips there would be hugely appreciated, I dont need to lose weight, but I need to lose body fat around my stomach, my ideal aim is to purely be toned, nice sized arms and visible abs are my goal but as I want to start playing soccer again I dont want to be too bulky, so i'm looking for a toned Soccer physique rather than a body building physique. I havent had a chance to measure my body fat yet, but just by my own guestimation the body fat extends over my abs by around a cm, maybe a tiny bit more, so it's not a huge amount but I was asking for what people would recommend for me to achieve my goal?

The past few days to get into the groove i've started doing pushups and crunches, after around a week or two of pushups my arm definition has visibly changed and my arms are now feeling stronger and are growing, my abs are hard but of course arent visible, and I know they arent at a six pack level of course, but a toned physique is where i'd like to get to, so I wondered what would people recommend for a good diet to achieve this goal and good workout regimes? I can do home exercise and I have access to a treadmill also, aswell as a gym, so any tips would be hugely appreciated, and also would my body fat now lower itself automatically just from eating and drinking healthier? I know it wont disappear just through my diet but will it make a visible difference? I know this is a long post but as people like to have as much information as possible, I hope this provided a lot of information for you all, and any help would be hugely appreciated, thank you

 

[flyinfree]

that was a long read eh!
TO BE 22 again!

Soccer is alot of stop start, and leann muscle is good for that. Use weights, high rep count. Mix with cardio to start driving your VO2 back up.

Diet is a detailed issue.

But a few good rules are:

1. If it is already cooked = NO
2. If comes in any cookable packaging = NO (like microwave or oven meals)
3. If it has bubbles = NO

That covers a heck of alot of territory when you start looking at your foods.

Good luck to you!
Glad you are here!

FF

 

[Kaplan_T4]

Diet just eat 3 healthy meals a day with protein fibre and carbs. Have 2-3 snacks spaced out between as well like protein bars or peanut butter sandwiches and your done.

 

[PLB_old]

If you're interested in doing some reading, here are a few good articles and posts from the forum:

For nutrition: Nutrition 101 – www.body-improvements.com

For training: Young Athlete Development (read the 2 sticky threads at the top)

For cardio, I would recommend doing a mixture of steady-state aerobic exercise and interval style training.

I would say, read throught the information in the above links, as well as other "sticky" threads in the forum. Then come up with a plan and post it.. from there, we can post suggestions and advice on how to tweak things, but in the meantime, you can start working through your plan. There is not a perfect plan out there, so you need to come up with something that will work for you right now, then it can evolve as you go

 

[benfitting]

Diet just eat 3 healthy meals a day with protein fibre and carbs. Have 2-3 snacks spaced out between as well like protein bars or peanut butter sandwiches and your done.

You can also divide your meals to 5 small ones. This should be properly scheduled so that you don’t lose energy or get hungry. Try to eat so that you will not be hungry. Overweight people eat to be full - You just have to get away from that.

 

[Albert Smith]

To lose fat around your stomach, you have to lose fat all over your body. Don’t fret. All you need to change couple of things in your daily workout regimen and diet plan. Just read out all of my suggestion carefully:

• Perform total body circuit training three times per week to burn fat and increase your cardiovascular fitness at the same time. Do one weight training exercise per body part and perform one set of 20 repetitions. Do 30 seconds of cardiovascular exercise, such as walking or jogging on the treadmill, between each set and move on to the next body part. Repeat for 30 minutes.

• Train your abdominals three times per week after weight training. Perform exercises that work every angle of your midsection, such as planks, push-ups, oblique crunches and leg raises. Perform four sets of 25 repetitions for each exercise.

• Avoid processed foods that contain harmful chemicals, unhealthy fats, sodium and refined sugars that drain your energy levels and cause weight gain. Eat natural foods such as lean proteins, whole grains, fruits and vegetables to minimize bloating and increase your metabolism.

• Stop stressing. Stress increases the production of the hormone cortisol, which is a cause of weight gain in the stomach area. Reduce stress by eliminating stimulants, getting adequate sleep and meditating.

• Eliminate alcoholic beverages to avoid empty calories. One glass of vodka with cranberry juice can contain 230 calories. Consume a couple daily, and you are looking at a one pound weight gain weekly. Stay away from alcohol to avoid the weight gain, water retention and muscle deterioration associated with drinking.

Hope so, it would help.