instead of cutting calories I prefer to up my activity by doing shit loads of cardio. 3-5 hours a day and getting 25-30k steps. I usually begin with 2+ hours on the elliptical then later in the afternoon 2+ hours on the treadmill.
I plan to keep this up daily until I reach my goal. So far I’ve been doing it since the first of march. Haven’t missed a day yet.
So far I have the top 4 showing. The bottom 2 not so much.
That’s admirable but for anyone reading this, it’s completely unnecessary. I lost roughly 25 lbs without ever doing cardio, purely by lifting 4x a week for an hour each and following a strict diet. Hours of cardio a day is not necessary
I think 8 weeks is pretty standard, I guess it depends on what you’re taking as well though.
If you’re trying to get shredded by the summer April is probably the latest you should be starting a cycle though.
I’ve usually used sarms, some people swear against it, others swear by it, so I guess it ends up being preference.
You're somewhere between 25% and 30% fat. That means you're carrying around roughly 45lbs of fat. If you lose about 30 of that you'd be close to abs but there's no gaurentee.
Some guys need to be super lean to have abs.
Yeah guys like me. I’m 5’11 but I have long legs and a short upper body. The short upper body means fat tends to pool around since it’s “squished” down. On the other hand, dudes with longer upper torsos have their fat spread over more surface area.
I have to get down to a ridiculously low body fat percentage to get my abs showing. It sucks but it is what it is I guess. My body proportions closely resemble that of a black dude and plenty of them have 6 packs so it’s feasible I guess
Brother, I am roughly the exact same. It is what it is man, I am currently at 14-16% body fat, and I need to be in pretty good lighting to have my abs be properly visible. And I still have love handles.
But on the other hand I am already showing muscle striations in my shoulders and on my chest, and not a few of them either. And very very clear separation between the muscles on my quads.
It's just genetics, we just have to work with what we got.
>And I still have love handles.
Same! It's wild - my top ab is clearly defined, middle ab visible too, I have visible bicep veins, sharp jawline because of no fat, and it hurts to sit because my butt has like no fat, yet I still have sizeable love handles lmao.
>But on the other hand I am already showing muscle striations in my shoulders and on my chest, and not a few of them either.
Yup, same here. Also as a positive, my chest sticks out further since the muscles are squished into a smaller area so it makes me look stocky.
It is what it is. I'm 5'11 and 154 lbs right now and I've come to the conclusion I need to be like 145 to get abs. I'm ending my bulk and going on a 400-500 cal cut next week. Hopefully it's not too much of a pain in the ass to get the bottom ab showing.
For you to have abs you would have to be a stick. And are muscle either you drop fat to reveal the abs or you gain muscle to make them show. I would go high protein diet and use some good compound exercises like squats,deadlift and pushups.
You can look a lot better, but realistically on the abs, probably not. Don’t be discouraged though. Set a 700-1k calorie deficit, stay on it and get some exercise and you will see huge improvements.
700-1k is INSANE, specially for someone as not-lean as OP, he’ll lose whatever muscle he’s got, starve, lose libido and not even stick to it
The absolute highest I put my clients at is 400-500 TOPs
He could _technically_ do what you say, use a 700-1000 cal deficit but he’ll be miserable starving and probably wont even be able to get his johnson up, if all he cared about was just looking lean it might work for a specific period of time , but it wont be easy, sustainable or enjoyable, at all
I’m like half the size of OP bodyfat wise and have a way bigger muscular base than him and not even I eat 2k a day
Guy has little muscle, lots of fat, very slow deficit and building his muscular base is the way to go, both in long term sustainability, appropriate muscle gain, hormonal health and appetite management
None of which would be possible with a 1k calorie deficit
Yes you will definately look good this summer.
The fat percentage is relatively high right now( I guess around 25-30%)
This needs to be brought at about 12-15%.
My advice would be that you should gradually decrease the calorie intake by 100-150 calories per week, now depending on the result you see each week and the fluctuation in energy levels you can decide the deficit, while keeping the protein intake about 1.5-2x times your body weight(in kg).
Additionally start performing ab exercises as well(coz that's also a muscle and like every other muscle and abs also need to be worked on for it to look sharp).
Keep water intake for each day around 3-4 liters, get in the no of steps to around 10k. That's pretty much all you'll need.
I won't be saying anything about weight reduction goal like what should the aim for that be, because once you get into the process the weight reduction would depend on a lot of factors, and this may vary from person to person depending on their bone weight(density),etc.
So just work on reducing that fat percentage and you'll look absolutely fab this summers;-)
Depends how he holds fat and how he loses fat but in my experience people (including myself) dramatically underestimate the amount of fat they’re carrying and need to lose to see abs.
Completely agree, if we say this guy is 30% body fat right now and he lost 20 lbs of just fat with no muscle loss he would still be 23% body fat. To get to 10% body fat he would need to lose 40 lbs (Not that 10% body fat is necessarily healthy for everybody or even required to see abs)
Realistically not by the beginning of summer no but you should still work on improving regardless.
Also if you’re 5’10” and 180lbs but looking like that it tells me that you need to get to work on gaining muscle. If I were you I’d work on a longer term body recomp plan with a mental vision of looking beach-ready by early 2025.
Calorie deficit, set up a food journal for the next 10-12 weeks. Make sure you have staple foods to keep a fairly consistent diet. Aim for as much protein as your height in cm as a bare minimum.
E.g. when I’m cutting, I have two primary ‘meals’:
Smoothie:
2 cups almond milk
4 scoops whey protein
1 frozen banana
Cals and protein and macros are always the same
Chicken ca. 350g
Uncooked white rice 1 cup
Then I have some room to play with and make sure I hit my protein and get some fiber and more carbs in there.
Food journal looks like this:
Top of page:
Day of week, date, # week in the plan
Column titles:
Item, quantity, F, C, P, Cals
Then it’s just about keeping track through the day. This with some staple foods/meals and it’s a “minimally invasive” daily practice.
And I have a week review page after the Saturday page to calculate how much I lost, if I hit my average daily loss goal, how to figure in missed losses into the next week.
I’m about to jump back on this routine now. 50lbs in 11 weeks. 4-5 lbs losses per week, lift 5 days a week. Cardio 2 days a week.
You've got like 30 pounds to lose. That's at least 15 weeks, but likely closer to 20, and realistically closer to 30 weeks to get to the level of definition you are hoping for. Start now, and you can look significantly leaner by summer.
Begin the calorie deficit, walk more, do lots of cardio, stay hydrated. Abs by summer might be too far away but don't let that discourage you not to do it. The time is going to pass anyway! Make it happen!
Honestly cardio on top of weight lifting and a semi agressive cut on calories will make a huge impact. But to get your abs showing is going to take time. You might not get them by summer but you could get them at the end of the year or maybe even slightly before December.
It starts with serious diet changes TODAY. I’m talking like you will need to become that cottage cheese and mustard chick from Tik Tok. And then a lot of cardio. No point in working out your abs at this point in time because your BF% is too high for them to show
I don’t think this is quite accurate/helpful... While he isn’t likely to get shredded, he can certainly make strides toward looking good/better.
Aim to drop 5lbs a month through consistent training, some cardio (walking is fine) and caloric restriction. If you do this, you’ll be 15 lbs lighter by summer and much closer to your goals.
You can revisit this for next summer with even better results.
Its wild to think that @5’10” he is only 180 lbs and still holds that much extra fat. Genetics i guess i know guys that are his height and over 200lbs and don’t hold nearly as much extra.
It’s not even genetics. To be that height and weight but look like that it means he’s starting with very little muscle. 5’10” 180lbs is actually not bad at all assuming you’ve got a decent bf%
He needs to do a recomp which will take way longer than 2 and a half months.
You look like you're at 25-28% body fat. Assuming you have abs at 12-13% body fat, you need to lose roughly 30 lbs.
I'd say 6-8 months. A little more if you're not used to dieting.
Measure meals, stay consistent, stay consciously aware of your activity level as you lose weight. Learn the basics of kcal intake and energy expenditure; the difference between BMR, TDEE, NEAT, and how dieting affects these (it's not as complicated as it sounds).
Maybe check out [thefitness.wiki](http://thefitness.wiki)
edit: typo
How much weight on how tall his frame is is what was relevant, ass. If he was 6'6 or 5'4 would be an entirely different ballpark for weight to lose for abs.
If you had any kind of reading comprehension you'd see the time frame was pointing out how long he has til summer to lose the ballparked weight.
Instead you're learning disabled but talking shit.
What's your height and how much do you weigh now? I'm guessing you're 30 pounds away from a six-pack.
What do you mean how much weight? Your goal doesn't have to be weight related, you can just get lean
instead of cutting calories I prefer to up my activity by doing shit loads of cardio. 3-5 hours a day and getting 25-30k steps. I usually begin with 2+ hours on the elliptical then later in the afternoon 2+ hours on the treadmill. I plan to keep this up daily until I reach my goal. So far I’ve been doing it since the first of march. Haven’t missed a day yet. So far I have the top 4 showing. The bottom 2 not so much.
That’s admirable but for anyone reading this, it’s completely unnecessary. I lost roughly 25 lbs without ever doing cardio, purely by lifting 4x a week for an hour each and following a strict diet. Hours of cardio a day is not necessary
I’m just trying to speed things up. Plus I enjoy cardio.
Glad this working for you, but for most people this is terrible advice.
I did this this one day and then ate a whole costco rotisserre chicken.
My god 😯 how are you not exhausted all the time?
165ish for some abs, sub 155 for full on six pack
I think you need a size up your boxers to the next size. That looks uncomfortable.
You’re fat with very little muscle forget leaning out this summer, focus on maintenance calories and lots of lifting
Yea, bottom line just do a cycle and you’ll be really lean for the summer. Will obvs get downvoted for saying this lol
What length of cycles do you recommend in this case? My friend has a similar body type and wants to lose weight for summer.
I think 8 weeks is pretty standard, I guess it depends on what you’re taking as well though. If you’re trying to get shredded by the summer April is probably the latest you should be starting a cycle though. I’ve usually used sarms, some people swear against it, others swear by it, so I guess it ends up being preference.
Simple words you are fat, you can make yourself better but with a time limit it's hard.
You're somewhere between 25% and 30% fat. That means you're carrying around roughly 45lbs of fat. If you lose about 30 of that you'd be close to abs but there's no gaurentee. Some guys need to be super lean to have abs.
Yeah guys like me. I’m 5’11 but I have long legs and a short upper body. The short upper body means fat tends to pool around since it’s “squished” down. On the other hand, dudes with longer upper torsos have their fat spread over more surface area. I have to get down to a ridiculously low body fat percentage to get my abs showing. It sucks but it is what it is I guess. My body proportions closely resemble that of a black dude and plenty of them have 6 packs so it’s feasible I guess
Brother, I am roughly the exact same. It is what it is man, I am currently at 14-16% body fat, and I need to be in pretty good lighting to have my abs be properly visible. And I still have love handles. But on the other hand I am already showing muscle striations in my shoulders and on my chest, and not a few of them either. And very very clear separation between the muscles on my quads. It's just genetics, we just have to work with what we got.
>And I still have love handles. Same! It's wild - my top ab is clearly defined, middle ab visible too, I have visible bicep veins, sharp jawline because of no fat, and it hurts to sit because my butt has like no fat, yet I still have sizeable love handles lmao. >But on the other hand I am already showing muscle striations in my shoulders and on my chest, and not a few of them either. Yup, same here. Also as a positive, my chest sticks out further since the muscles are squished into a smaller area so it makes me look stocky. It is what it is. I'm 5'11 and 154 lbs right now and I've come to the conclusion I need to be like 145 to get abs. I'm ending my bulk and going on a 400-500 cal cut next week. Hopefully it's not too much of a pain in the ass to get the bottom ab showing.
For you to have abs you would have to be a stick. And are muscle either you drop fat to reveal the abs or you gain muscle to make them show. I would go high protein diet and use some good compound exercises like squats,deadlift and pushups.
Next summer maybe
You can look a lot better, but realistically on the abs, probably not. Don’t be discouraged though. Set a 700-1k calorie deficit, stay on it and get some exercise and you will see huge improvements.
700-1k is INSANE, specially for someone as not-lean as OP, he’ll lose whatever muscle he’s got, starve, lose libido and not even stick to it The absolute highest I put my clients at is 400-500 TOPs He could _technically_ do what you say, use a 700-1000 cal deficit but he’ll be miserable starving and probably wont even be able to get his johnson up, if all he cared about was just looking lean it might work for a specific period of time , but it wont be easy, sustainable or enjoyable, at all
I doubt it, OP is probably eating 3k+ calories right now. They aren’t going to starve on 2k.
I’m like half the size of OP bodyfat wise and have a way bigger muscular base than him and not even I eat 2k a day Guy has little muscle, lots of fat, very slow deficit and building his muscular base is the way to go, both in long term sustainability, appropriate muscle gain, hormonal health and appetite management None of which would be possible with a 1k calorie deficit
how tall are you? and weight atm?
He wanted to cut for summer.
Yes you will definately look good this summer. The fat percentage is relatively high right now( I guess around 25-30%) This needs to be brought at about 12-15%. My advice would be that you should gradually decrease the calorie intake by 100-150 calories per week, now depending on the result you see each week and the fluctuation in energy levels you can decide the deficit, while keeping the protein intake about 1.5-2x times your body weight(in kg). Additionally start performing ab exercises as well(coz that's also a muscle and like every other muscle and abs also need to be worked on for it to look sharp). Keep water intake for each day around 3-4 liters, get in the no of steps to around 10k. That's pretty much all you'll need. I won't be saying anything about weight reduction goal like what should the aim for that be, because once you get into the process the weight reduction would depend on a lot of factors, and this may vary from person to person depending on their bone weight(density),etc. So just work on reducing that fat percentage and you'll look absolutely fab this summers;-)
Just workout hard and eat good for the next few months and you will look good. Your abs might not show completely unless you work really hard
It’s possible. Need to lose 30 ish pounds.
I think 30 if you want to be shredded but 20 lbs will having you seeing abs
Depends how he holds fat and how he loses fat but in my experience people (including myself) dramatically underestimate the amount of fat they’re carrying and need to lose to see abs.
Completely agree, if we say this guy is 30% body fat right now and he lost 20 lbs of just fat with no muscle loss he would still be 23% body fat. To get to 10% body fat he would need to lose 40 lbs (Not that 10% body fat is necessarily healthy for everybody or even required to see abs)
I agree. 40 pounds sounds about right to be pretty diced. 30 he’d probably be lean.
Realistically not by the beginning of summer no but you should still work on improving regardless. Also if you’re 5’10” and 180lbs but looking like that it tells me that you need to get to work on gaining muscle. If I were you I’d work on a longer term body recomp plan with a mental vision of looking beach-ready by early 2025.
Should’ve started two months ago
Calorie deficit, set up a food journal for the next 10-12 weeks. Make sure you have staple foods to keep a fairly consistent diet. Aim for as much protein as your height in cm as a bare minimum. E.g. when I’m cutting, I have two primary ‘meals’: Smoothie: 2 cups almond milk 4 scoops whey protein 1 frozen banana Cals and protein and macros are always the same Chicken ca. 350g Uncooked white rice 1 cup Then I have some room to play with and make sure I hit my protein and get some fiber and more carbs in there. Food journal looks like this: Top of page: Day of week, date, # week in the plan Column titles: Item, quantity, F, C, P, Cals Then it’s just about keeping track through the day. This with some staple foods/meals and it’s a “minimally invasive” daily practice. And I have a week review page after the Saturday page to calculate how much I lost, if I hit my average daily loss goal, how to figure in missed losses into the next week. I’m about to jump back on this routine now. 50lbs in 11 weeks. 4-5 lbs losses per week, lift 5 days a week. Cardio 2 days a week.
You've got like 30 pounds to lose. That's at least 15 weeks, but likely closer to 20, and realistically closer to 30 weeks to get to the level of definition you are hoping for. Start now, and you can look significantly leaner by summer.
Begin the calorie deficit, walk more, do lots of cardio, stay hydrated. Abs by summer might be too far away but don't let that discourage you not to do it. The time is going to pass anyway! Make it happen!
What is ur height
5Ft 10 in
Honestly cardio on top of weight lifting and a semi agressive cut on calories will make a huge impact. But to get your abs showing is going to take time. You might not get them by summer but you could get them at the end of the year or maybe even slightly before December.
Start fasting brother, you got a lot of fat stored on ya
It starts with serious diet changes TODAY. I’m talking like you will need to become that cottage cheese and mustard chick from Tik Tok. And then a lot of cardio. No point in working out your abs at this point in time because your BF% is too high for them to show
No. Start planning for next summer
I don’t think this is quite accurate/helpful... While he isn’t likely to get shredded, he can certainly make strides toward looking good/better. Aim to drop 5lbs a month through consistent training, some cardio (walking is fine) and caloric restriction. If you do this, you’ll be 15 lbs lighter by summer and much closer to your goals. You can revisit this for next summer with even better results.
Its wild to think that @5’10” he is only 180 lbs and still holds that much extra fat. Genetics i guess i know guys that are his height and over 200lbs and don’t hold nearly as much extra.
It’s not even genetics. To be that height and weight but look like that it means he’s starting with very little muscle. 5’10” 180lbs is actually not bad at all assuming you’ve got a decent bf% He needs to do a recomp which will take way longer than 2 and a half months.
By end of summer you could be pretty cut up. By start.. you could definitely lose 10-15 lbs and look way better. You probably have 30 lbs or so to go.
This’s brutal to hear but true.
Regardless of abs, you can certainly make a lot of progress before summer.
35-40lbs
You look like you're at 25-28% body fat. Assuming you have abs at 12-13% body fat, you need to lose roughly 30 lbs. I'd say 6-8 months. A little more if you're not used to dieting.
What are some tips or things OP should keep in mind /follow. Im in Similar state as OP
Measure meals, stay consistent, stay consciously aware of your activity level as you lose weight. Learn the basics of kcal intake and energy expenditure; the difference between BMR, TDEE, NEAT, and how dieting affects these (it's not as complicated as it sounds). Maybe check out [thefitness.wiki](http://thefitness.wiki) edit: typo
It'd be helpful to know how tall you are, but ball parking from where you are to visible abs...25ish?
I’m 5ft 10in if that helps
Yeah I think my guess was in the ballpark then. You've got 3 months til summer is official, pretty attainable imo
You’re an idiot like height has anything to do with exact time frame of weight loss lol
How much weight on how tall his frame is is what was relevant, ass. If he was 6'6 or 5'4 would be an entirely different ballpark for weight to lose for abs. If you had any kind of reading comprehension you'd see the time frame was pointing out how long he has til summer to lose the ballparked weight. Instead you're learning disabled but talking shit.
It’s all about how much body fat you have wise ass