Let me start off by telling you about myself I’m 33 years old, 5 ft. 8 in , and weigh 200 lbs. I have a 34 in. waist I have been lifting for 11 years and I took the last year off, I decided I needed a change so I went back to the gym on 11/4/99. I started dieting, my diet consist of low fat (around 30 grams a day), low carbs (around 60 grams a day), and plenty of water (64 oz to 96 oz every day) I gave up the sugar.

I have one cheat meal a week.

When I go to the gym which is 4 times a week I do Cardio every time ( I worked up to 40 minutes on either the treadmill or stair master), I lift 4 times a week I do every body part twice except for legs because they are pretty big and I figured all of the cardio I do will cut them up.

It is now 1/20/00, I weigh 181 lbs. 14 % body fat, all of my workouts are going as schedule when I’m on the treadmill I run for 4 mi. in under 40 minutes, I superset all of my lifting, my waist is down to 32 in. and my legs are getting cut up.

I know I’ll properly loose another 7 to 10 pounds, I was wondering how do you get rid of the love handles is it just dieting or special stomach techniques?

I purchased an AB roller and it helps me get motivated to do stomach, but I’m a little confused is it ok to do stomach every day?

If you know of a good lifting routine that would get me nice and cut up let me know.

One more question how do you stop the weight loss and still loose the rest of the fat.

I’m trying to look my best for summer but I also realize I don’t want to waste too much time on things that don'’ work. Thank you very much for your time.

You are doing everything just about right so far. You are working hard and training consistently. Also, just by cutting out all the processed sugars you have made great strides in your diet. I should tell you that there will never be a specific workout or exercise that will get you to be more cut or take those last few inches off your waist. It is a combination of good training (which you are doing now) and strict dieting (which you may have to do more of).

Here is a diet that I used successfully to help me reduce my bodyfat levels and get more "cut". I originally designed it for one of our members. You will just have to do a few very simple calculations to individualize it to your own body weight and size. Thanks for your question and keep working hard!

Response to previous Fitrex member:
To start with, take in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. This would be 215 grams of protein in your case. Then, to find the number of carbohydrate grams you should eat, just multiply your bodyweight by 2. This would be 430 grams of carbohydrates in your case. Finally, you should take in 72 grams of quality fatty acids like Flax seed oil, Olive oil, or Udo's oil. This is found by dividing your bodyweight by 3. Check out the recommended readings in the fitness info section of our web page to find out about Udo's oil! I have done some calculations for you but I also want to explain what is going on here. Here goes.

1 gram of protein has 4 calories. 1 gram of carbohydrate also has 4 calories. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories. For you this means.

First Week of Program:
Protein (215 grams x 4 = 900 calories)
Carbohydrates (430 grams x 4 = 1720 calories)
Fat (72 grams x 9 = 648 calories)

First Week Total - 3250 calories.

When you start your program you should start with the 3,250 calories with the appropriate balance of protein, carbs and fat that I have outlined above. But, here's the kicker! Each week of the 12 week program you should add 10 grams of protein and subtract 15 grams of carbohydrates to your diet. But, keep the fat intake the same.

So, you should end up on the last week of your 12 week program with these totals:

Protein (325 grams total)
Carbohydrates (250 grams total)
Fat (stays the same at 72 grams total)

This would give you a new caloric range of:

Protein (325 x 4 = 1300 calories)
Carbohydrates (250 x 4 = 1000 calories)
Fat (72 x 9 = 648 calories)

Total on week 12 of your program - 2030 calories

Make sure you spread out your eating to 6 times per day so you are always bringing in some nutrients into your body for growth and recovery without eating so much that you store any extra calories from fat.

You will also need to kick in some cardio training to really get lean. But, not too much so that you start to lose your mass. On weeks 1-4 you should do 25 minutes of cardio, 3 times per week. On weeks 5-9 you should do 30 minutes of cardio 4 times per week. On weeks 10-12 you should do 30 minutes of cardio 5 days per week. Keep your heart rate between 130 - 140 beats per minute or 70% of your age predicted maximum heart rate (APMHR). You can find out how to get your APMHR by typing these letters into the Search function on the Fitrex home page.

Finally, you will see a drop in bodyweight with this type of diet plan. However, If you eat the way I have told you to, and if you are mentally strong enough to push yourself with your training you will keep the mass that you have built and the weight loss will come from fat loss! Since everyone is different you may have to adjust your carbs and fat intake down slightly but don't reduce the protein level. However, I followed this very same plan (with adjustments for my specific body size) and I lost 36 pounds of fat in the first 8 weeks of the plan! Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.