How come I'm still so doughy?

Okay, so I'm 6'1'' and 205lbs...but I'm not lean...I still have a little bit of love handles and my chest is soft, and so are my arms and stuff....I can fit, barely, in 34" waist pants.

I've been working out, and when I work out of course my arms get large, and ripped, striated and I can see the veins and everything, but when i'm not active, they're doughy and soft and not big.

I do cardio about 3 miles about 3-4 times a week.

How much cardio should I do to get down to 185lbs lean but not small? I like the size I'm at right now, but want to shed that 20lbs or so of fat. I'm afraid of getting skinny.

And I have about 160g of protein a day and about 2000 calories a day...and I stay away from simple carbs and fat as much as possible.

Any help would be much appreciated.     

now then mate, how long ahve you been training like this for, and what results ahve you seen so far? this will give a better indication.

Bench Press Max - 170kg @ 100kg
Squat Max - 220kg @100kg
Deadlift Max - 275kg @100kg

Weight - 90kg

you're still doughy cuz you still have to much bodyfat to appear "lean"

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

genetics maybe.. coz one of my frnds is doughy too. but he is damn strong and has good flexibility too.

Anbe Sivam. Period.

I've been working out for like the last 6 weeks, and was at 215lbs and now I'm at 205lbs....

but now i've stopped losing weight and have hit a stand still.

i'm sure i need to crank up the cardio though right?

What is your diet and exact exercise routine?

With out answers to those questions we can not really help you.

more cardio generally will keep your present shape just get smaller, if supplemental weight work and diet is not correct or in line.

Okay, so just about every other day i'll wake up, have a banana and run or walk 3 miles.....

then have for breakfast a couple eggs, whole wheat toast.....then brunch i'll have a 200 cal nutrition bar....for lunch i'll have maybe a turkey sandwhich and some whey protein about 20g.

Then for afternoon snack another nutrition bar about 200 cal.....then a while later pre-workout i'll have a little oatmeal and then do a different muscle group each day, 5 times a week (mon-fri).

Ex of a chest workout:
4 sets of incline bench press (20,15,12,10)
4 sets of bench press
4 sets of decline bench press

Then i'll have like 50g of protein shake and like 70g of sugar right after....

then for dinner i'll have maybe steak and wild rice or something

and before bed another small 100 cal nutrition bar....

maybe i'm just eating too much to hit a 185lb goal LOL

A good idea would to be to find out your body fat %. Then you can set a better goal for lean body mass, and how much fat to lose, etc.

Also, try to cut down on eating before bedtime, this is when your metabolism slows down.

Yea, try cutting out the Wild rice for dinner and just have some veggies. And what exactly is in a "Nutrition bar", that probably isn't something you should eat before bed, try some low fat cottage cheese or casein shake.

okay so i did a BMI calculation

and it says i'm at 27.0

and the range i should be in is 140-189lbs or something....i'm at 205lbs right now...

but it doesn't ask for my body type, because i have a large frame...i'm big....like, large...i dunno how to describe myself....i guess like a football player...broad frame...

does that make a difference?

because i was 185lbs a few years ago and i looked like a twig! i wore 32" waist pants

but i don't wanna be a twig again....

i just wanna cut about 15-20lbs of fat without getting ''smaller''

this is your problem. You do not have enough muscle mass to be the "size" you want, you have fat instead.

This leaves you with different options, to get where you want.

Either you cut down your weight size, shed the rest of your dough-y-ness, until you are as lean as you would like and they bulk up cleanly, with muscle mass until you are a large lean man.

or

you start working on a clean bulk, with a little bit of above maintenance  calories and bulk up.... you will add muscle but it is fairly impossible to do this with out adding fat to your frame... and considering where you are this is probably going to be the harder road (although it looks more palatable at the start), as you will start to look like you are getting fatter again, and you will be up to a point.

Your third option is to find your maintenance calories and stick there, do your weight lifting and your cardio, and slowly work on re -comping your body.... THIS IS THE SLOWEST WAY TO GO, and the hardest way for you to track results... You are basically doing the equivenlant to giving offerings to an alter and a prayer and hoping it will all work out the way you want it too... ok my analogy is  a little over the top, but not that over the top...

Rule of thumb... to add muscle mass you have to have a surplus of calories, to loose fat you have to have a caloric deficate.... notice the contradiction... can't do both at the same time, well at all...

If I were you (and I have been) I would lean up some more, even if you end up a little thiner than you want to be.... Then do a clean bulk (but with a proper caloric surplus + 300-500 cals, from maintenance), and pack some mass.

ohhhhhhh......i get it now......so it's probably a better idea to get rid of the fat first, even if it means getting smaller and taking longer, and worry about putting on the muscle later, after i've lost the fat and bulk up cleanly.....

yeah i was thinking about that, but i thought maybe it might be more practical to do the second option, but there's a risk of me not getting rid of the fat after i bulk up even more huh!!! LOL

alright then...i'll probably look for a diet and exercise plan to get me down to a lean look then

thanks.

I don't want to miss lead you . there is practicality in the second option... increased muscle mass does increase your metabolism, which in tern helps you shed fat more easily.

Only you know what you look like and how you feel... from your BMI it does seem high enough to warrant the fat loss option... but no they don't take into account the size of your frame... It is a hard decision... sort of. You probably won't take yourself all the way down to your "goal leanness", that would be somewhat counter productive. But getting a little leaner will, IMO, help you.

Remember no matter what, hit your weights hard, no matter which option you choose, it will help you preserve the muscle you do have.

Personally, I do not like 5 day splits for beginners or novices, especially when it comes to weight loss. But, that is for you to decide and that was not your question anyway.... so I will leave that alone, aside from my one statement.

oh. i see. the 5 day splits is if you really want to put on mass huh?

yeah i was thinking about that "45 minute fat-burning workout" where you work out the whole body at a heart-pumping pace, about every other day....to get lean first.

Also doing cardio and 6 small, protein-rich meals a day.

does that sound about right for a plan to get lean first???

If you are a beginner, it is counter productive to split your body into parts, regardless of your goal... You will progress faster and be more balanced if you train your body as a whole. You don't need the extra recovery time to "let your parts heal", as you progress your body will require both more recovery time, and extra trauma to keep gaining (more work), that is a good place for a split routine..

As a beginner you can easily progress in a linear fashion, using a simple routine.
read through this thread http://www.discussbodyb...Y-FULL-BODY-m303404.aspx there are excellent routines in there. You can choose to shorten rest time to make it more cardio intensive, more of what you think of as a fat burning routine...My personal favorite, if you don't want a bare bones strength routine, Would be the Fat Loss Routines from the "New Rules of Lifting" Alan Cosgrove, Mark Schiller. Very good routines in that book, with about the most common sense guide to training, I have read.

To much cardio In my opinion. If your going to do cardio do something more muscle sparing. Such as HIIT or just lift intensly with shorter breaks. There is no point in doing to much cardio because if you loose muscle what is going to get rid of that excess fat. You need the muscle to burn the fat. SO just switch your cardio over to HIIT. Also i would recomend a good bulk first because you need more muscle to burn it off :)