Gaining muscle quicker than losing fat

[Animal Syntax]

I do a mixture of strength training and cardio but I seem to be building up my abs a lot quicker than I am losing the layer of fat on top of them. This causes my stomach to "plateau" sometimes, most noticeable after I've eaten a meal. Should I cut down on my strength training and focus on cardio? Or is there a super effective cardio workout that I don't know about and you guys could recommend to me?

I usually do a kick-boxing routine, dynamic stretching and burpees, as well as occasionally going for a run.

[XenoReiji]

What is your diet like? When stuff like this happens it is usually the result of your diet.

[Animal Syntax]

XenoReiji

What is your diet like? When stuff like this happens it is usually the result of your diet.

I'd say it's pretty balanced. I don't eat take out or snack very often. I have a rice-based diet

[XenoReiji]

Animal Syntax

XenoReiji

What is your diet like? When stuff like this happens it is usually the result of your diet.

I'd say it's pretty balanced. I don't eat take out or snack very often. I have a rice-based diet

Can you give me a break down of what you normally eat? Rice-based tells me that you are getting a lot of sugar. You might also want to consider your overall body fat percentage as well. The lower it is the harder it is to lose fat. Coupled with the fact that the stomach is the body's favorite place to store fat... you might have a hard time getting rid of it.

I would personally recommend doing more weight lifting than cardio. Cardio will actually burn off muscle. While building muscle will increase your resting metabolic rate and help you burn more calories.

[Animal Syntax]

XenoReiji

Animal Syntax

XenoReiji

What is your diet like? When stuff like this happens it is usually the result of your diet.

I'd say it's pretty balanced. I don't eat take out or snack very often. I have a rice-based diet

Can you give me a break down of what you normally eat? Rice-based tells me that you are getting a lot of sugar. You might also want to consider your overall body fat percentage as well. The lower it is the harder it is to lose fat. Coupled with the fact that the stomach is the body's favorite place to store fat... you might have a hard time getting rid of it.

I would personally recommend doing more weight lifting than cardio. Cardio will actually burn off muscle. While building muscle will increase your resting metabolic rate and help you burn more calories.

White rice eaten with some sort of marinated (usually) meat eaten with vegetables as well. Generally given a bowl of some sort of broth made from leafy greens or vegetables such as potato or beetroot with minced pork.

Oh ok, I didn't know that. Thanks!

[Sunder92]

Actually, cardio does NOT burn muscle.. It is usually due to poor nutrition. If you run for 45 minutes, it shouldn't affect your muscle mass.

Also, you should really focus on one thing: lose fat or build muscle. It is really hard to balance the two. If you lose fat first, your gains will be much more noticeable.

[XenoReiji]

Animal Syntax

White rice eaten with some sort of marinated (usually) meat eaten with vegetables as well. Generally given a bowl of some sort of broth made from leafy greens or vegetables such as potato or beetroot with minced pork.

Oh ok, I didn't know that. Thanks!

Hmm.... ok.... next question are you eating enough? Often times people link not eating with being thin. Truth is that you need energy to burn energy. If you do not eat enough energy during the day then your body won't burn fat reserves.

[Animal Syntax]

XenoReiji

Animal Syntax

White rice eaten with some sort of marinated (usually) meat eaten with vegetables as well. Generally given a bowl of some sort of broth made from leafy greens or vegetables such as potato or beetroot with minced pork.

Oh ok, I didn't know that. Thanks!

Hmm.... ok.... next question are you eating enough? Often times people link not eating with being thin. Truth is that you need energy to burn energy. If you do not eat enough energy during the day then your body won't burn fat reserves.

I usually have a very filling breakfast and dinner. Rarely do I ever eat lunch unless time allows it. I usually work out in the morning before breakfast or at least an hour after dinner so that it won't affect my digestion.

[XenoReiji]

Animal Syntax

I usually have a very filling breakfast and dinner. Rarely do I ever eat lunch unless time allows it. I usually work out in the morning before breakfast or at least an hour after dinner so that it won't affect my digestion.

Problem identified.... make time for lunch and you will likely be able to lose that extra fat.... especially if you workout first thing in the morning. You do not have to eat lunch but you need to keep your stomach thinking it is full otherwise your metabolism will slow. 3 full meals a day are good.. two REALLY big meals might suffice as well.. but you need to keep your stomach full. Believe it or not starving burns muscle before fat because it is much easier to burn muscle.

If you find you just do not have time for lunch, just have small snacks between breakfast and dinner. Nuts, Protein Bars, Vegetables, Fruit this will help you keep your metabolism going.

[Stuck On Replay]

Generally for fat loss and toning you want your workouts to be about 70-80% cardio and the remaining 20-30% to be strength. Once you get to a place where you are happy with the amount of fat you've lost and are more interested in maintaining/gaining muscle, you can gradually change your workout to being less cardio and more weights, so your cardio becomes only about 25% of your workout. Hope this made some sense sweatdrop

[AIoof]

Your cardio seems to be good, but I suggest trying out HIIT or tabatas. Basically sprint at 100% effort for 30seconds, walk for 30-1min and repeat that 15 times. It KILLS and burns fat like nothing else I've tried.

It's usually a method used for training for sports. I've played like soccer and ultimate and basketball and they have all used that method at some point or another.

Look it up for some sciencey facts, I could add a whole list here but it would be best for you to Google "High Intensity Interval Sprints" or "Tabata training" or something of that sort.

Also, I'd suggest eating less rice, but eating more frequent meals throughout the day. 6 small meals instead of 3 large ones for example. Your diet also sounds sodium heavy, try not to put salt in your food because it can cause water retention both in blood vessels (leads to hypertension) and muscle tissue making you look "puffy".

[Rcho]

It's usually recommended to either go on what's called a 'cut' or a 'bulk'
During a cut your only concern is losing fat and maintaining muscle mass, not gaining strength or muscle. If you go on a bulk you can do either strength training, or bodybuilding.. When you bulk it's recommended you don't do hardly any cardio because it takes away from your caloric surplus.

If you want to lose fat right now, I'd lay off the strength training and do sets of 10 just to maintain what you have. Do lots of slow paced cardio and get on a low calorie and low carb diet. To figure out how many calories you'll need just multiply your body weight by 20 and take about 20% of that number away. Make sure you do your cardio on an empty stomach so that your body uses the fat for energy rather than whatever you just ate. Make sure to eat shortly after you finish your cardio. Doing all of that should help you lose fat.