ht0347

Hello everyone. Firstly, thank you to all those who have taken the time to respond. I appreciate all of your views and the time you have taken to comment. Also, my apologies also for the slow response - a mixture of being busy with work and wanting to try out some of these ideas for a time and seeing how I get on rather than coming back to you all straightaway. Unfortunately the home gym isn't really suitable for gaining much muscle mass at the moment. It has been designed for an older man and we haven't been able to get delivery of any heavier items under lockdown, so it's really suitable for abdominal exercises and light reps rather than lifting heavy stuff. On that basis I have decided to try one of the main approaches suggested above, maintaining a decent calorie deficit whilst also increasing the amount of exercise done so as to lose some of the "extra padding". I have also tried to amend my approach to exercise so that rather than just running 2 or 3 times a week, I am also blending in 2 or 3 upper body reps per week. I'm now getting a decent amount of exercise pretty much every day. As lunch was always a meal that I struggled with (mainly in terms of finding something healthy and too often reverting to processed food and bread) I have found a well-known diet whey powder that is high in protein. I now have this for lunch with skimmed milk, and any snacks throughout the rest of the day consist of (typically Greek) yoghurt and fruit. I'd say my daily calorie intake is probably around the 2,250 mark. Hopefully I'm now in the right place for losing fat without also losing too much of the accompanying muscle using this fairly high protein diet. So far I am seeing better upper torso definition, and on the scales this morning came in at 153.6lb. Much happier with how I look in the mirror although there's definitely further to go. I think once lockdown is over I'll find a personal trainer to help me take things to the next level, perhaps with heavier reps at the gym and focussing more on muscle growth to take advantage of the "novice effect" that various of you have mentioned above. Hopefully I don't get hijacked by the various desserts and dinners that my new girlfriend has planned! Thanks again for all your support - I'll check back in at some point to let you all know how I'm doing! H

Hi everyone. My first post on here, so go easy on me. I’m a 27 year old guy, 6’1, 156lb. I’d appreciate advice on body toning. I am currently pretty fit from plenty of running and have well defined, muscular legs. However my torso has always been poorly defined, especially around the pecs and abdomen. Generally speaking as an adult I haven’t attended the gym enough to get anywhere on this front, so remain slim overall yet podgy in the torso. During COVID working from home I’m keen to address that. I have set up a small home gym in the garage, and am applying the following three principles: (1) Maintaining a calorie deficit through running two or three times per week. (2) Improving nutrition (Greek yoghurt rather than other types of snack and avoiding sugary desserts, etc.). (3) Completing two or three home gym circuits per week, with exercises focussed on abs and pecs (abs roller, push up bars, bench sit ups, amongst others). My hope is that the blend of improved nutrition and upper body circuits will make a difference to my torso toning. However, I am still concerned by the fact that fat loss cannot be focussed. Am I at risk of simply enlarging the torso muscles without actually ending up with fat loss? As I am already at a good weight I don't have much low hanging fruit in terms of losing weight and shedding pounds of fat. I would ultimately like to have a torso that is toned to match my legs (with abs visible if possible) - I can tell that I have torso muscles under there somewhere, but they are currently covered by an annoying layer of fat (excitingly I actually saw my abs for the first time today, but they're still hiding under their stubborn fat surface)! Is there anything else / a change in approach that stands out to you, or does my strategy sound reasonable? Would anybody recommend protein shakes? I appreciate this may all seem quite general, but would appreciate pointers if possible - many thanks, guys!