Looking for some opinions on midsection fat loss.

For the past 5 months or so, I've been eating very clean. Basically how IH recommends. I've also been working out diligently doing high intensity cardio, resistance circuit training, spinning, boxing and running.

I'm losing weight and inches everywhere on my body EXCEPT around my belly. It's not budging at all and I'm starting to get concerned as to why.

Right now when I put on pants, I still have to wear my "fat" pants because my waist isn't decreasing, yet they are huge on my from my hips down.

I know I've read in here that this could be a metabolic syndrome/low testosterone situation. I'm sure it could be a lot of other things.

I'm just wondering what I can do.

Should I try to raise my testosterone naturally? If so, how?

I do resistance training 3x a week and I'm very strong. I'm constantly moving up in weights.

Here's my supplement regimen (all are at the prescribed dosage IH reccommends)

IH's Top 6
NAC
Maca
Dim
Dr. Ohhira probiotic
B complex
Sensoril
Rhodiola
Krill Oil (2-3g's a day)
Lecithin (4 caps per meal)
Biotin
Mutit-vitamin (swansons)
CO Q10 100mg a day

About a year ago I went to an endocrinologist who mentioned "metabolic syndrome" to me because I was overweight, my blood pressure was 140/90 and my triglycerides were high. My blood sugar and total cholersterol were normal however.

My body type is I easily build muscle, but I also carry fat. I'm very active. I think too active to be carrying this much fat, especially since my diet has cleaned up, so I'm trying to figure out what else I can do.

When I mention this to a doctor they tell me to see a nutritionist and cut calories, but with the amount of calories I'm burning per day exercising and the diet I'm following this isn't adding up.

I've given up bread, sugar, all chips, diet soda. I never eat fast food. I eat fish 3-4 nights a week, otherwise it's lean boneless chicken breasts.

I drink a ton of water. I don't use salt.

I'm just stumped at why my body is fighting me with the fat loss around the belly.

Back in 2000-2001, I used that Hydroxycut stuff with ephedrine and dropped a ton of weight, especially around the mid section. I stopped when the product was pulled and gained the weight back over the next several years.

Could I have messed something up in my metabolism by using that then?

Any thoughts would be appreciated as I'm stumped.

hadrion - DHEA at the appropriate dose could be the ticket. Or, alternatively you could have your testosterone checked.

Have you heard of the PACE program? It's supposed to burn fat 9 times faster than conventional cardio.

I can send you the PDF for free. It normally sells for 35 bucks. You can PM your email if you're interested.

I generally rely on a morning warmup

Basically get the muscles activated when you wake up. It doesn't mean kill yourself with running or any such. Just don't wait for your metabolism to get fired up. If you kick yourself into action for about 5-10 minutes of simple pushing, pulling, lunging, etc in the morning then you'll be burning cals and getting your system flowing early on. Here in Hong Kong folk do anything from tai chi, to simple kung fu wall training. Isometrics would even do. Yoga is appropriate also, done carefully. Stimulation rather than perspiration. Morning is better than evening.

Its all improved if your muscles are of a well stimulated size already. No need for hours in the gym per week, just half an hour or so per wk, especially on the larger muscles (legs, chest, and back), and top up morning stimulators. Forget about stomach exercises for weight loss. Its just a useful support muscle group (for your back). The big ones burn the fat for you.

Cardio should be core regularly though (fast walking is quite enough for me, especially uphill)

The glycemic index thing is interesting, but I still focus on cal input output as a basic measure.

No idea about supplements. But green tea is supposed to have some support.

Lux

HIIT -- High Intensity Training. Wake up, drink water, let it settle for a few minutes, then go outside. Walk for 2 minutes. Pick out 50 yards, and jog it, then wind sprint back to your starting point, then jog the 50 yards again, then wind sprint again. When i say wind sprint, I mean run as HARD as you can as if you've got twinkies on your back and fat chicks chasing you down like a pack of raging hippopatumi.

This will go right to your fat reserves. You'll only be able to keep this up for a few minutes. Once you are drooling and exhausted and can't go farther, go inside and begin to do crunches as directed by www.bestabs.com. Shawn Phillips is the man. I highly recommend "Strength for Life" by him--his new book!

Since you told me about the HIIT I have noticed fat lose faster than doing light cardio, and it takes less time.

Glad to hear it Chapat!

Ya man, it's more difficult, but as you say...less time, and much better results.

I just got back into working out about 4 months ago and it seems that I have hit a plateau when it comes to shredding belly fat.

I am going to try HIIT and will report back in a few weeks with results.

HIIT -- High Intensity Training seems to be right in line with the PACE Program.

The idea of the PACE program is do the opposite of what chronic and enduring cardio can sometimes promote, which is a widening waistline, since the body compensates. In one advertisment, it was mentioned that some aerobics instructors are sometimes seen overweight, despite their extremely active exercise.

LIke HIIT, the PACE program works by reducing the time of the working, but using high intensity instead.

A couple of good HIIT articles:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm

I've just started using the PACE program IH sent me and I will report back as to how it's going.

It's very similar to cardio intervals I was using called Tabata Intervals. For some reason, I stopped doing those and started doing long bouts of cardio in the hopes of burning the maximum amount of calories. I think I started buying into the idea that you couldn't burn more fat in 20 hard minutes vs. 1 hour of cardio on a machine.

I'm going back to the shorter more intense intervals for a month now. If I see a change in my waist line, then I know spending an hour on machines at the gym is pointless.

I'm definitely in a weird spot right now though since my waistline is not budging but the rest of my body is shrinking.

Hadrion--

Through personal experience, I know for a fact that HIIT is superior to anything out there. Just be sure to try to do it on a morning empty stomach so it goes directly to your fat reserves rather than your most recent carbs.

IH hit the nail on the head here:

In one advertisment, it was mentioned that some aerobics instructors are sometimes seen overweight, despite their extremely active exercise.

I've noticed this from time-to-time and was always like 'wtf?' Your body adapts to the same type of exercise. The body doesn't like chaos, so if you give it regularity, it will normalize. Provide it with constant chaos, and it'll be in a constant flux of adaptation.

This is how you burn serious weight in a healthy way. Great for your heart and pain threshold as well, which in turn is beneficial to weight lifting workouts.

I second nidhogge on this one for sure. Following a HIIT or PACE routine, especially first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, should eradicate the most stubborn fat. If that doesn't work, it could be an estrogen related problem, in which a solid couple weeks of detox may be necessary (along with the exercise routine).