why cant i lose mid-section fat!

[OGfootball]

hey guys. im 17 and very active. im pretty cut except for my stomach (check my pic up top) i dont uderstand why i cant get abs. Should i do a lot more cardio. my diet is pretty good. i just cant understand how my whole body can be cut except for my abs. can someone help me? anyone else have this problem?

[LankyFreak23]

Well, being cut everywhere except your stomach is not unusual, but it could be a number of things. Are you stressed often? Do you feel bloated? It could be partially mental from the constant stresses of life, but I assume that it's a more likely proposal that you're not eating clean enough.

If you're as active as you say you are, no need to up the cardio. Maybe a little, but don't kill yourself, the problem is likely in the kitchen. If it's just your stomach, you can try a low-carb diet, slowly ascending your carbs back to a more natural level weekly. You may also want to train your abs further, perhaps they just aren't as big as the rest of your body? I do think it's a body fat % thing. Eat clean, do cardio=abs.

[kav269]

haha, i had the same problem, last summer i was determined to get a six pack. i ate a lot less and ran every day, but then i lost a **** load of muscle mass. I am still confused on what physique to shoot for. with a "naturally big" build, I guess I can't have everything at once. Seems like we're the same. Right now im about 215 (6'2"). A little more fat than I'd like but im working on perfecting my diet (pretty much no running these days).

[OGfootball]

should i lower my calories too? or just carbs

[LankyFreak23]

It really depends whether your taking in a surplus of calories or not. If you want to lose fat, you probably will need a lower calorie diet than what you're doing now. But if you feel you eat pretty sensibly and only eat when your hungry, that's good. But don't cut too many calories or you & your muscles will regret it.

I'd say focus on lowering the carbs and control your portions. Keep doing whatever cardio your doing and if your still lifting, keep it up, it boosts your metabolism and then it will only be a matter of time before your body burns the excess fat around the middle.

[krenalor]

Just lower carbs, lowering calories further may actually cause your body to hold even more fat. Try increasing your calories, that may break the trend to hold fat, if a lower carb diet fails.

Originally Posted by krenalor

lowering calories further may actually cause your body to hold even more fat.

are you sure thats true?

[jeVV_venile]

i had the same probelm but i was talkin to my trainer and he was tellin me how he was in the military and he was a pretty cut dude with about 7% body fat and he never had a six pack he told me that some people just cant grow one..i believe it and agree with him to an extent, but im sure if u work hard enough and eat well enough that it will come over time...

[ArtXtreme]

Do you eat a lot of salty foods or drink carbonated beverages?

[CollegeGuy]

Originally Posted by dannyboy9

are you sure thats true?

I think he is refering to lowering calories too much/ too fast. Basically from what I've been told, if you lower your caloric intake too quickly your body goes into 'starvation mode' and therefore tries to be more efficient with your calories. So your metabolism slows down = bad thing if you are trying to loose fat.
So I would think that doing the opposite (within reason) would increase your metabolism