Naxis....

Basically here's my breakdown. I'm 29, male, 6'5" and about 260 pounds. My waist is a 38 and my overall body is very muscular, I'm not fat or overweight in any way but........

I need to lose some excess fat around my midsection, mostly just on the sides. I train 3-4 times a week, 2 hours in the gym with 1/2 hour being cardio with my heart rate in the target fat burning zone, if not slightly higher. On my off days I do the typical pushups, situps and all that at home as well as some cardio.

I've seen in my past training, my arms, back, legs, chest, etc becoming very defined and muscular but I can't seem to kick a bit of excess fat on my sides. My food intake is very good I feel. I'm getting about 2000 calories a day, all healthy, low carb, high protein (including about 100 grams of whey a day) on top of healthy meats, fish, etc.

Is there anything you can recommend I do to help reduce the excess fat on my sides? Everywhere else on my body, I can barely pinch any excess skin, fat but my sides have some I'd like to concentrate on. I'm assuming it's probably just going to take time to get rid of it but I'm wondering if there is any routines I can do or anything I can possibly take (although I'd like to go as natural as possible) to help target this area.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as everything I know and everything I have read on the net basically suggests it's just a 'time' thing and nothing is really specific. I am not planning to reduce my workouts, if anything to get to the gym more often to do extra cardio on my off days or something to that extent. My 'core' is muscular (under the fat) as I do many hundreds of situps a week.

Thanks for your time......

Diet is where you need to look. For starters, 100g of whey a day is too much. Whey is broken down and absorbed very quickly and unless you are adding something to slow the process may be broken down into glucose instead of being put to work as protein. You also are probably not eating enough, which might be causing the plateau. Lay out your diet as precisely as you can and we'll see there's something that can't be tweaked to get you ripped. :)
There's no exercises that target waist fat, but I think increasing exercise too much might threaten your lean muscle.

My mistake on the whey gram number, I ment I'm getting about 50 grams with the rest coming from the low fat milk I mix it in...... sorry about that.

Can I ask you then why when your weight training, on almost every single diet plan I've seen has you having 3 whey shakes a day which would be around 75 grams or so, little more of just the powder. I train about 4-5 days a week now, no less then 4.

I'm not to concerned with loosing some of my muscle mass to 'cardio' as I'm trying to lean myself out right now. I'm also currently in the city police recruiting process and got my physical testing coming up again soon so uping the cardio is my goals at the moment.

I disagree with the multiple-shake-a-day plans. I see it often too, and yes, it's convenient, little or no prep time, but nutritionally, it's not the best way to go. Getting as much protein from real food as you can means more nutriens and enzymes, slower absorption and appetite supression. Aside from convenience, I don't see a *significant* benefit to making half of your meals shakes.

As for cardio, if you are doing 30 minutes at a shot, try sticking in one or two HIIT sessions in there. It can be hard to do, especially right after a weight traning workout, but it really does give you superior fat burning. You could also do some on days in between weight workouts.
Alas, I still think you should look at your diet overall. :)

Thanks again, I'll take a better look at my diet/intake plan. For my busy lifestyle, I do the best I can but never have any 'crap' food if that makes sense. I'm still basically sticking with 3 meals a day, not really doing that eat 6 or 7 times a day thing. Whatever I'm doing is working but I want to make sure I'm getting everything I essentially need which I do feel I'm doing. I make sure I'm getting protein from real food, for sure, I'm getting it definitely each day.

Everyone can improve on their diet somewhat, I guess maybe I should post up what I am eating to clarify as I've actually talked to a nutritionist before and am following a plan. I'm really just using the whey to supplement some extra protein into my intake each day (two shakes a day) and the rest of the time, things like salads with healthy dressings/amounts, chicken, salmon, fish, pork, extra lean ground beef maybe once a week if that, steak, tons of vegetables, low fat milk, cottage cheese, some other cheeses and of course fruit. I don't drink pop, don't eat chocolate or any bags of chips, no candy or anything like that, I also don't really drink any beer or anything, maybe once a month if that and only one or two, no heavy meals like pizza, pasta, etc.

Whatever I'm taking in makes me feel more energized, better, haven't been sick for well over a year, etc but like I said, I can always improve on it.

Do you have any suggestions?

Increase calorie intake 2 days a week, by 400 or 500. Since you eat really clean, I don't have to put in the stipulation to keep it limited to good food. The calorie variation will keep the thyroid from getting too sluggish from being on a constant deficit. Sometimes that's all a plateau needs. Also, as you get leaner, you need more healthy fats. It's unreal the difference that it makes to include oils, avocadoes, nuts, and fatty fish. Your body needs fat to burn its own, not to mention it's great for general health. Other than that, I think you're probably doing just fine. HIIT and minor diet tweaks. No big deal. :)

Edit: re protein shakes - are you taking the protein shakes in addition to 3 meals a day, or as 2 of your 3 meals?

Protein shakes twice a day (morning one as a meal replacement) but I have a snack a couple hours later. The second one would be right when I get home from the gym (on my training days) or right when I get home from work which is usually 3 hours before I have supper.

Ah.. okay. Just checking.