How to lose the gut?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by HOOT

You also can't target fat loss. So situps/crunches won't do anything to help someone get rid of their gut.

If you want to lose weight you have to use up more calories than you are taking in. The ideal target would be -500 calories daily to lose 1lb per week. You could go more but it isn't all that healthy.

So if you eat 3000 calories per day you should be finding a way to use up 3500 calories, or cut down on your intake with less activity.

This is true, however, if you are out of shape, training the abs will tighten them which can pull everything in. It won't actually get rid of fat (besides from the calories you burn doing the exercises), but it will give you a cosmetic change.

Unfortunately, the gut is where most men store their fat, so it's often the last place to get toned.

If your goal is to get a six pack, you will need 10% or less body fat. All the sit-ups in the world won't help. If your goal is to look trimmer, then ab exercises can pull in the gut by strengthening and tightening the muscles underneath the fat.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by cKy

The people who thanked your post are awesome.

Too funny, someone needs to screen shot that.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by Pinner

Educate yourself about diet and nutrition

[scotty2hotty]

Originally Posted by J pold

I've been using the diet in Tim Ferriss's new book The Four Hour Body; so far it has worked wonders.

Did you take all of the supplements too?

I read the book and enjoyed it ... but never actually did anything with it.

[Komskies]

I'm 2.5/9 weeks into Insanity, and the results are very noticeable already. While I haven't lost any appreciable amount of weight yet (192 down to 189 lbs.), I have noticed a change in my body composition. My waist size is down, my muscles are fuller, my legs are more toned (Insanity puts a huge focus on working the big leg muscles), my endurance is way up, and my flexibility is through the roof compared to what it was.

The workouts are anywhere from 40-60 mins, which includes a warm-up and stretching. You do the exercises 6 days a week.

You can order it from Amazon.ca right now for $111 which is less than I payed for it: http://www.amazon.ca/Insanity-Total-...1500275&sr=8-1

The best part about it is you don't need any special equipment to start. All you need is a bit of open space (40-60 sq/ft) and a DVD player.

If you have no interest in a gym membership, I highly recommend getting this.

Oh ya, it also comes with a workout calendar and book with some dietary advice and meal planning suggestions.

[troutman]

What name should I give to my new six-pack abs?

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by troutman

What name should I give to my new six-pack abs?

Spoiler!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HmOrL1_X9j...ant#######.jpg

[GreenLantern]

Everyone has their own opinions and everyone's bodies are different.

For me it is about 70% diet, 15% weights, 14% cardio and 1% supplements.

That is the equation I have found for my best results. That is 45 minutes of weights a day, 30-45 minutes of cardio, some suppies and about 14 hours of dieting. My ratios are probably off but you get the idea.

Ignore books like eat this not that!, ignore anything that says trans fat free, ignore it all!

Eat 5-6 smaller meals each day instead of 2-3 big ones. Avoid eating out like it is the plague. Eat lots of chicken breasts, boil it for the most healthy option. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta. Watch your carbs in the evening, late night snacking is an absolute killer.

Just check how much sugar is in everything. Sugar, and pop especially, is one of the worst causes of obesity. You would be surprised how much sugar is crammed into that granola bar you are eating, or juice you are drinking.

There are a million different opinions on the matter, you just need to test out what works best for you. I have a friend that walks on incline at a high pace holding the handles granny style, this shreds fat off of him. For me it does nothing, I need to do interval sprints.

[scotty2hotty]

Originally Posted by troutman

What name should I give to my new six-pack abs?

Snuffleupagus.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by scotty2hotty

Did you take all of the supplements too?

I read the book and enjoyed it ... but never actually did anything with it.

Nah, I'm not much of a supplements guy mostly because of the cost involved. I didn't do most of the more extreme thing suggested (ice bath, air squats) but the slow carb diet itself is really great.

[HotHotHeat]

Don't over complicate things. If you want to lose weight don't eat huge portions and try to limit the bad food.

The problem is feeling full and eating bad food is awesome.

[Mightyfire89]

Not trying to be a jerk, but all this weight loss stuff is very simple. Study up on nutrition so you can eat properly and then (as HOOT said) try your damndest to burn off more calories per day than you take in and you will lose weight, guaranteed (including the gut/love handles).

[TylerSVT]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Everyone has their own opinions and everyone's bodies are different.

For me it is about 70% diet, 15% weights, 14% cardio and 1% supplements.

That is the equation I have found for my best results. That is 45 minutes of weights a day, 30-45 minutes of cardio, some suppies and about 14 hours of dieting. My ratios are probably off but you get the idea.

Ignore books like eat this not that!, ignore anything that says trans fat free, ignore it all!

Eat 5-6 smaller meals each day instead of 2-3 big ones. Avoid eating out like it is the plague. Eat lots of chicken breasts, boil it for the most healthy option. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta. Watch your carbs in the evening, late night snacking is an absolute killer.

Just check how much sugar is in everything. Sugar, and pop especially, is one of the worst causes of obesity. You would be surprised how much sugar is crammed into that granola bar you are eating, or juice you are drinking.

There are a million different opinions on the matter, you just need to test out what works best for you. I have a friend that walks on incline at a high pace holding the handles granny style, this shreds fat off of him. For me it does nothing, I need to do interval sprints.

This is a GREAT post.

Diet is a HUGE part of it, if you are already working and and seeing less gains than expected, chances are its your diet that is slowing you down.

It's going to be hard, but you are going to need to cut out a lot of the junk food that appears to be healthy (granola bars for example). Eating out is also a bad idea as most places add lots of heavy ingredients in their meals, even salads at restaurants are filled with cheese and whatnot.

Drink lots of water, avoid drinking pop/beer or heavy artificial fruit juices if possible. Not drinking Coffee is a great start too, especially if you are putting cream and sugar in yours. taking a tubberware of veggies to work (NO DIP) and eating that is a great way to snack, stay full, and avoid crappy foods. Try cutting up carrots, celery and red peppers.

You need to activley think about what you are eating. You might be thinking "a bagel is healthy" but if you put lots of butter or cream cheese on it, it defeats the purpose of eating healthy in the first place.

Pair that with some cardio and you will really start to see some weight loss.

For reference ive been working out pretty heavily for 4 years, i stopped about spring time of last year and started again in January this year and have already packed on 15 pounds... its all about diet and working hard and staying motivated.

I've seen so many people go to the gym thinking they are working out, they walk on the treadmill for 15 mins, do some arm curls and bench press and think they did something for themselves. When you go, you need to GO!

[Human Torch]

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-lose-b...ast-naturally/

[-TC-]

some good advice in here.

Basically it's all in the diet and there is no magic bullet.

What works for some may not work for you, but there are common elements.

- stop eating refined/processed food as much as possible
- drink more water
- avoid trans fats

[Russic]

Good advice in here... I like what HOOT and GreenLantern had to say.

My dad is in the "constantly needing to lose weight" boat and it's tough getting him to buy into all of that kind of stuff. He likes his food so he convinces himself that cardio is all he wants. He complains that he hates going for a walk with my mom yet carefully overlooks that fact that if he wouldn't go back for a second helping of dinner he could probably walk 3x less per week and the result would be the same (yes this is just an example and I'm ignoring the benefits of light cardio - merely looking at it as calories in vs. calories out).

[mykalberta]

For those who have mentioned the Beachbody group - try suggest to people that they only eat from the top 2 teirs of michi ladder for their diet. Weight loss is easy if you are motivated.

Keep track of everything you eat, take pictures and do measurements once a week - chest, stomach, hips, thigh. Weight loss is a tricky whore. If you just go by the scale some weeks you will lose 6 and other weeks 2. If you do the pictures and measurements on the weeks that you only lose 2, if you are showing progress there it is less likely you will be discouraged and then binge.

Of course I can only speak for myself. Also, to keep track - create a free blog on wordpress.com. You can post pics and make it private so no one can see your pics but its a great motivational tool

[Nandric]

Definitely some good advice in here.

I'd thought I would throw my two cents in here, this is all from personal experience so take it as you will. I spent the better part of my teens as a competitive road cyclist, and even with putting in 20-30 hour training weeks I could not pull off a 6-pack (I was skinny just always had a little fat cover over my abs). I would do 4-5 hours of weights a week with the rest being on the bike cardio.

Looking back on it I should have paid more attention to my diet as when you burn 3-6 thousand calories a day it should be easy to lose weight, but I was always in the as long as you eat less than what you burn no matter what it is there, will be results camp.

I guess this long winded post is to restate what a lot of people above have said and that diet is the most important part to getting rid of body fat.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by J pold

I've been using the diet in Tim Ferriss's new book The Four Hour Body; so far it has worked wonders.

Me too. I've lost 5lbs of weight, cut 3% body fat (21 to 18), and have lost just shy of 6" (measuring hips, waist, chest, arms) in less than a month on slow carb diet. I've only been semi strict about it too, and just ordered the PAGG stack. Should be interesting to see how that impacts things.

[cKy]