Losing the Beer Gut

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Here's a couple of questions:

1) How long should someone do cardio (run, eliptical, arc trainer, etc...) for a weight loss regimen? I'm not overweight, but I have the beer gut too. It's being pretty stubborn.

2) How high do you need to raise your heart rate to be the most effective?

You need to get your heart rate up and keep it up for a good length of time, and you have to do it often.

Your target heart rate is usually dependant on your age and weight. My target heart rate is about 180 or so, similar for a lot of people.

I highly recommend cycling. It's low impact, so you don't have to worry about things like shin splints if you have bad shoes (like I do). I like to run an alpine program on the bike for about 30 minutes or so. At the peak I get my heart going pretty good. Work up a hell of a sweat too!

The biggest thing is to get into your target heart rate, and try to keep it there as long as you can. I usually seem to get around 170 ~ 180 and can keep that for about 20 minutes or so.

[calf]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Diet pop helped me lose almost 30 lbs. When you have a 2 can/day habit of coke, going to diet helps huge. I've found that coke zero tastes great, as well as the diet cherry/vanilla Dr. Pepper. For clear products that don't have caffine as well, Diet 7up is better than Sprite, IMO. If you need to drink, hard alcohol with diet pop is extremely low calorie! Also, I have a hard time drinking a tonne of water, so I add the Crystal Light juice mix which is low calorie and tastes pretty good. They have singles as well so if you have a water bottle that has measures, you just pop one or two in and voila! Low carb/calorie juice.

I'd probably be 20-30lbs bigger if it wasn't for diet pop entering my life. Coke Zero is kind-of blah for me...tastes just like Diet Coke. Diet Pepsi is probably my favorite diet cola. Agreed on the others though.

Question - anyone know if there's much effect drinking coffee? with one little creamer packet? plus one sugar cube?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Diet pop helped me lose almost 30 lbs. When you have a 2 can/day habit of coke, going to diet helps huge. I've found that coke zero tastes great, as well as the diet cherry/vanilla Dr. Pepper. For clear products that don't have caffine as well, Diet 7up is better than Sprite, IMO. If you need to drink, hard alcohol with diet pop is extremely low calorie! Also, I have a hard time drinking a tonne of water, so I add the Crystal Light juice mix which is low calorie and tastes pretty good. They have singles as well so if you have a water bottle that has measures, you just pop one or two in and voila! Low carb/calorie juice.

Most quick drinks will dehydrate you. Getting into the habit of drinking at least a liter of water a day is a good thing to do. I love that Aquafina flavoured water. It's just so damn good! And no artificial flavours.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

If you don't like running outside, the UofC has an awsome track that you can use. In fact I ran into kermitology today (no pun inteded!).

stalker....

I love the gym, but for running I prefer the oval. It's cool running in there, makes me feel nice running in there.

[Buff]

I'll agree with FireFly's solution to drink diet pop. My friend switched to diet pop. I was crushed at first... how could he become such a girly man? However he was the same person but did a great job in losing weight. Sure it helps that he plays tennis (won some chamionships in Atlanta), jogs and plays ball hockey but he said the biggest difference for him to losing weight was watching what he consumed and switching to diet pop was a big difference maker in his diet and he was still able to drink pop.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

I already figured out to cut out the bad food- first on my list is limiting the pop and the junk food. I'll never go cold turkey, but I think cutting down heavily will help me a lot.

I think I eat when I am bored.

I gained 50 pounds after 2 years uni...finally decided to do something about, and lost 30 pounds in 2 months (the other 20 pounds should have been there as I was a bone rack when I started school) but doing only 2 things

1. switch to diet pop (studied drinking coke back then)
2. no snacks after supper

continued with beer as needed, exercised in moderation

kind of showed me how lame the weight was that I put on, b/c it came off so easily (in my case)

[FireFly]

Oh, I know they aren't good, but it's better than regular pop when you're trying to kick the habit. and I try to drink a litre of water without flavour, then I drink another with some flavour.


Coffee is low calorie, sugar and creamer are not.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by calf

Question - anyone know if there's much effect drinking coffee? with one little creamer packet? plus one sugar cube?

Like my dad used to always say "Cream is fattening and the girls say I'm sweet enough, so I don't need sugar either"

[BlackArcher101]

I'm looking into losing weight as well.

Once upon a time I used to be fit, had a job outdoors, everything was good. Now I'm in a office with lot's of projects on my plate, and my diet hasn't changed, but I'm finding no time for exercise of any kind. I now feel like crap and probably gained 40 pounds.

Never been to a gym in my life, and I don't like running. May pick up a bike, but is it worth the few hours a week I'll spend on it?

[Buff]

For you young'uns make sure you start your healthy eating and exercise routine fairly early in life. I used to be able to add and drop 10 pounds without any problems. The last couple of years I found that I need to work harder to keep the pounds off. (I'm 30 now). I wished that I had kept a routine of regular exercise and healthier eating so my need to get healthier wouldn't be as, for lack of better words, urgent.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Here's a couple of questions:

1) How long should someone do cardio (run, eliptical, arc trainer, etc...) for a weight loss regimen? I'm not overweight, but I have the beer gut too. It's being pretty stubborn.

2) How high do you need to raise your heart rate to be the most effective?

1) It depends on how long you have been doing it. The more you do it, the faster and longer you will be able to go.

I started out by running 1 minute, then walking 2. I was horrible.

Now I can run about 8km in just under 40 minutes w/o stopping. Running takes no special skill. Just practice.

2) As high as you can go, I think. Of course, the faster you run the higher your heart rate will go. So if you are going to go long distances, you will never be at your "max heart beat."

I am no doctor, or medical expert. I am just stating what has worked for me.

[Buff]

In jr.high gym class we used to do the "8-minute run". I was fast enough to complete it in 8 minutes.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by kermitology

You need to get your heart rate up and keep it up for a good length of time, and you have to do it often.

Your target heart rate is usually dependant on your age and weight. My target heart rate is about 180 or so, similar for a lot of people.

I highly recommend cycling. It's low impact, so you don't have to worry about things like shin splints if you have bad shoes (like I do). I like to run an alpine program on the bike for about 30 minutes or so. At the peak I get my heart going pretty good. Work up a hell of a sweat too!

The biggest thing is to get into your target heart rate, and try to keep it there as long as you can. I usually seem to get around 170 ~ 180 and can keep that for about 20 minutes or so.

Heart rate is a touh question IMO.

If you want to plain lose weight then yes, raising your heart rate to high levels will accomplish that. However, you're burning muscle mass at the same time, so if you're trying to gain muscle it's not such a good idea.

Right now I'm experimenting with 3 different cardio programs.
- Extended elevated cardio (like a spin class, but with really low rest intervals), maintaining 160bpm (I should point out my heart rate is WAY lower than normal for some reason)
- Straight up cardio (jogging)
- 50 second sprints with 1 minute rests in between
- light cardio that keeps my heart rate below 80bpm
-extended sprint/light rest intervals

The most challenging is the extended sprints. I picked them up from a friend that trains on the National rugby team, and once a week I was doing 6 sets that consisted of a 400 meter sprint followed by a 600 meter jog. The first time I did it it took about 1/2 hour, and I had to really concentrate to avoid hurling all over the track at Lindsay Park. It got easier the 3rd or 4th time though.

[FlamesAddiction]

Thanks for the advice Kermit and TOTF.

I've only been doing it for about 3 weeks. I usually get my heart rate between 160 and 170, but I go about 1 hour from beginning to end.

Do you think it would be better to work out more intensely, but for a shorter time?

[Mango]

I began jogging for awhile but I found it was too high impact for my liking. It was hard on my back and because I suffer from scoliosis, it made it even worse. Therefore, I'm an avid gym-goer.

I have a hard time getting motivated to go to the gym sometimes, but once I get there, I feel very motivated. The presence of others working out around me always pushes me.

I took a session with a personal trainer and together, we came up with a fitness regime that would work for my body type, lifestyle, trouble areas (ie. back problem, inner thighs), and schedule. As mentioned earlier in the thread, the most important thing is to get your heart rate up.

I go to the gym MWT. Monday is strictly a cardio work out. I do stretching, some work with an exercise ball, and then head onto a machine. I find that the bike works best. Wednesday is mostly weight training, especially on my lower back. I warm up using the exercise ball and a medicine ball. Friday is a combo day where I do half cardio and half weight training.

Although I haven't totally changed around my diet, I try to drink more water and eat more vegetables. I have a high metabolism, and it's easy to get lazy sometimes. I keep a log of what I eat everyday and the exercises that I do.

The most improtant thing to remember is start out slowly and at your own pace. Don't way attention to what others are doing. It's your body and it may not react well if you push yourself too hard. Also, remember how important it is to stretch before and after any sort of exercise.

[the_only_turek_fan]

One more thing. If you are serious about it, get a GOOD pair of running shoes.

Asics make the best running shoes out there. New Balance is pretty good as well.

http://www.sportmart.ca/store/2produ...6HR45PN48K6RWB

Have a look at those. It is important to have good shoes to aviod blisters, loss or arch in your foot, and more importantly you want to avoid back problems.

[HelloHockeyFans]

The only way to lose the gut and excess fat anywhere else is to combine a good diet with frequent cardio activity. Easier said than done though.

As for the type of cardio training, you have the choice between interval cardio training and endurance cardio training.

The good thing about high-intensity interval training is that long after you've stopped training, your body continues to burn calories (I've heard from people as long as 24 hours after). Another good thing about interval training is you fool your body by constantly changing the intensity you're training at. With experience, most people see their bodies "adapt" or "plateau" as they progress through their regimen, but with interval training it's harder for your body to adapt because you are changing things more often.

With low-intensity cardio, the burning of the calories pretty much stops immediately when you stop.

[Pagal4321]

Well I gained 10 pounds last semester because I had zero motivation. Pretty bad actually. Trying to get back into it now. Workout 3-5 times a week, TRYING to watch what I eat, but working at the Den doesn't help the waistline.
Anyways, quick question...I got sick of the track and started using the stairs on the side. Pretty much running up and down them. Once walking, once jogging, the once sprinting...then walk half the length of the track, then I repeat.
Is that a good thing to do or should I just stick running around the track? Now that I have my iPod I guess the track can't be all that bad.

[Kybosh]

For all you diet coke fanatics out there, a word of caution. Aspartame is being shown to have some pretty bad health effects (ie. mild neurotoxin). Just remember that it is just a compound that tastes sweet but behaves totally different in the body than sucrose. Various carbohydrates (sugars) are used/found in the body naturally. . .aspartame is not.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

Well I gained 10 pounds last semester because I had zero motivation. Pretty bad actually. Trying to get back into it now. Workout 3-5 times a week, TRYING to watch what I eat, but working at the Den doesn't help the waistline.
Anyways, quick question...I got sick of the track and started using the stairs on the side. Pretty much running up and down them. Once walking, once jogging, the once sprinting...then walk half the length of the track, then I repeat.
Is that a good thing to do or should I just stick running around the track? Now that I have my iPod I guess the track can't be all that bad.

From what I know, running stairs isn't a bad thing, but you can't go as fast as if you're say on a track. It does however give your quadriceps a massive workout.