Burning Fat

[Wildfire]

I would like to try and lose fat across my waist, and liberated my attempt at stomach muscles.

I don't want to hit a totaly carb and fat free diet, but just eat sensibly, which can be a problem when you work a lot.

I'm working out 3 times a week or so, doing cardio and weights. But am having trouble toning up in the belly area.

Any tips?

Does anybody have any experience with products such a Maxi Muscle Thermobol? I've tried it, but didn't like the excess caffine content.

[Matt_N]

You cannot target areas for fat loss, your body decides where it will draw its fat reserves from to convert to energy, so you need to take a general approach to losing the weight.

Id suggest upping the cardio to half an hour a day, maintaining your heart rate at a certain percentage of your max (which I cant remember how to work out), working your heart and body in this range is where the body does its thing and uses fat reserves.

You also need to keep an eye on your diet and consume less calories than your burning, 2500kcals is the recommended daily intake allowance for an adult male, so try and stick to that and keep up the excercise.

Avoid late night snacking and go easy on the carbs at tea time.

Someone will be along to provide some more specific advise.

[Austin3000]

I personally wouldnt bother with any commercial fat burners, they will either do nothing or stop you sleeping.

Try drinking green tea, 3-5 cups a days.

Also, if you don't like cardio try free weight squat. I do this twice a week and go as heavy as I can whilst mainting good form (hips to just above knees at bottom of movement) and I have found this really affective in not only helping burn fat but works abs far better than the 100's of sit ups I used to do.

Make sure you get plenty of good fats too, omega 3,6,9 and if you can afford it some Udo's oil (search on google).

[captainzep]

When I started running (principally to lose weight) I found this site to be really useful.

Don't worry if you're not a runner. The exercise principles are the same.

http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/beginners_weigh...

[Tiggsy]

If you're fat you need to eat less (calories)...sooooo simple.

For the casual exerciser (i.e - not a sportsman) it's VERY hard to make much difference through exercise when compared to how simple it is via diet. Look at the calories you'll burn on an hours run (and thats a LONG run for most people) and then look at the calories in a beer and sandwich.....in other words, if your diet is not great you'll make far better gains working on that than the exercise (and NOT having a beer is easier than going for a run.....unless you're an alcoholic)

[Sheets Tabuer]

firstly work out how many calories you need.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculato...

Then split you total calories intake to 4-6 meals a day if possible and try to keep the main bulk of carbs for the morning.

Just eat cleanly, no crap and you will lose it, men lose fat off the tum last of all so once it has gone from everywhere else it will go from the tum.

[Kylie]

You cannot target specific areas no matter what fad diets and books may say. Yr body will determine this. But yes you can strengthen certain muscle groups.

Simply cut out all the rubbish in your diet, count calories if you must, more drastic approach is to keep a diary of food eaten and workouts done. A mixture of cardio and weights will kick start the metabolism and your away Swiss ball crunches with torso twists all good and can be done in front of the tele

[HundredthIdiot]

Tiggsy said:

If you're fat you need to eat less (calories)...sooooo simple.

For the casual exerciser (i.e - not a sportsman) it's VERY hard to make much difference through exercise when compared to how simple it is via diet

I disagree.

Before I started cycling last year I was over 75kg. I am now 69kg. At 6ft tall, I didn't have a massive amount of fat to start with.

The weight fell off because I didn't increase my food intake, but I never felt particularly hungry.

edit: FWIW, during this weight loss period I was typically eating a decent breakfast (marmite on toast), a chicken burger/club sandwich and chips for lunch, and a big evening meal and a few choccy snacks here and there.

Edited by HundredthIdiot on Friday 24th April 09:09

[captainzep]

HundredthIdiot said:

Tiggsy said:

If you're fat you need to eat less (calories)...sooooo simple.

For the casual exerciser (i.e - not a sportsman) it's VERY hard to make much difference through exercise when compared to how simple it is via diet

I disagree.

Before I started cycling last year I was over 75kg. I am now 69kg. At 6ft tall, I didn't have a massive amount of fat to start with.

The weight fell off because I didn't increase my food intake, but I never felt particularly hungry.

edit: FWIW, during this weight loss period I was typically eating a decent breakfast (marmite on toast), a chicken burger/club sandwich and chips for lunch, and a big evening meal and a few choccy snacks here and there.

Edited by HundredthIdiot on Friday 24th April 09:09

I think Tiggsy makes a fair point, -in that its easy to consume lots of calories without noticing it. A cheese and pickle sandwich, crisps, coke will replace the calories burned by running 10k, which most people can't do anyway. And that's before the beer.

But I think exercise is the best way to start for anyone. Providing they enjoy it, its sustainable, (dieting rarely is for long) and exercise reduces diabetes/metabolic syndrome risk in a way that dieting doesn't. Overweight, physically active people live longer than normal-weight inactive people.

[telecat]

You could try Orlistat or Xenical as it is known. I wouldn't use it for long though. It eliminates Fat and you basically produce oily fatty "stools".

It's just been approved for sale in the EU without prescription.

Edited by telecat on Friday 24th April 11:46

[Tiggsy]

HundredthIdiot said:

Tiggsy said:

If you're fat you need to eat less (calories)...sooooo simple.

For the casual exerciser (i.e - not a sportsman) it's VERY hard to make much difference through exercise when compared to how simple it is via diet

I disagree.

Before I started cycling last year I was over 75kg. I am now 69kg. At 6ft tall, I didn't have a massive amount of fat to start with.

You need to consider this is someone ALREADY doing regular exercise....for him to change, say 300 calories, from his day he can either find time to go for a long bike ride or not have a couple of pints of beer.

In your example you could have lost the same amount of fat by eating less...perhaps not as healthy, but this is about fat loss not health. There have been many many studies where people on calorie controlled diets have been monitored against those exercise AND those doing exercise AND diet. The ones doing both loose most weight....but those JUST dieting are not very far behind at all...just exercise (at normal folk levels) is a long way back.

Dont forget i am talking about fat loss through diet being COMPARITEVLEY easier, and for most people it is - and by most people i mean those who happily eat bread, high carb foods, the odd beer, etc. Compare the calories in two pints of beer and a sandwich versus cycling....if you are the type to eat that food its a lot easier to skip that than go out for hours on a bike....comparatively. And the reason i mention it is because the poster is looking for abb advice yet...abbs are made in the kitchen and finished off in the gym. The best 6 pack out there will look poor under a kebab and a bud.

[Wildfire]

Cheers guys. I'm definitely not fat. BMI(I know it's not very accurate) is around 21. I 'm just having trouble shifting that last bit of fat off my stomach.

My downfall is probably my dinners and carbs. At the moment I don't have time to cook due to long hours and long travel times so often it is quick cook things that I eat. This also limits my exercise time.

I'm down to drinking only on the weekends and if I do (which is rare) it's a glass of wine during the week.

I do drinik a lot of green tea, but again due to the hours at work it's switched to coffee recently, because of the need to wake up.

I think I may need to vary my routine.

[Tiggsy]

Wildfire said:

My downfall is probably my dinners and carbs.

At the moment I don't have time to cook ..it is quick cook things that I eat.

I'm down to drinking only on the weekends

Proves my point. High carb quick meals, beers at the weekend and few glasses of wine is the same as a HUGEEEEE amount of jogging! So...whats easier? Stop eating high carb foods, start cooking, cut out the booze.....or jog like forest gump

[Wildfire]

True, but when you get in at 10:30 each night it's pretty hard to sort out a decent meal.

I don't really drink beer though, usually it's a couple of bottles then on to spirts.

I'm down to 9.5% body fat, so it really is that last little bit. I have cut my crisps down to almost nil.

[Stevenj214]

Wildfire said:

True, but when you get in at 10:30 each night it's pretty hard to sort out a decent meal.

I don't really drink beer though, usually it's a couple of bottles then on to spirts.

I'm down to 9.5% body fat, so it really is that last little bit. I have cut my crisps down to almost nil.

9.5% bodyfat is low. Do you have much muscle mass? Maybe the solution for you would be to minimise cardio, focus on weights, increase protein intake and build some muscle mass.

[HundredthIdiot]

Wildfire said:

I'm down to 9.5% body fat, so it really is that last little bit. I have cut my crisps down to almost nil.

Right, so it's just vanity then.

I estimate my body fat at 16%, and I don't have any flabby bits.

[Tiggsy]

how are you testing your fat? under 10% yet you eat crisp, snack late at night and have a "belly".......you either testing wrong or have mental issues!

[Slagathore]

I was always under the impression that anything below 10% body fat was visible 6 pack territory?

Maybe you need to develop the muscles a bit more, instead of losing more weight?

Also, if you've been using one of those online body fat calculators, don't expect accurate results. According to one them, my body fat was 7%. It most definitely isn't, though.

[ClintonB]

Tiggsy said:

If you're fat you need to eat less (calories)...sooooo simple.

For the casual exerciser (i.e - not a sportsman) it's VERY hard to make much difference through exercise when compared to how simple it is via diet. Look at the calories you'll burn on an hours run (and thats a LONG run for most people) and then look at the calories in a beer and sandwich.....in other words, if your diet is not great you'll make far better gains working on that than the exercise (and NOT having a beer is easier than going for a run.....unless you're an alcoholic)

If only it were that simplistic & one dimensional

I'll admit I don't exercise but my calorie intake is probably 2000 pd on average and is probably less for 5 days out of 7 (and the other 2 aren't exactly Elvis these days). Even if I go for 1500 days for a few weeks I don't shift anything. To add to that, the content of the diet is reasonable as well.

By your logic I should be fine & skinny, so how is it that I'm over 120kg???

Edited by ClintonB on Sunday 26th April 22:44

[HundredthIdiot]

ClintonB said:

I'll admit I don't exercise but my calorie intake is probably 2000 pd on average and is probably less for 5 days out of 7 (and the other 2 aren't exactly Elvis these days). Even if I go for 1500 days for a few weeks I don't shift anything. To add to that, the content of the diet is reasonable as well.

By your logic I should be fine & skinny, so how is it that I'm over 120kg???

Either you are underestimating the calories, or you have an incredibly efficient lifestyle.

Either way, it's calories in/calories out, the energy doesn't come from nowhere. If you use more than you take in, you cannot help but lose weight.

The problem with dieting without exercise is that (a) you have more time to think about how hungry you are (b) you can never really "reward" yourself with a decent meal for burning a load of calories, so it's all stick and no carrot (i.e. miserable).