OK, how do I lose this gut?

EricM wrote: Read "Why we get Fat, and What to do about it" by Gary Taubes.

At the risk of wading into the pissing match, a close friend read this book at Christmas and implemented it hard core around 1/1 of this year. Since then, he has lost 50 lbs. Perhaps more importantly, his body chemistry is almost unbelievably better. He received his most recent blood work results last week and here are his numbers:

Cholesterol: 219 -> 170 Triglycerides: 193 -> 80

He also had highly elevated abnormal live functions (2.5 times the "normal" range) and those numbers are now 25% of what they were.

He does exercise, but not to a great extent. This approach may or may not work for everyone, but it's had a HUGE impact on him.

I suspect if you got hardcore on a low carb diet, a vegan diet, a low fat diet or pretty much anything that limited one or more tasty groups of food, you'd lose weight.

AngryCorvair wrote: In reply to paanta: your twin study is a perfect example how there is both a genetic and an environmental element to much of what we as humans experience / demonstrate. i contend that to create wealth takes intelligence, and that intelligent people don't tend to breed with mouth-breathers (which is a term i like better than "retards" although i do use both in mixed company). so the rich twin in poor home shows us that genetics can overpower some amount of environmental crap. perhaps hopeless to solve in one generation, but i vote for less breeding by mouth-breathers as a long-term plan for weight loss of the human race. yep, i said it.

Without a doubt, I have seen the correlation between income and diet. More now than probably ever before, there are households where no one is capable or willing to cook a solid meal from scratch. Because of this, the reliance on premade foods is growing, and the quality of these foods is just terrible. Like, don't-know-if-that-ingredient-is-edible-without-looking-it-up terrible.

eat More tacos !

Scott wrote: I suspect if you got hardcore on a low carb diet, a vegan diet, a low fat diet or pretty much anything that limited one or more tasty groups of food, you'd lose weight.

Low carb diet: 24/7 Porterhouse love fest! Melt some cheese on that, whydoncha. Vegan: Did you know that Oreos are vegan? Oreo breakfast every day. With soy milk (very vanilla, thankyouverymuch).

I've seen the spirit of so many well-meaning diets ruined by exploiting the rulebook, and people get surprised when these diets don't work.

Karl La Follette wrote: eat More tacos !

I endorse this message. Grilled meat, lots of cilantro, and fresh jalapenos is my favorite combination.

MitchellC wrote: Without a doubt, I have seen the correlation between income and diet. More now than probably ever before, there are households where no one is capable or willing to cook a solid meal from scratch.

I kinda agree but I don't think the correlation is income based. Like Angry said... I think it is mouth breathers. They also tend to have lower incomes because, well, they are imbeciles.

Many people I know who are just starting families and careers have lower incomes and very little time for cooking but they manage to eat well and feed the minions decent food. Produce is cheap and you can eat most of it raw.

The mouth-breathers hit the value menu.

I started reading the nutrition labels on everything after my heart surgery. When trying to look for snack foods that met my 20-30 grams of carbohydrates target I happened to read the Oreos packaging. To meet that target I could only eat one cookie ! Nobody can eat only one Oreo. It does come down to eating food that's good for you for no other reason than you can eat more .If I'm in a hungry mood now, I double up my portion of vegetables instead of more rice. I even stay away from the higher carb vegetables now.

To the OP. If you really want to lose weight you need to keep in mind it is nothing more than calorie in vs. calorie out. It does not matter what type of foods you eat, be they healthy or unhealthy, it all depends upon if you burned more calories at the end of the day then you took in.

All of the diets you read about are fads and nothing more. However many of them work because they deprive you of certain food groups or find ways to limit your intake of high calorie foods. At the end of the day any weight loss is due to your body running at a caloric deficit and nothing more. To help support the calorie in vs. calorie out theory perform a Google search for the man who lost weight eating nothing but potatoes, and another for the man who ate nothing but twinkies and junk food. Both men lost weight because they reduced their caloric intake.

For long term weight loss success, pay close attention to your portion sizes, eat slower, and weight your food until you get a good grasp on proper portion sizes. Many adults vastly over estimate the size of 1 portion, leading them to consume more calories than they really need. For the calorie out-side of the equation take up weight lifting to build additional fat burning muscles and try to perform some aerobic type of activity at least 3 days per week.

Finally just remember these two points. Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% activity and you can't outwork a crappy diet. Good luck!

fried Oreo $1 dollar see taco truck

One pound of body fat= 3500 calories. Cutting 500 calories/ day from your diet should result in 1 lb. loss/ week. Burn an extra 500/ day drop another pound/ week.

There is a loss lag once you start so don't be disappointed at first but it will kick in. I lost over 60 lbs. this way w/ an average loss of 2 lbs./ week. It's not that difficult to cut 500 cal./ day from the diet or burn an extra 500 but it does require the will to change.

Plenty of info online per food and exercise calories.

Good luck, I'm 6'1" went from 250 to 159 and still had a gut and love handles, it was obviously much smaller but an underwear model I was not. Normal weight for my height is 160-180. Building muscle just makes the fat on the outside stick out more, fail. I am currently still in denial that I did all that work and still didn't have the body I wanted and I gained some of the weight back. If I had money I would probably look into lipo. I think it would be much easier to maintain then to get way under weight for it to finally disappear.

SupraWes wrote: Good luck

No offense to you, but sometimes ugly body shape can't be fixed.

I have HUGE thighs, just ginourmous. And I weighed ~130 pounds throughout highschool at 5' 8" (and I'm a dude that got lots of physical activity). I literally have drum sticks for legs in the way they are shaped, so I'll never be able to wear skinny rockstar pants on stage

I've come to accept the fact that if I am being honest about my health, and I am leading a healthy life, I should be happy as I'll never be "that" guy. I also take notice that some fat slobs get hot chicks all the time (stupid, but hot chicks), so that game is really all about personality.

Meh, be healthy, limit the sugar and fat, eat your veggies, and exercise. I expect by this fall to hit my 145 pounds and I'll be happy.

One word....clenbuterol, lol. Seriously, though, try walking on a treadmill at 4mph, with a 12% incline, for two miles. After this, jog a mile or so. Do this every day. Just the walking portion burns nearly 500 Cal. I've been lifting weights and doing this after lifting with really good results. Diet soda and sweets have been mostly removed from my diet, and I seem to eat chicken breasts and veggies for every meal. I've gone from a chubby 5'8 189lbs to a very nice and toned 185lbs over the past 7 months. I've always been a pretty muscular guy, but I feel and look so much better now. I managed to bench 300lbs for the first time the other day. I've been deployed, so I don't have much else to do when I'm off besides workout, but I think that everyone can set aside an hour a day to do something. Being fat and out of shape just makes life harder for you and those you love later on in life.

paanta wrote: Diet and exercise work, but look at how few people can successfully lose weight and keep it off in spite of huge pressures to do so. Single digit percentages. Point is, nobody really knows why we're a bunch of lardasses and what works for one person probably won't work for the next.

Disagree.

We're grossly overweight because we eat like pigs and don't move. No where else on this planet have I seen people eat like Americans. And almost nowhere have I seen people move as little as an American does..

People fail on diets because they don't take it seriously. They don't research, don't know what they are eating, and make silly cuts. Between rationalizing scarfing down 6 hershey bars in the name of chocolate being good for you and attempting to eat nothing for a week, they fail.

Exercise attempts are made in January 1st, and abandoned by February 1st. It's hot and sweaty, takes time, and lots of folks quit because of that. Far easier to sit on the couch watching Wii Fit, pretending that is exercise.

Credentials?

Lost about 50 lbs last year, have kept it off, and am in darn good physical shape these days.

Eat less, move more.

Datsun1500 wrote: A few more details. I eat OK. I don't eat much junk, I do not eat fast food. I am sure I could eat better, but it's not like I eat bad. I do eat pasta at least once a week... I do not work out, but I don't lay around either. I am retired so I don't sit in a cubicle all day or at a desk not moving. I do mountain bike, snowboard, and swim, but not as much as I would like. My main issue is I am not fat in my face, arms, legs, etc. just my gut. If I lose weight it comes right off of my gut and if I gain it it goes right back on. I am not looking for a magic pill, diet, or workout but just some ideas that "should" help. It is frustrating that I feel like I do a better than average job of watching what I eat and getting some exercise but still don't feel good about how I look. I will look into the portion sizes because I bet I do take more than I should. I have also been told that make sure I eat at regular times instead of waiting until I am hungry. I did lose about 7 pounds just by not drinking soda since Jan 1st....

You should be able to find several diet plans online. I used one that was based on one from the American Diabetes Association (I have a sugar intolerance). Pick any of them and compare the portion sizes to what you actually eat now. I'll bet you'll find you eat a good deal more than the diet says,I know I did. A cup and a half of Cheerios doesn't fill my bowl ! But, I feel a whole lot better, so don't give up.

foxtrapper wrote:

paanta wrote: Diet and exercise work, but look at how few people can successfully lose weight and keep it off in spite of huge pressures to do so. Single digit percentages. Point is, nobody really knows why we're a bunch of lardasses and what works for one person probably won't work for the next.

Disagree. We're grossly overweight because we eat like pigs and don't move. No where else on this planet have I seen people eat like Americans. And almost nowhere have I seen people move as little as an American does.. People fail on diets because they don't take it seriously. They don't research, don't know what they are eating, and make silly cuts. Between rationalizing scarfing down 6 hershey bars in the name of chocolate being good for you and attempting to eat nothing for a week, they fail. Exercise attempts are made in January 1st, and abandoned by February 1st. It's hot and sweaty, takes time, and lots of folks quit because of that. Far easier to sit on the couch watching Wii Fit, pretending that is exercise. Credentials? Lost about 50 lbs last year, have kept it off, and am in darn good physical shape these days. Eat less, move more.

Actually, I think people see them as temporary diets, when they should be seen as lifestyles. IHMO, I think that's one core problem with the "diet fad" idea of diets. Low carb diets are not a fad, they just are not continued to their lifestyle extension. Same can be said of most diets.

This is the hard part- what ever you choose to eat to lose weight- that has to be permanent. like forever permanent. So you need to find a solution that you enjoy quite a bit, and is good for your body, and is low enough in calories.

That's where the whole calories in/calories out issue becomes a problem. Modern food is in large doses, and generally is high in calorie. So cutting calories in means starving yourself (somewhat)- which isn't a great way to surivive for the rest of your life. Find the food that is good for you, and you can eat large masses of it so that you body is satisfied, and that it's low calorie.

Reminder- this isn't for the next 6-12 months. It's for the next 30 years.

alfadriver wrote: Actually, I think people see them as temporary diets, when they should be seen as lifestyles.

I'd go along with that.

The closest to a caviat I'd also toss into that is that to actually lose weight, you've got to do more than just eat healthy enough to not gain weight.

I've done every diet out there and have been up and down many times. The ONLY thing that works is burn more calories than you eat. My advice is to count calories. It's not important to get it 100% accurate down to the last calorie, but keeping a log will really open your eyes. To loose weight, I should have been around 2000 calories per day give or take. I started tracking intake (using an iPhone app) before I started to diet and hit over 5000 calories in a day on a few occasions! That's no good!

UPDATE: Had a doctor's appointment today and I am officially 70 pounds overweight! HUH? At her target weight I would look like this guy: 50 pounds sure, but 70? No way.

Well, seeing as how you were regularly eating more than twice what you needed to, it's very possible that you're 70lbs overweight.

I am just hoping people don't start posting pictures of their bodies for us to judge.

i lost 20 lbs in 3 months just recently, actually. My secret isn't new, though, everybody mentioned it already. I went from 3 bottles of Mt. Dew a day and sitting on my computer to 1 bottle of Mt. Dew a day (the rest in coke zero or something like that) and exercize with my bike on a trainer 45 minutes to an hour (heart rate 140 to 175 most of the time) 3 or 4 times a week. The rest of the time i sit on my computer. I still eat pizza, I still drink soft drinks, and I still lost 20 lbs, I just consumed a normal amount of calories (as opposed to way too much all in sugary drink form) and got a CONSITENT aerobic exercize plan. easy. (for the record i'm 22, 5'11" and went from 190's to 170's, weighed just 3 minutes ago)

The same thing happened when I was 15. I went from 170's to 150's by cycling my butt off. not only did I lose fat, but I went from a 180lb leg press to a 600lb leg press by the time i was 17(same machine). I have since dropped a bit of that during college when lazyness and Mt. dew came back in full force, hence the 190's...

I was told by a very good physician once, that we should only eat what was available two hundred years ago. A lot of our foods are over-processed today.

White rice-eat brown rice, all the good stuff is processed out of the white leaving only simple carbohydrates.

White bread-eat whole grain bread.

White pasta-eat whole grain pasta.

Soda pop.....WTF are you thinking, drink water, fruit juice (whole), tea, wine, beer, whiskey, anything but soda.

Fast food-nope cook a real meal, or eat fruit, or a salad.

Plus exercise does make a huge difference. All my adult life I weighed 155-165lbs. At 6'1" I ate everything I could, trying to get to the "optimum 180lbs". I worked at a fairly physical job 40-50 hrs/week, plus another 20-30hrs/week in the garage building cars, plus training martial arts 7-8 hrs/week.

After hurting my back, and spending 20-22 hrs a day prone, I hit 200lbs in THREE MONTHS. I was fat as a pre-teen approx 50lbs overweight. Eat less exercise more works. But eat less of better stuff, exercise more works better.

Oh yeah, now I'm at 185lbs.

honestly what we did for a friend was cut out all soda and added in 5 miles roller blading a day(seriously not long at all) 8 cups of grape juice. he lost 35 lbs in a year. and has kept it off. me personally im trying to find a way that i dont have to drink wieght gainer shakes to stay my current wieght. my body wants to be 120 but i feel terrible at that wieght. i feel good at 130 but its so hard to stay there.