My new gut, and how to get rid of it

[Monkeyleg]

I've been skinny all my life, and have been able to eat as much as I want without gaining weight. (I once had thirteen plates of fish at an all-you-can eat fish fry, and have eaten two restaurant meals at once on more than one ocassion).

My weight has stayed in the 175 to 180 range for probably 20 years or more.

Something changed in the last year, probably because I'm now spending more time at the keyboard than I am doing work that involves exercise.

Anyway, I'm now up to almost 190. None of my pants fit. I can actually feel my gut.

This is all new and weird to me.

Will going back to basic sit-ups be enough, or is there another exercise that's more efficient in terms of time. (I really should get into whole-body exercises, but that's for another thread).

Any advice much appreciated.

[Iain]

Quick reply here - exercise in general and good diet will be the key. Sit-ups by themselves are going to make very little difference to a bit of excess fat on the stomach, they'll improve the condition of the abdominal muscles (unless you're a hip flexor guy) but that in itself isn't going to make you leaner. 'Fraid you'll have to find something a bit more energetic.

[Ron]

You have no choice but to burn more calories than you consume.

Exercise and restricting your diet.

Exercising your abs will firm them up but will not make you lose your gut. You cannot "spot train" your body for weight reduction.

I suggest smaller balanced meals three times a day and a daily walking regimen. Add bicycle riding and hiking to the mix for fun.

Some weight lifting under the supervision of someone who knows what they are doing will increase muscle mass and you will burn more calories from the increase in muscle mass.

Just my 2 cents.

[Nightfall]

Sit-ups in and of themselves are only useful in getting rid of a gut in so far as much as they burn calories. I'd recommend running, swimming, etc. instead (cardio stuff). A good, balanced diet will serve you the best however. I'd suggest reducing calories overall, reducing carbs (not eliminating), and smaller but more frequent meals. Drinking lots and lots of water will help. More than two liters a day.

[Sindawe]

Are you married?  If so, got a a divorce.  That'll melt the pounds right off of ya.  I lost 55 lbs in three months when I got divorced in '90 (yes, I was a porker then).

The only way to lose that weight is cut the intake of calories and/or increase the burn rate. Some form of aerobic exercise is best, such as a brisk 20-30 min walk 3 times a week or more.  Determine your target heart rate here: http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm  and stay in that range when you exercise.  If you have a health club available, using a stationary bike or a Nordic track type device is great, though a stair stepper will also work.

Change your eating habits as well. Take the calories you do consume and divy them up 'tween 6 or so meals a day, eating every 2.5-3 hours.  Dump the junk food except for rare occasions, eat fresh fruits, veggies, lean meats and complex carbs.

[Matthew Carberry]

That's my story as well.

You know, the advances in adult stem cell research may not help with the weight per se, but they could turn that ugly gut into a pair of beautiful new breasts. 

[Brad Johnson]

Eat right and exercise.  Remember two things.  First, a healthy adult male requires just over 2000 calories a day to maintain a healthy body weight.  Seconds, a pound of fat equates to roughly 3500 calories.

The easiest way to get where you are going is being mindful of your overall caloric intake and to get regular, sustained exercise.  If your lifestyle is relatively sedentary then 2000 cal a day is probably a good start.  2000 calories is more than you think if you are eating right.  To put it in perspective, 2000 calories is the equivalent of eleven 4 oz servings of broiled or baked chicken, roughly 25 lbs of mixed veggies, or two and a half large tubs of cottage cheese.  Start tanking up on cheeseburgers, pizza, or Cokes, though, and it ain't much.

For exercise go for sustained activity rather than specific muscle toning.  The situps will tone your abs but really don't do much for upping your metabolism to help burn the excess fat.  Don't get me wrong, it sure can't hurt to do them and you enjoy it, by all means get going! It's just that there are better exercises suited to your goals.  3 miles on a treadmill at a 3% gradient is around 360 calories.  And that's at a modest 3.5 mph (a brisk walk).  Do that every day and in only ten days you've burned the equivalent of a pound of fat without doing anything except walking.  I do mine every night while I'm watching TV.  I'm going to be sitting there in front of the tube anyway, might as well make better use of the time!

With only a slight change in dietary habits and a modest, regular exercise regimen, you should be able to drop 10-12 lbs in about 2 months.  And you'll have done it in a way that's more lifestyle change than on/off dieting.

Brad

[mtnbkr]

Eating fewer calories, restricting carbs (not low carb per se, just cut down), and restrict fat.  Doing that and nothing else helped me lose 35lbs in 2005.  Take a nightly walk after dinner.  Whenever you feel like snacking, get yourself to wait an hour before you can have that snack.  Sometimes, you won't be hungry for it or you'll forget altogether.

Chris

[DJJ]

And keep a written journal of everything you eat, and your exercise, and be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Calculate calories, or carbs, or whatever measure you want - just record it, and note results along with it. Review it regularly. You'll be able to figure out what works and what doesn't.

[mtnbkr]

yeah, what he said.  A journal is a great thing.  Count calories like mad.  This will help you track your intake.  You'll be surprised at how much you eat.

Also, try to substitute "good foods" for "bad".  Instead of the 12oz steak and baked 'tater, get the 6oz and eat all the steamed veggies you want.

Chris

[Cromlech]

In order to lose fat, you need to effectively 'starve' yourself, to a small degree. You need to burn more calories than you consume, in order for your body to turn itself on the fat supplies inside.

Let's say that you need 2500 calories per day (the rough guideline for a 5'11" 180lb 21 year old male like myself). Limit yourself to 2000 calories per day, and in one week, you can burn off 1lb of fat, give or take. It does vary with the individual, and I am no doctor or nutrionist, so my word is hardly Gospel, but you get the idea.

That's the way to do it without exercise. With exercise, it's better.

If you work out A LOT, you can eat even more than you are now.

 EDIT: Here is something to back that up - http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

Calories Per Day Calculator
How many calories per day your body burns
This adult daily calories calculator gives an approximation of your basal metabolic rate - the number of calories per day your body burns.

If your goal is to lose weight by burning off excess body fat, aim to eat 500 fewer calories per day than your daily caloric needs, and maintain or increase your exercise activity. Do not go below 1200 calories per day unless you are on a medically supervised weight loss program or after consultation with your doctor.

[mtnbkr]

If you work out A LOT, you can eat even more than you are now.

Not always.  I can't lose weight by exercise alone, but I drop pounds rapidly by restricting calories.  Unfortunately, the former is easier for me.

Chris

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Can anyone recommend a good reference source that has all of this information?

[Cromlech]

If you work out A LOT, you can eat even more than you are now.

Not always.  I can't lose weight by exercise alone, but I drop pounds rapidly by restricting calories.  Unfortunately, the former is easier for me.

Chris

Well not everyone is going to get the same results (your body type determines a lot) and it also depends on what exercise you do.

Weights will put on muscle, which is heavier than fat, for example.

[CAnnoneer]

Never ever starve yourself! If you do, your metabolism will shut down and make you slumpy, so you will burn less. You will have muscle loss as well as fat loss, but with less muscle, your energy needs will be smaller as well. When you reach the desired weight, returning to your previous eating habits will make you put on the weight back and more. Many people go through this vicious circle of starvation diets and don't understand what is going on.

Look up what the recommended caloric intake is for your physique and make sure you eat at least 80% of that. Now make also sure you burn more than that by exercise. Combine different aerobics with at least some weight-lifting (to keep all your muscles at good tone and help against bone loss). Alternate weights days with rest days to allow muscle and tendon recovery. Try to "hit" all parts of the body, not just what you consider "problem area". If you use elliptical machines, try to keep mostly in the "fat burn" regime, since "cardio" regime is likely to burn muscle, especially if you are tired.

In terms of diet, try to eat 50% veggie/fruit + 25% protein + 25% carb. Generally foods that have protein also have enough fats for the daily needs. Try to completely cut out "easy carbs", e.g. refined sugar, corn syrup, sugary juices, particularly sweet fruits etc., and concentrate on "slower-release" carbs e.g. yams, whole grains. That also prevents insulin spikes and helps avoid pre-diabetes. The more processed and refined the food, the more likely it is bad for you. Stay away from saturated fats and trans-fats.

Check out are Thurmond's nutritional system, Gunnar Peterson's core gymnastics, "Ultrametabolism" for toxicity/inflamation/synthetics explanations, and Dr Phil's books (yeah, I know) for the psychological underpinnings of obesity.

[Vodka7]

If you want to get started without signing up for a gym or buying a lot of equipment, spend a lot of time on http://www.rosstraining.com/

Ross has a huge following in the amateur MMA and boxing circles (he trains pro boxers professionally), so a lot of his stuff is tailored to high intensity workouts, but Never Gymless would be a great place to start.  Sure, you may not be doing triple-clap pushups or clap pullups like Ross does, but anyone can do the beginner regime from Never Gymless.  (The basic idea is to mix old fashioned bodyweight exercises in with short distance running.  It's more of a cardio building plan than a weight loss plan, but it shows a lot of exercises you can use to mix it up so you don't get bored and/or plateau with just situps.)

He's also got a pretty laid back approach to food--although he gets a little preachy on the benefits of organically grown grass fed etc etc meat, the basic message is "quit eating all that crap and find healthier alternatives you can still enjoy."  Also, like a lot of MMA/boxing trainers, he recommends having a "cheat day."  You eat like a saint for six days out of the week, and on the seventh, go ahead and eat half a pizza by yourself if that makes you happy.  It's focused towards making changes that you feel comfortable sticking with, and rewarding you for the hard work you've been doing during the week.

I mean, I still smoke and drink, so it's not like the book turned me into a saint, but it did get me to eventually replace almost all the white flour products in my life with whole wheat alternatives (whole wheat pasta is still an abomination IMO), and I can't remember the last time I had chicken that wasn't skinless and grilled.  And when I do eat fast food, I get a McChicken or two with ketchup instead of mayo and a diet coke instead of the Big Mac with fries meal.  (After Supersize Me a dietician did a survey of all the then-current fast food lineups and the McChicken was the least-bad for you for the serving size.  And you can't beat that it's still on the dollar menu!)

So, make some slow changes to your diet would be my advice.  Don't go around radically removing 80% of what you eat.  Replace what you can, and try halving the servings on stuff you can't live without.  If you're hungry, grab a yogurt or some tuna and whole wheat crackers (did someone say Triscuits?)

[Lee]

Change your attitude and pants.  You're older, you're fatter...and the problem is?

[Monkeyleg]

Thanks for all of the replies.

Here's an even weirder part of this story: last spring I went to the doctor, and I weighed in at 173. That really concerned me, as my weight has always been in the 175 to 180 range.

On one of my last doctor visits, he pointed out to me that I had lumps on my thyroid. Don't know if that affects anything or not.

I've had the same diet regimen for over 25 years: no breakfast, usually no lunch, and then 1.5 to 2 pounds of food for dinner at around 8 pm.

I guess this getting old stuff changes everything.

[Cromlech]

Yeah, breakfast should be one the biggest, if not the biggest meal of the day, ideally.

[MechAg94]

I am waiting for someone to invent a "power supply/surge protector" for the computer that is tied to stationary bike.  No playing games or surfing the internet unless you pedal. 

[Chris]

Once upon a time, I could gain or drop[ 10-15 lbs in a couple of weeks. go on vacation, eat a ton and do nothing, gain it, get back to a routine, and drop it within a few weeks.  Since passing 35 and having kids, I find that it's harder to drop the weight than it used to be.  Part of it is age, and part of it is time.  Hard to set aside the time for an hour of pure exercise these days...

[cordex]

Monkeyleg,
If you're looking to get some more exercise, come on by and shovel my driveway.  Can't say what it'll do for your gut, but it'll tighten up your back like nothing else.

I won't even charge a gym fee.

[Nightfall]

On one of my last doctor visits, he pointed out to me that I had lumps on my thyroid. Don't know if that affects anything or not.

I've got a hyperactive thyroid, which is what makes my metabolism so fast and keeps me down in the 130's unless I eat a lot and workout almost everyday. Conversely, if your thyroid is being less active, all of a sudden you can be putting on pounds while eatin' the same stuff. Your doctor can take some blood and check to see if that's the case, if you're worried.

[Perd Hapley]

You might try smoking cigarettes.  Ever smoked before? 

[Hides behind suitable cover.]

[Matthew Carberry]

You might try smoking cigarettes.  Ever smoked before? 

[Hides behind suitable cover.]

Oooh, keeps you thin AND looking sophisticated.