Beer Belly

Lolo

Originally posted by adnans
iinstead of beer, drink something else, when was the last time you heard someone have a vodka-belly?

I had a 'beer' belly long before I ever drank beer (twas vodka and pernod in my goth days, ah the memories...) - it's just my natural shape and no matter much weight I lose or how much I tone up, I always have it. (I'm female, btw, so my beer belly is from Venus, whereas yours is from Mars). But it definitely worsens with alcohol intake, regardless of what kind of alcohol.

As for diets not working, it's not "fat and lazy people" not sticking to them that makes them not work, it's people sticking to a strict diet for a certain amount of time and then going back to their old chip-monster/ choccie-fiend ways. What you need to do is find a healthy way of eating that you can stick to, allowing yourself the occasional lapse so that you don't think of fattening foods and drink as 'forbidden'.

I'd definitely agree with cycling and swimming as the best forms of exercise outside of a gym. I hate the bleedin' gym, but I got really fit (by my lard-ass standards) and reduced the dimensions of my gut when I cycled everywhere and swam a cupla times a week. I also found Pilates (stretchy exercises similar to yoga) really good for toning up stomach and midrifff muscles.

(This is all in the past tense as I now live too far away from work to cycle, and haven't gone swimming or 2 a pilates class in about 8 months - but I plan to do something about it very soon, hopefully this thread will shame me into action!)

seamus

If you don't want to give up your drinking, and you don't mind looking like a girl, switch to spirits, preferably vodka. A normal shot of vodka is 50 calories, and once mixed with a diet drink (diet coke or such) stays at 50. Then you can get locked on a quarter of the calories.

Read the hackers diet, it's nothing new, but gives you an idea of WTF is going on. Best things to remember are - All diet drinks have zero calories. Caffeine is an appetite suppressant, so if you're feeling hungry, break out that coffee/diet coke. A normal amount of full fat milk (4 tblsp) in your coffee is still only 3 calories each time, so drink away!

photty

Originally posted by Unregistered
Ive decided to buy an excercise bike and start there , along with
cutting down on crisps and such and trying to eliminate the
fatty stuff .

you'd be better off with a real bike. It's much more interesting than cycling on the spot. I promise that if you take to biking around you will get in shape very quick. Go for 15k or more a day and try to take longer trips into the country at weekends. Say 50k or there abouts. But of course build up to it slowly over the weeks. Tree trunk legs of pure muscle can be yours...

Dustaz

.... not to mention haemoiroids the size of melons

thegills

I am 5'11" and was 15 stone. I started to play AstroPark once a week (start with going in goal).
Don't eat after 7.00pm which you probably do if you're online all night. Just eat 3 meals a day. It'll be hard for the first few days but you get used to it. Have lunch as your main meal and use dinner for lunch. Buy nice tasting fruit like stawberries or water melon and eat them if you get the munchies. Drink plenty of water. Cycling on an exercise bike is better that outdoors. You might get more fresh air, but half of your efforts go into fighting the wind. The same applies to jogging and walking - its bad for the joints whereas swimming is 100% good.
I'm down to 13 stone now after about 6 weeks. I've lost my sweet tooth, and more importantly I still have the odd beer.

Good luck.

SYL

I have come across this problem also, but have managed to avoid it as best I can. I am another unfortunate desk jockey who normally spends about 7 hours of my day in front of a shagging PC, working. Combine this with canteen food laden with fat for taste and sweetie machines dotted around the place and you have a potential receipe for disaster.

So what was my way of preventing a growing waistline???

Couple of things really;

1. Walking......walk as much as you can, walk everywhere. Overall, per working day, I spend about 1 hour 15 minutes walking outside of work. 15 minutes walk in the morning from my first bus to my second bus, 45 - 50 minutes walk from work to bus-stop, 15 minutes walk after bus-ride to home. Also, at weekends, walk to the shops, walk to your friends place...etc etc... Put simply, walking is the dogs bolloks to keep yer waist down, but make sure you make it brisk, plodding along is no good.

2. Diet - this was a tough one to master due to the shyte nature of the food at work. Well first thing I did was cut down on the sweeties; chocolate during work is a big no-no. Also, what has also helped lately is that I have started a course of Roaccutane, so I HAVE to cut down on fatty foods and very sugary stuff to avoid some possible negative health risks. Anyway, I digress. The diet thing is really a school of hard knocks - if you want to loose weight or keep yer waist in trim, then sacrifices have to be made. Cut down (or completely erase) fries, grills etc. from your diet. No more sausages and rashers, hash browns and fried eggs. If you can't manage this, at least designate one day of the week where you will have them, I used to have them on a friday morning when I ate them (can't eat them any more though).

Also, as trivial as it sounds, try to get into some good habits. Eat low-low instead of butter, low-fat milk instead of normal milk...I don't care what anyone says - THEY TASTE THE SAME. Eat more fruit, eat special K or Muesli, low fat yogurts etc...all these are great replacements for chocolate or sweeties although you will still get cravings from time to time.....which leads me onto my next point......

3. Will power. Its tough, but you have to make sacrifices. When you begin to loose some weight and notice yourself dropping a waist-size or two, you'll know its worthwhile.

4. Do your own food shopping where possible. Read the labels, anything with less than 7 grams of fat per 100 grams is deemed to be low fat. There is some decent low fat foods out there actually, that do taste great. Also, eat boiled rice instead of chips or fried rice. More salad (although I really hate salads, so I just eat more fruit). Find a decent fruit juice to drink in the mornings (there is one called Fruit 10, in a brown bottle, which rules). Pick up a decent multi-vitamin too, they help you stay more alert and active during the day.

5. Play some sports with your friends, football is the best because you can have absolutely no skill whatsoever and still do well at it by hacking the legs off everyone and kicking is as hard as you can at the goalie. Much fun to be had there.

6. Sex - speaks for itself really. Find a willing victi.....I mean, Lady and indulge in one or two all-nighter sessions and see the weight fly off.

7. Cut down on the grog, or at least change from pints to bottles. Try to resist to urge to graze on takeaways afterwards too. Make a sandwich when you get home instead.

8. Try doing some stretching in the evenings for about 6-8 minutes, that really worked wonders for me. Helps your flexibility too.

9. Don't be scared to do some manual jobs at home, hoovering, mowing the lawn and stuff like that are all deadly for a bit of exercise. Just slap in your headphones and away you go.

10. And finally, go to some concerts or gigs and have a bit of craic. Heavy metal one's are the best, Get into the pit or at least up the front and go crazy. If you did it right, you will come out of it pi$$ing sweat and feeling much better.....if you haven't been marmalised in the meantime, that is. Also, bit of air guitar at home is recommended too.

Hope this helps dude

JasAine

Beer Belly:

I was in the same mode as you are now for the last three years. I used to be a year-round athlete but after college I started working and then came the belly....and the ass....and the double-chin.

What did I do about?

I get everymorning and go for a walk. I started out at a mile and now am up to five a day. --take music with you or whatever--

But, the important thing to do is realize two things:

1. It takes a bit of time to loose it (although at first, if you keep at it, it will come off quickly) and there are no "quick" solutions that will offer long-term effects
2. Make sure for the next two to three weeks that you stick with your plan....it will become habit eventually

there you go and good luck!

elexes

im 5 11 was 15 stone size 36 waist i think stopped drinking for a month and cut back on all extra foods ( you know the ones where ur bored and eat just cause ur bored ) i walk about 2-3 miles a day ( morning for about 10 mins ) midday ( about 30 mins ) evening (about 30 mins)

now 13.5 stone not lost a lot but back down to 32 waist so its working slow and im not trying that hard


gota be blamed on my diet tho for a while it went to pure ****

Jackoman

What you really do depends on how your body works. Everybody has different metabolisms, so its not always the same answer for everybody.
I've heard as well that eating five or six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three big ones can be better for you as it makes digesting that bit easier.

Personall I was the same, once I turned 19 and went away for a summer drinking heavily everyday I watched my six pack slip away. Age, drinking, eating and not running around as much as when I was in school contributed to it all.

I used to do a lot of skipping and I bought a boxing bag. Cardio exercising is one of the best things you can do. Now I aslo go swimming whenever I can and jumping on a rowing machine is really good for you. The fitter you get then start moving on to some weights if you want to build muscle. I dont like cycling and running machines as I cant stand the feeling of not going anywhere, so if I were you I would just buy a bike instead of a cycling machine. But each to his own.

Also I have found that Mens Health always have some pretty damn good tips on losing your gut and they have great workout plans. Good luck. And I would advise not going near any weight loss drugs. If your gonna do that, then why not just head down to the Temple Theatre and pop 'em there - same effect!!! (Serious note: not advisable!)

Jackoman

Oh yeah - I forgot to add - drink about 2 gallons of water a day, give up the soft drinks. Not only is it better for you but it actually helps you lose weight. Proven!!!!