Tips for losing a bit of weight AKA beer belly

[Elessar [Sly]]

So I've cut back on the size of food I eat and I'm trying to avoid eating really crap food. The booze is kind of a must at the moment but it is dying down. What is the best way to casually lose weight? Although I should be going to the gym, I doubt that it is going to happen/have enough time right now. I've been doing things like taking the stairs instead of lifts etc., walking to work. What else will help in casual day-to-day life?

[sleewell]

Walk daily 30-60 mins, faster the better. The only reason I'm not a lard ass is bc I walk yogi daily. Walk as fast as you can and focus on your posture and keeping your abs tight.

[metalguy]

The diet to start off with. I'll tell you what worked for me, though your diet could be really different from mine.

-I cut out coke almost entirely to the point where I get sick trying to drink one now.
-Used to drink alcohol nearly every weekend cut down to once a month if I'm lucky.
-no fast food, Used to have something from fast food joint almost once a week. sometimes because I craved it but mostly because I had to.

That alone and exercise once a week and I dropped 16 pounds in a month. I've now dropped 22 overall pounds since I started my new eating habits and working out.

[indienoise]

I have different strategies for losing weight, but all work reasonably well for me and are things that I can keep doing long-term without feeling like I'm "on a diet" - in other words, so I don't regress.

1) Choose one meal a day to eat more or less what you want, and go bare minimums on the other two meals. For me, breakfast and lunch are the easiest to cut back on since when I'm busy, I don't think about being hungry. I try to keep the two meals combined to 600 calories or less. Maybe a pack of peanut butter crackers, or a half peanut butter sandwich, or a bowl of soup (broth based, not cream), or fruit and almonds, a half pita and hummus, or a low-sugar protein bar. You get the idea. At that point, it almost doesn't matter what the third meal is.

2) Replace starches and carbs with green stuff. Instead of potatoes and a roll with steak, eat as much green beans, asparagus, broccoli, squash, etc. as it takes to make you feel full.

3) Replace fried and fatty foods with more healthy proteins - grilled chicken, peanut butter, shellfish, etc.

4) Replaced sodas with tea, coffee, (no sugar in those) and water

I've taken off about thirty pounds so far this year just doing these things. No matter how you break it down, it all translates into knowing exactly what you're putting in your body. You might find something else that works for you

[K-Bizzle]

Lots of things to talk about here.
The basics are always as simple as eat less fatty and carb heavy foods, eat more veggies, reduce or stop drinking soda, same for alcohol, drink more water, a lot more and be more active.

The harder you work and the more dramatic your changes in habit the more dramatic the changes in fat loss will be.
The one really good thing about weight loss is its one thing where its really ALL up to you and no one else. You get exactly what you put in.
You work hard consistently, be patient, and don't let slip ups turn into full on failure and you can do pretty much whatever goal you set for your body within physical reason.


For more advice and a steady source of motivation and support stop by the fitness thread.
http://www.guitarampboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4275

[rear naked]

potatoes are good as hell. one of the most satiating foods there are.

[Viesczy]

Basic diet for positive body composition:

50% / 30 % / 20% = Protein/healthy fats/quality counted carbs.

Cut simple carbs. Add one or two days of "free" calories just so your system doesn't regulate.

Throw in intervallic cardio training. Steady state is for shit unless you're training to do a distance at the pace you're doing.

Derek

[Steveijobzz]

I've lost about 15 pounds so far just by changing what I eat.

If you have a smartphone, get a calorie counting app. It sounds dumb but it definitely holds you accountable. Sometimes you have to enter individual ingredients (especially if you cook a lot) but on mine (myfitnesspal) you can make custom meals and save them, which is very useful.

As has been said before, it's ENTIRELY about what you put in your body. "Fitness starts in the gym, weight loss starts in the kitchen" blah blah blah.

The other thing too is that you're not going to lose 30 pounds right away, it takes time do be patient and keep yourself accountable.

[100 watt]

I lost over 20 lbs just by cutting out sweets & regular sodas.

[long standing member]

couldn't disagree more with the 50% protein etc. diet listed.

If you want to MAINTAIN the weight loss, you better switch to a low fat, as in <20%. If you want painful constipation forever, keep that protein at 50%.

Anyway, I wanted to say that diet is where it's at. You can polish off a 300 calorie candy bar in less than 10 seconds. But to work off 300 calories, you'll have to do at least 20 minutes of exercise (depending mainly on your weight and type of exercise).

Drinking a lot of water helps a lot too. Keep us posted. I'm always trying to get the motivation to lose weight (6'0", 205lbs.)

[100 watt]

meth

[Viesczy]

couldn't disagree more with the 50% protein etc. diet listed.

If you want to MAINTAIN the weight loss, you better switch to a low fat, as in <20%. If you want painful constipation forever, keep that protein at 50%.

Anyway, I wanted to say that diet is where it's at. You can polish off a 300 calorie candy bar in less than 10 seconds. But to work off 300 calories, you'll have to do at least 20 minutes of exercise (depending mainly on your weight and type of exercise).

Drinking a lot of water helps a lot too. Keep us posted. I'm always trying to get the motivation to lose weight (6'0", 205lbs.)

You realize cut diets in body building are what I listed?

You realize fat doesn't make you fat right? We've had 2 decades of low fat diets and America is filled with fat fucks on low fat diets.

If you're worried about fat making you fat, make sure your fats are mostly MCTs. To store MCTs as fat your body burns more calories than it stores. Your body will look to use the MCT as energy (in place of your nonexistent simple carbs) and if the energy isn't needed they'll be passed.

Keep your counted carbs as low as you can stand and hog out on all the dark greens as you want as your body isn't going to be able to store brocolli/spinach/green peppers as fat. That's how you handle any plugged backdoor, you don't count those carbs/calories.

Toss in some intervallic training and fat MELTS off you.

When training hard my non cheat days I run on less than 10 gr of simple carbs.

Derek

[marshallnoise]

I have different strategies for losing weight, but all work reasonably well for me and are things that I can keep doing long-term without feeling like I'm "on a diet" - in other words, so I don't regress.

1) Choose one meal a day to eat more or less what you want, and go bare minimums on the other two meals. For me, breakfast and lunch are the easiest to cut back on since when I'm busy, I don't think about being hungry. I try to keep the two meals combined to 600 calories or less. Maybe a pack of peanut butter crackers, or a half peanut butter sandwich, or a bowl of soup (broth based, not cream), or fruit and almonds, a half pita and hummus, or a low-sugar protein bar. You get the idea. At that point, it almost doesn't matter what the third meal is.

2) Replace starches and carbs with green stuff. Instead of potatoes and a roll with steak, eat as much green beans, asparagus, broccoli, squash, etc. as it takes to make you feel full.

3) Replace fried and fatty foods with more healthy proteins - grilled chicken, peanut butter, shellfish, etc.

4) Replaced sodas with tea, coffee, (no sugar in those) and water

I've taken off about thirty pounds so far this year just doing these things. No matter how you break it down, it all translates into knowing exactly what you're putting in your body. You might find something else that works for you

I totally agree with this though I don't look like it. 90% of weight loss is diet change and eating to your required energy needs, no less, no more. Weight Watchers, Medifast, Jenny Craig, etc all teach about habit change.

The other reality is that not all body types are the same. Potatoes are awesome nutritionally as they definitely provide lots of lasting energy, but if you don't use the energy, you are screwed. Ever play football and then stop? Holy weight gain batman.

[long standing member]

You realize cut diets in body building are what I listed?

You realize fat doesn't make you fat right? We've had 2 decades of low fat diets and America is filled with fat fucks on low fat diets.


Derek

cut diets in body building are non sustainable, i.e. only used very short term. Anything like what you call a cut diet will be followed by gaining more weight later, creating a cycle of weight loss/gain that ultimately ends up with the dieter being fatter than before.

No, I didn't realize that fat doesn't make you fat.

Americans eat most of their calories from fat. Check it out. That's why we're fat fucks. And actually, the high fat, high protein, low carb diet (Dr. Atkin's) has been around 30 years. The low fat, high carb diet has been around thousands of years. If you look at cultures, i.e., primitive ones (who are the only ones left who eat that way) who eat high carb, low fat/protein, their body fat is minimal.

I hear what you're saying in connection with the weight lifting population, but again, it's short term. Also, I don't think it's practical in our culture to pack in MCT's b/c that's not what is in the supermarket. Veggies, fruit, whole grains and whole grain bread is all easily bought and has proven health benefits (see Dr. Ornish). Again, I don't think most people want to lose weight fast and then yo-yo through fatter/thiner/more fatter/less thinner/even more fatter cycles.

As for me, you'll take my Hagen Daas Vanilla Swiss Almond from me when you pry it out of my cold stiff fingers!

What I'm looking for in this thread is motivation tricks.

[frumiousbandersnatch]

At the supermarket, buy only foods on the periphery of the store, on the walls. Stay away from the stuff in the middle. Don't go down those aisles, son, they're tryin' ta kill ya!

If you think this is a joke, try it, sonny boy. You can't do it.

And don't eat white food. That's right, do not eat any food that is white in color, even if it's on the periphery. Go ahead, try that one, too.

[sleewell]

And don't eat white food. That's right, do not eat any food that is white in color, even if it's on the periphery. Go ahead, try that one, too.

Das racist bro

Lots of good stuff you're missing if you only shop the outside. Rice, cous cous, quinioa, falafel

[100 watt]

I had to give in & have a treat night before last. My wife got a a Mexican Coca Cola (Mexican cokes are made with real sugar) in a glass bottle. I had to have it. They taste EXACTLY like the old school glass bottle cokes.

[indienoise]

You realize cut diets in body building are what I listed?

You realize fat doesn't make you fat right? We've had 2 decades of low fat diets and America is filled with fat fucks on low fat diets.


Derek

cut diets in body building are non sustainable, i.e. only used very short term. Anything like what you call a cut diet will be followed by gaining more weight later, creating a cycle of weight loss/gain that ultimately ends up with the dieter being fatter than before.

No, I didn't realize that fat doesn't make you fat.

Americans eat most of their calories from fat. Check it out. That's why we're fat fucks. And actually, the high fat, high protein, low carb diet (Dr. Atkin's) has been around 30 years. The low fat, high carb diet has been around thousands of years. If you look at cultures, i.e., primitive ones (who are the only ones left who eat that way) who eat high carb, low fat/protein, their body fat is minimal.

I hear what you're saying in connection with the weight lifting population, but again, it's short term. Also, I don't think it's practical in our culture to pack in MCT's b/c that's not what is in the supermarket. Veggies, fruit, whole grains and whole grain bread is all easily bought and has proven health benefits (see Dr. Ornish). Again, I don't think most people want to lose weight fast and then yo-yo through fatter/thiner/more fatter/less thinner/even more fatter cycles.

As for me, you'll take my Hagen Daas Vanilla Swiss Almond from me when you pry it out of my cold stiff fingers!

What I'm looking for in this thread is motivation tricks.

Dude, eat that Hagen Daas. Just eat it less often, and in smaller portions.
I'm speaking entirely anecdotally, I haven't got any science to back it up, but I'm convinced that having a little bit of cheating on occassion really doesn't hinder you. As long as you don't let the occasional cheating quietly become all the time. I really believe that breaking up your "weight loss" mode every once and a while keeps your body from getting used to the same thing and making your "diet" become its new baseline.

[Viesczy]

You realize cut diets in body building are what I listed?

You realize fat doesn't make you fat right? We've had 2 decades of low fat diets and America is filled with fat fucks on low fat diets.


Derek

cut diets in body building are non sustainable, i.e. only used very short term. Anything like what you call a cut diet will be followed by gaining more weight later, creating a cycle of weight loss/gain that ultimately ends up with the dieter being fatter than before.

No, I didn't realize that fat doesn't make you fat.

Americans eat most of their calories from fat. Check it out. That's why we're fat fucks. And actually, the high fat, high protein, low carb diet (Dr. Atkin's) has been around 30 years. The low fat, high carb diet has been around thousands of years. If you look at cultures, i.e., primitive ones (who are the only ones left who eat that way) who eat high carb, low fat/protein, their body fat is minimal.

I hear what you're saying in connection with the weight lifting population, but again, it's short term. Also, I don't think it's practical in our culture to pack in MCT's b/c that's not what is in the supermarket. Veggies, fruit, whole grains and whole grain bread is all easily bought and has proven health benefits (see Dr. Ornish). Again, I don't think most people want to lose weight fast and then yo-yo through fatter/thiner/more fatter/less thinner/even more fatter cycles.

As for me, you'll take my Hagen Daas Vanilla Swiss Almond from me when you pry it out of my cold stiff fingers!

What I'm looking for in this thread is motivation tricks.

Americans are fat fucks because their calories are coming from/after HFCS & simple carbs. We've evolved to get what, at most 20 gr of fructose a day, we're getting how much more than that? Once can of soda has more than that in it.

What nasty little trick does that do to our bodies once consumed and the calories eaten with/after? No matter what the Corn Council states, HCFS is poison.

50 / 30 /20 will cut the gut.

Once at the desired weight/shape it will be a personal endeavor to see what is required to maintain.

Regardless of what study is put out, simple carbs if not burnt are stored as fat. Simple biology 101. Easiest way to keep lard off your ass, keep your simple carbs low from all sources--processed or natural.

MCTs are readily available. Who can't get cocunut oil? When my simple carbs are cut, that's where I get my fuel.

Want a motivator? Diet and train hard 'til you get stripes in your glutes, that is a great motivator! Getting cross striated in your quads up to your hips... that's a great motivator.

Trick? Pound L-Carn prior to weights, after weights before cardio, between your cardio stations and then after cardio.

Just need to have something isn't "approved", chew that up and get the taste, spit it out and drink a bunch of water. You get the taste and the sensation of being full w/o the negative of what you craved. Watch that trick as if you have any leanings towards BDD (I have both types) it can be a crutch that is over utilized.

After that it is all intervals and sweat.

Derek

[wat]

I've lost 15 pounds in the last month by cutting out fast food/soda and running 1 mile every day, no excuses. Once a week I jog 3 miles.

Instead of mcdonalds and shit I'm just eating canned food, cooking rice & chicken, stuff like that. I still drink too much but I've cut back a little. I'm 240 pounds so when I jog 3 miles it's not easy but I just don't allow myself to slow down. Seeing my stamina improve so quickly is really encouraging.

I'm pleased with 15 pounds in a month but soon I'm going to really cut back on drinking and start some light strength training.


The mile a day thing is a lifestyle change thing for me, I'm going to run at least a mile every day from now on.

[Dave Lister]

How much and how frequently do you drink? I use to drink 12-16 pints of beer daily for a number of years. Once I stopped, I dropped over 30 lbs within the first 30 days. Lost nearly 50 in total. I have about 25 to go before I reach my goal, but it comes along quickly just from abstaining.

[ComOp]

Eat less, move more.

[K-Bizzle]

Eat less, move more.

Specifically less calories.

This is the trick behind things like low fat foods and low sugar foods, usually low caloric density.
Read foods like that will fill you up with fewer calories making it easier to avoid overeating by just going off how full you feel.

Keep in mind the discussion in here seems to be getting more complex than you need or should even be interested in at this point in my opinion.
Start small, don't over think it.
Don't diet, make changes that you can live with.
Set one goal, work to achieve it, repeat as needed.

[Steveijobzz]

Try being one of these people.

lol

http://akamikedanger.com/2013/04/look-at-me-workout/

[wat]

Eat less, move more.

Specifically less calories.

This is the trick behind things like low fat foods and low sugar foods, usually low caloric density.
Read foods like that will fill you up with fewer calories making it easier to avoid overeating by just going off how full you feel.

Keep in mind the discussion in here seems to be getting more complex than you need or should even be interested in at this point in my opinion.
Start small, don't over think it.
Don't diet, make changes that you can live with.
Set one goal, work to achieve it, repeat as needed.

Hell yeah, nice post. Truth is, the human mind has a limit on how many good decisions and how much self control it can impose in one day. Change everything at once, you'll likely fail and get upset. Change one thing and stick with it and build up from there and you'll succeed in lifestyle change over time.

Running or walking a few times a week and eating too much mcdonald's is still better than not doing shit and eating too much mcdonald's.