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| Help me get rid of my gut!! (Read 761 times) |
mb1973 |
posted: 4/8/2008 at 12:17 PM |
I have been running for about 4 years now. I have lost around 40 lbs, run a half and a full marathon...Overall I feel great...The problem is my gut...While it is quite smaller than it used to be, it seems to have stopped shrinking...I have a good 3-5 lbs around the midsection I could stand to lose...
Just looking for some advice on the best way to strengthen and flatten this area...Thanks!! |
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| view log " RehabCheffyRehab" |
posted: 4/8/2008 at 12:28 PM |
Help with Gender? If you make yourself known to everyone by making your profile/log public, this is a GREAT place to start. 
I am in your boat, I have all my weight hanging around my waist. There is no miracle cure for this, but I take Ab/Core strength classes at the gym as well as Pilates. These make your muscles stronger, which will help burn fat, but the only thing that will make it come off is diet and cardio..... LOTS of cardio. Try some other types of cardio than running on your alternate days/rest days such as eliptical, spinning, etc. Your body craves challenge and likes the change in routine. All the Fitness mags in the world will tell you that.
How's the diet? Eat 5-6 times a day in smaller meals to stay satisfied without overdoing it on the calories. Start an online food journal ( I use the daily plate) many use fitday and log your food for a few weeks. It can be eye opening when you see how much you actually eat.
Ab Fat is a long slow process, I am sure we BOTH will get there in time.
Good Luck~
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" Consistency is the difference between a True Champion and an Occasional Winner"...
My 2008 Mantra - "Never give up what you want MOST for what you want NOW…" |
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mb1973 |
posted: 4/8/2008 at 12:37 PM |
| Thanks...I am male 35 years old...As far as diet goes, I have been vegetarian for the past couple of years...My downfall is a bit of a sweet tooth, but it is in moderation, I think... |
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Favorite places 2 run! |
posted: 4/8/2008 at 1:36 PM
modified: 4/8/2008 at 1:40 PM |
It is a tough area. I've found at this age (I'm 35 too) there is no way around area specific exercises and lots of em! You got it - ab work. I don't enjoy it but it's the only way and even then - the flat - teen - stomach thing is bye-bye! Aim for improvement vs. perfection and the ab workouts will do that!
Oh and whenever I got the 411 on stress raising our cortisol levels which then directs fat deposits primarily to the midsection - I've made more attempts to remove myself from stressful people or situations, avoid them, or just block them out. I've been known to say to people "I will not let you're negative energy & drama raise my cortisol levels so I have to do 100 more crunches - take your reality TV performance somewhere else please!" THEY LAUGH but I am actually not kidding! That's the funny thing!
Good Luck! |
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posted: 4/8/2008 at 3:35 PM |
| Quote from mb1973 on 4/8/2008 at 12:17 PM: I have been running for about 4 years now. I have lost around 40 lbs, run a half and a full marathon...Overall I feel great...The problem is my gut...While it is quite smaller than it used to be, it seems to have stopped shrinking...I have a good 3-5 lbs around the midsection I could stand to lose...
Just looking for some advice on the best way to strengthen and flatten this area...Thanks!!
Eat less or run more (in that order).
If your weight loss is at a standstill, your calories in are equal to your calories out.
Tom
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| view log A real tan line |
posted: 4/8/2008 at 4:14 PM |
| Quote from MissPratt on 4/8/2008 at 1:36 PM:
Oh and whenever I got the 411 on stress raising our cortisol levels which then directs fat deposits primarily to the midsection -
Good Luck!
Is this for real? I thought that was just a goofy commercial for some dumb-ass belly-busting pill. I hate to be a pin-head, but is it based on real science? |
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| view log Blind Squirrel Got a Nut |
posted: 4/9/2008 at 7:29 PM |
| Quote from MissPratt on 4/8/2008 at 1:36 PM: I've been known to say to people "I will not let you're negative energy & drama raise my cortisol levels so I have to do 100 more crunches - take your reality TV performance somewhere else please!" THEY LAUGH but I am actually not kidding!
Made ME laugh. 
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Rick
"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." - Juma Ikangaa
"I wanna go fast." Ricky Bobby
runningforcassy.blogspot.com
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| view log Hoodoo Guru |
posted: 4/9/2008 at 7:47 PM |
As a 49 year old male, I have found that:
It's more difficult to lose the gut as you age
Heredity can be a factor
I have always felt that speed work helps lose weight (either true track sessions or running the last 1/4 mile of daily runs faster)
Diet is important too (is there something obvious like sodas or alcohol you can cut out?)
Ab work helps (if nothing else it helps you hold the stomach in)
But, heredity and age are tough to beat if either one (or both) are strongly against you. |
| The tangents are moot. |
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Favorite places 2 run! |
posted: 4/10/2008 at 1:09 AM
modified: 4/10/2008 at 1:10 AM |
| Quote from andahuff on 4/8/2008 at 4:14 PM: Is this for real? I thought that was just a goofy commercial for some dumb-ass belly-busting pill. I hate to be a pin-head, but is it based on real science?
It is true, I swear! And for women - yikes - the issue doubles when our estrogen levels begin to plummet with : the change! The human body is fascinating to me! So much is known out there but sometimes we live our lives in self defeating ways! Craziness!  |
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rkeddie view log |
posted: 4/10/2008 at 1:24 AM |
| Lift free weights on your off days. More and more cardio while you starve yourself will only cause you to burn more and more muscle which will reduce the number of calories you burn while not exercising (95% of the day). I would also hazard a guess that as a vegetarian you aren't getting enough protein. |
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posted: 4/10/2008 at 8:21 AM |
Avoid trans-fats like the plague
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9318
Kylie Kavanagh, at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US, wondered how this “killer fat” would affect the risk of diabetes in 51 vervet monkeys.
She fed one group of monkeys a diet where 8% of their daily calories came from trans-fats and another 27% came from other fats. This is comparable to people who eat a lot of fried food, says Kavanagh. A different group of monkeys was fed the same diet, but the trans-fats were substituted for mono-unsaturated fats, found in olive oil, for example.
Both groups ate the same total calories, which were carefully metered to be just enough for subsistence.
Path to diabetes
After six years on the diet, the trans-fat-fed monkeys had gained 7.2% of their body weight, compared to just 1.8% in the unsaturated group. CT scans also revealed that the trans-fat monkeys carried 30% more abdominal fat, which is risk factor for diabetes and heart disease.
“We were shocked. Despite all our enormous efforts to make sure they didn’t gain weight, they still did. And most of that weight ended up on their tummies,” says Kavanagh, who presented her findings at the American Diabetes Association meeting in Washington DC, on Monday. “This is walking them straight down the path to diabetes.”
This is the first study to show such a dramatic result on abdominal fat, adds Dariush Mozaffarian at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, US. “The days of thinking about fats just as calories are over,” he says.
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posted: 4/10/2008 at 1:31 PM |
Eat throughout the day instead of 3 big meals.
It is important not to starve your body (you need the energy)
Drink lots of water
Avoid the empty calories
Don’t eat before you do to bed.
Lift weights (lower weight, high reps).
Run more miles
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| Running in Tampa |
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| view log Ambulance Chaser |
posted: 4/10/2008 at 2:02 PM
modified: 4/10/2008 at 2:03 PM |
All the abs work in the world will not get rid of a gut. That doesn't mean don't do them, but they are not the cure. Typically a gut is subcutaneous (under the skin) fat. But if you gut is really distended, it could be due to excessing visceral (surrounding organs) fat pushing outward.
Either way the cure is to lose the excess fat and voila your abs will pop out.
Eat less, exercise more and over time you will lose the extra fat.
I also highly recommend weight training.
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| The Gaijin Samurai. a.k.a The attorney dissin' attorney.
Read and Listen
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| view log big duke |
posted: 4/10/2008 at 2:15 PM |
| Quote from DJ Marcus on 4/10/2008 at 2:02 PM: All the abs work in the world will not get rid of a gut. That doesn't mean don't do them, but they are not the cure. Typically a gut is subcutaneous (under the skin) fat. But if you gut is really distended, it could be due to excessing visceral (surrounding organs) fat pushing outward.
Either way the cure is to lose the excess fat and voila your abs will pop out.
Eat less, exercise more and over time you will lose the extra fat.
I also highly recommend weight training.
Marcus - it works! I took you advise on this from the other day. I've been logging my calorie intake (keeping it down) and, of course, my running and I've lost 3 pounds.
You da man! |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE |
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mb1973 |
posted: 4/10/2008 at 2:23 PM |
I just started a weight training program about 2 weeks ago that includes ab work...
As far as protein goes, I estimate that I get around 75-90 grams a day...Should I be getting more? |
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