The dreaded belly

I have noticed in the last couple of months I have developed a little beer belly, it feels like jelly.

What is the best way of stalling or reducing this? I don't mind a little belly but I am worried that it will get bigger and I end up having a heart attack or somthing.

 

drink less beer?

 

Apart from that I don't really drink that much as it it. Well about 10 pints a week .

Beer is more culture : its like asking people to give up HIFI to save their neighbours ear drums

I was thinking of buying a bike would that help? Its only very minor at the moment, I just don't want it to get any bigger.

 

Only if you ride it!

 

The probability of this happening to you is 100%.

 

No kidding! My friend has died twice! First time his heart stopped was an attempted suicide so not related, but the other time was due to a heart problem. High blood pressure or something. His doctor said a lot of it was due to drinking too much for too long and high stress (the cause of the drinking!), mixed with a few other things.

So AT, get that bike and ride it wherever ye shalt go’uth! Õ.o ...or do sit-ups.

 

at,
i'll let you into a big secret - one that not many people really know. if you want to loose weight you need to consume less and excersise more. you consume less so your body is forced to use it's reserves (your fat and muscle) and you excersise more so your body needs it's muscles and so doesn;t use them for fuel - muscle is easier for the body to metabolise than fat - and the body is a lazy git.
there are many ways of eating that reduce claorie intake, low fat, low carb, low gi, whatever works for you - works for you but you have to stick to it. just cutting out all the between meal snacks, lowering portion sizes and upping the amount of veg you eat can help a lot.
with a moderate amount of excersise your body burns 2000- 2500 calories per day - you need to use 3500 calories more than you consume in order to lose a pound. you do the maths.
good luck though - a month or 2 of serious effort should see you where you want to be.
cheers

julian

 

www.concept2.co.uk is what I did. I get on it 6 days a week and it's working for me slowly but surely.

 

The hard part is picking something sutainable rather than a crash-programme. During my 20's a mix of martial arts, running, tennis and, gym, swimming and various other things kept the weight aorund 12st to 13st depending on intensity and the waistline to 34". In my 30's I had less time, I started the decade around 13st and 36" and ended it aorund 15st and 38". Most of this was after becoming a parent at 35.

In the past couple of years my weight was 16st9lb at its highest and I found myself buying 40". This has been hard to take mentally, I have continuously fought against succumbing to it but it has become obvious that exercise is about 25% of the equation given the time constraints and that diet is 75% of it.

When I stood on the scales at 15st two years ago, I immediately hit a mediterranean diet of salads with some pasta or potatoes but low-carb basically and lost a stone in a month and a slimmer stomach in the process. However, I was getting energy dips and dizziness.

Therefore hard to find a sutainable balance. The other part of the equation to my mind is personal metabolism and if you're of the variety which keeps burning fuel without it sitting on the body as you get older then you're lucky.

At the moment even though I am 16st I can feel I am at least headed in the right direction but i am really trying to bring it all down slowly, not because I can't do it faster or more intensely but it's the metabolism I have uppermost in my mind. I know that once it gets used to your routines it just adjusts again.

Anyway, I am feeling stronger when swimming, getting used to cycling again and clothes are feeling less tight. But, I have stone to lose realistically, need to keep to a routine and need to work hard at the diet. Little time and a busy week is usually the biggest problem and it takes a lot of dedication to maintain discipline.

Oh, and stomach exercises might develop a washboard stomach underneath but you'll never see it as it will not remove the fat. Arguably, removing the fat so that you can see the stomach muscle groups will put you into the low-body fat zone which is not necessarily healthy in itself. If you do work on the stomach don't forget to strengthen the lower back muscles and the obliques in parallel too.

 

yeah, you need to have an active lifestyle - no good staring at screens all day (whether it be surfing or being a mod etc...) - you have to exercise and ideally cut down on ya drink!!

I need to lose a few pounds myself and since my girlfriend has moved in with me at the weekend we've been going on long fast walks every night (much to her amusement!) and we've even stopped smoking..!!

 

According to an article I read ages ago in the New Scientist metabolism has virtually nothing to do with it. The people who are 'naturally' slim are just more active ie. they fidget a lot and even when sitting still move a lot more than other people. All this micro activity managed to burn off a surprisingly large number of calories, unfortunately this seemed to be a genetic trait so they were born lucky.

 

Aha, live and learn. Caffeine is going up ten-fold then

 

I am not at all over weight, I am 6.1 and 12-13 stone, however I am aware that I am putting on weight, and I don't want to end up like my late uncle who was really slim at my age but by the time he was 50 was really fat.

For now I am going to buy a bike so I can go riding in the Mersey Vallley hopefully that will help a lot. This is more about ensuring I keep fit rather than get rid of any weight.

 

Interesting. I can see this in my children, my eldest is quite sedate and my second is very active, even when sitting down she's usually fidgeting. They both eat balanced and similar diets, in fact our eldest tends to eat less, yet she's a bit overweight and our second is not.

 

this should inspire you...

 

I am now officially a fat bastard at 16.8 stones. However what makes it worse is that last summer I was 14 stone 8 lbs. In the space of a year (our second child arrived last may) I have hardly gone out, stopped walking to work, haven't ridden the bike and worst of all have become a couch potato.

However I have a plan, I'm going to do much more and eat much less. It really is that simple! I'm not perpared to be one of those guys with trousers shaped like an egg cup, luckily I'm over 6ft so carry it well but still more than a 36 waist is NOT acceptable.

 

yeah, I eat too much cr*p at work - pasties and cakes etc...

but I'm about 14 stone now

 

An Imperial BMI calculator shows you are right not to call yourself overweight (25 would trigger that) and getting a bike is a good idea. Although it may be a myth that there are people who don't get fat because they have a "higher metabolism", it is true that exercise will both burn energy during, and elevate you metabolism for some hours afterwards. You can notice this in your couch heart rate.

I think it's a bit sad that people start developing beer guts at quite a young age, so you have my sympathy. I would say that 20 units a week is verging on the maximum before one would definitely say one has an alcohol problem. But I think you said in another post that this could be up to 10 pints in one session, which is definitely bad for you. As you point out, the underlying cause is that social life gets structured around it. But you could try drinking some alcohol-free beers (a lot better these days) or even squash every other drink.

 

I tried that a pit last night, its peer preasure and all though crap though. People think you're gay if you have an orange juice in a pub. Also there is no disapline in our group, after my 4th pint last night (was a little tipsy at this stage) my mate wanted to go to another pub we have never been to so 4 pints and ended up being 5.

I am guess I am drinking between 15-25 units a week at the moment, so this what I really need to cut down on. Some how going out twice a month on the **** has increased to twice a week. I guess its because we all have more money now

I very very rarely have 10 points in a single session, but 6 is average and 8 is not unusual.

It is very sad really but it is an easy trap to fall into, I never touched alchohol until I was 19. I never drink at home ever, its only when out with mates but I probably drink too much when I do.

I was in Stretford this afternoon and instead of getting the bus home I walked (about 1.7 miles) I guess little things like that will help. I walk around 4 miles a day on average anyway so its not like I a couch potatoe. I just want to stop this gut from increasing now before it is too late.

My plan is to stop eating the burgers in the pub, replace two pints with soft drinks, get a bike and if I keep getting fat then its time for the drastic action.

 

If you admit 15-25 units a week I bet its more like 20-30 units a week!