The dreaded belly

I do appreciate your points and I'm inclined to agree, which is why I would always start by asking someone what exactly do they want to achieve. For a lot of folks they just want to "be healthier" so their body shape isn't a big issue as long as their not overweight.

Other people particularly want to change their shape and are willing to get serious in order to achieve this.

Don't forget there's no reason not to combine both over a year. Intense programs can be something a person might plan for and undertake over a 6 week program twice per year in order to get into shape for summer (or whatever), but then maintain general low intensity stuff as a lifestyle.

I'd still maintain though that the fitness benefits of resistance exercise are much greater and broader than you might think. It;s not all about "getting big" I promise.

 

Greg - just wanted to say thanks for your very informative posts on this thread. Very interesting stuff :bookworm:.

 

You're most welcome Martin! I don't want to sound like I think I'm an expert or anything, it's just stuff I've read about and tried (on and off) which seems to break the mold on conventional thinking.

Julian is a great source of advice as he really has set his objectives and set about achieving them.

Julian - what approach have you found worked for you regards combination of diet and exercise?

Also what have you found hasn't worked well?

 

Thanks Greg for the details.
One thing I'm wondering is that the bodies of those persons, who did the ET program, couldn't burn more fat because they weren't producing enough L-Carnitin (well it is a fact that our body doesn't produce enough for ET programs). Therefore after a while the fat was burned insufficiently if any. If during the effort as also afterwards you take L-Carnitin (even 1-3 grams a day is ok) then even after a long period of effort the body can burn optimally more fat. In a study the effect of using this subsance (2 grams a day) increased the consumation of energy (performance) more than 20%.

 

greg - 2ish years ago i was 25 stone i'm now 15st 7lbs (as of this morning). i kept to atkins induction (20g of carbs or less per day) for most of that time.
excersise started with a 2 mile walk, 2 10 minute hiit sessions on an excersise bike and various weight / situp / pressup variations. every weekday and saturday - sunday resting.

my current excersise / diet is as follows.
as much fruit and veg as i like during the day with some lean chicken in the evening.
8.5 mile bike ride - currently i average 16mph and peak at about 22 with a heart rate between 148 and 170 - i minute recovery down to 125.
i do high (ish) weight low rep dumbell lifting and medium rep (currently 50) slow situps and leg raises.
i do this every day except saturday and sunday.
i also add on occasion an additional bike ride on monday and / or tuesday - this is over more demanding terrain and takes about 1.5 hours to do 6 miles.
saturday is usually big ride day 20+ miles over some pretty arduous terrain usually 6 hours with about 3 of that actual pedalling. not sure of heart rate here.
on the saturdays i don;t ride i go clubbing which usually entails jumping around on a dance floor for about 4 hours - i keep meaning to take a pedometer with me to see just how far i would go.


previuous to this i broke a sweat walking up the stairs - seriously.

just seen titians post - i currently suppliment with 2g l-carnitine , 500mg l-tyrosine, an amino complex, a multi vitamin and 1g l-glutamine. this does seem to give me more energy - i feel fcuked without it and seems to help weight loss at the expense of bright yellow pee.

cheers


julian

 

LOL

 

here's some pic....

me before the diet - this was also before i quit smoking and drinking so i got even bigger when i quit the fags as i was necking coke and mint humbugs like they were going out of fassion.




this is a pic of me taken early this year - i had a bit of a wobble after this one as i went on holiday for a month and gained about a stone and 1/2 but i'm back to where i was now so this is pretty much where i'm at now.



i'm about 3 stone over my 'ideal' weight but i intend to have an above average musculature when i'm finished so i'm aiming for 13.5 stone as a target weight. hopefully before christmas this year but if not i'll just keep going.

 

Julian,
drink more water (3 liters a day).
Uhmmm, I wish I could do what I recommend..

 

i usually do - in this weather i must be drinking about 4 or 5 liters a day but i usually get about 2-3 liters through me not including coffee , soft drinks etc.

 

Julian - I've said it before but I really admire your achievements so far. Well done!

 

If I can just weigh in (see what I did there - comedy genius or what?!) with my experiences. As a 44 year old 'bloke' I guess I am reasonably typical in terms of gradually increasing weight and belly and needing to do something about it.
I have found 2 ways of losing weight and improving my fitness and general health. One was not sustainable - the other is - just about.

The first one was last year when my wife and I did the Gillian Mckeith "You Are What You Eat" thing for 8 weeks solid - no cheating. In simple terms it involves removing all 'bad' stuff from your diet and eating chicken, fish, grains, pulses, nuts and as much veg and fruit as you can manage. It is a real hassle - our whole life seemed to revolve around preparing and cooking food and cleaning up after it. I work away a lot so I had to take plastic tubs of the grub away with me as finding suitable food on hotel/restaurant menus was close to impossible. However the results were amazing. I wemt from 16st to 14st 4 in the 8 weeks. Fitness wise it was incredible - considering I didn't have time to get to the gym (too much chopping of carrots!). I noticed it first on the beach at Scarborough chasing a runaway football with my 12 year old daughter I realised that for the first time in years I could actually sprint - and not get puffed out after a couple of hundred yards! I spent the rest of the day running round like a young pony!

But as I said that was just not sustainable. So recently I've started going to the gym 4 times a week - mainly rowing, running and cycling with a bit of weights for toning. I've cut out all fried foods, takeaways etc and don't eat after 7pm. No beer either. And one thing that really helps - I go to bed no later than 10pm. Makes me feel miles fresher the next day and more keen to go to the gym. Its early days but I think a good few pounds will be lost.

So....more than one way to skin a cat. But I do believe a major factor is the input - the grub and booze. You can get away with doing minimal exercise if you cut out all the crap. So just scale it for what your circumstances can cope with....

Cheers

Rich
PS The fact is though - both ways are fecking boring!

 

Julian you have done exceptionally well since I seen you. However I think most anyone would loose weight on some fruit and veg and a piece of chicken each day. Make sure that as you come to your deseried weight you adjust your eating according to your taste or you will find yourself right back up there in no time at all.

No one is expected to live on fruit veg and chicken.

 

Should add the 10pm sleepos thing is just during the week. Last Saturday we stayed up till 4am Sunday drinking wine and then vodka - rock n roll!

Cheers

Rich

 

gary,
yes i certainly agree - i'm not sure what i'll do when i reach my target weight - i'll continue the excersise of course however i'm planning to relax the diet (a bit) - currently i'm eating about 1500 kcal per day and i don;t feel hungry at all. i doubt i'll ever go back to eating lots of bread or pasta unless it's a special occasion as jsut the bread in a sandwich is 200kcal.
i suspect i'll yo-yo a bit when i get there but as i now know that i can loose the weight i'm hoping that i can relax a bit at the weekends, eat sensibly during the week, excersise regularly and keep things reasonably stable. if i make it to 13.5 stone it'll be the first time since i was a teenager so i've no experience to work from.
cheers


julian.

 

and who is keeping exercizing during these hot days?
Today it was quite terrible walking up the mountain. It was as if I had weights on my feet. It took me nearly half an hour more and I had to struggle a lot to make me decide to continue on. Already yesterday evening I didn't have any motivation for today.

 

Must admit, the exercise has gone well on the back burner for me lately with the heat. Just cant do it. I'm planning on getting back to it when it cools down a bit.

 

I chose to go for the no disappointment route and not exercise any time. Hehe.

 

i've managed to keep the excersise up - to be honest the breeze you get when riding makes it more comfortable than sitting in front of a pc pouring sweat.
i'm skiving off today though as i have a big weekend planned and i'm feeling a bit drained by the heat - don;t want to overdo it and spoil my fun....
cheers

julian.

 

Greg, I wanted to echo the enjoyment of reading your posts. I can't get into the gym battery-hen syndrome (42 now), never could at any time. Totally bored out of my skull. I have always needed class-style workouts or outdoor exercise. The bike remains my favourite due to the feeling of getting out.

I have often wondered why I have found cycling so effective because one one level it is less intensive than something such as running. You cycle up-hill, you can recover down-hill. You cycle into headwind, you change the gears down and take it easier as and when you feel like it rather than having to still run-down-hill or keep going into the wind. I put it down to the fact that it allows you to keep going because you can continuously recover provided you're still comfortable in the hands, backside, feet and neck.

Reading your posts though, I wonder if there is something else beneficial at work. I wear an HRM and I have it set to stay within a fat-burn zone of 120 - 155 bpm. In reality though, I probably spend only 50% to 60% in this (so the computer tells me afterwards). It's surprising how quickly it drops below this when the spinning gets easier and how quickly it rises above it when the roads go up.

The natural tendency to put effort in or seek out climbs all mean a constantly varying effort and heart rate and perhaps gets the benefit of the HIIT you mention. This combined with mixing up the distances and the routes every time you go out and the 45 mins to 2 hour rides eating into the fat stores.

Last week I broke the previous week 13 mile ride with three rides including hard climbing of 17, 19 and 22 miles. This week I have done two steadier rides of 15 miles and probably the same for the third tomorrow. Next week will be three long rides again. In other words, I am also experimenting with the hard-week / soft-week approach to mix things up. I'm down from 16 1/2 st to 16st and my target by the end of August is 15st. I'm also slowly on the press-ups trail. My daughter loves swimming on m back meaning I get to actually swim with resistance rather than just paddle and keep an eye on her.

The one thing which really hit home a couple of years ago though was that this is all only semi-beneficial if it's not done with a sharpening up in diet.
- Easy is changing the diet
- Hard is changing it to something sustainable without getting bored due to the time constraints we all have in our 100-mph lives and then temptation we end up giving into when buying from stores

Could we have some food ideas please? Saturday Kichen is fantastic for having time in the kitchen, the rest of the week can take a bit of work and inspiration.

 

paul,
i used to have a book which had various recipies which all took under 20 mins to prepare and cook - can;t remember the name of it but there are a number of them about. fast food doesn;t have to mean junk food.
i'm all for an easy life. my current evening meal consists of..
2 ready cooked chicken breasts with some linghams chilli, ginger and garlic sauce to dip it in.
a bag of mixed summer veg that can be microwave steamed with a balsamic vineagar, walnut oil and hot sauce dressing.
i'll then have some fruit for desert.
this takes a maximum of 5 minutes to prepare.

another idea especially for this hot weather is.
1 bag of washed salad leaves.
1 pack of fresh mixed seafood.
a simple lemon and oil dressing.
lump it all together in a bowl - add salt and lots of pepper.

lunches in the past have been mainly bought veg soup. however my mum has a bumper crop from her allotment so i'm going to be switching to soup made from home grown veg next week.

i must admit i tend to find something i like and stick with it until i'm totally fed up with it and then find something else. it means preparation is simple and takes little time as it becomes 2nd nature.