I'm losing weight... Now what about my gut?

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Michael Plumridge - 09 May 2004 00:39 GMT

Hi there. My name is Mike. I'm 24 years old and I'm 5 feet and 11 inches
tall. Since the age of 11, I've had a spare tire gut. I've been through lots
of stages as far as my weight, but my gut has always been there. On April
1st I decided that I was going to do what I could to finally get rid of it.
I weighed 196 pounds on April 1st, and I set a goal of 175 pounds by January
1st of 2005. I decided to stop shoveling in the little debbie snacks and
switch to diet pepsi, in addition to cutting my regular meal portions in
half. As a result I've been eating between 1200-1600 calories a day ever
since then. Well, it's May 8th and I currently weigh 170 pounds. I know that
26 pounds is way more than I should have lost in 40 days, but it's been
falling off of me like nothing. I've even taken a couple of cheat days too,
but every time I get on the scale I've lost more weigh. Great, right? Well,
sure. But why hasn't my gut been affected? I have always been pretty scrawny
apart from my gut and my thighs. The thighs have gone down, my butt is
smaller, my arms are trimmer, and I'm finally getting some pecs but that gut
is driving me crazy. My next goal is 165, which is a good weight for 5'11".
right? I can already tell that's not going to be trim enough to get the look
I want, though.

I have been lifting a bit to tone up the muscle that was under all of the
fat, and that's going pretty well though I don't have heavy enough free
weights to do much more than improve what is already there. In addition,
I've been doing a few sets of 15-25 crunches and obliques every morning, but
I know the results of my work will be hidden until I can get rid of that
fat. I had planned on doing 5-10 miles every morning on an exercise bike,
but the day I started my program the chain snapped. That may have been my
life line to fat burning.

Am I just burning lean muscle mass now or what? How much lighter do I have
to go to get to the point that my abs are visible? I'm not talking a six
pack, but just a trim look. I fear if I got oto much lighter, I'll start to
appear gaunt in the face. I see an Ethiopian boy, with a tummy swollen from
hunger, and that's how I picture myself at <155 pounds.

Should I just continue the way I've been doing things and see where I'm at
in a few months, or should I start loading up on protein in my diet? I'm
open to any suggestions. I don't know, I thought that 26 pounds would have
made a lot more difference in my gut.

Thanks

Mike

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Angie - 09 May 2004 05:17 GMT

nice post and great work on your diet thus far. I am also working on
changing my eating habit's and have started exercising. I have been trying
to get rid of my gutt as well, Sorry I can't be of much help. I do have one
suggestion. Have you ever decide or concedered on doing Atkins or something
like it. the low carb diets is geared to losing fat instead of weight. Well
it does both but you do tend to lose more fat then weight with low carb.
check out www.atkins.com maybe it might have some ideas for you and also.
Anyway keep up the great work. I think it's nice to have more people in my
age group on this board it's nice to have some one to relate to

Angie

> Hi there. My name is Mike. I'm 24 years old and I'm 5 feet and 11 inches
> tall. Since the age of 11, I've had a spare tire gut. I've been through lots
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>
> Mike

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Heywood Mogroot - 09 May 2004 07:01 GMT

> Hi there. My name is Mike. I'm 24 years old and I'm 5 feet and 11 inches
> tall. Since the age of 11, I've had a spare tire gut.

36, 6' 1", put on my gut ~1995-2003, including ~30 lbs from drinking
Mt Dew 2000-2002.

> since then. Well, it's May 8th and I currently weigh 170 pounds. I know that
> 26 pounds is way more than I should have lost in 40 days, but it's been
> falling off of me like nothing.

4 lbs/week. Yup, that's too fast!

> I've even taken a couple of cheat days too,
> but every time I get on the scale I've lost more weigh. Great, right? Well,
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> right? I can already tell that's not going to be trim enough to get the look
> I want, though.

We're in the same boat. I've lost 50% of my over-weight, but my
waistline has only shrunk 40%, if that.

> fat. I had planned on doing 5-10 miles every morning on an exercise bike,
> but the day I started my program the chain snapped. That may have been my
> life line to fat burning.

yeah, they say good medium-pace exercise for more than 30 minutes on
an empty stomach burns out the stored energy (glycogen) and requires
the breakdown of body fat. (Alas, and protein too).

> Am I just burning lean muscle mass now or what? How much lighter do I have
> to go to get to the point that my abs are visible? I'm not talking a six
> pack, but just a trim look. I fear if I got oto much lighter, I'll start to
> appear gaunt in the face. I see an Ethiopian boy, with a tummy swollen from
> hunger, and that's how I picture myself at <155 pounds.

this is just uneducated old-wives-tale, but maybe the first to get put
on is the last to come off?

> Should I just continue the way I've been doing things and see where I'm at
> in a few months, or should I start loading up on protein in my diet? I'm
> open to any suggestions. I don't know, I thought that 26 pounds would have
> made a lot more difference in my gut.

Not if it was muscle fiber, as you guessed above. I don't have any
answers really. Looking forward to people who really know what they're
talking about...

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Michael Plumridge - 09 May 2004 17:59 GMT

Thanks for writing...

You wrote:

> 36, 6' 1", put on my gut ~1995-2003, including ~30 lbs from drinking
> Mt Dew 2000-2002.

Ah yes, I think mine was from a combination of Pepsi and Nintendo. To think
my friends and I would basically have Pepsi drinking contests. Wow.

> 4 lbs/week. Yup, that's too fast!

I know. I've decided to start eating closer to 2000 calories a day, focusing
more on protein. I take a multivitamin and a do Slimfast shakes in the
morning, so I think I'm doing fine as far as nutrients. But I don't want to
burn lean mass here. In fact, eventually I want to build it. Right now
though, it's about the fat.

> this is just uneducated old-wives-tale, but maybe the first to get put
> on is the last to come off?

That's what I'm hoping. I'll keep you posted. I'm pretty sure I should not
go under 155 though. If this pace keeps up I'll be there by the middle of
June, at the latest. Yikes.

> Not if it was muscle fiber, as you guessed above. I don't have any
> answers really. Looking forward to people who really know what they're
> talking about...

So am I. For now, more protein and I'm going to try to do that cardio.

Mike

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Angie - 09 May 2004 22:34 GMT

cardio is a good idea. try to do biking and I heard that running is good as
well. my best friend runs and she just loves it. once I start losing a few
pounds and get into a little better shape i'm going to maybe try it. I went
roller blading for a bit this after noon it was fun. exercised 7 days in
total this week I am proud of myself.

angie

> Thanks for writing...
>
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
> Mike

Reply to this Message

Heywood Mogroot - 10 May 2004 04:41 GMT

> Thanks for writing...
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Ah yes, I think mine was from a combination of Pepsi and Nintendo. To think
> my friends and I would basically have Pepsi drinking contests. Wow.

Apparently the liver can only process 50g of fructose a day into
glucose, anything more than that gets converted into fat that goes
straight to your gut, or arteries.

Sugar is 50% fructose, and sugar drinks actually use a 55% fructose
mixture. 32oz of Mt Dew, my daily average I think, has 60g of fructose
alone.

> > 4 lbs/week. Yup, that's too fast!
>
> I know. I've decided to start eating closer to 2000 calories a day, focusing
> more on protein. I take a multivitamin and a do Slimfast shakes in the
> morning, so I think I'm doing fine as far as nutrients.

I'd ditch the slimfast. It's full of sugar, and I've found cutting
back sugar is the best first step in my diet.

> > Not if it was muscle fiber, as you guessed above. I don't have any
> > answers really. Looking forward to people who really know what they're
> > talking about...
>
> So am I. For now, more protein and I'm going to try to do that cardio.

Try to do some research on the best way to exercise & diet. I've read
conflicting stuff, but everyone is clear that taking protein and
high-glycemic carbs (but not fat) soon after a workout is the best way
to repair muscles, and you get the most bang for your buck as far as
carb reloading into muscular glycogen reserves. Hmm, maybe a slimfast
after a workout would make more sense.

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Dally - 09 May 2004 23:52 GMT

> Hi there. My name is Mike. I'm 24 years old and I'm 5 feet and 11 inches
> tall. Since the age of 11, I've had a spare tire gut. I've been through lots
> of stages as far as my weight, but my gut has always been there.

Do you know what makes your gut? There is visceral fat, i.e., the stuff
packed around your organs, as well as subcutaneous fat, the stuff on top
of the muscles under the skin. Visceral fat can be "brown fat", which
is difficult to budge, but more metabolically active and useful for you
than the normal fat. Women typically have brown fat on their upper
thighs. What this means is that most men have their gut be the last
thing to go. Don't worry, "last" doesn't mean "never".

You might also have some separation of your abdominal bands causing a
bulge. That's common in women who have had a pregnancy, but I imagine
it could happen to a man with lots of visceral fat and/or through the
genetic lottery. A tummy tuck is the answer for that.

> On April
> 1st I decided that I was going to do what I could to finally get rid of it.

Great attitude. Part of what you need to do is figure out how to lose
it. You've made a great start and learned some stuff, but now it's time
to learn some more stuff. :-)

> I weighed 196 pounds on April 1st, and I set a goal of 175 pounds by January
> 1st of 2005. I decided to stop shoveling in the little debbie snacks and
> switch to diet pepsi, in addition to cutting my regular meal portions in
> half. As a result I've been eating between 1200-1600 calories a day ever
> since then.

There are multiple problems with this plan. Let me tell you why this
turns out not to be a great idea.

First of all, you ARE burning lean body mass. Quite a lot of it, and
you need that muscle to keep your metabolism going as well as to be
strong and fit and healthy and fill out your skin. You need to
concentrate on losing FAT, not losing WEIGHT.

The next problem with your starvation calorie mode is that it truly
isn't a sustainable lifestyle change. You need to figure out how you
need to eat when you're at your target weight and make the lifestyle
changes required to ALWAYS eat that way from now on out. Your method of
austere control over your diet is the recipe for a yo-yo diet. At the
age of 24 you need to learn how to feed your body for the next 70 years.
Start practicing THAT instead of just counting out some alotted number
of calories.

My suggestion is that you read up on low-glycemic carbs and healthy fats
and make sure you've integrated that into your diet. There is literally
no place in your diet for Slimfast. Seriously. It's a marketing joke
for yo-yo dieters. That comment alone lets me know that you don't
understand what fuel your body needs. A useful site is

http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html and look up Eating 101.

> Well, it's May 8th and I currently weigh 170 pounds. I know that
> 26 pounds is way more than I should have lost in 40 days, but it's been
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> right? I can already tell that's not going to be trim enough to get the look
> I want, though.

What body fat percentage are you going for? Google for online body fat
calculators that use a tape measure and some info about you to estimate
the amount of lean body mass and fat mass that you have. Come up with a
goal that is based on your body fat percentage rather than your weight.
I recommend having a trainer at a gym do a caliper test on you to get
a baseline body fat percentage. (Do one soon, you'll soon be glad to
have a "before" number!)

Part of this change in mindset is to get away from the scale numbers and
more towards measurements. Get a cloth tape measure and measure
yourself everywhere and write it down. (I use an online log at
www.bfltracker.com that I can recommend - it's free.)

> I have been lifting a bit to tone up the muscle that was under all of the
> fat, and that's going pretty well though I don't have heavy enough free
> weights to do much more than improve what is already there.

One mistake that young men typically make is to work only the muscles
they can see in the bathroom mirror. You need to be doing squats and
deadlifts to work the big muscles. Check them out at www.exRx.net and
consider how you can integrate that sort of weight training into your
life. One method is to just buy some bigger dumbbells. You'll need
them for the rest of your life. You ought to be able to get them for
about 50 cents per pound, or maybe even less if you happen across a tag
sale!

> In addition,
> I've been doing a few sets of 15-25 crunches and obliques every morning, but
> I know the results of my work will be hidden until I can get rid of that
> fat. I had planned on doing 5-10 miles every morning on an exercise bike,
> but the day I started my program the chain snapped. That may have been my
> life line to fat burning.

The sort of visceral fat you want to burn is BEST burned by high
intensity interval training. This sort of training is by its nature
brief and intense. Go for a run and sprint for a minute every three
minutes. Recover for a minute, get back up to pace for a minute, then
sprint again. Do four or five sprints in 20 or 25 minutes and call it a
day. This is FANTASTIC for revving up your fat burning ability. It
shocks your body into thinking it needs to be able to access fat in a hurry.

Cardio exercise is good for your heart, no doubt about it, but long/slow
cardio turns out to not be a great way to burn lots of fat. (Yes, I
know this is controversial, but I'm right.) My personal program is to
do brief cardio (30 to 45 minutes three times a week) and do about 45
minutes of heavy weight-lifting three times a week on different days.
When I'm short on time I ditch the cardio. I've lost over 25% of my
body weight in the past two years using this program and vastly reduced
my body fat percentage.

It's not a pounds issue, it's a body fat percentage issue. I typically
hear men talk about having a six-pack at around 8%. It might start to
peek out at around 12% if you're lucky. Most men in photoshoots go
through a rigorous pre-shoot dehydration and depletion diet to cut down
for the shoot. Being that lean is a LOT of work. You may find you're
quite happy at 12-14%.

Eat more, period, but definitely eat more protein. Try for 1 gram of
protein per pound of weight a day. Get maybe 30% of your calories from
fat, where most of those fats are healthy fats from nuts, seeds, or
fish. Avoid saturated fats when you can (but eating that much protein
it gets tricky.) Let the rest of your calories come from low-glycemic
carbs, i.e., vegetables and whole grains.

Avoid processed foods like the plague: they're only there for
entertainment - they have no place in fueling your body and it's not a
form of entertainment you are choosing right now (that's the diet part
of this - eventually you can eat for entertainment once in a while, as
long as you REALIZE that's what you're doing and go back to eating
healthy the next day.)

> Thanks

You're welcome. If you've got a really thick skin and wear
flame-retardent underwear you can post your workout routine in
misc.fitness.weights and people there will help you with your goals.
(State your goals clearly in your first post.) Don't argue with people
when they correct you, they're right and you'll be wrong. Just listen
and learn. :-)

Dally
244/178/169

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