Fit but want to lose fat around waist... how?

[WinstonWolf]

hajaba123 said:

myfitnesspal

you may be shocked at how much you are actually consuming.

Lift heavy stuff, HIIT drink more water and sleep loads

MFP without a doubt, you'd be amazed where the naughty calories hide.

Eg swapping from granola and a yogurt drink for breakfast to porridge and coffee is a saving of circa 400 calories a day for absolutely zero effort

[Hoofy]

Efbe said:

apart from the old school stomach vacuums

But what do they actually do? Build the internal layer of muscle (nothing wrong with that!) but that means you still have fat sitting on larger muscle making you look even fatter.

[krisdelta]

Chaps, some great info and advice. Will start putting together a new regime

[Eleven]

audidoody said:

Walk five miles every day for a month.

You will have burned some calories and more importantly you'll be 150 miles away from the fridge.

[Hoofy]

[RizzoTheRat]

Having similar thoughts to the op so have downloaded MFP today, looks good but home cooked food could prove to be a bit awkward to enter on a phone.

[WinstonWolf]

You an create your own recipes and copy meals from another day. Gets quicker the more you use it. Scans barcodes too!

[Digger]

Hoofy said:

Efbe said:

apart from the old school stomach vacuums

But what do they actually do? Build the internal layer of muscle (nothing wrong with that!) but that means you still have fat sitting on larger muscle making you look even fatter.

I believe its a more of a way of (re)activating the TVA muscle which can get lazy as you get older. OP hasn't mentioned his age.

I hate my TVA as although I've regained my abs, wearing clothes, it looks like I have more of a belly than the reality! Hey ho

MFP is ace. Need to log back in!

[Otispunkmeyer]

RizzoTheRat said:

Having similar thoughts to the op so have downloaded MFP today, looks good but home cooked food could prove to be a bit awkward to enter on a phone.

I weigh the stuff out and try make custom recipes to store. We make a lot of, in fact nearly all, meals from scratch and often more than enough for two. So setting up a recipe for say 3 or 4 servings can help, but I still think its a bit of a crap shoot, calories for something as simple as a potato seem to vary wildly within the MFP database. Some only provide calories, others have some of the other information filled out, but you never seem to get the full picture like you do when you scan the barcode from something popular like a Muller Corner. I find this particularly difficult with soups, a lot of the soups we make would seem to be remarkably low in calories but I just can't believe it myself, they must be a lot higher.

I do this mainly for my other half's benefit and well, its not working. Unless she is being sneaky while I am not there, I fail to see how she cannot be losing weight when supposedly only clearing 1600-1700 calories daily, supposedly below her BMR (1800 cal approx, x 1.4 for being active - 500/600 for a deficit) by the calculation and not forgetting that she is doing the same 3 gym, 3 swim sessions/week I am doing.

I don't know whats up but it must be one or a combo of:

1) she is being sneaky, 2) MFP is feeding me a load of cobblers, 3) too high a calorie deficit? 4) the amount of exercise we do simply isn't anything out of the ordinary based on what our bodies have been used to 5) I did the calculation wrong (should it be LEAN mass not TOTAL mass?) 6) Her metabolism is actually much lower than the theory accounts for

I guess a combo of 1), 2), 4) and 6)

[Efbe]

Digger said:

Hoofy said:

Efbe said:

apart from the old school stomach vacuums

But what do they actually do? Build the internal layer of muscle (nothing wrong with that!) but that means you still have fat sitting on larger muscle making you look even fatter.

I believe its a more of a way of (re)activating the TVA muscle which can get lazy as you get older. OP hasn't mentioned his age.

I hate my TVA as although I've regained my abs, wearing clothes, it looks like I have more of a belly than the reality! Hey ho

MFP is ace. Need to log back in!

yes and no.

When I first started gymming a good 20 years ago, a friend of mine, an ex-pro bodybuilder from texas taught me all the major lifts. He started me off well, just a shame I took a break of about 7 years!

Anyhow one of his favourites was the stomach vacuum.

Anyhow, it leads to this:


the theory being that is you can build this layer of muscle well enough, you can end up with a permanent semi vacuum. (I must stress theory)

more on it here: http://www.build-some-muscle.com/stomach-vacuum.ht...

[RegMolehusband]

lost in espace said:

Low carb, high fat. Worked miracles for me. Get googling! Also read Grain Brain.

What he said ^^

[RizzoTheRat]

MFP's scanning barcodes is great or pre packed stuff, but I hadn't realised it was easy to save your own recipes for future reuse, that should make life easier the longer I use it.

How good is it's estimation of how much you burn? I've gone for the lowest one (which I can't now work out how to change if I want to) as I work sat at a desk, and plan to manually put in exercise as I wear a garmin for running and cycling which doesn't appear to be able to link in directly.

Was slightly surprised to discover that my breakfast bowl of shreddies this morning was 2.5 servings and over 500 calories. Oh well, off to the sports shop to see if I can find a water belt so I can survive doing 10k in this weather to burn it off again.

[Hoofy]

I don't believe burn rates. Whether it's MFP or a Fitbit. I just don't believe it's as simple as heart rate. Think of things you can do to raise the heart rate without moving. Would you really be burning that many cals?

[x 7usc]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I weigh the stuff out and try make custom recipes to store. We make a lot of, in fact nearly all, meals from scratch and often more than enough for two. So setting up a recipe for say 3 or 4 servings can help, but I still think its a bit of a crap shoot, calories for something as simple as a potato seem to vary wildly within the MFP database. Some only provide calories, others have some of the other information filled out, but you never seem to get the full picture like you do when you scan the barcode from something popular like a Muller Corner. I find this particularly difficult with soups, a lot of the soups we make would seem to be remarkably low in calories but I just can't believe it myself, they must be a lot higher.

I do this mainly for my other half's benefit and well, its not working. Unless she is being sneaky while I am not there, I fail to see how she cannot be losing weight when supposedly only clearing 1600-1700 calories daily, supposedly below her BMR (1800 cal approx, x 1.4 for being active - 500/600 for a deficit) by the calculation and not forgetting that she is doing the same 3 gym, 3 swim sessions/week I am doing.

I don't know whats up but it must be one or a combo of:

1) she is being sneaky, 2) MFP is feeding me a load of cobblers, 3) too high a calorie deficit? 4) the amount of exercise we do simply isn't anything out of the ordinary based on what our bodies have been used to 5) I did the calculation wrong (should it be LEAN mass not TOTAL mass?) 6) Her metabolism is actually much lower than the theory accounts for

I guess a combo of 1), 2), 4) and 6)

Is she keeping within the carb, fat, protein ratios (pie chart thingy) and try having the most carb heavy meal around the gym, swim. Im following a cutting programme at the moment (building muscle losing body fat) and find keeping the carbs to 35% of my daily intake is quite tricky, but possible, in short don't just watch the calories try to hit the macronutrient targets too

[Otispunkmeyer]

RizzoTheRat said:

MFP's scanning barcodes is great or pre packed stuff, but I hadn't realised it was easy to save your own recipes for future reuse, that should make life easier the longer I use it.

How good is it's estimation of how much you burn? I've gone for the lowest one (which I can't now work out how to change if I want to) as I work sat at a desk, and plan to manually put in exercise as I wear a garmin for running and cycling which doesn't appear to be able to link in directly.

Was slightly surprised to discover that my breakfast bowl of shreddies this morning was 2.5 servings and over 500 calories. Oh well, off to the sports shop to see if I can find a water belt so I can survive doing 10k in this weather to burn it off again.

Dont use MFP to guess how much you burn. Many people suggest finding your base metabolic rate (BMR) via an equation (plenty of calculators on line, but remember to use your lean mass, not total mass. This will likely mean guesstimating body fat % unless you can measure it yourself) and then using one of the multipliers.

i.e. if you are generally quite active during the day and do some training for a good 40-60 minutes most evenings then I think the multiplier is like 1.5. So total cals for the day is BMR * 1.5 and that covers your cals for existing and exercising.

Some then suggest you remove an arbitrary 500 cals from that number if you wish to lose about 1 lbs/week.

[StevieBee]

I've been reading up on the effect of alcohol on fitness.

A single shot of neat vodka slows the rate at which fat metabolises by up to 73% for 3 hours after drinking. Drinking more compounds this so two shots will slow metabolism for 6 hours. And this is one of the better examples!

Take the advice of the other posts here, plus, cut back on the booze!

[Otispunkmeyer]

x 7usc said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

I weigh the stuff out and try make custom recipes to store. We make a lot of, in fact nearly all, meals from scratch and often more than enough for two. So setting up a recipe for say 3 or 4 servings can help, but I still think its a bit of a crap shoot, calories for something as simple as a potato seem to vary wildly within the MFP database. Some only provide calories, others have some of the other information filled out, but you never seem to get the full picture like you do when you scan the barcode from something popular like a Muller Corner. I find this particularly difficult with soups, a lot of the soups we make would seem to be remarkably low in calories but I just can't believe it myself, they must be a lot higher.

I do this mainly for my other half's benefit and well, its not working. Unless she is being sneaky while I am not there, I fail to see how she cannot be losing weight when supposedly only clearing 1600-1700 calories daily, supposedly below her BMR (1800 cal approx, x 1.4 for being active - 500/600 for a deficit) by the calculation and not forgetting that she is doing the same 3 gym, 3 swim sessions/week I am doing.

I don't know whats up but it must be one or a combo of:

1) she is being sneaky, 2) MFP is feeding me a load of cobblers, 3) too high a calorie deficit? 4) the amount of exercise we do simply isn't anything out of the ordinary based on what our bodies have been used to 5) I did the calculation wrong (should it be LEAN mass not TOTAL mass?) 6) Her metabolism is actually much lower than the theory accounts for

I guess a combo of 1), 2), 4) and 6)

Is she keeping within the carb, fat, protein ratios (pie chart thingy) and try having the most carb heavy meal around the gym, swim. Im following a cutting programme at the moment (building muscle losing body fat) and find keeping the carbs to 35% of my daily intake is quite tricky, but possible, in short don't just watch the calories try to hit the macronutrient targets too

Forgot to mention this. Yes this is one of the problems. Despite being under the calorie goal, the carb/protein/fat pie chart is always skewed towards carbs. Fats generally seem to behave themselves and we do try to keep to foods that are around or under 30% fat by calories (this is something recommended for swimmers).

I am now trying to go down a slightly more paleo route. I purchased the fitter foods recipe book and while I am skeptical of cutting out carbs and dairy so much they do have some good ideas. Thankfully they're not totally strict on paleo, they do allow some carbs and some dairy.... more level headed approach I guess. But one of the great ideas is replacing rice with grated cauliflower. I've tried it and its rather nice.

Also they advocate eggs and bacon for breakfast (using good fats to cook of course) and that too has been great. Cuts out a big wodge of carbs over musli or porridge, ups the protein and keeps you feeling full till well past lunch. All for roughly the same calories.

[Otispunkmeyer]

StevieBee said:

I've been reading up on the effect of alcohol on fitness.

A single shot of neat vodka slows the rate at which fat metabolises by up to 73% for 3 hours after drinking. Drinking more compounds this so two shots will slow metabolism for 6 hours. And this is one of the better examples!

Take the advice of the other posts here, plus, cut back on the booze!

As an aside though, I have seen some blistering performances off the back of being steaming the night before. They fell completely off a cliff immediately after, but for their actual race they were on fire! Just a shame you crash and burn so comprehensively afterwards!

[Foliage]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I weigh the stuff out and try make custom recipes to store. We make a lot of, in fact nearly all, meals from scratch and often more than enough for two. So setting up a recipe for say 3 or 4 servings can help, but I still think its a bit of a crap shoot, calories for something as simple as a potato seem to vary wildly within the MFP database. Some only provide calories, others have some of the other information filled out, but you never seem to get the full picture like you do when you scan the barcode from something popular like a Muller Corner. I find this particularly difficult with soups, a lot of the soups we make would seem to be remarkably low in calories but I just can't believe it myself, they must be a lot higher.

I do this mainly for my other half's benefit and well, its not working. Unless she is being sneaky while I am not there, I fail to see how she cannot be losing weight when supposedly only clearing 1600-1700 calories daily, supposedly below her BMR (1800 cal approx, x 1.4 for being active - 500/600 for a deficit) by the calculation and not forgetting that she is doing the same 3 gym, 3 swim sessions/week I am doing.

I don't know whats up but it must be one or a combo of:

1) she is being sneaky, 2) MFP is feeding me a load of cobblers, 3) too high a calorie deficit? 4) the amount of exercise we do simply isn't anything out of the ordinary based on what our bodies have been used to 5) I did the calculation wrong (should it be LEAN mass not TOTAL mass?) 6) Her metabolism is actually much lower than the theory accounts for

I guess a combo of 1), 2), 4) and 6)

She is being sneaky, no question.

All the other points are wrong, 2) MFP works ive lost 3 stone since feb 3) no such thing, starvation mode is a myth, you will lose weight even if you eat too little, wont do your body much good though so best avoided 4) exercise is irrelevant to weight loss, a calorie deficit is what matters, don't eat extra calories to match what MFP says for the exercise as that defeats the purpose & mfp overstates the calories for exercise 5) Whats really to calculate? 1600 calories a day will see anyone no matter their body shape/size lose weight its a deficit. 6) Metabolism is complex but in reality is irrelevant again calorie deficit is what matters.

Soup is mainly water, I make my own soups its super easy and super easy to add to MFP.

I 3 biggest tips for using MFP to lose weight is
1) if your unsure add more, overstate the calories if your unsure how many you've had.

2) get used to feeling hungry, enjoy feeling hungry/empty, start to like it, it means your diet is heading the right way.

3) Cut out bread/rice/potatoes/pasta, eat salad, whole foods (bulgar wheat, quinou, pulses, nuts etc) & veg instead, for example I eat salad with curry instead of rice, bulgar wheat and grilled salmon, roast carrots and swede with roast chicken instead of roast potatoes, as for Italian food the Italians don't eat like we do, they have a pasta course then a meat course with a side dish (Primo, Secondo & Contorno) I don't/make pasta course.


As for alcohol, you either want to lose weight or you don't are you calorie counting that alcohol? if your not, then why bother calorie counting at all, alcohol is so high in calories you cant diet and drink, if you 'need' alcohol to make I through the week/month then you need to take a good look at yourself.

Edited by Foliage on Monday 28th July 13:47

[dirty boy]

Your body has adapted into its best possible survival mode, knowing that it's constantly being drawn upon for copious amounts of energy, so any 'spare' coming in will get stored for later.

Unless you're counting every single calorie in and every calorie expended (especially if you're not in deficit) you'll store fat.

You either need to exercise more or eat less.

And remember, not all calories are equal as your body will deal with them in a different way.