ok im starting to lift more/heavier weights, feeling like ive gained alot in that area.

now i want to tone my stomache. i dont neccisarily have a gut or beer belly, just a thin layer that i want gone so maybe i can have some abs showing through. it looks like i have love hands but its just bone.

i currently am 6'1" 192-194 pounds with my gym clothes on. i feel this is my ideal weight, and everytime i lose weight and get back down to like 180, it seems to just come from my arms, not my stomache??? my arms arent even flabby... they just look skinnier. my g/f says my arms are pretty bulky, maybe its just a personal thing when i look in the mirror, that they dont appear large enough.

so ive switched to light beer. ive cut down my pizza, dont eat many hamburgers, alot of my snack food is apples, beef jerky pretzels, fruit snacks, granola bars.

breakfast/ lunch /dinner its pretty common for me to eat pancakes, lunch i eat on the run so i get 2-3 McChicken sandwiches PLAIN.. no mayo or anything on them, just chicken breast on buns. dinner often is meat/fish or chicken, i eat alot of potatoes, or spaghetti, or some kind of pasta dish

tonights dinner, my protien shake ( just lefted weights ) leftover scrambed eggs, potatoes and toast, 2 bananas.

i decided a few days ago im going to go to the gym everynight, one night to lift weights and run for 20 minutes, and the next night JUST to run for at least 20 minutes.

i work a VERY physical job. ive read that most poeple have "abs" but they wont show til the fat is gone.

any tips? im considering looking into some kickboxing classes also. think that'll help a bit

wow.... sorry for such a long story!

 

Cut out the sweets
I think Theo has some kind of miracle diet or something
I know someone had a thread about loosing weight and all
Ask him if he doesn't reply here

 

andysutt- i dont think i take in too many sweets, 1-3 pops a day though, no candy. no coffee, dont really sugar too much stuff and cake and ice cream are on a holiday basis usually. no candy bars. i think im going to cut out the granola bars though, think they have alot of perservatives and saturated fat

 

cut down on the taters and pasta. (carbs)

 

Cut down on pops

 

F150- ive kinda taken thought to that, ive heard potatoes and pastas are high in carbs, but i assume they are great for protien.

although i was reading in a mens health magazine not to fall into the anti-carb diets cause its B.S. and you need carbs for energy.


it seems like no health magazines have the right answer anymore

 

Soda is something your body would applaud you for giving up. The problem you are experiencing is caused by two things. You eat increasing foods - foods that over feed your system, irrespective of the quantity, and you do consume tooooo much sugar. how do I know this? easy. if you have 1 oz of sugar in a month, you have too much - refined sugar is not good for you in anyway, and your body cannot use all of the sugar it gets, so it stores it.. cut down on sugar, and lighten the load of carbs - don't do away with carbs, just choose better food value, less glycemic versions..


The other problem is your posture is almost certainly completely out of whack, because nobody teaches people how to stand any more..

When you stand, imagine you have a string attached to the inside of your belly button, and your back bone. Shorten that string, and hold it there for as long as is comfortable, until you can hold it like that all day. This will develop more muscle in you gut than any amount of occasional exercise, and if your posture is wrong, your heavy work could be doing more harm to your musculature than good.. your shoulders are supposed to be held back, you are supposed to use your lungs for sucking in HUGE quantities of air at a time - did you know the average person only ever uses 30% of his lungs, the rest just gets clogged up.. Deep breaths in, and hold them for 10 seconds, the 20 seconds, then 25 seconds, and release ALL of the way out. Teach your muscles what they are supposed to do, and believe me, they will respond. And how do I know that.... From 65 round the gut, to 37, in 11 months, is how I know that..

Treat your body as it should be treated an it will thank you.

theo

 

Theo- thanks for the advice. im wondering though about drinks. ive cut pop out completly before and saw decent results, but i get very bored of just water all the time! ive noticed that even drinks you can buy like applejuice and cranberry juice can be loaded with sugars too... for a long time i drank just natural fruit punch, apple juice.

someone has mentioned many times the Arnold Swarzenegger book for lifting and health but right now i dotn *want* to spend 25 bucks on the book, but i think im gonna. i dont feel i should keep comnplaining until i do everything i can do

 

I told you Theo would know
He's a know it all. But he's true about what he says

 

Muscle weighs more than fat.

Figure out your mass but gauge it > Muscle & Inches <

 

If u wanna drink soda, then drink diet... no carbs and no sugar. Quit eating white bread, white bread is very bad for you and is mostly artificial. Go to wheat bread or sugar free bread (home pride sugar free bread is awesome). Cut out the sweets as well. Basically go on a diabetic diet. U will cut your carbs out alot, because u will be eating meat and eggs more often. Im on the low carb (or as u call it the anti carb) diet, ive went from 260lbs to 210lbs in just a few months. I eat about 75-100 carbs a day where as the normal person eating gets about 500 carbs a day. Cut out the pasta as well. You dont seem like u need to lose weight, u just want to lose a little gut and show more abs. Well in that case start doing sit ups, and then work into elevated sit ups (where your feet is higher than your body). The day that u go and run for 20 minutes, do the sit ups instead. Also like Theo said, work on your posture, hold your stomach in where its comfy, stick your chest out more and breath right.

 

After consumption ....All white flour products turns to sugar.

Maybe not bagels.

Bad... bad... bad.... sugar.

 

I honestly do not know which is worse....

The sugar, or the chemical artificial sweetners.

I use neither, and love it. I will get Slik to post the name of a diluted drink we use - makes water taste good, with NO sugar, no artificial sweetner - it is sweetened with the completely natural and non glycemic sugar alcohol Xyletol.. It is delicious, and 1 tiny spoon flavors a liter...

So, try to avoid diet anything - aspartame is proven dangerous, despite the web sites that claim otherwise. Try to avoid as many chemicals in food as possible, and you will not go wrong. If you do not like the flavor of water, try a different brand, or distill it. And, before everyone starts to say how bad distilled water is for you, and how it leaches mineral out of the body, and how you need the minerals in water to keep you alive (see I've heard 'em all) understand one thing. To obtain all of your minerals needed per day from water would involve drinking the equivalent of 1 olympic swimming pool..

so give distilled a try - no flavor to put you off, and until chemicals came along, all rain was as pure...

Denis.. you can have very nice bagels now with only 4 carbs.... yum yum.. Ask Ken, he told me about 'em.

Theo


Added on edit:

I use the Arnold Swarzenegger book, for weight training, and it helps a great deal. i have improved my stamina, just by doing as he says.. T

 

I told Ken about them in Detroit.

Trying to find bagels there was a chore.

Michelle & I eat bagels all time for Breaky or Dinner(Lunch) or as snacks.

 

Just to back up what Theo's saying:

1) Eliminate the sugar. Yes, you do need SOME carbs, but you'll get all you need from a little fresh fruit. Cut out cake, donuts, cookies, pastries, etc... Carbs also come from vegetables.

2) Eat foods in their most natural forms. Eat apples instead of drinking apple juice, for example. Avoid "over-processed" foods. White bread and pasta are perfect examples: bleached flour, then turned into something else.

3) STOP DRINKING BEER!! An occasional glass of wine is much better for you.

4) Get off the sugared soft drinks. Diet isn't much better, but if you can use it as a stop-gap to get off the sugar, so be it. Set a time table: January 1st you switch to diet, then in three months you give up that. Water may be boring, but think how much better it is for your body. Getting off the carbs will make you feel better, and lessen the cravings for the sweet drink.

I started the "A" diet on Labor Day, and I've gone from 187 to 169. I've never felt better, especially since I've modified the diet to make it more healthy. It's amazing how your body thanks you for getting off the garbage. The first 2 weeks are tough; after that it's easy.