Help: Converting the Keg to a Six Pack!

[burkie]

Here's my 2c worth:

Calories in vs calories out is bullshit. It doesn't work. The human body is not as simple as that.
All calories are not created equal. A calorie of fat does not process the same as a calorie of carbs or protein.
I have done a LOT of reading from authors such as Gary Taubes, Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf as well as experimented on myself.
If you want to lose weight then insulin is the enemy. You want to increase insulin sensitivity and reduce insulin spikes. You do this by eating less than 100 calories a day of carbs.
There is a great movie called FAT HEAD by Tom Naughton. It has some great info in it as well as being a good laugh. It will really open your eyes to the lies that you have been sold by the govt. bodies. (ie. the food pyramid is wrong) http://www.marksdailyapple.com/introducing-the-new-primal-blueprint-food-pyramid/#axzz2FaShT97M

I personally lost 5kg over 2wks (going from 75kg to 70kg at 175cm height) by:
1. Eating no processed foods or starches or yeast or grains, including potatoes, bread, soft drinks or anything with sugar.
2. No diary (dairy increases acidity which strips calcium from your bones)
3. No fruit
4. No alcohol
5. No exercise. No not one single bit! It's extremely overrated for fat loss.
6. No legumes (beans or soy)

Holy shit you say! What the fuck do you eat?

Every meat and vegetable on the planet, like the way the human body was designed to function.

Here's a great link to get you started:


http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz2FaPF00IX

I suggest reading every single link on this site. It will change the way you think about food forever.

 

[jonozrx]

Pretty much everything on that site is pseudoscience, and some of the advice is harmful.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

I personally lost 5kg over 2wks (going from 75kg to 70kg at 175cm height) by:

What you really lost was 4kg of fluid, 1 kg of muscle and basically no adipose.

What happens when people do this type of thing is then they rebound and end up heavier 3 months later - due to the loss of muscle mass and hormonal changes. I'm not going to bother looking up my exercise physiology notes, but from memory a diet like this supresses leptin (leptin reduces hunger/food intake) and neuropeptide Y increases dramatically - causing hunger / increased food intake (resulting in metabolic syndrome).

Strangely enough local Melbourne Professors like Selig, Snow... do not advocate these types of diets.

No exercise. No not one single bit! It's extremely overrated for fat loss.

Crickey... I don't think I'll agree with that!

Exercise is fantastic for weight loss, increased muscle mass and the energy expenditure during exercise can and does have a significant impact in adipose stores - maybe not weight as your putting on muscle which is a really good thing - unless you want diabetes? Diet is most important, that I do agree with, but exercise is a necessity and compliments a sensible diet in every way.

Exercise also results in some very positive hormonal changes, heart and arterial function, stress (related to increased food intake in many people), relaxation - sleeping habits and also works as an appetite suppressant.

Perhaps most importantly exercise helps retain muscle mass when you are starving yourself!

 

[driftking]

Here's my 2c worth:

Calories in vs calories out is bullshit. It doesn't work. The human body is not as simple as that.
All calories are not created equal. A calorie of fat does not process the same as a calorie of carbs or protein.
I agreed when you said calories are not created equal but your explanation isnt really justified enough, calories will vary the way fat carbs and protein is used is different but the body is also very good at getting energy from where it needs it, if you don't have glucose it will use fat if you run out of fat it will start burning protein and muscle. there are some calories which are not created equal, fats with medium chains like coconut oil are rumored to actual produce about 8 calories per gram not 9 and the shorter chain allows the break down process to be faster and less of a concern.

I personally lost 5kg over 2wks (going from 75kg to 70kg at 175cm height) by:
1. Eating no processed foods or starches or yeast or grains, including potatoes, bread, soft drinks or anything with sugar.
2. No diary (dairy increases acidity which strips calcium from your bones)
3. No fruit
4. No alcohol
5. No exercise. No not one single bit! It's extremely overrated for fat loss.
6. No legumes (beans or soy)


Every meat and vegetable on the planet, like the way the human body was designed to function.

Here's a great link to get you started:

The human body isnt actually designed to eat meat we can do so and we have done so but we are suited more to a diet rich in plants and legumes not so much meat. calories in vs calories out is still valid though, you can eat veggies all day but if you eat 3000calories from veggies and only need 2000 those 1000 are going to get stored, carbs when not needed by the body will be stored in the liver and muscles, if these stores are full it will be converted to fat in the body.

did you track your calorie intake over those 2 weeks? also how many carbs were you eating, there is a good chance you went into a ketonic state or lose weight from muscle dehydrate and loosing your stores.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz2FaPF00IX

I suggest reading every single link on this site. It will change the way you think about food forever.

I also agree with MWI above. I will say it is possible to loose fat in 2 weeks but it usually takes a pretty extreme diet like a full blown ketonic diet which has its own issues not only on the diet but once you reintroduce carbs.

To add to MWI points about exercise have you heard of skinny fat, skinny people with lots of visceral fat around the organs, this is more dangerous than the external fat you see, exercise improves lung and heart function, it also raises HDL cholesterol and helps lower LDL, it has anti depressant effects, It also helps keep insulin at a steady level and lowers blood pressure.

If we are talking pure weight loss exercise is at the very base of it a way to loose calories, sure you can eat less and not exercise but its not healthy, nor is it plausible as you will be loosing muscle and more than likely the amount of food needed will be so low you will loose nutrients.

 

[burkie]

MWI:

I agree I would have lost some water during that diet. I ate like that for a month. I then reintroduced fruit and sweet potatoes (and some alcohol :very_drunk. To date (about 3mths now) I have not put back on 1 single kg. My waist line has reduced by 4cm and my performance on the mtb has gone through the roof.
As far as exercise being fantastic for weight loss, well I used to think so too until I read Gary Taubes book Good calories Bad calories. He goes through all the scientific data and studies done over the years and finds no evidence at all that this theory holds true. I'm not against exercise. In fact I do believe putting on lean muscle is great for general health and wellbeing.(Last year I had a 2.2 x BW deadlift and a 1.3 x BW Bench.) I don't agree that exercise works as and appetite suppressant. See how hungry you are after a good deadlift session!!
But overall the most important thing for fat loss is diet. It is also the most important thing for being healthy, and I have found conventional medicine does not know a great deal about diet. eg. I always had high triglycerides and uric acid (causing gout). Doctors advice was to cut down on fat and proteins. WRONG. Didn't do anything. After some research I cut down on all sugars and processed carbs, sticking only to fresh veggies and fruit. Guess what, Triglycerides down and no more gout.

Driftking:

I have heard of skinny fat, which is the whole reason for watching carb intake. I have always been fairly lean, but blood results have always been bad even though I exercised a lot and easily maintained lean main muscle mass. The only thing that cleared up my blood results was diet, and by doing the opposite to conventional wisdom. There is plenty of evidence out there that shows eating only whole, natural foods and eliminating sugars will cause a positive effect on your body shape and health. I personally have had more success following people like Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Ori Hofmekler, Drs Michael & Mary Dan Eades and John Berardi than listening to doctors or nutritionalists telling me I need whole grains and diary to be healthy.
I didn't track my calories because I don't believe it is necessary if insulin is kept low. If I'm hungry I eat, if not I don't. Insulin is a storage hormone, and if kept low you won't store much fat.

 

[driftking]

MWI:

I always had high triglycerides and uric acid (causing gout). Doctors advice was to cut down on fat and proteins. WRONG. Didn't do anything. After some research I cut down on all sugars and processed carbs, sticking only to fresh veggies and fruit. Guess what, Triglycerides down and no more gout.

Driftking

The only thing that cleared up my blood results was diet, and by doing the opposite to conventional wisdom. There is plenty of evidence out there that shows eating only whole, natural foods and eliminating sugars will cause a positive effect on your body shape and health. I personally have had more success following people like Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Ori Hofmekler, Drs Michael & Mary Dan Eades and John Berardi than listening to doctors or nutritionalists telling me I need whole grains and diary to be healthy.
I didn't track my calories because I don't believe it is necessary if insulin is kept low. If I'm hungry I eat, if not I don't. Insulin is a storage hormone, and if kept low you won't store much fat.

What doctor told you to cut down on fat and protein that's shocking advice. From my research im leaning towards a good ratio been 55%carbs 25%fats 20%protein that's just my personal research though. You do need complex carbs but its not about increasing carbs its about switching so eating most if not all carbs as complex low GI, fats should be healthy fats with a good omega ratio.

Dairy is actually not great for humans, it is ironic that we are prescribed dairy for calcium, dairy actually leave the body in a acid state and to fix this the body draws nutrients from the body to return the body to a normal PH. Calcium is one of the nutrients that is drawn out of the bones, most diets are too high in acid foods and this means some people are actually using up more calcium than they're taking in. resulting in weaker bones.

I don't disagree with your view on diet, diet is essential for healthy living, but its a big stretch to say exercise is not important or not as big a factor. In weight lose the biggest thing comes down to diet no doubt and exercise is then used to make sure those calories are in deflect, but exercise also increases the metabolic rate after exercise, while increasing muscle mass increases your basic metabolic rate. A big problem people have when they don't exercise but drop lots of weight is they loose muscle mass, this slows the metabolism down, ideally you should aim to maintain muscle mass while dropping fat, exercise is a perfect way to do that. As noted early besides weight loss exercise has ample health benefits. The overall health improvement of exercise is impossible to discount.

 

[burkie]

What doctor told you to cut down on fat and protein that's shocking advice. From my research im leaning towards a good ratio been 55%carbs 25%fats 20%protein that's just my personal research though. You do need complex carbs but its not about increasing carbs its about switching so eating most if not all carbs as complex low GI, fats should be healthy fats with a good omega ratio.

Dairy is actually not great for humans, it is ironic that we are prescribed dairy for calcium, dairy actually leave the body in a acid state and to fix this the body draws nutrients from the body to return the body to a normal PH. Calcium is one of the nutrients that is drawn out of the bones, most diets are too high in acid foods and this means some people are actually using up more calcium than they're taking in. resulting in weaker bones.

I don't disagree with your view on diet, diet is essential for healthy living, but its a big stretch to say exercise is not important or not as big a factor. In weight lose the biggest thing comes down to diet no doubt and exercise is then used to make sure those calories are in deflect, but exercise also increases the metabolic rate after exercise, while increasing muscle mass increases your basic metabolic rate. A big problem people have when they don't exercise but drop lots of weight is they loose muscle mass, this slows the metabolism down, ideally you should aim to maintain muscle mass while dropping fat, exercise is a perfect way to do that. As noted early besides weight loss exercise has ample health benefits. The overall health improvement of exercise is impossible to discount.

You would be the first person I've come across who understands the whole diary/acidity/calcium thing. Most people I try to explain that to just cannot get there heads around it.
Guy at work: What, so you don't give your kid milk?
Me: No
Guy at work: How does he get his calcium
Me: Well actually diary makes the body acidic and to return itself to a neutral PH it strips calcium from the bones. So he gets his calcium from the same place cows get it, leafy greens aka broccoli and spinach.
Guy at work: Tha'ts not right. Cows get it from milk.
Me: Umm I don't think your following me. The milk may have calcium in it but its bound up in casein's which humans can't digest and regardless it still has to come from somewhere. ie. leafy greens, or in the cows case grass.
Guy at work: I think your wrong.
Me: No worries buddy. Keep on drinking milk from another mammal that is designed to grow a baby calf while you rest your coffee on that belly full of estrogen. By the way I milked my dog this morning, it's a mammal, would you like some of its milk in your coffee?

But back on topic:

To the OP I strongly suggest that you concentrate on diet rather than exercise to reduce fat.
Eat only whole natural foods. Nothing processed. Only veggies and meat (grass fed if you can), nuts and seeds and a little fruit.
Eat no sugar at all. None. Not even a little bit. No pasta, no bread no soft drinks or fruit juice.
Get lots of sleep. It increases growth hormone.
Take fish oil. Salmon wont do it for you as it's all farmed and fed with grain which makes it high in omega 6, not omega 3 which you need.
As for exercise make it short and intense for a better metabolic response. ie. hill sprints. Tabata intervals. High weight low reps. Forget the treadmill.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/healthyactive/publishing.nsf/Content/eating

Following the guidelines here ritchie, by your own admission it has occurred to eating crap - ignore all other advice that seems a little outlandish - as it will be wrong. There is no short cuts, eat a well balanced diet of good quality foods, if you want to eat some junk go for it, but do it in moderation (something like one take out night a week). Having previously worked in an obesity clinic in public health this is the approach and it works. If anyone tells you to cut carbs out to a significant level... take that advice with a big grain of salt.

If you competing in MTB or any other aerobic activity have a look on the AIS website and follow those guidelines - Louise Burke knows her stuff.

http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition

A layman article on exercise vs diet, but they actually got the jist of it right - yes diet is by far the most important factor, but exercise must not be ignored.

http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/food+diet/diets/exercise+may+not+be+helping+you+lose+weight,6739

I'd link a bunch of articles to refute some of the things burkie has said - particularly low/no carbs 'no sugar' and exercise waste of time for weight loss, but I don't think the average person needs to be told that's bad and irresponsible advice.

 

[burkie]

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/healthyactive/publishing.nsf/Content/eating

Following the guidelines here ritchie, by your own admission it has occurred to eating crap - ignore all other advice that seems a little outlandish - as it will be wrong. There is no short cuts, eat a well balanced diet of good quality foods, if you want to eat some junk go for it, but do it in moderation (something like one take out night a week). Having previously worked in an obesity clinic in public health this is the approach and it works. If anyone tells you to cut carbs out to a significant level... take that advice with a big grain of salt.

If you competing in MTB or any other aerobic activity have a look on the AIS website and follow those guidelines - Louise Burke knows her stuff.

http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition

A layman article on exercise vs diet, but they actually got the jist of it right - yes diet is by far the most important factor, but exercise must not be ignored.

http://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/food+diet/diets/exercise+may+not+be+helping+you+lose+weight,6739

I'd link a bunch of articles to refute some of the things burkie has said - particularly low/no carbs 'no sugar' and exercise waste of time for weight loss, but I don't think the average person needs to be told that's bad and irresponsible advice.

I never said "no carbs". Vegetables are carbs. I find it highly amusing that when you tell people you only eat whole foods ie. meats, veg, fruit and nuts that they think you are on an extreme diet of sorts. This is natural, real food for christ sake! Why do people think you need man made shit full of additives and chemicals to be healthy.
MWI: you obviously have an interest in health as do I. I wouldn't have read a 500 page book of dense scientific data by Gary Taubes if I didn't. I can't understand why saying a diet made up of whole natural foods is so hard to accept, but I guess it is a long term product of advertising and media misinformation that has led to a society addicted to sugar and refined foods that has led to an epidemic of metabolic syndrome. I would however be interested in reading some of the articles you mentioned if you want to pm me the links.

 

[driftking]

You would be the first person I've come across who understands the whole diary/acidity/calcium thing. Most people I try to explain that to just cannot get there heads around it.


But back on topic:

To the OP I strongly suggest that you concentrate on diet rather than exercise to reduce fat.
Eat only whole natural foods. Nothing processed. Only veggies and meat (grass fed if you can), nuts and seeds and a little fruit.
Eat no sugar at all. None. Not even a little bit. No pasta, no bread no soft drinks or fruit juice.
Get lots of sleep. It increases growth hormone.
Take fish oil. Salmon wont do it for you as it's all farmed and fed with grain which makes it high in omega 6, not omega 3 which you need.
As for exercise make it short and intense for a better metabolic response. ie. hill sprints. Tabata intervals. High weight low reps. Forget the treadmill.

Yeah the ph thing is not really considered often I think because it isn't so simple, if you have a diet rich in alkaline foods dairy is ok to eat with these foods, it comes back to balance. There are some good nutrients in dairy but the old "for strong bones" is such a bad misconception and potentially harmful suggestion. Interesting in countries like china and Japan they drink very little milk after their child years, there is suggestion that this is a factor in thier lower levels of cancers.
Ph is also commonly misinterupted , even drs I have heard say it does not change your blood ph. This is not what it is for, the blood ph won't change it's base line because the body prevents this from happening, instead you eat alkaline foods to prevent the body from using its nutrients and weakening itself while trying to keep this ph balance.
I will note You can eat too much alkaline food and to into alkalosis. A balance of 60-70%alkaline is ussually from what I has seen the reccomemdation for maintaince.

Pasta is fine if it's whole meal, pasta has a low GI too, the biggest issue I find with pasta is salt generally 600-800mg per serve.
The biggest key is to stay away from fast high GI sugars (unless medically suggested or exercise recovery)
The important thing with whole grains is the fibre you get with it which helps curb appetite along with lower cholesterol absorption and keep insulin steady.

The classic plate rule is easy to follow 1/4 protien 1/4carbs 1/2greens salad etc.

With fish oil I'd suggest consider switching to krill. The antaxantin is powerful but the important factor is it stops it from oxidizing during the production and while it is Injested, the oxidation of the fish oil can actually cause damage. The smaller particle size improves the absorption to the blood brain barrier too.

Studies on cholesterol are very impressive too. All studies have been done on NKO so make sure it's NKO.

Here's a snip of the cholesterol study results it was a small one but impressive results.
In one study, 120 people were given krill oil, fish oil or a placebo. Krill oil reduced LDL (commonly referred to as "bad") cholesterol by 34% and increased HDL ("good") cholesterol by 43.5% compared to the placebo. In comparison, fish oil reduced LDL cholesterol by 4.6% and increased HDL cholesterol by 4.2%. Krill also lowered triglycerides

 

[joeknowgood]

just eat healthy

cut down on carbs and refined sugars (which are in just about everything now) another big one for me was to cut down on the nightly beer (or two or three) empty, empty calories.

joseph

 

[gassyndrome]

Really interesting Burkie - I've been reading Taubes, Sisson, etc and am going to hook in with this style of eating. Are you going to stick with it as a way of life? I know that even though I love a bit of bread/pizza/pasta it makes me feel like shit afterwards.

 

[burkie]

Really interesting Burkie - I've been reading Taubes, Sisson, etc and am going to hook in with this style of eating. Are you going to stick with it as a way of life? I know that even though I love a bit of bread/pizza/pasta it makes me feel like shit afterwards.

I am by no way super strict with my diet. ie. I do love a stout beer with chocolate and am quite partial to scotch, but I follow a no processed foods diet 80 - 90% of the time. I mostly avoid bread, diary, pasta and all grains. The missus used to love her pasta and bread until she got on board the Sisson train, and has now dropped below her pre baby waist size just through sensible eating of non processed foods. As with your experience she also now feels like shit every time she eats bread or pasta. Every time I hear a so called "nutritional expert" say that the paleo diet is unsustainable I just laugh. How can whole, natural foods be unsustainable? I now ignore the "experts" who base their advice on flawed science and follow a basic, real food diet that works. Since you've read Taubes you already know the lipid hypothesis is bogus and so are already ahead of the pack. Don't think twice about it. Jump on board a REAL food diet and reap the benefits. Another great book if you haven't read it is "The protein power life plan" by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades. It's easy to read but full of great info.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

Wrote this bit last, the following isn't a personal attack, but to me what you have written reinforces the perils of taking health advice off the internet...

I never said "no carbs". Vegetables are carbs.

Reading between the lines, you are advocating cutting out carbs, perhaps not completely, but well below recommended requirements for health – although you don’t seem to highlight the relationship between mass, energy expenditure and carb intake, to me this demonstrates a lack of understanding of the basics of nutritional intake. 100g per day for an active male is well under any guidelines I have ever seen and I have read a few. Very few vegetables can provide adequate energy intake for a healthy and active adult male.

As far as exercise being fantastic for weight loss, well I used to think so too until I read Gary Taubes book Good calories Bad calories. He goes through all the scientific data and studies done over the years and finds no evidence at all that this theory holds true. I'm not against exercise.

Cochrane reviews I hope are of a high enough quality? Perhaps Taubes didn't subscribe to this journal.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003817.pub3/abstract
The results of this review support the use of exercise as a weight loss intervention, particularly when combined with dietary change.

No diary (dairy increases acidity which strips calcium from your bones)

You are also advocating removing dairy food because ingestion of dairy leads to osteoporosis?

Despite every guideline based of peer reviewed research, advocating a moderate dairy intake, green leafy vegetables, along with appropriate levels of vitamin D… here is a link to the Australian and New Zealand Bone and Mineral Society position stand on bone health, strangely enough they advocate dairy intake as the primary means of improving bone health...

https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2009/190/6/calcium-and-bone-health-position-statement-australian-and-new-zealand-bone-and

I find it highly amusing that when you tell people you only eat whole foods ie. meats, veg, fruit and nuts that they think you are on an extreme diet of sorts.

I don’t see anywhere in this thread where people have disagreed with the eating non processed foods, in fact myself and everyone else as far as I can tell agree completely. But I completely disagree with advocating psuedoscience and fairytales around macro-nutrient intake which go against every federal guideline based on peer reviewed evidence.

MWI: you obviously have an interest in health as do I. I wouldn't have read a 500 page book of dense scientific data by Gary Taubes if I didn't.

You have read a 500 page book?

Well, I admit I haven't read that book, but I have x1 bachelors, x2 masters and half way through a PhD in the health sciences (9 years and counting of full time study), plus quite a few years I working in clinical rehabilitation including an obesity clinic, in which I was mentored by a group of passionate and skilled dieticians. I also attend conferences in this field regularly, work requires it, but I guess that the various professors from around the world that have presented research must be all wrong, because you think that ‘conventional medicine does not know a lot about diet’? based on a non-peer reviewed book by a guy who wants to sell books to make money?

Maybe I should have read this book instead of accumulating an impressive hecs debt and years of study and experience?

 

[burkie]

You have read a 500 page book?

Well, I admit I haven't read that book, but I have x1 bachelors, x2 masters and half way through a PhD in the health sciences (9 years and counting of full time study), plus quite a few years I working in clinical rehabilitation including an obesity clinic, in which I was mentored by a group of passionate and skilled dieticians. I also attend conferences in this field regularly, work requires it, but I guess that the various professors from around the world that have presented research must be all wrong, because you think that ‘conventional medicine does not know a lot about diet’? based on a non-peer reviewed book by a guy who wants to sell books to make money?

Maybe I should have read this book instead of accumulating an impressive hecs debt and years of study and experience?

Ha Ha..... I wasn't trying to show how smart I was by stating I'd read a book (even though it was the first one I've read without pictures). I was merely showing I had a more serious interest in nutrition than just having a passing glance at the latest newspaper article on diet. I've never been to uni except to watch bands in the uni bar, where I was mentored by a group of passionate and skilled alcoholics.
Even though I have these impressive qualifications, I still don't believe everything an "expert" tells me. Ancel Keys had a PhD in physiology and look at the great research he did with cholesterol!

 

[driftking]

Agree with MWI
Also just to add from what I have read the brain needs 100-150grams of carbs (obviously broken down to glucose) to just function without the need for ketones.

Except the acidity part with dairy.
Dairy has important nutrients, the idea of cutting out dairy is probably misguided but there is evidence to back some of it up albeit not very soild. Cancer rates have shown to be lower in low milk consumption areas.
The idea behind the dairy is the ph change it causes which does result In loss of calcium from bones amoun other nutrients. This however is not a point of dairy it's a point of balance between acidic foods and alkaline foods. A well balanced diet tends to have a good ratio so if you eat a good ratio of alkaline to acidic you can include dairy. It's like saying you can't eat a high fat meal it's bad, however if it fits your daily needs there is no problem.
For calcium dairy isn't needed there is plenty from other places like dark leafy greens.

 

[clance79]

Hi there, a lot of good advice a lot of poor advice IMO, firstly I just want to put in a plug for "Marks daily apple" as mentioned in the post by "burkie" here's the link http://www.marksdailyapple.com/#axzz2HMKz0Duz this guy's advice seems pretty radical at times and I initially thought that he came on a bit strong but I swear to you that he is right on the money and his advice is very well researched!
the recommendations on marks daily apple aka "the primal blueprint" are pretty difficult to maintain but if you can just point your eating and exercise habits part of the way there I think you'll see some noticeable improvements

if I could recommend anything it is that short intense exercise (think intervals) will have a metabolic effect that far outweighs the actual calories burnt whilst exercising while endurance work (think jogging) will burn calories but won't significantly effect your metabolism

oh and I think the best ab exercise is heavy deadlifts- sound crazy? when done with correct form the core and abdominal tension required is extreme! forget sit ups lift heavy things

 

[richie_gt]

I've developed a keg/pot belly an old man would be proud of...problem is I'm 30, built like a rake so the old belly is sticking out like a sore thumb at present!

Lately I've been eating like crap, no exercise and I've been drinking way too often! As summer nears enough is enough! I'm weighing in at 74kg right now which is the most I've ever been...I think a weight around/just over 70kg would be sensible!

I've already stopped drinking soft drinks, I'm taking my lunch to work, cooking at home and I've started exercising again...are there any exercises anyone can recommend to lose the belly?

Can't believe it's been almost 2 years since this post!

I now have a pretty solid exercise regime which includes:-

- Commute to and from work each day (20 km total)
- One (or two) gym class a week (suspension)
- Game of futsal (work lunchtime competition)
- An off-road MTB session (almost every weekend)

I've dropped to about 70 kg - pot belly has evaporated and my previously tight fitting work pants are now loose!

Interestingly this has all come about purely through flogging myself with exercise, my diet could be better but overall I'm feeling way healthier and have heaps more energy!

As summer approaches my main goal is to continue to build fitness so I don't get so thrashed riding in the heat!

 

[binner]

gutted

Pills, speed and a discotec

bahhh hahhhh, ytou made me laugh there fellah.............. sadly I fall into the beergut group now. I can safely say it is from starting to homebrew again at the start of the year and drinking too much a nite. I was at 79kg in Feb and now on the scale at around 85/86. I still ride as much as I did and my eating habits havent changed so the only thing I can relate it to is booze.
I have said to myself that this week is it for downing 1.5 ltr or more a nite of homebrew. It's been hard because your beer fridge is right there in your bike shed so its so easy just to grab a beer.
1 X 285mm glass a nite now.

 

[johnny]

I know I'm going to come off as a tool here, but, well, it's the internet.

I've never been to uni

And this is a problem when dealing with science.

You don't need to have studied science at uni to educate yourself on science based issues but not understanding the scientific method and not committing to a very rigorous methodology of collecting information puts you behind the curve in a pretty big way. I have studied hard science (neurobiology) and soft science (sociology and polsci) and now work in the soft science space. I am constantly infuriated by people who have a theory and only set about to prove it/convince you of it.

Nothing wrong with theories that totally shift from the standard thinking, thinking like this should never be ignored. However if you read a book arguing for 'theory ABC' you need to read the literature that tests 'theory ABC'. You can't just read the material that supports any particular theory because people can make mistakes, have biases, cheat, not consider other theories that don't support their own, etc. If you only cover one side of the argument you can easily be sold on something without realising what is wrong with it.

Then there's science itself. Fundamentals such as nothing is ever proven, it can only ever be not yet disproved, theorists should set about trying to disprove their theory, not prove it (political scientists take note!!), correlation does not equal cause, control groups, sample sizes, etc. etc., are the bedrock of scientific knowledge and if these fundamentals are not followed in the argument that you're reading you need to be very critical of the results/argument provided.

Lastly, if the argument and the people providing them only ever appear in books written by the theorist themselves and these people cannot be found publishing in peer reviewed journals or where their research will be replicated then you need to be super, super critical of everything.

Dieting and weight loss is a sector where many people look for quick, easy and cheap fixes. The fads in the weight loss industry are phenomenal. People know they can sell bullshit and get away with it. Your theory may only be around for 3 years until it's completely disproved but who cares, you've already made your $3 mil selling books, DVDs and public speaking gigs. But you can't get away with bullshit in peer review journals and in open debate. Sure, your argument my be rejected due to biases of the current thinking but then it's likely that these biases will be illuminated and dealt with over time. If a person only ever writes books the reader is never exposed to the challenges as they are in journals and other like forums.

Nothing wrong at all with reading books but after you've read one you MUST go find what the counter arguments are and read them too. Lastly, don't rely on the person making the argument to provide you with the counter arguments. If they are biased or a snake oil salesman then they will only provide you with straw men arguments and will ignore the arguments they can't answer.