Thetownend.com

I know that there are a few fitness types here.

I've been going to the gym recently, I've been sticking at it as well. Whilst I am no Adonis just yet, I can still fell the difference in my legs and upper body.

I am more interested though, in getting my lungs and cardio vascular gubbins straight after proper fucking them up with smoking for so long, so I have been doing loads on the bikes and treadmill and stuff. One concern I have is my belly, 3-4 weeks of exercise seem to have had absolutely zero impact.

How does one get rid of a beer gut?

sorry to tell you this mate but its the very last thing to go.

I've been lucky in that i've never had a belly, even when i've gained weight.

When I used to do some lifting, I used to do HIIT training and then really kept the gut lean.

http://www.intervaltraining.net/hiit.html

Sit ups

Keep going and possibly a change in diet.

Have the baby.

and while you're at it - count calories.

If you can diet really hard for a week, then I have an ace diet linked to below. You do have to stick to it properly and not deviate at all. Exercise can be tough when on it though, so beware. If you do a week on and then 2-3 days off, while eating well, you can wipe vast amounts of weight off in almost no time.

I don't use the celery in the soup though and sometimes roast the peppers. You can also do a mild version, which will not work anywhere near as well, and eat a healthy breakfast and have the soup all day and 1-2 slices of bread as well for 4 days or so.

When you stop the diet be really gentle on your diet. No beer and nothing too fatty for a few days.

http://www.multiupload.com/RPYU2WKLQZ

 Many people swap food for liquids when dieting....that stretches the guts.
Also if your job involves sitting a lot that wont help.....many drivers have large guts on account of sitting on there fat arses all day.
Not me though ;)

Stop eating toads.

Yep...not good for the Stools.

Really gotta cut down on the alcohol! As in none
Mex is right that it will probably be the last thing to go
Can you hit some classes as well as the gym - a circuit training class would be good - you'll work cardio as well as all muscle groups and you will prob push yourself harder than you would in the gym

I managed to lose over a stone last year, but have just plateaued since then (although I have been doing a lot of weight training).

Barry, that diet sounds brutal. I might give it a go.

become a cleaner. i've worked as one over the summer and reckon i've lost almost half a stone. I think it's definatley a case of cutting out all beer

It is, but no word of a lie, you can do a stone in a week - a friend of mine did well over a stone in a week and used the gym at the same time. I never have, but then I've never used to religiously. I've just supplemented my normal eating on occasions where I've gained a few pounds. It is hardcore, but if you make enough soup and have a mug (as I used to every hour and a half or so) it's actually not that hard (although I've never done the whole diet exactly). Turn the Bananas into smoothies as well, with added artificial sweetener. Oh and as the soup only lasts about 3 days or so, freeze some.

The diet comes from a friend of a friend of a friend who was a competitive body builder (Chinese whisper?) and used to use it for a few weeks in the run up to competitions to strip fat from his body. And it really does work, but as it warns in the diet, you will suffer from malnutrition if you perform the diet end to end.

I'm guessing most of that stone is water loss though, right? I understand you burn more calories than you eat on that diet, but surely you can't lose a stone of fat in a week!

I can see where you're coming from and would be inclined to agree. My mate literally went from gut to no gut and of course much if it could be water. He actually used it and the gym to go from gut to pretty much a six pack over a period of a few weeks and I saw that, so he most definitely lost fat. He wasn't the fattest fucker though, in fact he wasn't fat, he was just a bit portly.

He was the only person I've witnessed following it properly. It was actually how I ended up with it. I noticed he'd lost weight and commented. He took his top off and I was honestly shocked, so he gave me a photocopy. He told stories when he gave it to me of people losing masses of weight and I do know last time I did my version of it, my Mum said I looked like I was ill and needed a good meal inside me. :)

The wife read it and said it's actually pretty much like a weight watchers diet (but obviously a little bit more intense). She wants to give it a go, so I think I'll have a bash soon.

here's my 2pence of what i have learned over the last 6 months

90% of weightloss is down to diet, if you dont get this right, no amount of excersie will help. This is the most important thing, make sure you're getting enough protein, complex carbs and good fats

People often think cardio will help them lose weigh, to an extent yes, but overdo it, you will loose muscle also and without a decent weights program you will end up being something called "skinny fat" With cardio, like someones mentioned allready look into something called HIIT.

Incorporate a weights program into your routine, a lot of people see weights at getting buff, but done the right way it can be a great way to loose unwanted fat, weights burn calories too, and the difference between weights and cardio, with weights the calories burn for hours after the work out.
(look into something called Tabata)

I think it was sippo who said "do loads of sit ups" while sit ups are good, you are not going to lose belly fat by doing 500sit ups a day, you'd have amazing abs for sure but they'd still be covered by a layer of fat.

This takes me onto spot losing, you cannot concentrate on one area of you're body to lose fat, i.e just going ab work for an hour a day, it doesnt work like that, you need to work the whole of the body and nature will take its cause, and as mex had said, the stomach area of normally the last place to go.

Dont look into fad diets, as long as you're calorie intake is lesser than what you are burning, you will lose weight. You should be aiming to eat between 2000-2500 calories a day. Healthy weightloss is 1-2lb a week.

Dont get tempted by the advertisement of the miracle weightloss pill or fat burner, they DONT work.

Thats about it from me i think.

I couldn't agree more Chubbs - despite the diet I posted. Quick fixes are all well and good, but without a truly concerted effort in changing habits permanently, no diet works. It's all about small steps and often and that builds new habits and permanent change.

the fad diets part was in no way directed at you mate, i only actually read it after i posted, being a veggie i think i'd get on quite well with it up untill day 4 :-)

I called a vegetarian a "veggie" once, she was mightily offended.

I'm going to make some of that soup I think.

Don't worry, I didn't think it was mate. :) I was just joining in the debate over the importance of dieting correctly.

Oh i fully agree, too many people overlook the fact that the most important thing is a healthy diet as opposed to just going to the gym a few times a week.
Getting in shape is a lifestyle not a hobby.  :-)

IIRC, 1kg of bodyfat is equivelent to about 3600kcal.

So yeah, if you're heavy enough and active enough (2hrs sporting a day) then you could lose a stone (around 7kg) in a week..

Been losing weight whilst building muscle for the last year, down from 109kg to 85kg.  Still got around 10kg to go before the belly's gone.

I'd hit 83kg two months ago, but found it hard to get lower.  Might give the soup diet a go then (it's a variation of the cabbage-soup diet, I assume?).  I know from the past that it can work, but only for short periods.  Like for a week or two to try and break through a weight barrier..


EDIT: What Chubbs says is spot in.  It's the longer route, but it's healthier and easier to maintain afterwards (it doesn't go right back on). 

For a simple introduction you could do worse than Bill Pulman's Body For Life.  Just ignore the whole motivational bullshit.  Or check out stronglift's forum.  Bodybuilders know better than anybody what it takes to lose weight in a relatively healthy manner (i.e. without cutting muscles).

Oh, and take vitamine & mineral suppliments if you're dieting.

Well done on the progress so far mate, im down from 121kg to 95kg in 6months and ive hit a bit of a plateau, but im sure that due to me doing alot more weight training so im not really focusing on how much i weight, but how i look. Still a bit of a journey to go but i'm getting there.

like radicalbyte said, read up on body building forums, theres a lot of useful info on them.

Chubbs - those holiday pics, dont look anything like you, fair play!

cheers mate :-)

Chubbs do you work in a gym? If not have you ever thought about becoming about a fitness instructor?? You talk alot of sense!

Also didnt know you knew Mr. Sealey - whats he up to these days?

i spend a lot of time in the gym but work? no. haha. Its just stuff i've pick up from reading various forums and its the advice thats done me well. And i'd need to be fit to be a fitness instructor :-)
But thanks.

Dave, i just know him through mutal friends, someone pulled out of the holiday, so my mate got his mate in (pete) i'd met him a few times before.
He's not long got back from china where he was meant to be teaching but the company was a big scam, so just spent a while there anyway, now he's back in swindon (bassett) working.

I used to work with him when I was at Premier Sport - he went off travelling and then I left there. He's a top bloke.

yeah, he's done a lot of traveling, did thailand and all that jazz not too long ago, hes a good lad.

You don't really to be fit?? Just knowledgeable and keen

haha, doesnt that defeat the point of a "fitness instuctor" haha. If i was in a gym i'd want advice from someone who can talk the talk walk the walk kinda thing.

I see your point, but as this football forum shows - there are a fair few people who know their stuff and talk the talk fairly well.

None of them are, or have been professional footballers though!

Yeah but your not morbidly obese or anything?!

Most importantly has he had a proper hair cut yet?  Last time I saw him he had long curly hair.(Assuming this is the same Pete from Bassett who went travelling)

How long/how much training does it take to be a qualified fitness instructor?

One course! :)

oh dear

Haha but that's like one qualification you need more than that to do anything good!

In your shed?  :)

Yep.

Why not just pay for a tummy tuck or for the fat to be sucked out - it would be easier and quicker  :)

give me 3/4k and i'll do it :-)

For 3-4k, you'll suck the fat out of P2P?