How long does it take to lose the beer belly?

[NeedToImprove]

of course it may depend from one person to another, but generally how long do you have to wait to see results admiting you exercize regularly 4/5 times a week. it's a mith you have to do lots of abs to get rid of it, you need to do lots of cardio, maybe 50 minutes, some people say more others say it should be less, but in my case which is aiming to burn as much fat in my body as possible, all cardio is good and i do exercise regularly. in 2 months trainings i feel another man, my body posture has improved as i notice that as i walk, i even lost 6 kilos, i had 83 kilos before i started the workout and now my weight is 78kg, i think that is very good right? but i need to lose even more, according to the table height / weight, my weight should be 74/75 as i'm 1,73 meters tall. what bothers me the most is that i do 1000/1300 per training abs in order to get fit abs and they are there, i can see them, but the fat is spoiling it all (bad food habits mainly), also when i get more relaxed and not working out i notice that my stomach is still dilated. i stopped eating garbage foods, i eat well (ok i have a cheating day once a month where i eat 1 or 2 slices of pizza or a burger) am i in the right track or am i doing something wrong.

btw another question is that i dont drink water at the gym, only sport drink, like gatorade, energade, etc, are they ok? i forgot to mention that im 31 years old if the age has some influence in the process.

 

[Warboss Alex]

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(I will reply in about 30)

 

[Delta]

there's no such thing as spot reduction. there is no way to TARGET the fat in your midsection (or thighs or face or whatever).

so the goal is to reduce fat everywhere.

but before you worry about body fat %, just get to your ideal body weight.

also, in terms of losing weight, EATING LESS is far speedier than a focus on cardio.

try getting a few issues of MEN'S HEALTH magazine or check on the web, they have a VERY informative segment that compares what it would take in terms of a common exercise to burn off something like a waffle. usually, you will see that it ends up taking half a day of pure exercise to burn off something like a burger.

what this means is it's EASY to eat thousands of calories. it is VERY HARD to burn thousands of calories.

so the idea is to eat only the calories that a person of your height and target weight needs to eat and then your body will start reducing.

look on the web. there are lots of calculators to figure out what your calorie needs are.

cheating once in a while is fine and actually good. but it may be that your daily eating habits put your calorie count above where it should be so check that out.

delta

p.s. 1000/1300 crunches is TOO MUCH! waste of time. if you work out too much, you actually inhibit muscle growth. or you're not doing it right. try holding enough weight so you can barely do 12reps x 4 sets.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Simply put: 6kg weight loss in 2 months is awesome progress. I would continue what you're doing. With abs I'd just train them once or twice a week with weights rather than crunches.

I don't know how long you've had the fat on you but remember it takes longer to take it off than it does to put it on, and this is especially true if you've held the fat for several years. At 31 your carb sensitivity is worse than it was at 21 so losing fat is a little harder - but you're doing awesome, just be patient.

Personally I wouldn't go by ideal weight tables. According to my BMI I am morbidly obese for my height.

Energy drinks during the workout are fine.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by WBA

I don't know how long you've had the fat on you but remember it takes longer to take it off than it does to put it on, and this is especially true if you've held the fat for several years.

Could you elaborate on this?

 

[Warboss Alex]

Could you elaborate on this?

Quik, in your case it doesn't apply. You are obssessing needlessly. You're 18 - were you 38 things would be different. Your insulin sensitivity and fat metabolism ability are great at the moment. Even if you were chubbier in your 'youth' (?!?! you still ARE a youth) you can get ripped easily enough.

If you're really struggling to lose the fat, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Fred Da Head]

but before you worry about body fat %, just get to your ideal body weight.

The rest of your post is pretty much spot on, although I'd say eating clean is much more important than eating less total calories--though I've yet to see someone gorge themselves on celery.

What I quoted above, however, is bull****. "Ideal body weight" is an invention. There is no possible way a chart can tell you how much you should way. You know how much weigh I have to lose to get to my ideal body weight? About 40lbs. You know how much fat I have on my body right now? About 30lbs. That means I have to lose all my fat and then lost 10lbs of lean body mass to reach my ideal body weight.

I think the OP needs to not worry about either his ideal body weight, the BMI chart (which was a setup for insurance companies), or his body fat percentage.


Warboss Alex: I disagree with your statement that it takes longer to take off fat than it does to put it on. I do agree that it takes a while to take it off, and one should remember how long it took to put it on, however.

To the OP: go with the mirror method. If you look better in the mirror, keep doing what you're doing. If you're not, reevaluate. Besides, at 74kg to 1,73m, you're not that big to begin with, so your progress should be more apparent. As for sports drinks, you should try and avoid them in favour of water. They're mostly HFCS (high fructose corn syrup--one of the causes of the obesity epidemic) and cause a massive insulin spike, which tells your body to store fat, which is obviously the opposite of what you want.

As for your cheat days, make sure you only eat until you're full. It doesn't matter if all you eat that day is ice cream sundaes, but don't fill yourself until you feel like a stuffed goose.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Warboss Alex: I disagree with your statement that it takes longer to take off fat than it does to put it on. I do agree that it takes a while to take it off, and one should remember how long it took to put it on, however.

So someone who took three years to gain say 60lbs of fat can lose it in three months?

 

[Fred Da Head]

Given the right factors (training, nutrition, supplements, willpower, etc)... I'd say six months to a year would be feasible. Not easy, and one would lose some muscle mass, but it's feasible.

Now, realistically it usually takes a while to take off any weight, and it can take as long to take it off as it took to put it on, but it is possible to take it off quicker.

Nice straw man, though.

 

[Throttle]

no, but fred has a point. I spent the better part of 25 years piling on bodyfat before I took a significant chunk of that off in less than a year. the bigger point is that everyone is different, anyone carrying around a lot of bodyfat has generally spent most of his or her life putting it on, and everyone gains & loses fat at different rates depending on levels of dedication, etc.

and the first chunk of bodyfat is generally the easiest to take off, and it gets harder and harder as you go....

i agree with fred that the sports drinks are counterproductive. drink water instead. much of your cardio is simply burning the gatorade you're guzzling.

your diet may need more work, you haven't really said much in terms of specifics. refined carbs (sugars, starches) are a real problem when trying to lose bodyfat...

 

[Warboss Alex]

Given the right factors (training, nutrition, supplements, willpower, etc)... I'd say six months to a year would be feasible. Not easy, and one would lose some muscle mass, but it's feasible.

Now, realistically it usually takes a while to take off any weight, and it can take as long to take it off as it took to put it on, but it is possible to take it off quicker.

Nice straw man, though.

Straw man?

Whenever I say losing bodyfat I always also mean preserving and hopefully gaining lean mass so we're both correct. I agree that you can go on a rapid fat loss diet and lose fat REALLY fast - the problem is keeping it off in those circumstances.

Personally I'm confident I could take even a severely overweight man and make them lean within a year but like you say.. everything has to be dialled in.

My saying that it takes longer to lose than to put it on is taking into account that most people do not have to discipline or knowledge to go on lengthy dieting phases while feeling good and preserving muscle; thus in practice it does take at least as long. Although not, as you say, in theory (and in the exceptionally dedicated cases)

 

[Fred Da Head]

Sorry, just poking at you, though I guess lit classes taught me too much. The straw man is a logical fallacy where you distort what the other person said and attack that. In this case, putting up the obviously erroneous idea that you can lose 60lbs in three months. (Though that is, also, possible.. and just plain wrong.)

I think, however, that losing a bit of muscle mass while losing a lot of fat is preferable to losing none (or gaining a bit) but keeping on the fat for much longer. Although, like you pointed out, the problem then turns into keeping the fat off. I guess that's why we don't hear much from contestants on The Biggest Losers and X-Weighted and other such shoes; they lose tons of fat, but most probably put it back on.

It's all about lifestyle changes.

 

[Delta]

fred,

i know that BMI is a tricky thing and can be misleading especially for guys who have a lot of muscle mass.

but generally, i find it's simpler for someone who is overweight to just go for their bmi number and focus on calories.

the simplest way to think about weight is that you need x cals to maintain your weight as it is. eat less, lose weight, lose fat.

and then worry about the "final 10%" after. but yah, i'm definitely not saying my way is definitive or better than any other way. just a simple way to go.

delta