Trimming the waist

[martyb]

Wow....more responses than I expected! Thanks for all the input. I guess it's time to really ramp up my efforts. When I was younger, it took a lot less effort to produce results for me, I suppose that's the way it works, though.

 

[TromboneAl]

The rule of thumb is that running burns about 100 calories per mile on average (of course it will be more for some and less for others) so your running regimen only burns about 450 calories per week.

From my understanding, while that's true, there's also this: After you run, your metabolic rate will be higher for several hours, and you'll burn more calories than you would had you not run. Also, your running is building big leg muscles that burn more calories.

IOW, actual running, small benefit, effects of running, bigger benefit.

 

[Eyerishgold]

From my understanding, while that's true, there's also this: After you run, your metabolic rate will be higher for several hours, and you'll burn more calories than you would had you not run. Also, your running is building big leg muscles that burn more calories.

IOW, actual running, small benefit, effects of running, bigger benefit.

To expand a little on what Al said, there was a study done to see whether increasing the intensity of the activity (i.e. sprinting) lead more fat loss. This study found that increasing intensity not only burns more calories during the activity, but increases your metabolic rate up to 24 hours afterward. This study was done with cyclists not runners but I assume the results would be the same no matter the activity.

 

[RetireeRobert]

Not to be discouraging but i'm not sure that's always true. I've been on vacation for two weeks and have taken in over 4000 calories per day on average and have done zero exercise of any kind and I still lost 3 pounds. At 6'6" and 156 pounds I can't seem to gain a pound no matter what I do so I assume that there are probably people who are the exact opposite.

Your metabolism is "burning" more than you consume, over a span of time. Those three lost pounds could have been water weight, dumping a load, etc.

It is a law of physics---burn more calories than you consume---inexorable to lose weight. The hardest way is to eat less only. A more sustainable way is to exercise more combined with eating less calorie-dense food choices, but allowing yourself some "forbidden" foods in small quantities once in a while to slake the psychological craving.

Very simple, no big trick: exercise more and eat less = lose weight

 

[FinanceDude]

If anyone finds the "secret",I'd be willing to pay for it. Rich, isn't it true that our metabolism changes as we get older, making it harder to keep that midsection taut??

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

trim your waist? easy, just work more on your shoulders and chest (it will make your waist look trim). also if you work on your abs and pretty much all the torso muscles your posture will become more upright thus creating the illusion of a trim waist. the battle of the bulge: if you can't beat'm, cheat.

 

[DallasGuy]

Another way to control weight is to get enough sleep. The amount of sleep affects your hormones and that in turn affects your appetite. Here's a link to an article that explains the theory.

The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep

 

[martyb]

the battle of the bulge: if you can't beat'm, cheat.

I'm thinking LG4NB has found "the secret"!

 

[Insanity]

. . .
It is a law of physics---burn more calories than you consume---inexorable to lose weight. The hardest way is to eat less only. A more sustainable way is to exercise more combined with eating less calorie-dense food choices, but allowing yourself some "forbidden" foods in small quantities once in a while to slake the psychological craving.

Very simple, no big trick: exercise more and eat less = lose weight

Not to take away from your comment, one of the challenges people hoping to loose weight suffer from is the very simple, no big trick mentality. The simple truth is that you have to consume fewer calories than you burn to loose weight, but "the truth, the whole truth" is much, much more complex.

The simplified view of metabolism suggests people have a set point somewhere, a "high" or "low" metabolism that they are genetically programmed for. The truth is much more complex; the body's metabolism is an intricate dance that's controlled by hormones created in the intestines, pancreas, thyroid, liver, adrenal glands, and by the same fat cells we're trying to reduce in size, and this hormone brew has a dramatic effect on both how quickly or slowly we burn calories and on how much or little we crave calories.

I'll give you two quick examples that demonstrate how variable our metabolisms are: breakfast and exercise.

Research into weight loss shows that people who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight than people who skip breakfast, even they consume the same number of calories. The same phenomenon occurs when people involve themselves in heavy exercise and don't eat shortly after they finish their workout: people who consume a healthy snack after they workout are more likely to maintain or loose weight than people who don't, even though they consume more total calories.

Both these examples demonstrate that there is some complex metabolic calculus going on beneath our skin. So, while the simple truth is that you'll loose weight if you just eat fewer calories than your body burns is true, the whole truth is that it's not just how much you eat and exercise, but also what, when, and how you eat and exercise, and those what, when, and hows vary from person to person.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Research into weight loss shows that people who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight than people who skip breakfast, even they consume the same number of calories. The same phenomenon occurs when people involve themselves in heavy exercise and don't eat shortly after they finish their workout: people who consume a healthy snack after they workout are more likely to maintain or loose weight than people who don't, even though they consume more total calories.

Both these examples demonstrate that there is some complex metabolic calculus going on beneath our skin. So, while the simple truth is that you'll loose weight if you just eat fewer calories than your body burns is true, the whole truth is that it's not just how much you eat and exercise, but also what, when, and how you eat and exercise, and those what, when, and hows vary from person to person.

i've heard this likened to stoking a fire, of keeping the fire hot so that it can better burn fuel. i've also read similar info on types of food. sugars for instance mess with insulin levels and prevent fat from being burned.

 

[RetireeRobert]

If anyone finds the "secret",I'd be willing to pay for it. Rich, isn't it true that our metabolism changes as we get older, making it harder to keep that midsection taut??

I'm not Rich (although I am rich--(enough)), but there is something to the metabolism bit.

I think a lot of it is explained by the gradual loss of muscle mass as we age. I think it is something like 1% a year, so 10% every decade (or something like that). Anyway, the older we get, if we don't do resistance exercise we lose muscle mass.

As muscle mass burns more calories than the rest of our body, the more muscle mass we lose, the fewer calories our bodies burn. This is a part of "metabolism". The fewer calories our bodies burn, and we keep eating the same, we gain weight. Or the harder it is to either lose weight or maintain the same weight.

The prescription is to do some resistance exercise to help maintain your muscle mass. That way you boost your "metabolism"--the burning of calories by your body.

None of this is contrary to the basic law: burn more calories than you consume to lose weight. To "burn more" means you "exercise more". To "consume less" calories means you eat less.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

If anyone finds the "secret",I'd be willing to pay for it. Rich, isn't it true that our metabolism changes as we get older, making it harder to keep that midsection taut??

It's extraordinarily complicated and I am not an expert in the field. But, for example your basal metabolic rate drops with age, but so does muscle mass and usually exercise level. Both are important; appetite and intake are regulated by tons of hormones from the gut and the brain. These wax and wane with age.

Robert's thermodynamic reality theory is of course correct in a literal sense (eat less than you burn); it's a bit like saying that to make an atom bomb you just convert mass to energy. Easier said than done, and more complex than the short version implies. On the other hand, it sometimes does seem so simple when I'm counselling an obese patient - a little voice in the back of my head keeps yelling "stop eating so much and get off your butt."

Now here's my personal favorite and often forgotten pearl:

Spontaneous, nonpurposeful physical activity (often called "restlessness" or "fidgeting"), can account burn up to 800 Calories daily -- that's like running 6 miles. Taken along with other congential differences in burn rate, this goes a long way in accounting for the variation among otherwise similar individuals, intake, and lifestyle.

 

[JPatrick]

This one sounds stupid, and you may feel stupid til you master it----but, try this to harden up the gut.
Stand on one leg and do curls (use a curling bar) as you normally would (on 2 legs).
Start with a very light weight and work up as you can. You will feel it working for sure. I gotta imagine it's good for your balance as well

 

[Insanity]

This one sounds stupid, and you may feel stupid til you master it----but, try this to harden up the gut.
Stand on one leg and do curls (use a curling bar) as you normally would (on 2 legs).

There's a core exercise that I do sometimes, curling dumbbells at 2/3 the weight I curl when standing normally while standing on a balance board (easier to do on an upside down balance dome). Not only does it provide a good bicep and core workout, it also strengthens your ankles and helps maintain or improve your sense of balance (something else that deteriorates as we age).

My wife does a different balance/core exercise, knee bends on an inverted exercise dome.

--Peter

 

[Insanity]

On the other hand, it sometimes does seem so simple when I'm counselling an obese patient - a little voice in the back of my head keeps yelling "stop eating so much and get off your butt."

I hear you on that. Many times I've stood at the grocery checkout line behind Mr/Mrs Abdominis Stupendous and seen chips and soda and spray cheese, etc running through the checkout scanner with no sign of a fruit or vegetable anywhere. What's even sadder is when the A. Stupendous family, including little Stupendous Jr. are picking up the (at least what looks like) week's groceries and there are no healthy choices anywhere. This happens far more often than I like to think about.

On the other hand, we, as a society, don't make doing the right thing easy, either. Consider grocery shopping: here we are, shopping for and looking at food we'd like to eat for thirty minutes or more, making ourselves hungry, when we come to the checkout line where we're surrounded by candy. That makes for harder-than-necessary choices that try our resolve to make healthy selections. Drives me batty.

Even when you're going to the gym, trying to be good, we don't make it easy. My wife and I go to a community gym and fitness center, and while there's a lot of very good equipment there, there is no one there to tell you how to use it safely or design a workout plan, no one to help you devise a healthy lifestyle strategy. Fortunately these are things my wife and I already know how to do, but we've seen a parade of people who have no clue there, and I think a lot of them get frustrated and leave because of the lack of support. That drives me batty, too.

 

[FinanceDude]

I hear you on that. Many times I've stood at the grocery checkout line behind Mr/Mrs Abdominis Stupendous and seen chips and soda and spray cheese, etc running through the checkout scanner with no sign of a fruit or vegetable anywhere. What's even sadder is when the A. Stupendous family, including little Stupendous Jr. are picking up the (at least what looks like) week's groceries and there are no healthy choices anywhere. This happens far more often than I like to think about.

Sad, but true............

On the other hand, we, as a society, don't make doing the right thing easy, either. Consider grocery shopping: here we are, shopping for and looking at food we'd like to eat for thirty minutes or more, making ourselves hungry, when we come to the checkout line where we're surrounded by candy. That makes for harder-than-necessary choices that try our resolve to make healthy selections. Drives me batty.

That's the design of grocery stores,you have to walk the entire store just to buy a gallon of skim milk........

Even when you're going to the gym, trying to be good, we don't make it easy. My wife and I go to a community gym and fitness center, and while there's a lot of very good equipment there, there is no one there to tell you how to use it safely or design a workout plan, no one to help you devise a healthy lifestyle strategy. Fortunately these are things my wife and I already know how to do, but we've seen a parade of people who have no clue there, and I think a lot of them get frustrated and leave because of the lack of support. That drives me batty, too.

I hate that. Luckily I was an athlete in high school and college, and we had enough good coaches that helped us design off-season workout programs that I was able to learn good things I can use.

The average Joe or Janes joining a club or YMCA? You're on your own...........

 

[Rambler]

Try Atkins if you need to lose quick. I lost 60 lbs in 5 months in 2003, the biggest amount of that in the first two months. But, I failed to take it to the next level with an appropriate long term eating pattern (not necessarily Atkins IMO) coupled with an appropriate exercise program including cardio and strength training, especially strength training for the core muscles. Now I find I have to start diet again. May resort to Atkins again, but going to try a more serious exercise regime first, along with reducing carbs and fat and increasing protein. Will see what happens.

Good luck

R

 

[dumpster56]

Smoke cigarettes, and exercise a ton, the nicotine will help lower your appetite.

 

[Insanity]

My wife and I go to a community gym and fitness center, and while there's a lot of very good equipment there, there is no one there to tell you how to use it safely or design a workout plan, no one to help you devise a healthy lifestyle strategy.

I hate that. Luckily I was an athlete in high school and college, and we had enough good coaches that helped us design off-season workout programs that I was able to learn good things I can use.

I was an athlete when I was younger, too, a competition gymnast, diver, and later on bicycle road racer. Used to be this splendid Adonis type who let everything go to pot in my 30s , then took the time to get back into shape in my early 40s . SO I know my way around the gym pretty well, too.

Meanwhile, my high-school-senior son is taking a weight training class at school. He gets almost no instruction on safe and effective weight lifting techniques, how to set up a goal-oriented weight training program, how different repetition and set numbers build and support different types of muscle . . . Very sad. And, given that he's 18, he isn't ready to listen to dad on how to do it right.

 

[FinanceDude]

I was an athlete when I was younger, too, a competition gymnast, diver, and later on bicycle road racer. Used to be this splendid Adonis type who let everything go to pot in my 30s , then took the time to get back into shape in my early 40s . SO I know my way around the gym pretty well, too.

You mean an 18 year old doesn't listen to his old man?

Well, neither did I. I remember in HS, I was a high jumper. I managed to jump 6'4" with no jump coach, special shoes, video, etc.

Then I enroll at a college school known for athletics. 5 months later I'm jumping 5 inches higher, have the special shoes, am getting videotaped, etc. Too bad my back gave out, I was beginning to get good.........

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Smoke cigarettes, and exercise a ton, the nicotine will help lower your appetite.

I hear lung cancer helps you lose weight too.

 

[Retire Soon]

I hear lung cancer helps you lose weight too.

My uncle is now receiving treatment for lung cancer even though he never smoked a cigarette in his life. There are far better ways to lose weight than trying to increase your chances of becoming a victim of this disease. Personally, I would recommend neither cigarette smoking or lung cancer to lose weight.

 

[Synergy]

More information?

Rich,

>That said, some people (men usually) avidly retain their >abdominal fat >even at their "ideal" body weight. Just means >you've got to work a little >harder.

This describes me exactly. Before I loose all the fat around my abdominals my neck gets very thin, eyes and cheeks get inset and I look unhealthy in general. For this reason I've been content to leave about a pound or two on the abs but after reading your below statement I need to reconsider. This is the first that I've read about storing Chemicals in the fat on the stomach. Can you recommend a source to read more about this?

>Interesting point: abdominal fat cells are not dumb, inactive >storage >cells. They produce all kinds of nasty chemicals and >are worth getting rid >of.[/quote]


Thanks,
Bob