[Closed] How to lose the gut and fitness advice required please

Anyone?
There are loads of websites that give advice but I've no idea to be honest. Most of them are trying to sell you something....

Eating healthily as well as exercising will compound your weight loss.

Whats a standard days food intake for you?

The only time I've really successfully shifted the weight was from concentrating solely on the diet. So unless you're doing an overwhelming amount of miles, I don't think exercise really makes that much difference to weight loss, and when you're on a proper diet it can make it a lot harder to stick to it. I think this is doubly true for cyclists, as we're all fit already* so the advice you read aimed at couch potatoes is not relevant.

Obviously you'll be wanting to get out and ride the bike as much as possible, but I'd still put the diet front and centre if you're wanting to shift weight.

*I'm talking man-in-the-street fit, not racing snake fit.

Losing the weight is not the issue, that's ok. Using livestrong.com food/weight/nutrition tracker set to lose 2/3lbs a week and exercising about 4 hours a week on bike at least.
It's specific advice on stomach area and endurance I need (don't want a six pack btw!!)

However now I'm a bit older I know it's going to be difficult to lose the not inconsiderable gut

IMO age is irrelevant to this, except inasmuch as it gives you more time to accumulate the flab. Exercise is dead boring so just ride more.

if you want to increase your stamina, exercise at a very low intensity for a lot longer than you usually would.

as a skinny bloke, i can assure you there are no specific exercises to target your fat belly. its the only bit of my body with any fat and the last bit is a real bugger to shift

TBH - since I turned 40 [11 years ago] it's been impossible to lose weight off the belly & moobs
I don't have a great deal of excess blubber there but what I do have stays put

Face it - the days of a flat belly have gone forever

circuit training is good, mixed exercise and less boring that other gym stuff

Face it - the days of a flat belly have gone forever

that's just defeatism, I'm 56 and can easily lose weight when I want.

circuit training is good, mixed exercise and less boring that other gym stuff

true, especially if there are girls too 🙂

that's just defeatism, I'm 56 and can easily lose weight when I want.

So can I - it just doesn't move off the belly

I suppose the endurance thing is my biggest issue. I always dead last on any uphill and it's depressing!!
I know losing the weight will help but I'm not convinced it will help me keep up even then. My brother (peterpoddy) can ride all day at a decent pace and never seem tired.

To help you manage your calorie balance this is excellent:
www.fitday.com
Also weights will help for strength in legs - try one legged presses: I'm up to 170kg and started on less than half of that.
Edurance - ride your bike, but also run, swim (very good for aerobic fitness)
Don't forget to stretch and your core
good luck

it just doesn't move off the belly

it does on me

My brother (peterpoddy)

I thought he'd been grown from a seed...

endurance is gained by riding longer and further.

climbing hills is a power to weight ratio thing - lose the weight and you will start to notice the diference.
to build power try some hill repeats, intervals or spinning. none of these can really be described as fun however!!

diet and exercise together are the only way to lose weight.

try to mix up the exercise a bit so you don'r become efficient at any sport. weights, swimming, running, cycling, climbing, circuits. delete as appropriate. building muscle mass is good as it speeds the metabolism.

apologies for the brain dump!

My belly wont shrink either. I banged out 500k of training miles last week, I don't over eat and I don't drink but my stomach won't go down.
Everywhere else is fine after a ride the veins in my arms and legs protrude something silly. And the people I beat in races are so much slimmer it's embarassing.
I don't think I could eat less really without getting weak.

My belly wont shrink either. I banged out 500k of training miles last week, I don't over eat and I don't drink but my stomach won't go down.

Maybe the swollen stomach is caused by something other than fat then? I think part of the problem is when you get fat that seems to not move from somewhere you have to go under your ideal fat mass on the other areas to force it to be consumed. Sort of over-slimming but with care taken. You can't spot-lose weight.

IMO age is irrelevant to this, except inasmuch as it gives you more time to accumulate the flab

Not sure if this is true.
I have always been slimmish mainly because I have always been very active. If I stop through injury I tend to put weight on.
When I was in my 20s the weight fell off very quickly once training resumed. I find it very difficult now (45) to shift the weight.
Maybe you are right and it is down to the fact that I can manage the intensity of exercise that I used to do.
I do think if you exercise at a high level you can (almost!) eat anything without putting on weight. At my training peak I had to make an effort to keep my weight up!

to build power try some hill repeats, intervals or spinning. none of these can really be described as fun however!!

The one thing I don't need is more power. I wish I'd become a BMX racer as I can sprint very well!

I'm steadily losing weight, for health reasons I decided to look at my diet and make some changes.

Basically here's my diet.
Breakfast: Cereal and 4-5 fruits, yoghurt 0%fat, honey, coffee.
Lunch: something with beans or lentils and chicken: not for everyone.
Dinner: 3-4 pieces of fruit, if hungry some sardines on toast (homemade bread)

Drinks: generally water.

Pizza, homemade, of course at weekends.

No alcohol.
I appear to not eat red meat, but no problem if I fancy it. Big Mac a couple of weeks ago, so I'm not obssessive about it.
I know it's not for everyone, but I think careful eating is better than eating fewer calories of crap.

Careful eating, good exercise and trust in the fact that even if you can't see any changes, they are happening and it's a long term thing.

You'll feel better in the end.

Running is very good for toning the stomach area so I would suggest getting up early and going for a run in the morning before work. Keep the intensity mixed to make it interesting, low intensity and long distance improves your body's ability to use fat as a fuel but similarly short but intense sessions burn more calories so mixing up the intensity can be very beneficial.

Iain

Hitman
A quick calculation of calories consumed yesterday comes to about 1297, 300 of that is in a muffin someone brought in.
Muesli & skimmed milk
Tea
Pastrami & onion sandwich no butter one round
Muffin
Apple
Grapefruit juice
Fresh pasta with tomatoes and olives
Grapefruit Juice
In that order. That's pretty average, though less at weekends as I often miss a meal if I'm riding. I drink plenty of water to keep the hunger if I get it away
Did three hours of very fast riding last night as well.

Weight's will assist. Yes it's boring, however weight training burns calories as well as building muscle, more muscle burns more calories and so the cycle continues.

The one thing I don't need is more power. I wish I'd become a BMX racer as I can sprint very well!

but you say your last to the top of every hill?

Running is very good for toning the stomach area so I would suggest getting up early and going for a run in the morning before work

That's what I do
I do 10k twice a week & 5k twice a week before breakfast
+ all the cycling

I get to the point where I'm losing muscle even though there's still a bit of a belly
It was never like that just something that's happened as I get older

oldgit
difficult to say if your calorie estimation is correct because it depends upon a number of factors not least of which is the size of your portions. Certainly the muffin wouldn't help because of its high fat % particulrly saturated fat. Go onto fitday.com and work out your exact calorie intake - you will have to weigh/measure your food. Then work out the amount of calories your activities are using. You also need to take into account your body weight and current lifestyle - are you in a sedentary job? Also what's the composition of your calories - doesn't look like much protein in your diet. Also if trying to lose fat you should eat every 2/3 hours about 6 times a day rather than 3 big meals.

(Apparently) Bear in mind gym training for >1hr causes muscle wastage due to increased levels of cortisol.

Running, swimming, football, cycling and a diet of porridge and oolong tea.
Just started to approach the 11st. Genes has something to do with it and I've been blessed an "athletic" build. 🙂

Certainly the muffin wouldn't help because of its high fat % particulrly saturated fat

irrelevant to calories

Then work out the amount of calories your activities are using

all that calorie crap is very boring. I just weigh myself the same time every day and if the figure goes up I eat less, down I eat more 🙂

Try getting hold of a book called the time crunched cyclist. It's aimed mostly at roadies but most of it will cross over. Gives you tips on diet, nutrition etc. as well as some training plans deliverately for people who want to get fit for long rides but don't have the time to ride for hours every weekend. You have to work at it though, lots of intervals is the very simple summary.

General advice for diet is cut the crap low nutrient high calorie stuff like sweets, cake, chocolate and alcohol. If you fill up on veg you'll struggle to put on weight.

Iain Gillam:
Running is very good for toning the stomach area...

Really? I must be doing something wrong as i run 20-30 miles a week and cannot shift my gut.

.....probably diet is too rich tho 😉

I've never made an accurate assesment of calories consumed, I shall find time to do so.
That said what I ate yesterday I think is about 1/2 the allowance of an adult male so factor in the training and I must have loads of room for error and still be able to shed the gut.
I used to have the **** taken out of me by fellow club mates twenty years ago and I was winning places. 'Whens it due' was a favourite.

all that calorie crap is very boring. I just weigh myself the same time every day and if the figure goes up I eat less, down I eat more

well that's obviously another way of doing this but oldgit seems to be looking for an alternative approach 🙂

Certainly the muffin wouldn't help because of its high fat % particulrly saturated fat

irrelevant to calories

ha ha i love it when people who claim they can sprint fast also claim they should be bmx/road racers.

try it.

i bet you wont win mate!

I've never made an accurate assesment of calories consumed, I shall find time to do so.

robdob you say endurance is your biggest issue. If you are riding 4 hours a week then the occasional long ride shouldn't be causing you problems. It may be you're not eating enough during the ride. Make sure you have a decent meal before starting long rides and try eating more during the ride and maybe try a sports drink. Other than that just get out more on longer rides.

On the weight loss front I find that unless I want to feel hungry all the time, in addition to eating a bit less and cutting out some of the booze, I need 5-6 hours per week biking in order to lose weight. Biking is the best way to burn calories as you burn about the same as for running only you can do it for longer and it causes less damage to your body.

ha ha i love it when people who claim they can sprint fast also claim they should be bmx/road racers.
try it.
i bet you wont win mate!

didn't say I would do, but my natural sprinting and power would have been good if i'd have taken it up at a young age. I rode park bmx for 6 years and loved it.
And what does sprinting have to do with road racing?

but you say your last to the top of every hill?

You obviously don't ride in West Yorkshire and the Dark Peak like I do. Small hills I can burn up if they are small but the long steep ones have me dying!

My calorie intake and exercise are all here: www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/robdob444/

You need to do longer intervals to get your pace up on longer climbs, 15-20 minutes or so, I'm the same, can outsprint most people over the top of a climb, but can't keep up if we go hard from the bottom.

Exercise before breakfast will speed up your metabolism throughout the day.

Sit ups/crunches etc will specifically target the abs/stomach area, but are of questionable merit by many!

Rob,
If I understand your Livestrong data properly, you're aiming for 1097 kCals/day 😯
That's far too low to sustain any activity let alone exercise.

I mean, April 11, calories consumed = 784, that's not even enough to cover keeping you alive for a day.

A mid 30's male, about 90kg, sedentary lifestyle will 'burn' about 1500-1900 kCals/day just staying in bed 24hrs !
It look like the 'calorie calculator' doesn't take account of your BMR (Google it)

The low calorie intake you're trying for will just make your metabolism kick in to 'starvation mode' where most dietary intake goes straight to fat and body protein breaks down to provide energy.

Seriously, if you're eating less than 1500/day [i]and[/i] trying to exercise you're not going to lose weight, just health

You obviously don't ride in West Yorkshire and the Dark Peak like I do. Small hills I can burn up if they are small but the long steep ones have me dying!

nope - live in the southern flatlands 😉

so you need some muscular endurance. try weights with high reps - to build some muscular endurance, lose the weight and you'll up your power weight ratio and be flying up the hills.

I have to confess to having developed a 'Winter Belly', due to crap weather and little motivation to go out on the bike. And eating/drinking too much. And getting older.

I've been told stomach crunches can help to define the abs better, but it's all round fat-burning that's needed really. Nothing else for it. Less in, more exercise. Simples.

Chocolate biccy, anyone?

I know what you are saying about the 11th, but that was a very unusual day which wouldn't normally happen. I am trying to aim to not feel hungry but eat really healthly but make sure I do exercise as well. If I exercise I will eat more to compensate so I'm not running on empty.

For instance yesterday I ate 1300 calories but only 18g of fat and 214 carbs. Daily recommended fat intake to lose 2lb a week is 32g and carbs is 136. So I'm eating more carbs to fuel the exercise but keeping the fat down.
I didn't feel hungry at all yesterday, was tempted quite a lot but changing my breakfast habits has helped a lot. Loads of fruit and cutting out the spuds and bread.

My brother (peterpoddy) can ride all day at a decent pace and never seem tired.

I'm not that fit. I'm also heavier than you right now, probably by a stone or more. But there's only one real reason I can keep going all day: I pushed myself above and beyond anything I though I could ever do on the Trans Wales. That's it.

Basically it taught me 2 things -
1) I learned what I need to eat and drink to keep me going without bonking or cramping (I start to cramp above 30 miles or so without proper fuel)
2) I trained for it, but [u]nothing[/u] prepares you for 7 50-60 mile days in a row, in proper steep terrain, until you've done it for the first time. I got to a point on day 5 (My low point) when I doubted every single minute that I could carry on for one more minute, let alone more then a day. And now it's simply a fact that I know what I can stand, and I know what my pace is, so I can stick to it for a very, very long time.

🙂

I've even started eating muesli for crying out loud!! 😉

I'd avoid all the 'guides' for carb intake and weight loss if you're riding a reasonable amount, you won't have sufficient stores and as above, your body will just go into starvation mode.

crunches will define your abs, but thats pointless if they remain buried under a layer of flab.

porridge for breakfast made with full fat milk some crushed nuts or seeds added does me through the winter. now its summer i will change back to museli but the fruit/sugar content makes my short commute easy/pointless

I was at the gym last night (and gave up out of boredom)- was thinking a good circuit training regime would help as I have a low attention-threshold
🙄

From memory at school- the goodthing about Circuit training is you aim to do a better time on every subsequent session meaning you can build it up and have something to aim for/beat/measure yourself against.

Rob, will look one up and ping it over to you.

When you burn fat, it gets burned from all over. You can't lose fat in a specific area.

When you burn fat, it gets burned from all over. You can't lose fat in a specific area.

Phew

I have a massive scar from my Hip to above my belly button and about an inch wide 😀 from a burst appendix. It wasn't stiched up after removal, but left to heal from inside out and filled with wadding.
Often wondered if that ever had any effect on the way my stomach looks.

I have a massive scar

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