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This is a slow but sure way to lose weight and never get it back.
I guess it's about time to start again though (I haven't done them regularly for years) because I'm still about 20 ppunds overweight.
I enjoyed reading your post, I selected only 2 sentences to know what I read and for you to reference.
The first thing I was reminded of was your reference to being consistent and persistent in your exersise activities as well as specific dietary ideas that you are staying with.
In your persistence and maintaining your determination you discovered that the best way to keep the weight off was to loose weight slowly. The overnight weight lose program doesn't work.
I hope that you were working with your doctor on all of this. Having progress with out proper monitoring of a doctor could do more harm than good.
Keep moving forward! Hopefully we will learn from you of your progress as you return to your activities in achieving better health.
Haven't read all the response, so forgive me if I repeat.
1) "They say", fat loss is systemic, you can't spot lose fat. - Means essentially there's no way to remove just fat from you tummy in isolation, and any use of fat will burn some everywhere.
2) However... ab exercises can tighten the abdominal wall, which could flatten your tummy.
So the approach is probably going to be two pronged.
Thanks for the input. Cardio it is. Now if I may ask what types of cardio can I do? I currently run and sometimes use elipticals. Someone said fartleks, not sure what those are...lol...
Thanks for the input. Cardio it is. Now if I may ask what types of cardio can I do? I currently run and sometimes use elipticals. Someone said fartleks, not sure what those are...lol...
You not only need cardio but you also need to watch your diet AND still have resistance training.
Here's the formula that worked for me:
Cardio training early morning - RUN or try jumping rope for at leat 15 minutes. Fartleks are really just sporatic HIIT running where you just occasionally sprint full speed for 10 seconds or so then back to your normal pace. Most importantly you need to run for 2-3 miles then on the last quarter or half mile, sprint for a few seconds then walk for a few seconds then sprint again 100% for few more seconds then walk again - do that until you reach your goal distance.
Resistance Training - Build muscle in other parts of your body by lifting weights. This is best done during an afternoon or evening workout. Muscles burn calories even at rest so think of it as being able to do cardio while at rest. Squats, deadlifts, pullups, presses are all great exercises.
Eat Right - No sodas, no fried foods, no fast foods. Good rule of thumb is that if man made it, dont eat it.
On the resistance training....I've been told not this is counteracting me trying to increase endurance. The way it was explained to me is if the body is trying to go faster, it wants to be more agile, which means it sheds lbs anywhere it can. Meaning fat will burn off and muscle building isn't as big.
Because for awhile there I was doing my usual sit ups push ups and run, but then would hit the weight machines.
I'll try the fartleks though....we used to do those all the time, we just called them sprints though.
I am a full fledged exercise nut. I eat right and definitely exercise right. But, I have two BIG problems, the amount of food I consume and genetics. Genetics goes without saying but my eating is a different story.
I eat very good food but the amount does shock people. I am living proof, a strong exercise plan alone will not provide a six pack. My abs are very strong. Matter of fact, I outperform the majority on any abs exercise but that is all ruined with my diet.
A strong diet plan with moderate exericise works everytime.
Have you ever seen anybody with "pot legs?" No? Neither have I. That's not where the fat tends to accumulate on the human body. That's why your legs aren't fat.
The only way to get rid of fat is to reduce the overall fat percentage of your body composition. Eventually diet and exercise will have that effect but you can't exercise fat away in a direct manner because you can't exercise fat period. It's fat, not muscle. You can firm and strengthen the abdominal muscles and that's a good idea for anyone. But in my experience, as I firm up the fat seems more jiggly by comparison to the firm muscle. It seems that as I lose fat, it's the cosmetically desirable fat that I lose first, but eventually my burgeoning posterior will also lose fat.
Diet and exercise. Exercise and diet. Reduce overall fat and the overly fatty body parts will eventually reduce in size.
I really don't think anyone read past the first line of what I wrote. Just the mention of the words sit ups and leg lifts enraged everyone. I don't know what crunchs are. That word seems to crop up a lot. If it has anything to do with the hands behind the head though I'll never do them.
I didn't see any mention of "pot legs" in what I wrote. I guess that those people with thighs so big that both one's arms won't go around them are all muscle or are legs just from the knees down. Hmm, gives me a better idea of what a friend of mine meant he would hit his big "pot belly" and it would move like a bowl of jelly and he would say, "yep, it's all muscle, every gallon of it and it's all paid for."
As for the part about not exercising where there is fat (spot reduction). Well I discovered there actually is stomach muscle. If you exercise those muscles the fat will come off somewhere. I have no idea where the idea comes from that only way to lose weight is to exercise the arms and legs in one way or another as long as you don't lie on the floor to do it.
A person has to have money for fitness club memberships, money for trainers, money for a big enough home or apartment to have room for exercise equipment and the money to buy it with, money for gas or money for tickets to get to the fitness center, money for the clothing you need if you want to look like the rest, money for all the special drinks and food that are supposedly the key to losing wieght. I belonged to a fitness club for awhile and I couldn't believe what it cost for their healthy food and bars. I quit the club because I simply couldn't afford it.
I have no money and live in a very small place so I had to lose my weight the poor man's way which was with none of the above. I had big enough piece of floor to lie down on and that was all I needed.
My weight loss never cost a single dime in fact I made money because wasn't eating out much anymore and eating less prepared food. Having to go out to a fitness center is an absolutley perfect excuse to stop at an eating place and thereby do away with all the good results of all that heavy duty exercising other than having a little more muscle to show for it.
Main reason most people give up on weight loss is that while they losing fat by exercising they are building muscle at the same time and a pound of muscle is much smaller but on the scale they weigh the same. So, of course if you lose a pound of fat at first it will be hardly noticable if a person is very over weight because muscle was formed or built up. Also, in doing my leg lifts and sit ups my heart was still in there working and it was beating a lot faster when I finished than when I started. I don't really understand what all the cardio exercise hype is about other than whoever pushes it must make a lot of money from it.
If I remember right I said if it is less than a mile I walk or is that not cardio exercise either. I always carry a pedometer (omron HJ-112) that I have had for years. I usually do from 5 to 10 miles a day. It varies a great deal.
It's called a paradigm I think when you believe something and there is absolutely no way the mind can be changed no matter how much proof there is to the contrary. That is what I am involved in I guess because I simply don't believe that if a person consistantly exercises any muscle in the body other than the elbow and jaws they won't lose weight anywhere. Of course one sit up or on leg lift a day I don't consider exercising. I explained that elsewhere.
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Diet!
