Losing wieght, toning, suggestions?

M

MatthewJ

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Hello, this is my first post here, I hope this forum is appropriate, I'm not interested in building muscle, just toning and looking better (am I the only guy here? I see weight loss in the womens area?).

Anyhow, I'm 6'2" and ATM 220lbs earlier this year I was almost 260. What I've been doing is this :

No soda pop. The worst I drink is snapple iced tea and lemonade or orange juice and milk.

No fast food. My entire diet consists of one small turkey sandwhich and a glass of milk daily for dinner, sometimes I eat a bananna for breakfast/lunch. I eat like this at least 4 nites a week, when I eat something else it's usually a homemade hamburger, or a t-bone steak, or fish.

One of my biggest frustrations is I'm so big and I've always ate so little, skinny friends of mine easily eat 2-3 times the amount of food I do and it doesn't matter what, they stuff themselves with pizza and mcdonalds and all that crap... I guess I'm just lucky :rolleyes:

Anyhow, (sorry for the length of this, trying to be thorough) as for my exercise I work everyday (got to count for some cardio I think?) and I do about 300-400 ab crunches per day with about 200-300 trunk twists. I seem to store all my fat in my belly and love handles so this is the area of most concern. I did a little searching on the web a few months ago when I started exercising regularly and these are the two things that seem most reccomended for someone like me.

Now for my question! Am I on the right track? After doing a little reading here it seems all these trunk twists might be for nothing? They are supposed to help tone my obliques (sp?) to try and slim my appearance. I know the crunches are working, but that's the only thing I feel confident about.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Anything would be most welcome.
Thanks!
Matthew
 
Hate replying to my own post... but I've learned my daily caloric needs are about 2900, subtract the 500 and I'm still not consuming nearly that many calories. Just aproximating things here I'm taking in about 1000-1500 calories per day at the most.

I don't know if that's so healthy or not, but I feel good and like I've said, I've lost nearly 40 lbs this year.

The weight loss rate is slowing down tho, but from looking in the mirror I have a long ways to go.
 
First of all, you aren't eating NEAR enough. Eating that little will ultimately slow down your metabolism, which is probably why the weight loss is slowing down, and it will set you up for gaining it all back the second you do eat. Slowly increase to calories to a healthy level, making sure you are eating well (lean protein, lowfat dairy, veggies, fruits, whole grains).

No soda and no fast foods are good things to live by, so you're good there.

Tons of crunches are not the way to go, and won't reduce fat in your waist. It's been preached a million times, and will be preached a million more - you cannot spot reduce fat! We can't dictate where our bodies will lose fat from, and exercising one area will not cause fat to be burned in that area (otherwise tennis players would look like circus freaks since they're always swinging one arm around)

Chances are a lot of the weight you lost was water and muscle, which is not healthy. Get some strength training in there to help with that. That doesn't mean you have to work out to become a bodybuilder, just increase your muscle tone, strengthen your bones, and be healthier, and it helps with overall weight loss, but only if you are eating enough.
 
OK, well... My legs are strong and lean and my arms are strong and are lean(ish) too (work helps there I guess). I had a friggin pot belly early this year and to do 10 crunches made my guts shake and strain from the effort.

Now I've lost almost 40 lbs of that belly and can do 300-400 crunches a day no sweat... why do you say crunches are not the way to go? My abdominal is the weakest link for me. What would I do instead?

The calorie thing, I take that to heart, but what you're effectively saying is eat more and forget the crunches? I know your trying to help, and I'm just trying to understand... your advise seems counter to everything I'm trying to do :confused:
 
Too few calories will result in your body going into starvation mode - and your body will strive to store anything you put into your mouth for energy reserves. So, upping your calorie content will be a good idea I think, as it will help your body maintain what you have already. This will help you determine your recommended caloric intake.

As for the crunches - the abdominal muscles are a muscle group like any other... do you do 400-500 biceps curls? 400-500 squats? I'd think there comes a point of diminishing returns, especially since, as deschain's already noted you can't spot reduce fat.

As a side note - I hope that's diet snapple you're drinking otherwise you're just adding empty calories to your food plan.

Hope this helps.
 
Crunches are a good exercise, don't get me wrong. However, several hundred of them are not necessary. Like Stingo said, you wouldn't do 500 squats.

Science aside, look at the common sense aspect of spot reducing - If you move your arm around a couple hundred times everyday, you won't be burning fat off of your arm resulting in a really skinny arm, but you will be burning some fat, and your body will determine where it comes from.

It's great that you've lost your pot belly. However, it isn't just from doing crunches (although crunches will help to build the abdominal muscles). The severe caloric deficit you have created resulted in initial weight loss, and your body has evidently decided that a lot of that fat will come from your stomach area.
 
Just wanted to jump in and add my thoughts... you definitely need to increase your calories per day. Eating too little will result in a slowed metabolism and it will make it harder to lose fat. Instead you will lose muscle.

The best thing you can do, IMO, is to follow a combination of most or all of these fat loss tips:

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.
 
Agree with everyone above, and just wanted to add...

In addition to doing full-body weights (or a split, whichever), you should add weight to your crunches, and only do them 2-3 times a week, just like any other muscle. As stingo said, you don't do 400-500 bicep curls... you pick a weight that heavy enough so that you only can do 8-15 or so (whatever you're shooting for here). Same with abs. Work them on an incline, with weights, do harder movements, etc., but aim for just being able to do 15 or so at a time (you can still do 2-3 sets of these). Abs are just like any other muscle!
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I don't really consider what I'm doing a diet but rather a lifestyle change, there's no way I'm going back to fat, I'll completely stop eating period before that happens ;) (j/k)

I used to weight train when I was a teen but gave that up, not interested in that at all anymore, I just want to look better and feel better... being ripped is the furthest thing from my mind.

You all surprise me, 300-400 (not 500) crunches doesn't seem like a lot to me, I do 100 in the morning and the rest at nite while listening to music, takes about 30 minutes all together? That's nothing compared to some of the trucks I unload or load in a days work, or the several hundred yards I walk everyday... there's nothing in my job that works the abs tho. So I do crunches.

Thanks again
Matt
 
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You'll do what you think is best for you, but lifting weights does not equate to getting being ripped. Assuming you're doing a strength training routine properly... abs shouldn't need to be worked at such a high rep range.

There's no need for it. And if you're able to do 100 crunches in the morning I would question your form. Like I said before doing so many crunches is not recommended for various reasons and there are better, smarter and faster ways to see the results you want :)
 
hmm... ok, last post. I guess I'll just start eating more and quit exercising, since I'm an idiot so I don't even really know what a crunch is not to mention correct form. So sorry to waste everyones time.

And to think I used to think health nuts were elitist...

Now if I can just find where to purge my membership...
 
oooooooooooh get you

dont be like that 99% of people on here want to help and listening to and taking advice will prevent you wasting time, do what you want to do quicker and more effectively, and most importantly, stop you injuring yourself in the short and long term
 
I'm sorry you feel that way. At least two of the people who responded to your post are certified personal trainers, so please do not act as if we are all just elitist health nuts out to bash your exercise program.

You asked a question, and everyone who responded did so in an honest, open, and friendly manner. You will not have an easy time finding people (especially certified trainers) who encourage hundreds of crunches, for a variety of reasons.

I apologize that we were not able to validate your choice of exercise program for you. There may be other internet forums out there with less educated members who are willing to do so. Best of luck to you in your goals.
 
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