Tummy Fat

C

Chaddie

0
Hey peoples new guy here :). First off I been reading alot in the forums and im still quite lost.

I am a 22yr old guy, who eats probably mcdonalds 4 times a week, now I am starting to feel sick alot of the time, fatigued, tired, and stomach pains.

I have also grown quite a beer belly but the rest of me is still very skinny.

I weigh 89kg's and I'm 6'2 there abouts.

What would people recommend for a diet to lose my stomach yet gain muscles in my arms and a toned stomach. I find this very difficult to do but any suggestions will help.

Thankyou
 
Get a book published by mens health called the Abs Diet. It's orange, you can't miss it. Anyway, it's full of helpfull hints on what works, what doesn't, what you should eat, what you should avoid. Why stomach fat is so dangerous, because of fat surrounding the liver, and other internal organs. And why stomach fat can lead to type two diabetes. It's a really good read, and even comes with a workout program. It was my starting point. I've lost approximatly 60 lbs, and very happy for it.

But the big thing my friend, HUGE. Lay off the Rotten Ronnies!
 
Thankyou for your help, really appreciated, although I am just wanting to lose my stomach fat and probably gain in other areas so then I would have a bit of muscle to put on.

And I am also getting the book now. :D
 
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if you are serious about losing stomach fat and gaining some lean muscle then you need a long term plan.

give yourself a 6 month and 12 month set of goals.

when you first start out you will be able to put some muscle on and lose some body fat - but this only last for a month or so before you start getting more specific with your goals.

then you'll need to burn fat OR put on muscle. it is possible to do both at the same time but you have to be 100% perfect with your diet, training and rest. most generally fitness freaks wont achieve this and some will argue its not possible at all, so start out by aiming to cut fat or build up.

if you build up first you'll have a decent frame to 'reveal' when you eventually cut fat, but if you are noticeably overweight or have substancial body fat you'll want to slim down first to get yourself nice and healthy.

you dont sound overweight so just get yourself fit and then pack on lean tissue. most importantly, cut the mcdonalds out or at most use as an occasional treat. the abs diet is a good approach to eating, but bear in mind if your training you'll need extra kcalories around your exercise.

read round the forum, read the stickies and if you want a book buy New Rules of Lifting (its on amazon) its the best book around for general approach, attitude and common sense, and will not leave you feeling overawed by it all.

be realistic and patient. and willing to listen and throw out anything you think you know. ive been training for 18 months and am still learning and get frustrated by what i have/should/shouldnt have been doing, although if id followed the advice of the more knowledgeable members of this site, read New Rules and had a plan and stuck to it id be 12 months further on than i am now.
 
Great info mate. Well the thing is that I am not fat I am quite skinny although I have a fat stomach (mcdonalds, and beer) and I hate it.

I am trying to gain weight in the arms / chest area but lose my beer gut so I am toned I am willing to do the hard yards (well I am gonna give it a try).

I have been reading through the posts about all this fitness but I am still very confused. I was also told that If I do situps I will get a toned stomach but there will be fat on the outside so you wont be able to see the "6 pack".
Do you know if this is true.
 
toning is a bit of a myth. you can be toned but to get there is the result of muscle growth and a reduction of the fat around the around. people saying they're doing 'toning' exercises but in reality the exercises they are doing are either bulding up the abdominal muscle or stripping the fat to reveal what is there.

sit ups alone will not get you the six pack, in fact many people dont do any specific ab work as compound movements such as deadlifts, squats, presses etc will work the mid section. what you will find though is that doing resistance training makes it appear as if yours slimming out - but this is due to changes in muscle shape and size rather than fat burning.


however i believe ab work is benefitial; just treat it as you would any other resistance work for any other body part. use weight, slow the speed you do the movements at and dont overtrain. 200 situps a day is cardio and will do nothing for muscle growth.

try planks, these are static exercise where you balance your body to strengthen the inner wall of your torso. for example get on your elbows/hands and toes, get your back flat and hold for 30 seconds to a minute, 3 times through. it will hurt. planks help to flatten the stomach muscle that sits behind the six pack, google or go on exrx.net or browse around here for more plank variations.

from what you've said you either need to choose to shift the belly a bit and stay a bit scrawny or start adding muscle but be prepared to hold onto some of the fat. personally, id start a good resistance program and do some cardio and make use of the beginners phenomenon i described below and. there's nothing wrong with easing yourself into hard training and you'll learn about your body and what works and how to keep safe. from there up the calorie intake and start putting on some muscle. give it a couple of months then start to cut. and go buy New Rules of Lifting, even if you dont choose to use the programs it will give you a good approach to training.
 
Again great info. You have really helped me out.

About the planks exercise is doing that 3 times only enough ?? it just doesn't seem to be alot of work to lose that beer gut.

I think I will lose my stomach first then add on some weight and try bulk up I think that would be the best and easiest way.

I also did the BMI test and got 25.5 which is overweight I think that's alright because I do play alot of sport and have started training the last few weeks for it doing 3km runs once a week so I think I am ok.

Lastly with the planks should I do some situps or squats or am I really wasting my time with them.

Thankyou
 
planks are not a total ab workout, use them alongside crunches etc to help flatten the stomach muscle.

id ignore your bmi, its not a great indicator for people who are athletic or play a lot of sport. there's rugby players and american football players who are off the bmi chart but are not fat but have packed on muscle. muscle weighs less than fat per square inch - the bmi is ok for the inactive but you can be heavy but lean and fit.

i think you're wise to trim up a bit first, it'll ease you into weight training. you must remember that cardio is not the only fat burner - weight training speeds up your metabolism which will in turn increase the rate you burn kcalories - and therefore, fat.

you need a full body routine, exrx has a good basic plan but id go with something like this -

quads
hamstrings
back
shoulders
chest
abs

so do 6 exercises per workout, such as

squat
deadlift
bent over row
shoulder press
bench press
crunch

since you are looking to shift fat you're looking to use as many muscles as possible. there's no point doing isolation exercise such as bicep curls as they use just the 1 muscle - you're not going to be building so your fatiguing a muscle unnecessarily.

you can throw in the odd extra movement but generally dont do too much - if you're not tired at the end of that you've not worked hard enough!!

workout out how much and what you should be eating to shift fat (there's load around on this site or google, search for calorie calculator), then have a look here at the full body templates.

ExRx Weight Training Workout Templates

try to avoid cardio on weight training days and if you cant do weights first. and make sure you rest plenty.

read around the forum, the beginners sticky will tell you all the basics.
 
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