How to lose the "Jelly Belly"

[Tank3270]

I'm trying to get back in shape. Anyone have some workout routines or know of any that target the mid section?

[InTheEnd]

Consume less food, and make healthier choices, small portions take your time consuming, Drink water, Jog, jumping jacks, etc. Weeks to months later you should see a difference.

[mobrien316]

Go and buy "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" and read it cover to cover. Then follow the diet in the book and you'll be amazed at how much weight you lose and how it easy it is to keep it off. But it only works if you follow the plan.

I effortlessly dropped forty pounds in about four months using the Atkins Nutritional Approach. That was in 2003 and I haven't had any trouble keeping the weight off since then by maintaining a controlled-carb diet.

[phantasm]

Weight loss and body building is more than just exercise, and more than just eating less. its a lifestyle change focused around not just how much you eat, but what you eat, and not just 1 type of exercise.

I personally like to read "muscle & fitness." It's a monthly magazine put out by Joe Weider. He also puts out Flex, which is a little geared more towards the lifting, than the nutrition, whereas M&F has both sides. It also has information on supplements.

The bottom line is in order to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you take in. How do you take in less calories, and not feel hungry? Better calories, fiber, whole wheats, low fat proteins (some fishes, chicken). How do you burn more calories through activity? Cardio. Also muscle is denser than fat, and also helps your body burn more calories while at rest.

A website that does have some good info too is bodybuilding.com, but sometimes you have to sort through a lot of bad info too.

[Drummadude]

I lost about 40 pounds in two months in wrestling last year. That was the start of myself getting into shape. Up until a few weeks ago, I drank NOTHING but water and juice. Soda is just made up of chemicals that are bad for your body. Once in a while, it's not too bad, but don't drink it too much.

Running, Elliptical, Stationary Bike, and weight lifting will all help you lose weight. I'm still a bit chubby, but I've lost a majority of my weight.

[Tank3270]

Go and buy "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" and read it cover to cover. Then follow the diet in the book and you'll be amazed at how much weight you lose and how it easy it is to keep it off. But it only works if you follow the plan.

I effortlessly dropped forty pounds in about four months using the Atkins Nutritional Approach. That was in 2003 and I haven't had any trouble keeping the weight off since then by maintaining a controlled-carb diet.

I just ordered the south beach diet book. I tried atkins on 02, but I picked the weight back up when I went off the diet. Also, I currently work nights in an office enviroment. Being this sedmintary doesn't help.

[InTheEnd]

I just ordered the south beach diet book. I tried atkins on 02, but I picked the weight back up when I went off the diet.

That's true of any diet. It's a lifestyle change and you must keep whatever diet is working for you.

[mobrien316]

That's true of any diet. It's a lifestyle change and you must keep whatever diet is working for you.

+1!

A lot of people have told me they tried Atkins, lost a bunch of weight, then gradually resumed their old eating patterns. The weight they lost went back on and they concluded Atkins doesn't work.

I look at it this way:

If you joined a gym and did an hour of cardio and an hour of strength training every day for a year you would probably be in pretty good shape. If you then stopped doing all that exercise and went back to your normal sedentary lifestyle, would that mean that going to the gym doesn't work? ;)

[Tank3270]

I agree, I'm going to give it a shot. I think the south beach diet might work for me, and I also plan to ease into a workout routine. I don't want to injure myself so I'm starting off slow.

[Feisty]

Southbeach is the only "lifestyle change" that I have been able to stick with. For me, it was the cravings for sweets that screwed me. Basically as long as I keep that in check (I chew a lot of sugar free gum and eat sugar free jello when I have cravings) and if I only eat whole grain bread, I'll keep my weight down.

I've also noticed if I lift weights at least every other day, it keeps my body toned. Sometimes I work a double shift (or close to it) and don't feel like doing cardio the next day; but if I at least push myself to do the weights, I won't fall behind

[Findarto]

I just ordered the south beach diet book. I tried atkins on 02, but I picked the weight back up when I went off the diet. Also, I currently work nights in an office enviroment. Being this sedmintary doesn't help.

Would you say you liked SB or Atkins better? Which would you say works better with a workout, though?

[RemyG]

mo: i agree with you on the atkins diet, i just couldn't cut those carbs, they are too darn good :D

As for losing weight off your midsection, do running, biking (even stationary), and some form of abdominal routine such as obviously situps (pushups even help a little). Try building up, such as only doing 10 at a time in between watching tv or something... then build up. If you go to the gym, try doing a set in between your workout, so you're working out all different muscle groups.

* I don't claim to be a doctor, but here to offer mere suggestions as a friend

[mobrien316]

I believe it is a myth that you can selectively target areas of your body, such as your stomach, in order to lose weight there. You can make the muscles underneath the fat more toned with exercise, which will make you look slimmer, but you cannot burn stomach fat by doing crunches or sit ups.

If you reduce your overall body fat you will reduce the fat around your stomach, though with some people the fat around the stomach hangs on until most of the rest of the body fat is mostly gone.

If you combine at least twenty minutes of daily, quality cardio with strength training to increase lean muscle mass, and you have a sensible diet, you will lose body fat.

[brad_101]

You could try doing a search on google for some ideas on dieting. Muscletech have a good website that may help you out

Brad

[SoCoDeputy]

I highly recommend Bill Phillips "Eating for Life" for a guide to eating right. The trick is that most people eat 2 to three times a day like I used to up to 2months ago. This puts your body into a starvation mode and it stores food as fat and makes the motabilisam slow down.

This diet is a change of lifestyle and you need to eat 6 times a day. My brother and the Undersheriff got me started on this. So far I have lost 26 pounds and increased my energy. I drink nothing but water now, where I used to drink 2 to 3 bottles of diet soda, I prefer to eat chicken and use ground turkey over ground beef and now eat only multigrain breads and am amazed at how healthy my grocery cart looks for a single guy.

However you also need to exercise. I have a Gazelle, (because I couldn't afford an elliptical and there are no gyms where I live) that I use and do 2 to 3 miles a day now 6 days a week. I was highly motivated to start the program due to our department forming our Emergency Response Team (our version of SWAT), which I am a member.

For our first team run in April my 1 mile run was horrible at 13:20, not the slowest on the team, but I was not happy. Now I am running the mile in 8:32:D and the 1 1/2 mile at 13:42 as of yesterday.

It is up to every person who takes on a diet/ exercise program to have the will power and commitment to stick to it.