Burning fat

[namabiru]

So after a trip to the doctor for a physical, I've become more vigilant about watching my weight and exercising. I've put myself on a diet, cutting out bad sugars such as sugar in coffee, sweets, etc, eating more vegetables/fruit, and less meat (I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with).

I'm doing pretty well, but I've got a nagging patch of abdominal fat I'd love to get rid of. I'm attacking with situps, but it doesn't seem that it's working.

Is there something else I could try?

[NitroWill]

Situps wont burn fat - they just tone the muscle..

Try swimming laps or walking - both very good exercise to help burn that fat away!

[3rdEye]

diet is key, depending on how far you want to take this, you can figure out a diet based on your lean body weight.

Generally speaking, a good formula to figure out how many calories per day you should be eating is your LEAN body weight x 10-12.

so, you'd need to have some idea of your body fat percentage to figure this out. Let's say you are 200lbs and 20% bodyfat. that would mean your lean body weight is 160lbs. sothe number of calories per day that you are taking in should equate to 1600-1920. Best to start at the higher number and crank down if you are not seeing results.

There are many different macronutrient ratios you could use here as well....higher protein, low carb, low fat, etc etc. But a good place to start is a diet based on 1/3's. 1/3 of calories from protein, 1/3 of cals from carbs, 1/3 of cals from fat. (keep in mind fat has more calories than the others per gram).

At any rate, the important thing is, calories in vs calories out (exercise), and eating the right kinds of foods - healthy fats (olive oil, flax), quality protein (lean meats, chicken, fish), and quality complex carbs (whole grains, sweet potatoes, fiber).

if you want more specifics, I can gladly go into more detail

and also, sit ups will not spot reduce fat on your abdomen, they might tighten up the muscle there and make it look slightly better.

[creggur]

Will is dead on here. The situps will tone the muscle, but you'll never see them with the fat there.. Areobic exercise and weight training in combination should bring the quickest result. When you build muscle it turns up your metabolism 24 hours a day. Couple this with the aerobic activity that gives your metabolism a quick bump during the exercise and you turn into a fat burning machine....

[namabiru]

Mmm! Thank you very much for your quick and smart replies. I practice kendo twice a week, which is a fast-paced Japanese martial art, so I've got high-demand cardio there. But I've found recently that my stamina is starting to decrease, so that's also how I realized I was in trouble.

I've also made the decision to start walking on my non-kendo days. I definitely notice a difference from now vs. when I was at the university. I had to walk a LOT more when I was going to school, so was in better shape. I plan to walk at least 3 miles, if not more.

Someone told me that it's not so bad that I can't jog (I wrecked my knees playing volleyball in high school, and the impact just kills me), as jogging triggers a fight-or-flight mechanism. This causes my muscles to burn their glucose supply, not the fat. So the best thing to do for myself is to walk at a pace fast enough to still carry on a conversation (which is fast for me) without sounding like a hysterical natural disaster victim.

When I get relocated, which I'm hoping will be next month, the place I'm moving into has a weight room and exercise machines (including ellipticals, which I liked using), so I can develop a better routine there. I can also begin swimming again at Education City's fitness center.

It's just tough right now, as there is literally nothing available in Pleasantville. Only walking.

[DivingsInMyBlood]

i got a ab workout for you, hold on to a bar with both hands (hang there with your feet off the ground) keep your legs together and bring your feet up and touch the bar with them where your hands are. Thats one heck of a workout. Like what will said aswell you have to burn the fat.

[namabiru]

Wow! That's a good test of flexibility, right there. I currently have an exercise I'm doing, which I got off The Guardian. I rest on my back, lift my torso up, then try to pretend I'm kicking through the water, like with fins on.

I hope the fires clear up soon. I am in Montana, and as you know, we are having a lot of fires. The air gets really smoky, and sometimes it's hard to breathe. Today is really bad. I tried to go out and walk, but I only got about 400 yards or so from my house before the smoke was just unbearable. My eyes were really dry and I was coughing. Needless to say, I had to go back inside.

[creggur]

The trick when you are exercising is to stay aerobic, this means your body is using fat stores for the majority of the energy it's using.

When you exercise your body uses 3 major supplies for fuel. Fat stores, glucose, and protien. When you are aerobic, usually a heart rate of 50-70% of your max heart rate, you are using primarily fat, with a little bit of glucose. As your heart rate increases you become anaerobic, which means your body starts burning glucose at a faster rate because it's easier to burn than fat. This can also cause your body to start burning protien as well. This is not good for extended periods of time because once the glucose is used up your blood sugar will plumit, and you will "bonk" or basically run out of gas. I've done this cycling before and it's absolutely no fun, no fun at all, and you can pass out. As far as your body using protien as a primary source of fuel this is no good either because that means you are burning muscle, not what we want to do. Muscle is hard enough to build you don't want to burn it off exercising.

So the secret is finding your max heart rate, and staying in the 55-65% of that range for most of your workout. It doesn't hurt to do intervals at an anaerobic pace because this does help to build endurance, but you don't want to spend a lot of time there. A rough estimate of your max heart rate is to take 220 and subtract your age. ie for me 220-36 means a theoretical max heart rate of 184. It's a rough estimate but it will get you in the ballpark...

[fire diver]

Originally Posted by namabiru

So after a trip to the doctor for a physical, I've become more vigilant about watching my weight and exercising. I've put myself on a diet, cutting out bad sugars such as sugar in coffee, sweets, etc, eating more vegetables/fruit, and less meat (I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with).

I'm doing pretty well, but I've got a nagging patch of abdominal fat I'd love to get rid of. I'm attacking with situps, but it doesn't seem that it's working.

Is there something else I could try?

Run and swim. Swim and run. Run run run. Swim swim swim. It will come off. Maybe more slowly than you would like, but it will happen.

FD

[namabiru]

Originally Posted by creggur

The trick when you are exercising is to stay aerobic, this means your body is using fat stores for the majority of the energy it's using.

When you exercise your body uses 3 major supplies for fuel. Fat stores, glucose, and protien. When you are aerobic, usually a heart rate of 50-70% of your max heart rate, you are using primarily fat, with a little bit of glucose. As your heart rate increases you become anaerobic, which means your body starts burning glucose at a faster rate because it's easier to burn than fat. This can also cause your body to start burning protien as well. This is not good for extended periods of time because once the glucose is used up your blood sugar will plumit, and you will "bonk" or basically run out of gas. I've done this cycling before and it's absolutely no fun, no fun at all, and you can pass out. As far as your body using protien as a primary source of fuel this is no good either because that means you are burning muscle, not what we want to do. Muscle is hard enough to build you don't want to burn it off exercising.

So the secret is finding your max heart rate, and staying in the 55-65% of that range for most of your workout. It doesn't hurt to do intervals at an anaerobic pace because this does help to build endurance, but you don't want to spend a lot of time there. A rough estimate of your max heart rate is to take 220 and subtract your age. ie for me 220-36 means a theoretical max heart rate of 184. It's a rough estimate but it will get you in the ballpark...

Yep, I hear you totally on the 'running out of gas' bit. It's happened to me at kendo before, and you just want to crash to the ground and stay there.

Also, thank you for the max heart rate ballpark estimation. When I do mine, which is 220-26, I'm at 194. So very roughly 90-100 beats a minute. Which does make sense, as my friend told me to walk fast enough to still be able to somewhat carry on a conversation (ever try to talk while running... doesn't work so good, even with me, and I can't run fast). So I'd need to pick up just a bit of speed, but the last time I walked, then, I was doing fairly well.

I will try this today. I can walk, as we're seeing something unusual around here--blue sky. Although that's thanks to the cold front which came through, bringing winds of 30+ mph. Not so good for the fires...

BTW, I started taking a B-complex vitamin too, which is supposed to help increase metabolism. Yes, I know, that's not going to do it alone, but it may help. We'll see.

ETA-- I forgot to thank everyone who is being kind enough to read, lend constructive advice, and indirectly support. This is a long-term project, but I'll do my best