weight loss

[MelissaLynnSilver]

im looking to lose weight but having trouble losing my small gut any suggestion on how to lose it ?

[dawnmarrie1961]

151539


Try one of these. It Worked for me.

[linnea]

The tried and true way, as my therapist says, is to eat less and exercise more. The gut itself can probably be reduced--along wit ELEM--with ab work-out that are high repetitions, not real "six-pack" makers.

[Michelle.M]

I have lost 25 pounds since Christmas, and I will tell you what works for me.

Short answer is yes, eat less, exercise more. I adopted a weight trainer's diet, that is 6 small (and I mean small) meals a day instead of 3 large ones. Foods that are high in protein, low in fat. Portions no bigger than the palm of your hand, no desserts. NONE! Throw out all your junk food NOW. You want a snack? Some fruit, a handful of nuts, a 3 oz can of tuna. Some celery.

1 hour of calorie burning cardio daily. Stretching, crunches and light weights daily (I do mine in the morning) for muscle tone and flexibility.

Think this sounds hard? It is, at first. But when you start to see results (and you will) you'll be as enthusiastic as they come, and you'll never want to go back to the way it was.

[docrobbysherry]

What Linnea said! I'm 60+ with little tummy. My secret? Besides good genes and eating carefully, I do A LOT of crunches before breakfast EVERY MORNING! No matter where I am. Even when I'm at the SCC!

[t-girlxsophie]

In my work we have started a diet club with me the only guy,so really gonna try get a few pounds shed,I did succeed in losing 2 stone before before piling it on again just need to find that willpower again.Also I have a gorgeous little!! Black Dress thats too small for me so theres a pic of that going up on my fridge as an added incentive

[Melissa Jill]

Its all about the calories.
With just a few diet changes and some exercising I lost 12lb in 3 weeks. But I did have a fair bit to lose. The unhealthier you are the quicker you will see results.

[nuriko_2sama]

I have started doing this. It's hard to make sure you do it everyday. And make sure you dont try to do a 100 on the first day lol

[DebsUK]

As everyone else says, fewer calories in, so less food and don't forget booze has quite a high calorie count. Exercise to burn off fat, so endurance like cycling, running or swimming are good, though swimming can develop your shoulders a little more than you might want as a CD. You have to take time to do them though, but probably the best bang for buck (or, more to the point, calorie per minute) is probably jogging and it's effectively free once you have a pair of running shoes. Alternatively, you could do what I do, and follow what women do to stay fit by attending aerobics classes (try Zumba, it's the best fun :) ). The tummy exercies help to tone the muscles underneath so sit-up/crunches help, but better is to use a gym ball and do various exercises on that which target the core muscles, those under the sixpack which really hold your tummy in. Don't forget to do lots of waist bending and twisting exercises to work the obliques which are on the sides of your waist and ill help pull your waist in (it won't be an hour glass, but every little helps)
One thing I have discovered which is great for core and calorie burning is kettlebell training. The exercises really hit lots of muscle groups at once, and are great for core stability, and a few reps will make you very breathless so you are seriously burning calories. Again you want to aim at toning rather thanbuilding muscle mass though

[Loni]

when i was riding my bike twice a week (job) one day would be a good 50+ miles not flat but in the foothills, i tipped the scales at just over 200lb, now that i have been sitting on my butt for a couple years (back injury) i tip the scales at just over 200lb...

less bulk...more flab.

i miss my bike, and walking.


.

[Michaela42]

Last year at this time I was 395+ and wearing a size 54/30 jean. Now I am down to 314 and a size 44/30 jean. I am still far off from of my goal of <200 lbs but I did not become fat overnight ;)

Like everyone here has mentioned eating less and exercising more helps out a lot and is the only real way for lasting results. But the one thing that helped me more than any other was using a food journal. When I could see at the end of each day exactly how many calories I had taken in and where they had come from it made it a bit easier to avoid those 'trouble' items. You can find paper ones on sites like amazon.com but the one I use is called Calorie King and it is a downloadable software that dose all of the calculations for you. It also has many fastfood places listed so it is very easy.

[Daenna Paz]

last year at this time i was 395+ and wearing a size 54/30 jean. Now i am down to 314 and a size 44/30 jean. I am still far off from of my goal of <200 lbs but i did not become fat overnight ;)


congratulations to you!! :D

[MelissaLynnSilver]

thank you everyone for your suggestion. I've been eating alot less but I guess I gotta factor in the cardio my current weight is 221 a month ago I was 237. trying to get to 165-170 by April

[Michaela42]

congratulations to you!! :D

Thank you. It has not been easy and there is so far to go . . . but I will make it!

[Kittie]

Does anyone have any experience with Zumba? I've seen it advertised on TV by an entourage of suspiciously proportioned men and women and was wondering if it is actually good for shaping and toning the body rather than burning fat?

[DebsUK]

Yes! I love Zumba. It is great fat burning, but there is a lot of hip action and big moves so there is an element of toning in it, especially core stability. I'd say do it, you won't look back. The moves are great and the music keeps running through your head on a constant loop until next class! And believe me, the people at the classes look nothing like the people on the blurb (the popularity of the class at my gym means it's got more larger people trying it out than the others which have a more regular clientelle)

[Tina B.]

What about a snickers and a girdle?
Tina B.

[kristinacd55]

Do what I did back in November, being a crew member on a catamaran for 2 weeks. I was seasick as all heck, threw up constantly and lost 15 lbs! Still workin on that "seasick diet" book, so I can go on Oprah get rich rich rich!
In the meantime, exercise and diet are the best way's to do it for sure. Burn more than you take in. :)

[makin' it real]

I've been on a diet myself for about 4 1/2 months (down 25 pounds so far). I also do medical research. These two interests have led to me noticing a bunch of research articles recently showing our usual way of dieting is less effective than it could be. I mean, "Eat less, exercise more" just makes too much sense to be wrong, right? Except it doesn't work. At least, it rarely works as well as the calorie numbers indicate it should. Think about it. How many people do you know who have tried and tried to reduce weight that way, only to end up feeling frustrated and angry at themselves for not losing weight, end up "splurging", and get blamed or blame themselves for having a "lack of willpower"?

It seems the core problem for weight loss is less the calories in vs calories out equation we all know by rote, and more the way our bodies process the different kinds of calories we bring in and the different levels of calories. When we eat less, our bodies say, "I'm dyin' here". Then it slows down our metabolism to burn less fuel, and stores all the fuel into fat (long term storage) so it will survive longer. Another problem with the traditional methods for weight loss is that eating less and exercising more both make us more and more hungry! And then we're supposed to not eat?! Uh huh. One article even showed that the body increases it fat stores when you're hungry and just look at and smell food. How unfair is that!

Okay, so what has been shown to work most effectively? Pretty much what Michelle said above: Eat a bunch of times through the day, generally six times a day, but eat very little during those times. Only instead of a low-fat diet, make it a low-carb diet. Completely eliminate carbs of all kinds if you can, or at least have a carb serving no more than once or twice in a day. Bread, rice, and pasta are out! In with the meats and veggies. Some fruits are okay, but no fruit juices. Berries and nuts are good.

We have been taught to think fat is bad for us. While that's partly true, it's mostly the fake fats or processed fats that do the damage. Animal fats and fats from olives, coconuts, and other plant sources are not bad for you. Look at the Inuits. Their name in other First People's languages meant "fat eaters" because their diet consisted almost exclusively of blubber from seals and whales, yet the Inuits had the lowest incidence of heart disease of any known population! There is significant evidence suggesting our Western culture's fascination with low-fat diets is one of the primary causes for our population-wide increase in weight. Oops!

The idea is to reduce or eliminate sugar intake so your body can reset it's insulin levels and change how it uses insulin. Healthy insulin levels and function burns stored fat more effectively. Carbs are sugars and most fruits are loaded with sugars (fructose). Read the labels. Avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup. And stay away from artificial sweeteners too. They mess up how your body uses insulin. People who drank diet sodas gained more weight than people who drank regular sodas. And the most popular sodas could more accurately be described as liquid poison anyway. Drink water instead. In fact, when you're hungry, drink a glass of water before eating anything. It'll help you feel full sooner and reduce your body's signal to eat.

So aside from diet, exercise. Walking is about the best exercise around, and it's free! As Dana pointed out in another thread, going for a walk in the cold can help take the weight off quickly and easily. As a bonus, walking increases cognitive abilities, slows age-related declines, and is a more effective treatment for depression than talk therapy or medication.

Exercise done in the morning before eating burns more fat than does exercise after eating. Personally, I love Zumba. It gets my body moving and my hips rolling in a most girly way. Plus it's good for core strengthening and for shaping the waist. Still, I walk and or bicycle every day too.

There was a dieting support thread going on over the holidays that had a lot of people making great suggestions. Some of them are summarized at the bottom of this page, http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?144612-A-Challenge.........as-we-enter-into-the-quot-Traditional-Weight-Gaining-Season-quot/page7. That page and thread has lots of great tips for motivation, for diet, and for exercise. It might be worth checking out.

Best of luck to all of us in reducing our weight and getting healthy!

Love,

Rachel

[suzy1]

Exorcise like crunches are good for toning up the abdominal muscles but they will not give you a flat tummy if there is a layer of fat covering it.
As has been said, you have to get rid of the excess fat. No other way.

[Eryn]

when i was riding my bike twice a week....i have been sitting on my butt for a couple years (back injury)....i miss my bike...

One word to Google: recumbent

I love mine, and so do my back and neck.


...a crew member on a catamaran for 2 weeks. I was seasick as all heck, threw up constantly and lost 15 lbs! Still workin on that "seasick diet" book, so I can go on Oprah get rich rich rich!

Reminds me of Emily in The Devil Wears Prada: "I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight!"

One thing I've noted about weight loss is that the weight is rapidly regained unless there is a definite "maintenance" plan. Old habits are hard to break, so use whatever weight loss scheme you use as a definite break from the old routine and the start of a new permanent routine.

[Melissa Jill]

Okay, so what has been shown to work most effectively? Pretty much what Michelle said above: Eat a bunch of times through the day, generally six times a day, but eat very little during those times. Only instead of a low-fat diet, make it a low-carb diet. Completely eliminate carbs of all kinds if you can, or at least have a carb serving no more than once or twice in a day. Bread, rice, and pasta are out! In with the meats and veggies. Some fruits are okay, but no fruit juices. Berries and nuts are good.

Exercise done in the morning before eating burns more fat than does exercise after eating. Personally, I love Zumba.

Studies show that both high carb, low fat and low carb, high fat diets are equally effective for weight loss as well as the associated factors such as high HDL, low TGs, etc.

And Im not sure exercise before eating would use more fat. Your body requires carbohydrates to metabolise fats, and after eating your body will have more energy so you could work harder.

[PretzelGirl]

I will echo the Zumba. I started recently and get a pretty good workout from it and it is pretty fun. To size it up, it is basically aerobics to a Latin beat IMO. I have heard anything from 400-1300 calories burned per hour on it. But the key is that it is intense aerobic activity that will burn some calories and any exercise will raise your metabolism which assists in burning more calories each day. But, as with any other exercise, it is just a component of a good exercise plan and should be combined with a good diet plan.

And I would love to wear one of the outfits, but I am just not that out. :D

[LeannL]

Last year at this time I was 395+ and wearing a size 54/30 jean. Now I am down to 314 and a size 44/30 jean. I am still far off from of my goal of <200 lbs but I did not become fat overnight ;)


Makaila,
If I could be where you are I would give you a big hug. Congratulations on starting your journey to a healthier life. It isn't easy and I am sure you have earned the respect of not only everyone here but also many others. Keep up the good work and I will keep you in my prayers.

Leann

[MsJanessa]

ditto--eat less and move more