[danjufo]

Ok so i noticed so many of you seem to do and know alot about this topic so i thought i'd ask for some advise.

I, until recently, was working in a pretty physicaly demanding job where i was lifting heavy weights through out the day. Now however i am a lazy bum and just walk around chatting. I am about 6' something i would say i have pretty good strong muscles although i am (or was) deeply into my food so they are not so well defined. Though now i am in a lazy job my apetite is no where near as high and i also am motivated into changing my body.

Firtsly i would like to know what would be best to either keep the muscles i have \ bulk them as i am sure they will start to decrease as they are no longer needed as much. I do have an old set of weights i used to use. So i wll probably start on these again.

Basicaly what i want is to lose some diameter around my gut area, this has always been quite large although no-where else i would say made me look overweight. Plus i would realy like to 'tone' the muscles i already have and perhaps bulk up slightly. So in short - lose weight (well fat) but keep muscles

I do not enjoy many types of excerise though, i hate running. I used to be a keen cyclist and i don't mind weight lifting. I assume this is a simple answer along the lines of, eat less and category A before excerise and catergory B after and weight life. I'm unsure as to whether lowering my food intake would effect muscle growth so i dont know if taking much less food to lose fat along with excerise would lower my muscle tone?

p.s. sorry if i jumbled things \ kept repeating myself, i think i have some sort of condition \ it's because i am almost asleep.

[daedal]

Light weights + high number of reps = sculpting muscle
Heavy weights + low reps = inscrease mass

What I do is for one week, concentrate on my cardio and do allot of light weights. I eat Pasta and other high energy foods. On the other week, I concentrate on the heavy weights to build mass but still do light cardio. Eating foods like Tuna and Chicken will help and go long ways. Avoid fatty foods, red meat and empty calories. It's very very hard to do at first because it does require a major lifestyle change but once you get going, you'll get hooked on it.

Just keep at it, and don't get discouraged. Get a goal, and stick to it. Good luck man.

[danjufo]

i know very little about diets. but would a diet that is trying to build \ maintain muscle conflict with one that is trying to lose body fat? My fat is there due to food not a lack of excerise, so i am well aware that i have to change my diet, which i am more than happy to do (it'll be very hard but i really want to do it now) I mean should i go to certain foods to lose weight initialy before getting onto a healthy and ranged diet. Also should i concentrate on losing body fat and hope that my muscles stay (wouldnt that lead to toning if i already have muscles that show but not as much as desired) and then go onto bulking up or should i do both at once?

I'm one confused lil puppy

[SFOSOK]

Thing bout Diets, don't do them. Ever.

Eat what is good, microwave is the enemy.

All I can say is push urself, run, and bike. Its easy to get nice looking muscles, but if you want t obe strong and healthy just run a lot and drink lots of water. You can throw weights in also but don't make them the major part of your routine.

[niceguyrichy]

the thing about exercise is, if you go about it to build muscle, you gotta keep doing it forever otherwise, when you stop, all the muscle you built turns to luverly fat.

eat sensibly (you know what's sensible, fresh food, avoid fatyy/fried etc), and exercising at the right times is really important

first thing in the morning is the best time to exercise to loose the weight around the gut.
you burn fat and not energy.

keeping fit isn't so much about eating less as eating the right food, and exercising accordingly
cycling is really good for you btw, not much better exercise to keep you generally fit and healthy

[danjufo]

I don't mean diet like all the 'girly mags' i mean the generalised food i would eat. I currently eat anything and lots of it. I am not fat from this because of the work i used to do i guess, but now my job has changed so might my weight. I'd like to lose the bits of fat i have and keep my muscle structure as it currently is.

[digerati]

Originally Posted by danjufo

I don't mean diet like all the 'girly mags' i mean the generalised food i would eat. I currently eat anything and lots of it. I am not fat from this because of the work i used to do i guess, but now my job has changed so might my weight. I'd like to lose the bits of fat i have and keep my muscle structure as it currently is.

It's really pretty simple.

Guys collect fat on their stomachs. No matter how many millions of crunches or sit ups you do, if you don't do cardio to get rid of fat, you're tummy isn't going anywhere. You will have a six pack...under a layer of fat.

Eat a big breakfast and work out in the morning as it does burn more fat. Have some good healthy cereal with a banana and some orange juice or other fruit juice and other misc stuff like maybe oatmeal, wheat toast, etc etc. Stay away from the fried/heavy on meats food. Try to avoid huge dinners, remember whatever you eat is going to use your sleeping time to collect and convert to fat.

Remember that your heart is a muscle, you can't expect to be healthy/strong if your heart isn't. A good way to test it is to time yourself in a mile, see what you get.

As for losing weight and keeping muscle. That is nearly impossible to do without LOTS of working out. Even Mr. Universe Arnold used steroids to acheive this. When weight lifters bulk up their muscles they also get fatter, and when it comes down to the competition they slim down but many used (don't know if they still do) took steroids to keep their muscle mass. Just think of it this way.

You may lose some mass now, but you can re-build the mass WHILE staying thin.

[pr0digal jenius]

swimming will kick your ass into shape in a matter of weeks....with noticable improvements in a week or so if you really push yourself

[merry]

In my experience, moving the main meal to morning/light meal at lunch/fruit (or nothing) for dinner - will make you lose weight, don't know about muscles, though. Eat dairy products (but beware of the fat) for calcium.

Half joking, this would seem appropriate: The Hacker's Diet

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/

(from the guy who designed AutoCAD)

[Sanafabich]

I'm also interested in losing that fat that acumulates around the waist (love handles? ). What do you guys recomend me?

[SFOSOK]

try situps but alternate your shoulders to the opposite side of your knees.

Like when you come up turn your right shoulder towards your left knee, then go down then the opposite.

Thats pretty much the quickest way I know to get rid of love handles.

[Zelig]

Originally Posted by Green Death Flavor

try situps but alternate your shoulders to the opposite side of your knees.

Like when you come up turn your right shoulder towards your left knee, then go down then the opposite.

Thats pretty much the quickest way I know to get rid of love handles.

digerati hit that perfectly, no body specific exercise is going to get rid of fat in that part of the body, cardio is needed to really cut back on fat.

[Sanafabich]

maybe diet+cardio+situps?

[SFOSOK]

do the types of situps I described, drink lots of water, and run and bike when ever you have time or need to pass time. Its what worked for me.

[Sanafabich]

thanks dood, I'll try that

[Vikingod]

Possilby the best thing you could do for you body is swimming. It's fun, relaxing, a better workout than running, it burns fat, works every muscle, great for your respatory/circulatory, the list goes on and on. Swimming also doesn't wear the body like ligting and running. I would say get a membership to you local YMCA (or the like) and swim a few days a week. Other than that, get a bike, do a few push ups/sit ups, watch what you eat (this is a big one fore losing weight).

To really lose weight and keep it off requires more of a change of life style. Typically people eat way too much of the wrong kinds of food. i think diets are sh*t, they are unsustainable. But if you can vow to have a salad instead of fries, or not go back for seconds, or to maybe have water instead of the soda, you will see results. Its this chage of lifestyle that will keep weight off, not the dieting (take a look at the weight watchers program, its not a diet, its a life style and thats why it works).

As always, the first few days (weeks?) are the hardest, but after that, you will feel much better.

[pr0digal jenius]

also keep in mind that cardio is most important [swimming/biking/running] as there's no such thing as concentrated fat loss....you cant burn "stomach fat"...you burn fat as a whole.

[SFOSOK]

yeah, but u can tone certain areas by building muscle in place of the fat there.

But thing is, u can do the hardest traing in the world, but if you don't keep it constant you will revert back. Same with eating.

[pr0digal jenius]

yep...hafta eat less calories then you burn....and keep in mind having a bowl of rasin bran instead of a whopper from BK does about as much good as jogging for 45 minutes [no kidding] in the weight loss category