Getting rid of belly fat.

[IDShane]

I finally started exercising last March for the first time in my life I am 49 years old. I managed to bring my weight down from 213 down to 190-195. I have been pretty happy with what I have lost but I still have a bit of a spare tire. I currently ride a airdyne bike every other night for about 10 miles and on the opposite night I do 3 sets of 20 sit ups, push ups, lunge's and some curling with weights. I really have not changed my diet since beginning this exercise regime maybe that needs to be the next thing. I am looking for suggestions if you have any.

 

[TxxAgg]

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym


...so I'm told

 

[*zap*]

Hard to get rid of sex specific fat is best dealt with by daily low intensity steady state cardio done in a fasted state. No insulin in your body and keeping it low intensity inhibits release of glucose. Your body will use the hard to loose fat for atp production. You will see results fairly quickly, a 400 calorie walk x 7 days is almost a pound of that fat. Your body's only option is to burn fat if you do this as suggested. 1 hour max then eat something.

 

[BarCO]

Weights help me lose more than cardio as I have got older and less booze.

 

[Five-oh-deuce]

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym


...so I'm told

Unfortunately this is true... and is usually the hard part

 

[KneeDeep]

I'm on a similar journey (47 years old), trying the "Fit Father Project"...they emphasize that you can't "out exercise" a bad diet, so I guess I'd vote for the diet addition. 1 large French Fry order takes half an hour of running to burn off...way more time efficient to not eat the calories. But in order to not be starving all day that means eating a lot more vegetables (low calories).

 

[RuggedYogi]

First, I would like to congratulate you for deciding to prioritize your health. It’s hard to get into a healthy routine after living a sedentary life for many years.

Like others have stated, abs are made in the kitchen. Keto diets can be great for cutting weight, but are hard to maintain long term. I personally stick to a diet with little to no processed food/refined sugar and intermittent fasting.

What does your current diet look like?
What are your long term goals?

 

[khel]

50+ here. I've been exercising all my life, but as I got older, I managed to get myself more fat that I cared for anyway. That beer belly is really difficult to get rid off. Amount and type of workouts didn't matter.
What helped - getting on a keto diet. Wasn't as scary as I thought.
Down to 176lb (20 lb in 3 months).

 

[YBPS]

You are what you eat. Weight training will bring the pounds of fat off faster than cardio. The “run to loose weight” idea is old school and disproven.

 

[JasonWi]

I’m very close to you in age, and what has proven to be thee best way to start shedding BF was tracking my macro percentages via My Fitness Pal.

At first it’s very tedious to get into the habit of measuring and weighing food out and feels a bit overwhelming…stick with it and you will see the improvement.

I personally try for a combination of 40% Protein (200-235 grams), 35% Fat (90-95 grams), 25% carbs (145-150) per day. But don’t be afraid to manipulate the ratios to how your body feels. If you are off on the numbers at first don’t fret, stay consistent and it becomes easier.

If you decide to try MFP, feel free to PM me and I’ll gladly help you setup the ratios and answer questions as I can.

 

[dtrkyman]

Diet is very personal, what works for one not so much the other. I always remember a good trainer I knew back in the day simply say, if it runs, swims or flies fast or grows out of the ground eat it.

Obviously overly simplified but it holds up pretty good.

Where you are from the world ancestry wise plays a role as well, some of the ways your body utilizes calorie intake is in your DNA.

That being said I like sweets, so I am not going to eliminate them completely, just keep it to a minimum.

Take it for what it's worth from a skinny guy!

Look up Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman, endless health info from just those two.

 

[lamarclark09]

Last month I gained more belly fat. I do exercise to lose weight and belly fat. I eat only healthy food and avoid the more fatty food.

 

[Yoder]

I stalled after losing 30 lbs. Seems like no matter how hard I work out I can't lose more. It's absolutely my diet. I think that's your next step. I personally don't think the exact diet matters as long as it consists of real food.

 

[5MilesBack]

Exercise (burn those calories), lift weights (build those muscles), and lose the dead carbs (soda, sweets, desserts, donuts.........i.e. highly processed carb food or straight sugar). And that includes the fake sweeteners as well.

I like my desserts. But come elk season I'm running a big calorie deficit every day and eating mostly protein and fats. I'm covering 10+ miles every day I'm out there, and I'll lose 20lbs in 20-22 days of hunting. I'll also lose 2" around the waist by the end of the season from indications of just tightening my belt. Then it takes me 11 months to build that back up again, then I start the process all over.

 

[dwhite0622]

As everyone else has pointed out the weight is a result of a calorie deficit. A lot of different ways to skin that cat (Keto, paleo, IF, IIFYM etc). But finding which of those methods works for you is the key to longterm success. A good place to start is to get your bodyweight in grams of protein and fill in the rest with as few processed foods as possible. Easier said than done, but if you hit the protein numbers you wont be as hungry. Great work so far!

 

[*zap*]

a great way to hit caloric deficit is to increase calories burned daily....

 

[Seeknelk]

Manually burning calories thru endless cardio and dieting down into lower and lower calories will eventually leave youre metabolism in a rough place where you need to cut even lower and add MORE cardio to get thru plateus.
But eat more protein first. Add that. And lift or bodyweight strength train even more.
Now walking/cardio is great , I'm not saying cardio is bad at all. But I'd avoid using it as the MAIN tool to cut because it's such a small portion of each days calories.
Building a STRONG metabolism thru strength training and eating ENOUGH( but not excessive) amounts to support your training will be a slow , but great way to build the proper lifestyle.

I will say tracking your food with an app like MyFitnessPal, is almost a must FOR A WHILE. It's a very useful tool to put to work to keep you honest. It's hard to keep it up, but track for one month and you'll learn a ton.
Shoot for about 1 gram of protein per # of lean body mass.
Good luck and get it. Don't forget, lots of squats! With or without weight.

 

[P Carter]

Manually burning calories thru endless cardio and dieting down into lower and lower calories will eventually leave youre metabolism in a rough place where you need to cut even lower and add MORE cardio to get thru plateus.
But eat more protein first. Add that. And lift or bodyweight strength train even more.
Now walking/cardio is great , I'm not saying cardio is bad at all. But I'd avoid using it as the MAIN tool to cut because it's such a small portion of each days calories.
Building a STRONG metabolism thru strength training and eating ENOUGH( but not excessive) amounts to support your training will be a slow , but great way to build the proper lifestyle.

I will say tracking your food with an app like MyFitnessPal, is almost a must FOR A WHILE. It's a very useful tool to put to work to keep you honest. It's hard to keep it up, but track for one month and you'll learn a ton.
Shoot for about 1 gram of protein per # of lean body mass.
Good luck and get it. Don't forget, lots of squats! With or without weight.

I’m a runner, and I think this guy has it right. Eat enough but eat clean, train both strength and endurance, trade the curls for squats. It should be a six month goal, make the lifestyle change and it’ll come.

Edit to include this, which I found interesting, and supportive of the idea that diet and exercise are independent variables linked to health: https://www.outsideonline.com/outdo...ing/could-thru-hiking-be-bad-for-your-health/

 

[TheHammer]

You have to figure out your micros and macros. Intermittent fasting. Pretty easy to say no food/snacks after x time until x time the next morning. Get a morning routine going to kick off your metabolism followed by eating correctly. This is easy once in routine and doesn’t take more than 15minutes every morning. Set up a schedule and structure it so it fits your lifestyle, don’t make it so extreme that you set yourself up for failure.

 

[*zap*]

There are some trim people and there are some strong people but there are many, many less trim and strong people....because it requires a proper balance of strength training, aerobic capacity training and proper nutrition consistently over a long period of time. So, what is the goal you aspire to reach 5 years from now?