50 ways to lose your gut

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28 April 2009 Men’s Fitness

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Spend more of each day burning fat than you do storing it, and over time, you'll bury your belly forever

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Page 1: 50 ways to lose your Gut

28 April 2009 Men’s Fitness

Page 2: 50 ways to lose your Gut

April 2009 Men’s Fitness 29

Spend more of each day burning fat than you do storing it, and over time, you’ll bury your belly forever

>> 01Smash dinner plates.And buy smaller ones. That way, even if you fill your plate to capacity, you’re ultimately eating less than what you would likely pile on your existing platters.

>> 02Read labels. Avoid foods with “high-fructose corn syrup” in the ingredients list. Since 1971, consumption of this sugar substitute has increased in parallel to the rise in obesity.

>> 03Get off your backside.Do every exercise standing instead of sitting. ‘You’ll expend up to 30 per cent more calories,’ says Joe Stankowski, C.P.T. The solution for the bench press? Dips.

>> 04Mix up your movements. When you lift, perform supersets in which you alternate between sets of lower-body and upper-body exercises. That way, your lower body rests while your upper body is working. This allows you to work muscles maximally with little downtime between sets for a faster, more effective workout.

>> 05Exercise blind. On the elliptical trainer, let go of the handles and close your eyes. Without visual feedback, your core muscles work harder to keep you balanced, burning more calories.

>> 06Embrace yardwork.View any type of physical activity as a good chance to burn more fat and condition your body. It's also a surprisingly good stress buster. Just make sure you use a push mower.

>> 07Take larger steps. On a stair climber, skip one out of every five steps. Then take one large step to get back to your normal walking pattern. This recruits additional muscle, upping fat loss.

>> 08Cut carbs. In just one of many recent studies, a Journal of Nutrition report found that men who reduced their carb intake to just eight per cent of their daily calories lost seven pounds of fat and gained two pounds of muscle in six weeks.

>> 09Lift first, then run. By doing your cardio after you’ve lifted – when you’re tired – the same speed or intensity has a greater effect than had you done it before.

>> 10Change directions. Try this interval-training trick on the elliptical trainer: Ride for 30 seconds as fast as you possibly can, and then immediately reverse your direction and ride for 30 additional seconds just as fast in the opposite direction. Rest for 60 seconds and then repeat. The force of stopping your momentum, as well as going from a dead stop to full speed twice in the same interval, will give your fat-burning efforts a massive boost, says MF training adviser Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S.

>> 11Eat more protien. Up to 30 per cent of calories in each gram of protein are burned in diges-tion, compared to only six per cent in carbs.

The average man’s body has 19.5kg of fat. Spend more of each day burning fat than you do storing it, and over time, you’ll bury your belly forever. Sound simple? It is. There’s no single secret formula for losing fat. On the following pages, you’ll find 50 tips designed to fit into your life every day, and you’ll

finish off your fat easier and faster than you ever imagined possible.

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Page 3: 50 ways to lose your Gut

30 April 2009 Men’s Fitness

>> 12Top your salad with vinaigrette dressing.Studies show that acidic foods such as vinegar and lemon juice work like lighter fluid in your body’s fat incinerator, increasing carb combustion by 20-40 per cent. Researchers believe the acids blunt insulin spikes and slow the rate at which food empties from your stomach.

>> 13Pass on the potatoes. In any form – mashed and baked, as well as French fries and crisps. They raise levels of insulin in the blood, triggering your body to stop burning – and start storing – fat. (Sweet potatoes are acceptable; they have more nutrients and fibre.)

>> 14Don’t be a couch potato. If you’re a TV junkie, add up the number of hours you watch right now, and then cut out all reruns. Spend the time you save on your feet: outdoors or in the gym.

>> 17Hit the weights.If you’re lazy, it’s not as bad as you think – just 10 minutes a day of lifting, three days a week, helps. Harvard research shows that 30 mins of weights per week has a greater reduction on waist size than almost any other variable.

>> 18Eat your biggest meal of the day after you lift. It takes calories to digest food. And researchers at the University of Nevada found that it takes 73 per cent more calories to process that food after a weight-training session than if you hadn’t worked out at all.

>> 19Chug H20 before a meal. The water will take up room in your stomach, making you feel fuller and reducing your appetite, says Christopher Mohr, M.S., R.D.

>> 20Don’t skip meals. Not eating for long periods puts your body in a catabolic state, and it starts to break down muscle tissue for energy – and conserves fat.

>> 21Request substitutions. Any time your restaurant entree comes with a side of pasta, potatoes, or rice, ask for vegetables instead, says Jeff Volek, Ph.D., R.D. (Your waiter should be more than happy to accommodate you.)

>>16Snack on dill pickles. Just one calorie per slice.

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>> 22Break between scoops.That is, if you can’t live without ice cream, cake, or other calorie-laden desserts, go ahead and have one scoop (about 1/2 cup) or one small slice. Then, if you still want more, wait 20 minutes. Typically, you’ll find that while you wait, hormones kick in and trigger a feeling of fullness, reducing desire for that second serving.

>> 23Use the stairs. Instead of wedging yourself into a lift with that guy who smells funny and the woman with a cold, use the stairs. You'll burn calories, get you heart going and avoid awkward silences. Climbing stairs is also a good exercise for leg muscles.

>> 24Join a league. That is, sign up for a sport such as football, basketball or even baseball. It’ll automatically schedule exercise sessions into your week, and because you’re part of a team, you’ll have peer pressure that’ll ensure you keep showing up.

>> 25Try the VersaClimber. The more vertical that you are when doing your cardio work , the more calories you will burn. Or just find some steeper steps to run up.

>> 26Eat an unbalanced diet. By cycling your calorie intake, so you eat fewer calories one day and more the next, you keep your metabolism on its toes.

>> 27Dial up an incline. When you run outside, you apply force to the ground and propel your body weight forward all by yourself. When you run on a treadmill, the belt helps you. To counter this, walk or run on a one per cent incline.

>> 15Never forbid yourself a favorite food. Here’s a shocker: When a group of U.K. researchers told 30 women to avoid chocolate, then packed them into a room filled with the stuff, the women were much more likely to sneak a bite than individuals who hadn’t been given the order. Blame the allure of the forbidden:

The more you tell yourself you can’t

eat something you love, the more you’re going to want it.

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Page 4: 50 ways to lose your Gut

April 2009 Men’s Fitness 31

>> 31Buy a Showbox. And only watch the shows you record. By fast-forwarding through the tedious adverts and watching only the stuff you care enough to record, you can cut your TV viewing – and the amount of time you spend on the couch – by more than a third.

>> 32Load up on yogurt. When researchers at the University of Tennessee put a group of volunteers on one of two diets — one high in calcium and one not — and cut each group’s calorie intake by 500, they found people getting calcium lost twice as much weight (an average of 13 pounds) compared with those on the standard diet. Extra calcium helps the body burn more (and store less) fat.

>> 33Try to avoid foods that come in a bag or a box. Typically, these are highly processed carbs — foods that quickly raise blood-sugar levels and shut down your body’s ability to burn fat. Natural is always better.

>> 34Snack between meals. This not only keeps you from being ravenous — and then overeating as a result — at lunch and dinner, it also forces your body to process food all day long. This keeps your metabolism stoked rather than stopping and starting. Just try not to snack on crisps and chocolate.

>> 30Rent motivation. Once a week, watch a film that inspires you to exercise. Examples: Rocky (for the gym), American Flyers (for cycling), Hoosiers (for team sports), Chariots of Fire and Without Limits (both for running) and The Replacements (for never giving up on the dream).

>> 28Buy some new blinds.And maybe a new mattress, because it’s not just the amount of time you spend sleeping that keeps you lean, it’s also the quality of your sleep. The fat cells in your body produce a hormone called leptin that helps the body keep track of how much potential energy (i.e. fat) it has stored. But leptin is only produced during certain stages of sleep. Miss out on those stages because you’re not resting soundly enough, and you’ll disturb levels of the hormone, which then leaves your body with no accurate idea of its energy reserves. Consequently, you will end up storing calories rather than burning them.

>> 29Make sure you have breakfast every day.The saying about breakfast has become such a cliche that we often tend to ignore it, but unlike most other stock phrases that you hear, this one is actually true. Research from Harvard and Boston’s Children’s Hospital shows that the obesity rates are 35-50 per cent lower in people who take the time to eat breakfast regularly, compared with people who don’t bother. Nutritionists believe meals in the morning help to regulate insulin levels and their hunger, so you're less likely to overeat throughout the reminder of the day. Porridge oats are a great breakfast.

Page 5: 50 ways to lose your Gut

>> 36.Order appetizers. And avoid the bread bowl at all costs. If you’re ravenous when you sit down to eat at a restaurant, immediately order a side salad, or a meat- or vegetable-only appetizer, rather than be tempted by these bottomless, and fattening, freebies.

>> 37Pop peanuts.Nuts have a high satiety power, and make you feel fuller after eating than other foods. And even though they’re high in calories, those calories appear to be processed differently in the body. University of Michigan researchers found that men who added 500 calories’ worth of peanuts a day to their diet gained no excess weight at all.

>> 39Eat slower.‘It can take 12 minutes or longer for the signal that you’ve started to eat to make its way to your brain,’ says Mark S. Gold, M.D., of the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida. Quick tips: Drink some water between every bite of food you eat, or at least eat more meals with friends or family members. If you're eating with other people then you’ll be more likely to talk and as a result, you'll eat more slowly.

>> 40Do sprint intervals.Interspersing short, all-out sprints with brief periods of rest is the most effective form of cardio for fat loss, says Stankowski. Try a 2-to-1 “work-to-rest” ratio. That is, sprint two times longer than you rest. So if you run a 150-yard sprint – a good distance to start with – in 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, then repeat 3-7 times.

>> 41Don’t starve yourself.‘Under normal conditions, humans absorb only about 80 per cent of the nutrients from the food they eat,’ found researchers at the University of Michigan. But, he says, when the body is deprived of nourishment, it becomes a super-efficient machine, pulling what nutrients it can from whatever food is consumed. Start eating again normally and your body may not catch up; instead it will continue to store food as fat.

>> 42Shop for one.If you have to buy cookies, crisps, or other processed junk foods, then buy the single-serving package rather than the large, family-style bag. That way, when you eat the whole packet while sitting in front of the television — and let’s be honest here, you know you will — you’ll at least have done a lot less damage to your waistline.

32 April 2009 Men’s Fitness

>> 35Break a record. Challenge yourself to run farther in the same amount of time – even if it’s just one-tenth of a mile – every single workout. This ensures you’re always burning more calories from one workout to the next.

>> 38 Avoid white bread. Researchers studied the waistlines and diets of 459 people and found that even in men of similar age and activity level, those who ate white bread frequently weighed more than those who didn't.

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Page 6: 50 ways to lose your Gut

>> 48Floss twice a day. When researchers in Brazil studied 13,000 people over a three-year period, they found that men with the highest levels of inflammatory agents in their body were also the most likely to gain weight. And periodontal disease, which is caused by having poor oral health care, is one of the most common sources of inflammation. Brushing twice a day, flossing, and making regular trips to the dentist are the best ways to prevent the disease. Hate flossing? Studies show that a dose of Listerine may be just as effective at reducing levels of inflammatory bacteria within the mouth. In addition to a good mouthwash, it's also worth getting a toothbrush that has a tougue scraper on the reverse of the brush's head. Your tongue has fissures that hold onto bacteria.

>> 49Keep an eye on portion sizes. Most people who have been lean their whole lives have a much better understanding of proper portion size than people who are overweight. If they go out to eat, they’re much more likely to ask for a doggie bag right away or to leave food on their plate rather than cleaning it up.

>> 44Track your calories.Go to a website like fitday.com. Create a free account, enter info, and let the software tell you exactly how good or bad you’re being.

>> 45Row to the sky. Every time you complete 10 reps on the rowing machine, lift the handles straight up over your head – and do this without bending your elbows – for two consecutive repetitions before returning to normal rowing form. This works your shoulders and back harder, as well as your legs meaning you get a better body workout while on the machine.

>> 46Step on the scale at least once a day.If there’s one thing that comes up over and over it’s weighing yourself every day on a scale,’ says Rena Wing, Ph.D., founder of the Weight Control registry. ‘Keep track of the general range of what you weigh so that you can catch small changes as they occur and take corrective measures immediately.’

>> 47Outdo yourself.When you exercise on the rowing machine, try this interval workout: Row for 60 seconds, note the distance on the machine, then rest 60 seconds. Repeat, only this time, row for 55 seconds and try to match or even better your distance from the first time. Rest for 55 seconds, then repeat, reducing the time to 50 seconds. Continue until you can’t beat your original distance. Research has shown that when you have a specific target you are more likely to work harder than when you are just working with no goal.

April 2009 Men’s Fitness 33

>> 43Turn off The Daily Show after the first ad break.When researchers at the University of Chicago studied men who were sleep-deprived, they found that after just a few days, their bodies had a much harder time processing glucose in the blood — a problem common in overweight diabetics. When the individuals returned to a more normal seven to eight hours of sleep a night, however, their metabolisms returned to normal.

>> 50Fill up on high-fiber foods. Research shows that guys who added 12 grams of fiber a day to their diet lost a quarter of an inch from their love handles, without otherwise modifying their diet.