6 Habits to Chisel a Solid 6-Pack

tigersword

Lots of stupid crap in that article

I have to agree with this one. Three days a week of full-body strength training. Seems to me like you would be breaking down the muscle but not giving it enough time for repair.

:huh:

It worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As for the original article, in hindsight, I was wrong to call it junk. It's more common sense, with a little bit of misinformation thrown in.

For instance, breakfast, has been shown in scientific studies to have no real effect on metabolism. Eating constantly doesn't help your metabolism either, in fact, it may hurt it. Here's the thing, when you eat, your body uses energy to turn on the digestive system and digest food. It makes sense a bit, to think that, if you keep eating, your digestive system will keep running, and you will burn more energy by default. The problem is, it sounds good on paper, but doesn't actually happen that way in practice (same with people who tell you to eat a certain way with macros to take advantage of the "thermogenic boost.") See, when your digestive system starts up, your body doesn't magically create energy to use it. It diverts power from other systems to your digestive system. Then when you stop digesting food, your body diverts that energy back to other body systems.

That's the real key to why people feel sleepy after eating a large meal. It's not tryptophan, it's not EVIL TATER, it's the fact that a large concentration of your energy is diverted to digesting food, so the rest of your body has less energy to power itself. It's like overloading an electrical system, if one circuit takes all the power, the rest of the lights go out.

This is why some people train while fasted. Your digestive system is shut down, and you have a little more energy to use on your training.

ahamm002

For instance, breakfast, has been shown in scientific studies to have no real effect on metabolism.

True, but if breakfast affects satiety instead, does it matter? We know that skipping breakfast is associated with obesity. Of course it could be do to confounders: people who skip meals may just not be as health conscious. But I doubt that's the full story. In my personal experience, it's much easier to eat healthy the rest of the day when I eat a high protein breakfast then when I skip breakfast.

tigersword

I've lost 50 pounds skipping breakfast (and lunch) twice a week, using intermittent fasting. Satiety is a different story than "you must eat breakfast to lose weight."

And there are confounders in those studies you're talking about, because no controlled study that's been done, has shown any difference in overall weight loss or health for people that ate breakfast, or skipped breakfast. A food survey study is not the same, and can't really draw useful conclusions.

If I eat 5000 calories a day while skipping breakfast, am I gaining weight because I'm skipping breakfast, or because I'm eating 5000 calories? Breakfast has nothing to do with it.

Nicola0000

Can anyone (especially the people on here with the 6 pack already!!) suggest good exercises to get that 6 pack??

tigersword

Squats, deadlifts. <-- These work for everything.

Seriously, as has been posted many times in this thread, there are NO specific exercises that will give you a six pack. A six pack is a matter of having low enough body fat for your abdominal muscles to show. It's all about diet, not about exercise.

ronadams52

Just wanted to add an article from the Mayo Clinic Dietary Staff Department about some benefits of eating breakfast.......

Weight loss and breakfast

With Mayo Clinic nutritionist
Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

Question
Breakfast: How does it help weight control?
Why does eating a healthy breakfast help control weight?
Answer
From Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
Here are some of the ways that regularly eating a healthy breakfast may help you lose excess weight and maintain your weight loss:

• Reduced hunger. Eating breakfast may reduce your hunger later in the day, which may make it easier to avoid overeating. When you skip breakfast, you may feel ravenous later and be tempted to reach for a quick fix — such as vending machine candy or doughnuts at the office. In addition, the prolonged fasting that occurs when you skip breakfast can increase your body's insulin response, which in turn increases fat storage and weight gain. In fact, skipping breakfast actually increases your risk of obesity.
• Healthy choices. Eating breakfast may get you on track to make healthy choices all day. When you eat breakfast, you tend to eat a healthier overall diet, one that is more nutritious and lower in fat. When you skip breakfast, you're more likely to skip fruits and vegetables the rest of the day, too.
• More energy. Eating breakfast may give you energy, increasing your physical activity during the day. A healthy breakfast refuels your body and replenishes the glycogen stores that supply your muscles with immediate energy. Skipping breakfast is associated with decreased physical activity.

So, if you skip breakfast — whether you're trying to save time or cut calories — you may want to reconsider, especially if you're trying to control your weight.

More encouragement comes from....

ADA spokeswoman Noralyn Mills, RD, believes if we feed the body at regular intervals we send a signal to the body that it doesn't have to store calories and when we skip meals, we affect the metabolism negatively. "But this can be accomplished with three regular meals a day for many of us," she notes.

And how about example setting.................

If you and your kids regularly skip breakfast in the interest of saving time or getting a few more minutes of sleep, remember that eating a wholesome, nutritious morning meal will improve your overall performance. By recharging your brain and your body, you'll be more efficient in just about everything you do.

mtretter

Good article and follow up!

MrDude_1

Lots of stupid crap in that article

agreed.

but good Broscience 101 intro.