Losing weight, but still have a gut

drmerc

I've lost 26 pounds since April, and I feel great. But I still have a gut! I've been eating healthier foods, recording everything, straying from fatty foods. I've been doing some cardio (30 minutes elliptical/amt) 3 to 5 times a week. Any specific exercises for the gut? I've heard sit ups and what not, really don't do the trick. Advice?

Your problem is right there....eat more fat and get off grains and you'll loose your gut in no time. Situps will do nothing to trim your waistline at all.

Eat more fat and less grains? That sounds like pretty bad advice. Do you have any proof of this?

Just keep losing weight OP and it will eventually go away, no way to spot reduce unfortunately

mdbs2004

my gut n love handles were the last thing to start to go. I lost 100lbs before my mid section started losing big.

SB10012

Start riding a bicycle....It is a total belly area workout!

Marll

I've lost 26 pounds since April, and I feel great. But I still have a gut! I've been eating healthier foods, recording everything, straying from fatty foods. I've been doing some cardio (30 minutes elliptical/amt) 3 to 5 times a week. Any specific exercises for the gut? I've heard sit ups and what not, really don't do the trick. Advice?

Your problem is right there....eat more fat and get off grains and you'll loose your gut in no time. Situps will do nothing to trim your waistline at all.

Eat more fat and less grains? That sounds like pretty bad advice. Do you have any proof of this?

Just keep losing weight OP and it will eventually go away, no way to spot reduce unfortunately

Yeah, the fact that I've lost 65lbs doing just that and have a flat stomach even though I'm not quite at my weight goal yet. If I intake wheat my gut balloons a bit.

Had a friend with a beer gut that I talked into cutting grains for a month, changed nothing else and his stomach is flat now.

1holegrouper

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Most people have great abs under the fat without doing any direct ab work. If you do cardio and compound lifting your abs are getting worked and unless you want them to pop out (like a body builder) there is no need for isolation ab exercises.
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Point taken on the compound exercises. Total body or multiple joint exercises are the most time and fat burning efficient exercises you can do. I still like to throw in some ab work in order to probe for weak spots. But, I guess its not necessary for most people.

AngryDiet

Had a friend with a beer gut that I talked into cutting grains for a month, changed nothing else and his stomach is flat now.

Your friend had a beer gut and cut grains for one month, and after that month was up he had a flat stomach?

Titen

I agree with the comments about strength training, prob best way to go. HIIT cardio over slow paced cardio ? I did alot of HIIT type of cardio on an exercise bike 30 secs paced and 30 secs sprinting for 10 mins reduced alot on the gut, until bike broke.
I read an article about mixing your workout routine every few weeks so your body doesn't adjust and stops growing ? More muscle equals more fat burning ? I'm sure there are a few more experts on here than me about this.

Marll

Had a friend with a beer gut that I talked into cutting grains for a month, changed nothing else and his stomach is flat now.

Your friend had a beer gut and cut grains for one month, and after that month was up he had a flat stomach?

Yes, no reason to exaggerate things, his stomach bloat was gone and in just over a month, about 35 days it was pretty much normal and flat. He was thin everywhere else already for his height of 6ft 4in. Since that time he's remained grain free, changing nothing else that he does and he's lost an additional 20lbs.

MoveTheMountain

Sorry, no way to spot reduce, and men frequently lose last from the tummy. Although that is pretty much genetically determined. Just gotta keep doing what you're doing and you'll get there eventually!

Agree with this...

I would add some strength training to the cardio. That will help with body fat in general. But no one gets to pick where they lose their fat. Just keep on truckin. (And personally, I like sit-ups. )

And this... (combined for efficiency...)

MoveTheMountain

OK. I have just been through this myself. Sure, there is no such thing as spot reducing BUT, when you finally reveal your abs you want something respectable to be there so make sure you do regular ab work! Now how to peel the layers off this onion:

It takes a lot of patience, commitment and even a good sense of humor for most guys to get through this stage; unless you are less than 25 years old or genetically gifted- all sorts of those on this forum, God bless 'em, lol.

Its 90% about what you eat. You may think your diet is good and healthy but this is likely NOT the case if you want to reveal your abs. I'm talking about 1) finding an optimal window of how many net calories a day you should be taking in. Not to much, not too little 2) eating like a rabbit (greens, greens and then more greens), no sugars, no dairy, no gluten, no starches, no grains, no alcohol, little fruit, precise portions of good fats, lean fish or lean poultry, etc. (this sounds radical but this is what it really takes- at least for me) 3) consider plateau busting strategies like; carb cycling, Intermittent Fasting ("Eat Stop Eat" is a great book), 4) changing up your exercise routine (both strength and cardio and flexibility) and 5) overhaul or review your suppliments and 6) making sure you are getting enough sleep.

Its a true project but you can do it.

That's like the best summary I've ever seen.

kimg4

Cut down on added sugar. That goes right to your gut, you would be surprised what has sugar in it! Men only need 10 teaspoons of sugar a day, which is 40 grams of added sugar. Also stay away from artificial sweeteners too. Unfortunately we lose weight from the outside in, so the gut is the last thing to go. Good luck. Also do core training, push ups, sit ups look some exercises up online.

gpstrucker

I'm in the same boat, buddy. The gut is a lot smaller, but still there. It'll go eventually as the body fat percentage gets smaller. Just have to have patience and keep chasing the goal.

Aparz1

My trainer says having abs is all about fat loss not so much about crunches and planks etc.... he said if your body fat % is low enough then the abs will show... everyone has abs it's just the layers of body fat over them that needs to go Based on his advise I just keep working hard and as the weight comes off my stomach is getting flatter and flatter.

erickirb

OK. I have just been through this myself. Sure, there is no such thing as spot reducing BUT, when you finally reveal your abs you want something respectable to be there so make sure you do regular ab work! Now how to peel the layers off this onion:

It takes a lot of patience, commitment and even a good sense of humor for most guys to get through this stage; unless you are less than 25 years old or genetically gifted- all sorts of those on this forum, God bless 'em, lol.

Its 90% about what you eat. You may think your diet is good and healthy but this is likely NOT the case if you want to reveal your abs. I'm talking about 1) finding an optimal window of how many net calories a day you should be taking in. Not to much, not too little 2) eating like a rabbit (greens, greens and then more greens), no sugars, no dairy, no gluten, no starches, no grains, no alcohol, little fruit, precise portions of good fats, lean fish or lean poultry, etc. (this sounds radical but this is what it really takes- at least for me) 3) consider plateau busting strategies like; carb cycling, Intermittent Fasting ("Eat Stop Eat" is a great book), 4) changing up your exercise routine (both strength and cardio and flexibility) and 5) overhaul or review your suppliments and 6) making sure you are getting enough sleep.

Its a true project but you can do it.

That's like the best summary I've ever seen.

I disagree with 2 through 5.

I finally got a 6 pack for the first time in my life at age 33, and all I did was eat at a modest deficit (0.5lb/week weight loss goal) eat 25% protein, and hit the weights hard, heavy lifting and gave it time.

There is no need to eliminate any type of food, just hit your calorie and macro goal lift so you lose mostly fat, and wait.

Apazman

Heavy Weights for weight training, and Intermittent fasting. Also try dry brushing those stubborn areas with Yerpa dry brush twice a day to increase blood flow to those areas

caraiselite

less carbs, more protein and veg.

congrats on your loss so far!

jdhosier

I've lost 26 pounds since April, and I feel great. But I still have a gut! I've been eating healthier foods, recording everything, straying from fatty foods. I've been doing some cardio (30 minutes elliptical/amt) 3 to 5 times a week. Any specific exercises for the gut? I've heard sit ups and what not, really don't do the trick. Advice?

I've lost more than 80 lbs and still have a gut. No spot reducing. If spot reducing worked, people who chew gum would have skinny faces.

jawheb

Do circuits that focus on your core. Do them with weights if possible.

mustgetmuscles1

I did not read every response so sorry if this will repeat what other have said.

STRENGTH TRAINING is the correct answer. A calories deficit with cardio is most likely allowing you to lose weight. Notice I said weight and not fat. To lose body fat and retain muscle you have to have a calories deficit AND do resistance training. Your body need to know that the muscle is worth keeping. Muscle is very expensive to maintain (calories wise). If you dont convince your body that you need it, it will just get rid of it to free up your restricted calories for other functions. Looks good on the scale but ends up with a low weight and high body fat.

This site is full of people that get to their goal weight loss and are very surprised how their body does not look the way they wanted. They were losing weight all right but probably had huge deficits and did crazy amounts of cardio leading to a loss of lean mass along with fat.

jawheb

I did not read every response so sorry if this will repeat what other have said.

STRENGTH TRAINING is the correct answer. A calories deficit with cardio is most likely allowing you to lose weight. Notice I said weight and not fat. To lose body fat and retain muscle you have to have a calories deficit AND do resistance training. Your body need to know that the muscle is worth keeping. Muscle is very expensive to maintain (calories wise). If you dont convince your body that you need it, it will just get rid of it to free up your restricted calories for other functions.

This site is full of people that get to their goal weight loss and are very surprised how their body does not look the way they wanted. They were losing weight all right but probably had huge deficits and did crazy amounts of cardio leading to a loss of lean mass along with fat.

Calorie deficit? I eat 2300-2800 calories a day. If I bump that down I'll gain muscle weight?

mustgetmuscles1

I did not read every response so sorry if this will repeat what other have said.

STRENGTH TRAINING is the correct answer. A calories deficit with cardio is most likely allowing you to lose weight. Notice I said weight and not fat. To lose body fat and retain muscle you have to have a calories deficit AND do resistance training. Your body need to know that the muscle is worth keeping. Muscle is very expensive to maintain (calories wise). If you dont convince your body that you need it, it will just get rid of it to free up your restricted calories for other functions.

This site is full of people that get to their goal weight loss and are very surprised how their body does not look the way they wanted. They were losing weight all right but probably had huge deficits and did crazy amounts of cardio leading to a loss of lean mass along with fat.

Calorie deficit? I eat 2300-2800 calories a day. If I bump that down I'll gain muscle weight?

No. If you go into a calories deficit you will not gain muscle. But you could burn fat and retain most, if not all, LBM.

jawheb

Yeah! Ok! We are on the same page then.

mustgetmuscles1

Yeah! Ok! We are on the same page then.

Good. I dont want to disagree with you. Those arms look dangerous. : )

bigdon123

The gut is the first place where extra lbs. are stored and it will be the last to go.just keep up the good work and it will eventually get smaller.

jawheb

Yeah! Ok! We are on the same page then.

Good. I dont want to disagree with you. Those arms look dangerous. : )

My bark is scarier than my bite lol

saxmaniac

Losing your gut is step one to having defined abs. It's pretty easy to lose that hanging gut, compared to getting rid of that last 10-15 pounds to make the abs pop out!

hunkycanuck

Great topic and posts. Thanks for all the great advice. I think diet, weight training and patience seem to be the biggest factors here. I will practice patience and carry on.

MoveTheMountain

I would add some strength training to the cardio. That will help with body fat in general. But no one gets to pick where they lose their fat. Just keep on truckin. (And personally, I like sit-ups. )

This, but replace 'some' strength training with 'lots of' strength training. You'll burn fat much faster with more lean muscle mass.

jdiferdi

I have the same general issue, and I agree with most of the posts that say strength training will help fix it. One thing to note though, when you say you haven't lost your gut yet, have you lost any of it? I'm down from a size 38 pants size to a size 34 (and those are starting to be big on me) so my contention here is, perhaps you are losing some of it already? It's helping to keep me motivated. Even though I wish the gut was gone instantly, its good to know that at least it's much smaller than it used to be.