get a flat tummy

[njlauren]

Why not just choose a workable diet, that is something you can do every day, and forget about cheat days?

The answer is if you want to make a lifestyle shift then cheat days are part of a workable diet. Most of the really good nutrition sites I use say that about 10% of your meals can be cheat meals, and the reason is that we don't just eat food as fuel, that is simply a myth, food also is satisfying, and if you don't include 'fun foods' in it, you won't maintain the lifestyle shift. Diets don't work because of that, they are too stringent, it is why severe calorie counting and the like ending up failing.

So for example, if you choose to eat a diet where you restrict grains, then having a hamburger or a pastrami sandwich once a week isn't going to kill you. Likewise, if you eat a good meal (vegetables, salad, some lean protein) but then share a slice of cheesecake with someone, it won't make you fat or kill you. Julia Child hit the nail on the head with that, she said if you eat rich foods, eat a small portion and enjoy it, rather than suffering through some macrobiotic bleh that an Alice Waters turns out, and I agree. Long term, by 'cheating', you can sustain eating. A diet is something you do to lose 20 pounds; a lifestyle change in eating is for the long term.


One side note, doing crunches or situps won't get rid of belly fat, it will build muscles under the fat which may make it look worse, it will bulge out. Situps and crunches once you have your body fat percentage down can work, but in the meantime, ditch them.

 

[norfolklad]

i have done my part of the whole slimming shebang. i have cut down sweets (not entirely) fast food and decided to eat healthy.

i lost the weight quite slowly. three months, 11 lbs. from around 130 lbs i am down to 120 lbs. but somehow i lost the weight but not the tummy.

i have done squats and curl ups. my waist shrunk but my tummy is sticking out.

i am 5ft tall medium built asian girl.

I wouldn't worry too much about achieving a flat tummy. Even some of the fittest women I have known have tummies. And you know something, a tummy can be an extremely attractive feature, so please don't get hung up on it.

If you're eating healthily and wisely and not losing weight too quickly (weight lost quickly tends to return quickly) then you're doing all you should.

Others may disagree and some may say that my approach was scientifically or nutritionally incorrect but a few years ago I set myself a target of losing 40lbs within 6 months. I did it largely through a calorie-controlled diet (which pretty well automatically limited fats and sugars) and a lot of exercise.

It is surprising how few calories most forms of exercise actually burn off. Exercise may tone you up but it rarely does much to help you lose weight. I did it through cycling, not on a lightweight road/racing bike but on a pannier-laden bike (70-80lbs weight) to really work myself hard for hours at a time. Two 60-mile rides a week (5 or 6 hours each), interspersed with 100-150 mile (10-12 hour) rides at least once a month. No gym session could possibly match that. On my cycling days I purposefully ate far less than the calories the ride would consume on the basis - as I'd been told - that this left the body no alternative but to burn fat.

It definitely worked and I achieved the 40lb loss despite putting on a lot of (heavy) muscle weight. But although the fat came off everywhere else, I never got rid of all my tummy.

 

[jehoram]

Why not just choose a workable diet, that is something you can do every day, and forget about cheat days?

Well, there is one workable diet that includes cheat days. In fact, cheat days are at the core of it. There was a book a few years back called Controlled Cheating by a guy named Goldberg (I forgot his first name). He weighed around 350 pounds in middle age, got a scare, and managed to get his weight down to about 150 ... and kept it off for the rest of his long life. He had this elaborate scheme whereby he dieted two days and "cheated" on the third, eating anything he wanted. He knew that he'd never have the willpower to stay on a strict diet for the rest of his life, but figured he could manage two days. It worked.

And every year, he gave himself a two-week vacation from his diet. He figured he deserved it, just like anybody who worked a steady job needed a vacation. He'd gain ten pounds or more, but once he got back to his diet, he lost it again.

 

[norfolklad]

And every year, he gave himself a two-week vacation from his diet. He figured he deserved it, just like anybody who worked a steady job needed a vacation. He'd gain ten pounds or more, but once he got back to his diet, he lost it again.

Gaining 10lbs or more in two weeks - that's some vacation!

I used to reckon on losing about 1lb a week after the first couple of weeks of a diet, so that's 12 weeks before he's back to where he was before the vacation. I'd find that too dispiriting.