Lose my belly

Is running for 15-20 minutes non-stop for 4-5 days a week enough? will there be improvements if I keep doing this for 2 months? or should I take it up a notch...the rest of my body is pretty fit but for some reason I got a big belly (I dont drink beer)....
 
yeah if you keep that up you should see improvements... just make sure you are eating healthy and maybe doing some crunches and stuff + your cardio 4 to 5 times a week will help with your prove ment...:D
 
I'm no expert, but I have heard that if you don't keep your heart rate up for more than 30 minutes or so you don't burn any fat (Im tempted to throw out a word.. cabolosis?) Anyone here care to add to that?
 
tex - yeah almost there, only When you go Catabolic your also breaking down muscle protiens to use as fuel.

Unless your a runner who is looking to improve there endurance, then doing any exercise is acctually bad for you. The best way to train to lose fat and retain muscle is to train hard and fast for 20-30mins.

Its better to train hard for a short amount of time than do massive 2hr runs. You know how you ache the day after a big run? well you dont get that with short workouts, so you can run every day.

Running every day for 30mins will mean that you'll burn off more cals in total in one week than if you did a 2hour run twice a week.

plus if you really want to cut the fat you can do this as many times a day as you want, providing you have 2hours rest and some food between runs.
 
manofkent said:
tex - yeah almost there, only When you go Catabolic your also breaking down muscle protiens to use as fuel.

Unless your a runner who is looking to improve there endurance, then doing any exercise is acctually bad for you. The best way to train to lose fat and retain muscle is to train hard and fast for 20-30mins.

Its better to train hard for a short amount of time than do massive 2hr runs. You know how you ache the day after a big run? well you dont get that with short workouts, so you can run every day.

Running every day for 30mins will mean that you'll burn off more cals in total in one week than if you did a 2hour run twice a week.

plus if you really want to cut the fat you can do this as many times a day as you want, providing you have 2hours rest and some food between runs.

so run everyday (or 5 days a week) for 30 minutes + eating smart = lose fat?
 
hell yeah.

If you want more tips check out the bodybuilding FAQ and the weight loss FAQ.

remember that with your food its quality not quantity. dont eat less, eat healthy.
 
And weightlift. There are three levels of benefits from strength training. One, you will burn a lot of calories doing compound exercises. Two you will continue to burn calories for hours after your workout--you actually break down muscle when working out, and the body needs to build it back up. Three, any muscle you gain will increase the number of calories that your body can take in and use. A pound of body fat uses four calories per day. A pound of lean mass (muscle) uses fifty calories. Add it up, and it helps.
 
What should you suggest for someone whos isnt in shape and is just getting into weightlifting, I have done it before but it wasnt serious and how many push-ups do you suggest I do a day because I know doing push-ups will help.
 
Thorough_Bred said:
What should you suggest for someone whos isnt in shape and is just getting into weightlifting, I have done it before but it wasnt serious and how many push-ups do you suggest I do a day because I know doing push-ups will help.

I suggest that you do 3 sets of 15 every second day. That should help out.
 
i always thought that running slow too keep ur heartrate around 150ish was better because it was more aerobic and lose more weight than spriintng, running slow = lose fat running fast is like losing someting else as energy i think
 
Thorough bred,

You want to keep your heart rate at ~75-85% of your MPHR (220-age). For 40 or minutres if you really want to bang away on some fat. And, weight lift to add muscle mass. Muscle increases your metabolism and will help to burn fat even when you are sleeping.

What results are you looking for? Do you just want to burn fat around your waist?

drink more water (up to a gallon of day, but try to limit it to no more than 8 ounces per thirty minutes).

Cut out all trans fats.

eat 6-8 smaller meals throughout the day.

make a workout schedule something like the following to really burn the fat:

Mon - weights (pull day)
Tues - run (maintenance run for 40 minutes)
Wed - weights (leg day)
Thur - run (maintenance run for 40 minutes)
Fri - Weights (push day)
Sat - rest
Sun - run (long run for ~90 minutes)

You keep that schedule up, and you will cut through the fat in no time!

-Rip
 
Well I am just a starter and the most I could run for without stopping is 20-25 minutes (After that I will be totally beat, not an inch of energy left and my leg kills, I have donethis twice)...40 minutes is just not possible for me to do right now. My top goal right now is to lose the fat around my waist but after that I just want to get fit, get into shape, I dunno which comes first though.

Thanks for the advice rip.
 
Just want to add this that when I posted the above post when I said I could run for abour 20-25 minutes that was when the running wasnt as intense as it is now, now I could run for about 15-20 minutes but at a much more intense pace, I would have to stop a couple of times to catch my breath, before I didnt stop at all.
 
Thorough bred, I have been running for 3 months now. I started out running 3 min walking 3 min for 17 minutes. and worked up to running 3 miles with asthma challanges. Jeff Galloway has a great book on running. its called Galloway's Book On Running 2nd Edition. It is a great book to help with your running. His method has got me running 7 miles with walk breaks.I now run for 15 min. and walk for 1 min. That has helped me extend my work out time. He say's that taking walk breaks can acctually help you to loose more fat by extending your work out and he also says there is no shame in going slow. You will burn more fat by not getting to the point of huffing and puffing at a faster pace. I just do the best I can and dont worry about anyone elses pace. Good Luck and keep running.
April
 
Yeah I am going to try that tomorrow...also I think I am just going to do a 15 minute run twice a day...like one in the afternoon and one at night, I am seeing results and the results make me want to run more.
 
Yes, you need to be at an active heart rate (what they call zone 2-3) for 20 minutes to start burning fat. Long runs do not burn muscle, unless your body is at a deficit to repair. If you eat frequent (5-6) meals a day, you will stay fueled. It is normal to lose a tiny bit of muscle with the fat, but this is why you should be doing weight-bearing exercises, too! That way, you'll build muscle and lose fat. I wouldn't run longer than 60 minutes, even when you've built up to that. For now, the 20 is fine! Just make sure you're looking at nutrition!
 
There are three ways to lose fat:

1) Have it physically removed (liposuction)--not a good option. You will have the same amount of fat cells for your life. There is no losing fat cells, though you can clear the cells of the fat, so they lay flat. People who are genetically heavier tend to be born with more fat cells, so even when they are cleaned out, there are more empty cells.

2) Clear out fat cells using diet (creating calorie deficit). By eating less calories and healthier food, along with exercise (which burns calories), you will lose weight because your body will burn fat when it doesn't have calories left (provided you fuel your body enough so it doesn't go into 'starvation' mode. A good start is slowly trimming down 100 calories a week, until you've cut about 400 calories for each day--along with exercise, you'll lose over a pound per week).

3) Burn stored fat in your workout. When your body works, for the first 20 minutes or so, your body is burning glucose, or sugar, in your body. It does not burn stored fat. After 20 minutes, you will start burning fat, depending on your heart rate. At very high heart rates, you're burning more of the food you've eaten and less stored fat. With HIIT, you will hit this fat-burning cycle faster than steady-state cardio. But it's also harder. You should have a variety of cardio exercises that keep your body guessing to burn maximum fat.

So the point is that if you're running for 20 minutes, you are still burning calories which will create a calorie deficit and you will burn fat that way. If you run longer than 20 at a moderate heart-rate, you will peel off both fat and calories. At what is considered your AT (or anaerobic threshold), you will be burning maximum fat and calories.

It seems like you need to increase your time, so I'd include one HIIT day, one day of longer, low-intensity cardio (maybe an hour of walking at an incline, for example), and one day of steady-state cardio.

I personally find that the best way to burn fat is to include these and any additional days you can do more steady-state cardio, though this should be a different exercise than you've done the other three days. When you're burning fat instead of calories constantly, you get less tired and don't get light-headed, because your blood sugar is not plummeting.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Try a HIIT Program. You will gain definition and up your fat burning potential!
 
Back
Top