I don't consider myself as grossly overweight, but i have the Englishmans "beer belly". Has anyone got any exercises that will shift it? Any stupid remarks  like "Go on a diet", "Stop drinking alcohol" "Cut out cake" will be treated with the distain it deserves.

I am already walking to work every day. 1/2 hour there and back.

A treadmill helps. Preferably one with a calorie counter.

Once you realise how much effort and hard work it takes to burn off 400 calories, you'll be less likely to over-eat or drink.

Check the calorific content of things before they enter your mouth. Little things like swapping McCoys crisps for quavers, butter for clover etc is a positive.

I realised a long time ago I'll never be able to give up the 'nice things' (beer, chocolate etc) in life so swear by my treadmill to justify my indulgences.

Good luck.

Depends what sort of beer belly you have. generally though, it all comes down to fat. You might not be "grossly overweight" but if you have a tubby middle, it's almost certainly down to excess fat, and getting your diet right is the most important thing.

Exercise alone will take a long time to shift it if at all - you only have to watch pictures of the London marathon on telly to see that even people who regularly run  decent distances can still carry around significant extra weight.  Unfortunately, though you may not like the answer, diet is the most important factor.  reducing the amount of carbs you eat each day, particularly the refined sort like in bread and (sorry) cake, will really help. Try to get most of your carb intake from vegetables, particularly green ones, and avoid potatoes (in all their forms!).

beer is also a killer.  a couple of pints on the weekend won't kill you but generally alcohol is high in calories and low in nutrients.  If you feel like a drink during the week, wine, especially red wine, is a better option.

Sorry, but there is no magic wand solution and all the situps and crunches in the world won't give you a flat sixpack if your stomach is covered in a layer of fat. 

in terms of exercise, avoid long duration cardio sessions. Shorter more intense sessions are better at boosting your metabolism and helping lose fat.  Circuit training with weights is good if you have access to them. if you do go to a gym and use the bike or stepper, try warming up for a couple of minutes then do 1min flat out, followed by 2 mins gentle recovery, and repeat that 4 times.  That 12mins of exercise plus warm up and cool down - will do much more for fat loss than 20 mins of steady pace cardio.

I thought sweet potato was ok. Is this a no no? It's the snacking at night that does me. Always seem to have my head in a cubboard hunting for something to eat. I'm not a big fan of fruit although Oranges and grapes are ok. Off to Tesco's to stock up.

20 mins flat out with 2 mins recovery is your target aim.

That's aimed a running not midnight munching!

Another thing - most health advisers will tell you crash diets don't work.  What they mean is usually that crash diets or plans that allow people to lose wait quickly, like the Atkins plan, don't work long term because once you lose the weight, which you will do, most people return to their previous lifestyle and eating habits, the ones that caused the problems in the first place, and so the weight creeps back on.

However, if you are discipined, you can lose some significant fat from your belly on a 3 or 4 week diet plan as long as you are willing to stick rigidly to it.  4 weeks isn't too much to try for, is it?

" eat less, walk more " (get a dog)

Crazyface wrote (see)

I don't consider myself as grossly overweight, but i have the Englishmans "beer belly". Has anyone got any exercises that will shift it? Any stupid remarks  like "Go on a diet", "Stop drinking alcohol" "Cut out cake" will be treated with the distain it deserves.

I am already walking to work every day. 1/2 hour there and back.

Not sure what being English has to do with it. However, all good advice above but you may also wish to consider some core stability exercises.

These will tighten the stomach muscles and give the appearance of being trimmer. These will also have the added benefit of strengthening the lower back muscles and reduce the possibility of injuring your back when swinging a club.

Don't just grind out old fashioned situps as these could do more harm than good. Join a Gym or buy an instructional DVD with an exercise ball.

Good luck and congrats on taking the first steps.

Beer isn't good for you it can lower testosterone levels if you consume too much. Moobs are a distinct possibility.

1st thing - stop worrying about it

2nd thing - is it spoiling your health or sex life? 

3rd thing - go to see the Terracotta Army in Xian.

When I was there, my friend's wife pointed out to our guide, that some of the figures had a bit of a gut - like mine, and laughed. 

The guide indignantly pointed out that the physique was considered highly desirable in anorexic China. It indicated the high status of the figure, who was a General.

He stated that the General was not fat, but wealthy.

Put her in her place   

So, to paraphrase Taz's comment, if you are wealthy, Crazyface, don't worry about being a fat f***er because the birds will love you anyway. You may not live long but you'll have a decadent, pleasure filled life.

But if you are not filthy rich, lose the gut, Tubster!

Lots and lots of Water is what I've been told!  (At least 3 litres per day when training)

This prevents water retention, allows a feeling of fullness which prevents snacking and will help keep the body hydrated helping you to feel healthier in general.

If only I could take my own advice, and didn't have such a fondness of the amber nectar.

Cartman 20.0 wrote (see)

Lots and lots of Water is what I've been told!  (At least 3 litres per day when training)

If you want to keep it simple then its as everyone has said, cut your calorie intake.  If you consume less than what you burn in a day, then you WILL lose wait............... its that simple........

IMO walking is the best way to burn fat too, so keep up the walking.  Fat burning works best at a lower heart rate, so dont be going crazy doing intense workouts. 

I do 30 mins walking on the treadmill 4/5 times a week on a full incline whilst actually eating 6-7 time a day. and i've shifted a stone and a half in the last 2 months and managed to retain most of my muscle.

Bagz wrote (see)

If you want to keep it simple then its as everyone has said, cut your calorie intake.  If you consume less than what you burn in a day, then you WILL lose wait............... its that simple........

IMO walking is the best way to burn fat too, so keep up the walking.  Fat burning works best at a lower heart rate, so dont be going crazy doing intense workouts. 

I do 30 mins walking on the treadmill 4/5 times a week on a full incline whilst actually eating 6-7 time a day. and i've shifted a stone and a half in the last 2 months and managed to retain most of my muscle.

Wot he said!

Crazyface, like you I am a fat tw** , hence I'm on a fitness campaign.

To lose weight  you need to be burning off more calories than you put through the cake-hole, and there is no substitute for exercise to burn off calories.

The good news for us lardy-boys is that  you do not need massively intense workouts to get the heart at the correct rate for fat-burning.   Running flat out raises the heart rate way up above the most effective fat-burning level, so for most people a mixture of fast walking and light jogging gets the rate about right.   Fast walking is meant to be excellent.   If you can do this for at least 30 minutes about 4 times a week that is ample.

One thing worth looking at is body fat percentage.   Mine was right up over 30, horrendous!   Once you find out what it is it really focuses the mind on what you are eating!

What you are eating, how much you are eating and when you are eating all play a massive part too. 

Anyway, all this might sound a lot but in anutshell it's get the right exercise and slightly change your eating habits.

Oh, and a piss up after a good work out gives you particular satisfaction!

Sorry to correct the previous posters but low intensity "in the fat burning zone" exercise is not the way to shed fat quickly, that is very old hat advice.

Check out various internet resources on fat burning exercise(especially forums where people are serious about it and talk about what has worked for them) and you'll find shorter, more intense workouts are the most effective way of shifting fat.

as way of simple observational proof, look at track athletes: who have the leaner physiques, distance runners or sprinters? 

Check this out for starters:

 High Intensity interval training

And for those who can't be arsed to read the link, i've copied a pertinent extract:

A study by Gibala et al.[6] demonstrated 2.5 hours of sprint interval training produced similar biochemical muscle changes to 10.5 hours of endurance training and similar endurance performance benefits.

Paul L 11 wrote (see)

Sorry to correct the previous posters but low intensity "in the fat burning zone" exercise is not the way to shed fat quickly, that is very old hat advice.

As opposed to Wikipedia, which is of course the gospel...

Hole-in-nine (17.5) wrote (see)

Just for info ... 1lb of fat is 3,500 calories. Therefore if you burn (or eat less) 500 calories every day then you lose 1lb of fat per day.

Per week, which is what I knew you meant.

Pasty - i picked that link off wikipedia because it was the quickest and easiest link to find. There are plenty of other resources out there, but if you don't want to believe it or have your previous understanding on this topic challenged, that's up to you.  Long, low intensity cardio exercise is not only less effective, but also less efficient because it takes up more time. If you would rather spend an hour in the gym shuffling along on the treadmill listening to your ipod with all the fat arsed women, that's fine too.

Bagz - without wanting to hijack this thread too much, what you say is broadly right. Low intensity aerobic exercise is probably the purest fat burning exercise there is. Problem is that, in rough terms, as WLDS says, it takes at least 20 minutes for the body to warm up sufficiently to get into the correct metabolic state to be burning fuel anaerobically. and actually, if you want to get right up your arse about it, pure aerobic exercise is where the body's "motor" is working most efficiently and not producing lactic acid... so in theory could go on for many hours.  Polar explorers who spend days trudging over snow at very low intensity, have been known to use butter sticks as a form of fuel, because at that level of intensity, the body is able to pretty much convert fat straight to energy. Despite eating lumps of saturated fat, they still return from their expeditions much thinner, with lower body fat and lower cholesterol levels.  

It's a question of time vs results. If you want to burn fat quickly and show noticeable results in the shortest possible time a combination of HIIT and dietary changes will do it quickest.  If you rely on low intensity aerobic exercise for the activity part of the equation, your workouts will be much longer and will take longer to show noticeable results. 

So, after the Christmas indulgences, if you wan to get in shape for Spring, it's a HIT program or for the Summer, it's a trip to the North Pole.

Autumn and Winter is the time to pile it all back on again!

Play more golf

Eat less food

Just before all the positive posters roll their eyes, I've printeed off a few "core stabillity excerises". I'm gonna start next week. !!!!

Don't put it off till next week, tomorrow never comes.

Start now!

Crazyface wrote (see)

How do I remove the belly WITHOUT not consuming all the nice things in life that make it all bearable.

All I do is run.

It's takes a little longer when first starting to notice a difference but sticking at it certainly provides that difference.

Take my example the other night. I was watching a film whilst dunking gloriously tasty fruit shortcake biscuits into my cups of tea. About 83 calories in each biscuit. I think I ate 10!

Next morning I ran 5k and burnt off approx 450 calories. I needed one more run (now done) to burn those biccie calories off. If I didn't, I'd be fatter than I was before I ate them.

Now I don't eat biscuits like that all the time. So when I don't eat cr@p but run 3-5k, what I am burning off is the 'belly'.

And that's all I do to stay in shape.

If I eat a treat I run.

If I don't eat treats I still run.

If I drink beer I run.

If I don't drink beer I still run.

It's about balance.

I'm sure you've got it in you to do it.

Running is OK as long as you accept the fact that new knees/hips will be required at about 60.

Low impact, high energy is the way to go if you want to play golf till you drop.

Cycling or swimming are far less damaging and involve far more muscles.