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Old 02-21-2009, 12:13 PM   #419 (permalink)
Mirth
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru View Post
I responded to his post in Tilted Nutrition. Generally, if you weigh 114 and want to get rid of your gut, you need to convince your body it doesn't need it. As mentioned in the other thread, one way to do this is through weight training. At 114, I can surmise that you don't have much muscle mass. Resistance training combined with cardio and proper nutrition (yes, even eating more) will tell your body that the fat in your gut is no longer required, so get rid of it.

Why does this happen?

You do things to your body that shocks it into tapping into the fat supplies accumulated there. Cardio increases your ability to convert things into energy and to transport things in your bloodstream. Resistance training does this too, but it also requires protein, carbohydrates, and, ultimately, fat in such a way that cardio alone would never.

Do you know what glycogen is? It's the prime fuel of muscles, similar to blood glucose but loaded into your muscles, lock and stock. Cardio uses mainly blood glucose and fat, and intense cardio uses some glycogen, but heavy resistance training taps into glycogen like you wouldn't believe.

How is glycogen replenished?

Your body uses mainly carbohydrates to replace it, but often fat stores are used where a steady stream of carbs won't do. This is why you find few people with a certain level of muscle mass with little belly fat. They are constantly burning energy (both carbs and fat) with their exercise and recovery. Your metabolism stays high for up to 24 hours after a resistance training session, mainly because your body is repairing muscle tissue and growing new tissue. This takes a lot of energy.

The biggest reason for extra fat on your body: It's being saved for a rainy day. Try giving your body that "rainy day" 3 days per week and see what happens to your gut after a couple of months.
Wow... that actually makes sense; you really seem knowledgeable on this subject. I read the post you linked, and that is very informative as well! I'm going to have to keep reading these posts to remind me how it's working because it's all new to me still, but it's very reassuring.

I'm going to keep doing my running. I also started the P90x training video stuff two days ago; the two 1 hour exercises I've done so far are very intense and use a lot of energy; I'm actually still sore from the workouts to the point where I can't fully extend my arms side to side. Not sure if that means it's working or if I overdid it. And of course, I will try to start eating more. I'm a little unsure of which "meal-type" foods are good to eat; I assume white-chicken and eggs and things like that. Maybe rice too? As long as I keep away from fast-food, which we have every friday at work. I'll miss that, but it's worth it.

Oh yeah, might look to purchase a barbell and weights sometime in 2 weeks (after midterms) to do the weight training portion.

I'll keep checking up on both threads to get more knowledge. Thanks!
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