A blubbery man gut can kill your confidence and be a danger to your health. Here are some tips for guys on how to shed those extra pounds.
Losing weight is not rocket science, the theory is simple; use more energy than you consume will result in weight loss. This is done through nutritional changes and exercise. What makes or breaks the battle is knowing how to avoid pitfalls like hidden calories and having the will power to stick to your nutritional and exercise regimes.
Love-handles can be another frustrating problem, but there are things that you can do to minimise love-handles. After losing weight, you might have loose skin, but there are things you do to combat this problem.
Table of Contents
Nutrition
Count Calories
An average man should consume 2500 calories a day. This amount of calories usually results in sustained body weight. The problem is that a lot of the foods and drinks we consume have a surprising amount of calories in them. Start label checking and calorie counting. To lose weight reduce your calorie intake to 2000 calories per day. Formulate a nutritious, healthy diet plan.
Hidden Calories
Beware calories in hidden forms. Beer has 400 to 500 calories per liter, and other forms of alcohol are also high in calories. Beer contains low levels of female hormones that some claim leads to the formation of beer-bellies and male breast tissue.
- Be realistic- plan beer or wine into your calorie schedule.
- Opt for diet soft drinks.
- Reduce butter, margarine and sauces that you use on food.
- Use ketchup instead of mayonnaise
- Choose tomato-based sauces rather than creamy sauces.
Meal-Times
Don’t eat too late, as there is evidence to suggest that late-eating helps weight gain, as reported by the BBC. Don’t go long without eating either, the best plan is to split your calorie allowance for the day into six; three meals and three snacks and space these so that you never become hungry. Hunger is the quickest path to over-eating.
- Avoid eating late
- Split your calorie allowance into six portions
- Eat regularly to avoid hunger
Stay Full
Choose foods that keep you full for longer; eggs and other protein-rich foods, whole-wheat bread and brown rice, and avoid sugary foods and white-bread as these make you crave more food after a short while.
- Eat protein rich foods
- Eat whole-wheat foods
Anticipate your weaknesses
No person is perfect. You should anticipate your weaknesses and plan for them. Be aware that many people break their diets at some point, the question is whether they pick it back up or give in. Be prepared for the psychological challenge ahead by being aware of your eating habits and weaknesses.
For example, if you are a sweet snacker, research the calorie content of sweet foods you enjoy. Schedule in regular (but calorie-counted) snacks to keep up your motivation. For example on a Wednesday you might want a mid-week relief; so you schedule your favourie chocolate bar after work. Drinkers might want to have a beer or a hamburger on a Friday night. Research which foods and drinks are overly packed with calories, and which non-diet foods are not as bad. Breaking a diet for calorie-heavy snacks like donuts may not be any more satisfying than breaking it for calorie-lighter snacks like some brands of popcorn, loads of watermelon or fat free frozen-yoghurt! Investigate, do your research and come up with a plan for how to cope during the difficult days when your precious motivation goes missing for a while!
Exercise
Take up Something Cool
If you are going to stick to an exercise regime, you will need to enjoy it. Ask yourself some questions to determine what kind of activities you like. Do you like competition and team spirit? Do you like being outside? Do you like being on or in the water? The answers to your questions will direct you towards an activity that will not only help you lose weight but that may end up as an additional recreational activity in your life. The choices are endless; join a club or a team, buy a bike, a row boat, hiking gear, running shoes, go to a martial arts class, a swimming pool, a dance class (where women probably out-number men).
Daily Exercise
This can be anything from joining a gym, to walking up the stairs at work to cycling to the store rather than using the car.
Muscle Mass
Lift weights to increase your muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat so your metabolism will increase with larger amounts of muscle.
Stomach Exercises
Regular stomach exercises will improve the tone of your stomach, after weight loss has removed the excess fatty tissue. Pilates is an excellent way to exercise the core muscles, but sit-ups and crunches also work well. Improve your motivation by competing with yourself. Set yourself goals and targets and rewards. For more information on stomach exercises, particularly those targeting love-handles, read how to lose your love-handles.
