Looking to ditch the beer gut

Turkey Creek

Hi guys

Thanks for taking the time to read

31 year old male, 6'2, 14 stone. Last few months I've really started to notice my waistline expanding and the beginning of moobs.

Diet wise, I eat well enough I think during the week, maybe a few too many carbs, but it's at the weekend I lose the run of myself.

So far I've found it difficult when it comes to self-control - usually plan to only have 1 night a week on the beer but more often than not I go out Friday and Saturday, usually 8 or 9 pints each night, washing down a decent meal in a restaurant usually.

Diet wise during the week-

Breakfast - 2 coffees, banana, yoghurt, some cream crackers and butter

Lunch - Soup, 4 slices McCambridge wholewheat, Apple, another coffee

Dinner - Usually a couple of chicken fillets or chops, baby potatoes, carrots or beans

Snack - Yoghurt or Cornflakes, bag of popcorn

Drink about 4 litres of water every day


Exercise wise, I walk 3 kilometers to and 3 kilometers from work daily. I also have an exercise bike that I use for 30 minutes before work at a rigorous pace - I work 10 hour days so usually too tired to do anything after work.

I have weights (2 dumbells and a bar bell), never use them but would like to start

I'm going to knock booze on the head completely for 28 days so I will be using my weekends more productively.

Whats the best way of approaching this weight loss and what do I need to do?

Any helps really appreciated

Alf Veedersane

I would suggest getting a small digital scales for your kitchen - you'll get one for a tenner or less - and using the MyFitnessPal app.

It's a bit time consuming at the start but it will give you an understanding of what's in what you're eating, in terms of calories.

You'll see what choices you might need to reconsider.

Turkey Creek

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I would suggest getting a small digital scales for your kitchen - you'll get one for a tenner or less - and using the MyFitnessPal app.

It's a bit time consuming at the start but it will give you an understanding of what's in what you're eating, in terms of calories.

You'll see what choices you might need to reconsider.

Thanks

I'm guessing the booze is the main problem?

Alf Veedersane

Turkey Creek wrote: »

Thanks

I'm guessing the booze is the main problem?

Time will tell. It's likely its part of it but I'd be surprised if it was the only problem.

Zillah

Turkey Creek wrote: »

I'm guessing the booze is the main problem?

Certainly not helping. 9 pints is about 1800 calories, which is 75% of a typical man's calories for the whole day. You're drinking three quarters of what you should be consuming for the whole day before you even start counting food. Knocking that on the head is definitely the quickest way to reduce your calories.

Your diet is quite low in protein (no protein to speak of before dinner, apparently). Consider some more diverse food sources. Four slices of bread for lunch, for example, is far from ideal. Nuts, cheese, eggs, all have a role to play in moderation.

I'd also recommend trying to have a more satisfying dinner and avoid eating anything else until breakfast. You're possibly as much eating out of boredom in the evening as anything else anyway.

Thankfully you don't seem to have much sugar in your diet. Do you put sugar in your three coffees? Do you drink any soft drinks? What's your diet like on the weekends aside from the boozefest?

Turkey Creek

Zillah wrote: »

Certainly not helping. 9 pints is about 1800 calories, which is 75% of a typical man's calories for the whole day. You're drinking three quarters of what you should be consuming for the whole day before you even start counting food. Knocking that on the head is definitely the quickest way to reduce your calories.

Your diet is quite low in protein (no protein to speak of before dinner, apparently). Consider some more diverse food sources. Four slices of bread for lunch, for example, is far from ideal. Nuts, cheese, eggs, all have a role to play in moderation.

I'd also recommend trying to have a more satisfying dinner and avoid eating anything else until breakfast. You're possibly as much eating out of boredom in the evening as anything else anyway.

Thankfully you don't seem to have much sugar in your diet. Do you put sugar in your three coffees? Do you drink any soft drinks? What's your diet like on the weekends aside from the boozefest?

I have half a tea spoon of sugar in my coffee.

No soft drinks whatsoever - as I said, I'm a fiend for water, some days I could even drink 6 or 7 litres, but definitely no soft drinks, sweets, chocolate or confectionary/crisps, just have never have a taste for them.

At weekends I'd have scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and just a normal home cooked dinner unless I was going out, then I'd probably go to an Italian and have Pizza or Lasagne.

Alf Veedersane

Turkey Creek wrote: »

unless I was going out, then I'd probably go to an Italian and have Pizza or Lasagne.

Just in case you weren't going to consume enough calories

hardCopy

Without quantities the things you've listed are meaningless.

The only thing anyone can estimate is your lunch
4 Slices of McCambridge - 344 KCal
1 Cully and Sully Chicken & Veg - 220 KCal
1 Medium Pink Lady - 72 KCal
That's 636 Calories at lunch

If "some cream crackers" means half a pack and you're eating 400 grams of baby potatoes then you'll be eating a lot of calories.

Diet should be your priority from a pure weightloss point of view but lifting weights will help prevent you losing too much muscle while you cut weight and will make you feel good.

Like Alf Veedersane said, log everything on MyFitnessPal for a few weeks at least. You may be surprised at where your calories are coming from. Best of luck.

Turkey Creek

hardCopy wrote: »

Without quantities the things you've listed are meaningless.

The only thing anyone can estimate is your lunch
4 Slices of McCambridge - 344 KCal
1 Cully and Sully Chicken & Veg - 220 KCal
1 Medium Pink Lady - 72 KCal
That's 636 Calories at lunch

If "some cream crackers" means half a pack and you're eating 400 grams of baby potatoes then you'll be eating a lot of calories.

Diet should be your priority from a pure weightloss point of view but lifting weights will help prevent you losing too much muscle while you cut weight and will make you feel good.

Like Alf Veedersane said, log everything on MyFitnessPal for a few weeks at least. You may be surprised at where your calories are coming from. Best of luck.

Portion wise maybe 6 cream crackers @ 35 calories a pop, and no more than 200 grams of baby potatoes.

I was a fiend for pasta but I've cut that out completely.

I'm hoping over the next month to put the time I was spending drinking into working out, being more active, going for walks and educating myself food wise

Alf Veedersane

Bear in mind, assuming you have a sedentary job, your maintenance kcals will be somewhere of the order of 2400-2500.

While calories are king when it comes to weightloss, you could do with a better balance of carbs, protein and fats because it's very carb heavy at the minute. Your only proper protein is the meat you have for dinner. Depending on 65the yoghurt there might be some there but I'd venture that it's probably less than 4g per 100g.

gctest50

You might want to get a blood test before you start for the craic

reason :

everyone converts testosterone into estrogen ( about 10% for men i think)

Aromastase Enzyme does this

"too much" carby stuff all in one go, alcohol etc boost the effect = beer tits , fat around yer waist in girly places etc


Hops in beer contain 8-prenylnaringenin , scary powerful

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11134162

Ethanol is a testicular toxin and it causes fertility abnormalities with low sperm count and impaired sperm motility in men.

It causes impaired testosterone production, enormous testicular oxidative stress and testicular atrophy. :eek:

http://www.ijpp.com/IJPP archives/2006_50_3/291-296.pdf

Turkey Creek

gctest50 wrote: »

You might want to get a blood test before you start for the craic

reason :

everyone converts testosterone into estrogen ( about 10% for men i think)

Aromastase Enzyme does this

"too much" carby stuff all in one go, alcohol etc boost the effect = beer tits , fat around yer waist in girly places etc


Hops in beer contain 8-prenylnaringenin , scary powerful

That's quite scary when you see that stuff written down

You've turned me off beer - never thought that possible!

all the bais

Turkey Creek wrote: »

That's quite scary when you see that stuff written down

You've turned me off beer - never thought that possible!

Be grand. Pint?

Turkey Creek

all the bais wrote: »

Be grand. Pint?

Neat bourbon

hardCopy

6 Crackers, banana and maybe 15grams of butter = 423 Calories

200 grams of potatoes + 2 Chicken Fillets = 509 Calories. Plus carrots and maybe some oil for cooking?

Manhattan popcorn, 30gram bag = 135 KCal
Kelloggs Cornflakes 30gram serving = 108 KCal. I've never known anyone to pour 30 grams of cereal without using a scales, add milk to this also.

You're probably eating at or over maintenance before you pour a drink so cutting out the drink will certainly help. Calorie wise you're probably not too far off a deficit if you control your portions but the quality of food could be better.

Carbs are not evil but try not to make them the basis of every meal. Replace the banana with an egg and cut the brown bread back a bit and put a load of ham on it.

Log everything in MyFitnessPal and see what you're actually consuming, make sure there's plenty of protein in there. Ignore MFP's estimates for most exercise calories, I find there about double what my heart rate monitor estimates for cardio.

There are others around here more knowledgeable than myself but without a detailed log of what you're eating they won't be able to give detailed advice.

I'd guess that once you collect that level of detail yourself you'll be able to adjust your diet without too much outside help.

Logging what you eat and making sure it's less than you consume will work but it can be made easier by eating things that fill you up and keep you full. You could eat chicken, rice and curry sauce all day and be under your allowance but replacing some of that rice with green veg and ditching the sauce will make the meals a lot bigger on your plate and more filling.

Turkey Creek

Appreciate the feedback guys

ford2600

Hold off on the scales for now.

Cut junk and beer from diet.

Once you know the size of your thumb and palm is; do this

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057545035/1/#post98301951

Try that for two months and see if your body figures out the rest.

Get a hobby or non drinking friends for weekends.

rubadub

Turkey Creek wrote: »

Thanks

I'm guessing the booze is the main problem?

I find booze has very little effect on my weight, but I drink more than you. Apparently the more you drink the less it effects you.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/04/health/why-the-body-may-waste-the-calories-from-alcohol.html

For example, weight gain was negligible in alcoholics who were given 2,000 calories of alcohol daily on top of the 2,500 calories from foods they consumed to maintain their weight. But when the same number of additional calories were fed as chocolate, a steady weight gain resulted.

Most beer bellies are more likely due to binging on junk food while drunk. You need low calorie filling alternatives.

Some drinks are much higher in sugar than others though. I think 3 pints of heineken is around the same sugar as a pint of coke. It is very hard to find trustworthy nutritional info on drinks for your own market, its very easy to find untrustworthy ones.