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Ways to eliminate Belly Fat

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Rax Moscow

Rax Moscow

Protestant
Heirloom
I know there were some great threads discussing this on the old forum, but I couldn't find much here.

I'm happy with my body everywhere except the belly.

Over the covid lockdowns when I spent a lot of time indoors I developed a pretty large belly. I went from 6'3 180 lbs to 200. I also stopped exercising and, as muscle weighs more than fat, looked a bit worse than 20 lbs would otherwise imply, as it was a 200 pound out of shape body vs a 180 lb strong one.

I've returned to most of my exercise routine as before, and gotten the muscle back, but I am still left with this very large belly. It's not terribly visible when I'm clothed, unless I wear a tight shirt (I'm really just on the border between acceptable and overweight according to the health guides and certainly way thinner than most people I see) but when I take off my shirt it's very curvy, like a pregnant woman! One would call it beer belly, except I don't drink beer.

What is the best way of directly targeting belly fat? Cardio? Keto? Fasting?

My diet is very little processed foods, mostly fish as protein, not much salt, lots of home cooked meals, little to no caffeine or alcohol, but there is always room for improvement on any of those fronts. . I eat full fat dairy and beef, though not very often.

In high school I was tall and thin/skinny, so I still mostly have that build except for the belly. The cause is certainly sedentary lifestyle, as I don't see thin/average people with these big bellies really outside of the USA, and I never notice health problems or energy levels when I'm abroad, only when I'm back home and sitting in front of a screen all day. (My job involves sitting in front of a computer, and is by far the most unhealthy thing about my lifestyle).

I had some type of Dexa scan done and it showed some fat buildups around the love handles, belly, etc. a while back.

If you have normal levels of physical activity (walking everywhere, not sitting around much ever) then you can really eat whatever you want to. Here's Chris Reeve in 1978:

eat 4x per day
heavy meat/protein diet
vitamin supplements
eat as much as I can of anything that I want (note: they didn't have goyslop)

 
I don't think it is possible to target fat in specific areas. Some people will struggle more than others to lose fat in their midsection due to fat distribution accross the body, which is genetic. Some people store more fat in the lower back, upper back, lower body or midsection.

Keep eating whole, unprocessed foods. I would try to walk around 10,000 steps a day. Your overall health will improve and you will burn an extra 300-400 calories.

Eat a sufficient amount of protein (0.8 grams per 1 lbs of bodyweight per day), lift weights 3 times per week, do some cardio (I do 30 minutes of stationary bike after each workout session), and walk 10,000 steps a day. I'd aim for a 500 daily calorie deficit (to lose 1lbs/week), which is faily easy with the added walking/cardio.

If you do the above you should be able to lower your bodyfat sufficiently to eventually get rid of your belly (~15-18% bodyfat) even with unfavorable fat distribution.
 
Rax Moscow said:
What is the best way of directly targeting belly fat? Cardio? Keto? Fasting?
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Whatever works for you, fasting is the only thing which works for me.

Actually there was one other thing - fighting sports. At one phase of my life I was doing very regular boxing. I don't think it was just the nature of it - 3 minute intense rounds, 1 minute rest, essentially HIIT. It was also the hormonal effect of fighting someone. That was the only time apart from fasting that the love handles disappeared completely. Actually that "HIIT" - high intensity interval training is said to be a good thing for fat loss, better than flat rate cardio, but I don't want to do such intense stuff right at the moment would rather fast and just walk a lot.

For example, you could go to the 400m running track, do ten sets of 200m maximum speed, 200m jog. There are other crazy things people do as HIIT. Maybe after my last set of fasting I will actually rise to the challenge of that HIIT stuff again, or the boxing. Not eating is for me at least, easier than all that sweaty stuff.

Keto would probably work but it does not work for me. Yes, keto brought about by fasting, but not keto brought about by eating nothing but protein and fat which is what most people mean by keto. But probably for some people's chemistry that kind of diet works.

As mentioned in another thread there is a nootropic called yohimbine I have yet to try. You only use it after pushing all natural methods to the max. It should be used in a fasted state. It is quite dangerous, but I have a container of it and may be opening it in a few weeks. It is made from the bark of a tree which grows in West Africa. If I actually get past my fears and end up taking it will post the results.

Lots of walking and weights is better for achieving this goal than running.

Cardio is very healthy but will only get you so far in losing the flab. I have been a very hardcore runner at times but it did not help this beyond a certain point.

This time when I actually lose all that flab again, I will be more careful about not flippantly regaining it it is enormously difficult to shift it. You need to have an accurate digital scale, use it daily, write down the results.
 
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Coconut oil is good for metabolism:

Why Coconut Oil Isn’t Fit for Pigs! - Physical Culture Study

Have you heard about the health benefits of Coconut Oil? It’s great for energy, will help you burn fat and can even help you stave off infections. Coconut juice was even used as an IV Drip for injured soldiers during the Second World War. It’s been labelled a ‘super food’ by many in the dietary
physicalculturestudy.com physicalculturestudy.com

Avoid corn and soy.
 
I've been mainly doing the carnivore diet (especially beef and eggs) with fruit and honey. No bloating when I stick to it, and it absolutely trims you down and gets you lean. It's also fantastic for testosterone. Steak and eggs is magic.

I might stop with the dairy. I've been doing cheese and yogurt, sometimes milk. Don't feel as good or look as lean/less bloated after eating them. I don't think they're as good for testosterone either.
 
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Can’t target belly fat.

Sometimes it’s unfortunately the last to go. If eating clean and lifting weights you have two options, but you need to create a caloric deficit.

Either eat a little less or up the activity levels. I find weight loss can stall and the body gets accustomed to meal plans and workouts. Adding a couple 45 min jogging sessions usually breaks the plateau.

It’s not for everyone but a 36 hr water fast once per week can also do it without changing anything else.

This assumes your goal is shedding that 20 lbs and not strength.
 
Second the advice that's been shared already, high protein diet + exercise (heavy lifting, HIIT are best) + caloric deficit + fasting.

One additional suggestion is to try curcumin supplementation. Don't expect it to do the hard work for you, but it can help around the edges. There's a fair amount of evidence suggesting it helps with fat loss, in addition to reducing inflammation and balancing hormones.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Potential role of bioavailable curcumin in weight loss and omental adipose tissue decrease: preliminary data of a randomized, controlled trial in overweight people with metabolic syndrome. Preliminary study - PubMed

Although preliminary, our findings suggest that a bioavailable form of curcumin is well-tolerated and can positively influence weight management in overweight people.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

CurQfen is probably the best current-generation curcumin formulation on the market (looking at both bioavailability and price). Swanson Vitamins sells CurQfen capsules at a reasonable cost.
 
6,3 and 200 lbs? Sounds pretty good, actually. If you have a big frame, a very lean appearance, particularly around the belly, is going to be hard to maintain. You're probably not lifting weight very intensively, because that would probably put you at least at 200 lbs
I'm 6,06 and went from an average (well-trained) weight around 88 to 93kg while writing my thesis. I'll obviously lose some once I go back to the gym, but I think that as I enter my 30s, my metabolism is just going to change and I'll probably hover around 90kg, so around 200 lbs.

I used to be pretty lean when I did keto, around 84-85, but I also hardly built any muscle. I'd try to really do some rough workout and then see what happens. From what I've seen, men just get a bit of a jelly belly once they reach a certain age, even if they are overall slender, but if it's accompanied by muscle, you will still look pretty healthy and feel good.

Otherwise, even if you're not Orthodox, try taking the fasting days. Two times a week only one tiny meal and then more fasting during great lent. I expect to shed 4-5 kg, like I do every year.
 
I think some hard fasting works, I know people who drastically decreased their beer-bellies by multiple day fasts.

Sometimes it can be anatomical or related to bloating. Even when I’ve had visible abs below 12% fat my gut has has protruded occasionally, though not noticeable in clothes
 
How many days does it take for your colon to be empty and for you to have no more defecation?
 
Raskolnikov said:
You're probably not lifting weight very intensively, because that would probably put you at least at 200 lbs
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To elaborate on my point; if you're a slender guy, belly fat stands out more than when you build some mass, and then it'll bother you less. You're hardly overweight, so I assume it's more an aesthetic issue than anything else.

If you're 1,90m and above and you lift frequently, you'll (probably) be at least at 90kg (=200lbs). More muscles then burn more fat, making your diet easier to manage etc. Also, at your size, you have the unique chance to look big and buff, which is cool.

If we were to switch places, I would probably focus on gaining some muscle and allow myself some wiggle room up to 210 lbs. Keto, carnivore, whatever, we all know what a healthy diet generally looks like.
 
Fasting doesn't target fat in specific areas, there is no way to target body fat. The only exception is that cardio tends to target visceral fat, the fat stored around your organs. Visceral fat is far, far worse for your health than subcutaneous fat - the fat we can pinch and makes you look fat. Subcutaneous fat isn't even really bad for you.

Regarding where fat is stored, it's specific from person to person. If you're someone who stores fat on your belly, like most men, there's nothing you can do about that besides getting stronger to make it look balanced or lose weight primarily by dieting. Ab exercises are mostly all nonsense, just floor cardio that can hurt your back, and it doesn't remove belly fat. What we can do is make muscles bigger - and doing 100 of something in a row doesn't really make muscles bigger. It'll make them endure more, but it does nothing really for appearance or strength beyond a very low level. If you can do more than 10 or 20 of something, you need to add resistance if your goal isn't endurance based, but that's going on a tangent.

Basically, there are two things you can control. Your muscle growth, which can be targeted on a muscle specific basis, and overall body fat. My concern with people who recommend nothing but cardio is that you get weaker, and it doesn't guarantee fat loss unless paired with diet. If you really love cardio and want to be skinny, then this is fine, but being too skinny is bad for your joints and women don't like it anyways.

To someone concerned with their fat, I would recommend a combination of light cardio (walking/elliptical/jogging/easy cycling) depending on circumstances, heavy strength training - as in heavy compound lifts, and a high protein diet with caloric consumption matching whether you want to lose total weight or maintain your weight while building muscle.

Why a high protein diet? High protein diets are really crucial here because that minimizes muscle loss when you lose body fat - things that are almost always linked. If you lose a lot of fat, you will be losing muscle as well, and you want to minimize that.

Why heavy compound lifts like deadlifts, squats, bench press and others? Because those target your entire body in a functional manner, putting muscle on everywhere, and for someone concerned with belly fat, it will build muscle all around it, making you look strong and imposing. I put on 20 pounds in the past few months of lifting, and my wife has been complimenting my looks. I weight 210 now and am 5'10". I can run several miles at a good pace and was recently able to do 10 chinups after not having done them since July due to a shoulder injury. I just mention this because people are obsessed with the numbers and think a low weight is always good. Not so, I feel way better at 210 than I did at 160 or 170, which I was in 2022. If I were to be a bodybuilder at my height, I'd probably be looking at a weight of 165-180, and I've never met a woman who thinks a lean bodybuilder is more attractive than a big strong guy. Bodybuilders look good to other men, and that's it.
 
What do you guys think of treatments at body clinics to reduce the last few kilos of stubborn stomach fat? I have never tried any of it but it has got me curious if any of it actually works.

There are all sorts of treatments from fat freezing devices, to high intensity focused ultrasound devices to radio frequency devices to non-invasive electromagnetic muscle building & toning treatment, etc. All of which are designed to reduce the last bit of fat in stubborn areas.
 
Another way to eliminate belly fat is by fasting from all foods after 9:00 PM (except for water). It works because typically many of us tend to munch on fatty foods and nuts while watching TV or reading at night. While this solution may sound simple, the discipline is harder to master than you might think. It has worked wonders for me...
 
Australia Sucks said:
What do you guys think of treatments at body clinics to reduce the last few kilos of stubborn stomach fat? I have never tried any of it but it has got me curious if any of it actually works.

There are all sorts of treatments from fat freezing devices, to high intensity focused ultrasound devices to radio frequency devices to non-invasive electromagnetic muscle building & toning treatment, etc. All of which are designed to reduce the last bit of fat in stubborn areas.
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I doubt any of that works. Some people store more fat in the belly area, others in their back or thighs. It all depends on your bodyfat distribution, which is genetic.

People who store more fat in their belly will have to get to a lower bodyfat percentage than other people to lose these last few pounds of stomach fat.
 
Labienus said:
I doubt any of that works. Some people store more fat in the belly area, others in their back or thighs. It all depends on your bodyfat distribution, which is genetic.

People who store more fat in their belly will have to get to a lower bodyfat percentage than other people to lose these last few pounds of stomach fat.
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My wife lost a lot of weight about 20 years ago. It made her boobs deflate, but her belly still had stubborn fat, and loose skin.

She got a tummy tuck which made her belly nice and flat again. However, now with the belly fat removed, her body couldn't store fat there any more, so her boobs got big again.
 
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