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Obscenely large love handles

post #1 of 86
10/5/07 at 9:18pm
Thread Starter 
I have been in good shape all of my life but for the last two years I have got fat. I was put on paxil after a cancer scare and ballooned from 165 to 190 (5'8 tall). I have been off of paxil for a year now and I started working out again in the summer after I topped out at 201 on the scales in May. I am now down to 178lbs and I cannot see one improvement in my body. I still wear the same pant size and my love handles are unusually large (I have stretch marks from the growth). I am looking for a picture now that has the before pic from this summer and I will post both a b4 and after once I find it.

My real question is what loses the fat in that area? I have noticed that even fat men do not have droopy love handles like I do. If this helps at all my dad had very large ones when he was overweight.

HOW DO I GET RID OF THEM!
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post #2 of 86
10/5/07 at 9:31pm
Run like the dickens, man. That's about all you can do. Good luck.
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post #3 of 86
10/5/07 at 9:39pm
Thread Starter 
What qualifies for the dickens? I am up to 1.5 hours 5 days a week in the gym in which 35 minutes of that is on the treadmill. I keep the treadmill at 7-8.5mph
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post #4 of 86
10/5/07 at 9:53pm
Unfortunately, the manner in which fat deposits is in large part genetic. If it is any consolation to you, men that deposit fat in the form of love handles tend to be less prone to heart conditions than men who pack it more uniformly.

That said, there are things that you can try.

First of all, if your body can take it, do sprints instead of "steady" cardio several days of the week. I do about 1/2 an hour of sprints 3-5 times a week, with intervals varying between a quarter mile and a mile, at speeds between 6 minutes/mile (for the full miles) and 5 minutes/mile (for the quarter and half miles). This builds muscle, which is a great calorie burner, and you burn calories like crazy for a couple of hours after.

Second, do a lot of exercises in which you lift your bodyweight. These exercises require a lot of core strength, which is good in and of itself. I would start with 3x10 pullups, 3x10 chinups, and 3x10 dips.

Finally, monitor very carefully your diet. Simple carbs, for the most part, and protein and veggies. No treats for you (if you care that much.)
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post #5 of 86
10/5/07 at 10:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Guy View Post
First of all, if your body can take it, do sprints instead of "steady" cardio several days of the week. I do about 1/2 an hour of sprints 3-5 times a week, with intervals varying between a quarter mile and a mile, at speeds between 6 minutes/mile (for the full miles) and 5 minutes/mile (for the quarter and half miles). This builds muscle, which is a great calorie burner, and you burn calories like crazy for a couple of hours after.

Second, do a lot of exercises in which you lift your bodyweight. These exercises require a lot of core strength, which is good in and of itself. I would start with 3x10 pullups, 3x10 chinups, and 3x10 dips.

Finally, monitor very carefully your diet. Simple carbs, for the most part, and protein and veggies. No treats for you (if you care that much.)

+1

Treadmill running is great, but your body adapts and becomes used to the same ol. Try varying your cardio routine by mixing treadmill running (speed variations) with the cross-training machines (ellipticals, steppers).
Also, start hitting the weights. IIRC, mixing weight training w/cardio is much more effective than cardio training alone.
LA Guy is also dead on about snacking. It's amazing how much easier weight loss becomes when you cut out the extras.
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post #6 of 86
10/5/07 at 11:25pm
see my signature for my standard advice. I dropped like 7 kilos in 3 months, basically all off the gut.
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post #7 of 86
10/6/07 at 12:26am
Stop snacking. Three meals a day, one plate each, no eating beween meals.
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post #8 of 86
10/6/07 at 1:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthornell View Post
Stop snacking. Three meals a day, one plate each, no eating beween meals.

Actually, eating six small meals a day is a much better plan, its much more satisfying and will lead to less between meal cravings. Plus it works to keep your body from storing extra carbs from large meals in your fat. Also op are you eating protein after your workout?
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post #9 of 86
10/6/07 at 11:22am
I understand your reasoning, but if you look at most wester european nations, and america in the 70's and earlier you will see that people do/did not snack often, and were much thinner. I do not think that snacking is inherintly bad. If you eat lunch at 12 and are having dinner at 8, you may need a small snack to get you through, but the problem comes when people eat constantly through out the day, out of boredom or habit. People were not made to eat constantly. I perosnaly beloeve that the 6 meals a day thing was created by food marketers and fitness supplement companies. I know this is not the most poplular idea, but just my opinion.
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post #10 of 86
10/6/07 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthornell View Post
I understand your reasoning, but if you look at most wester european nations, and america in the 70's and earlier you will see that people do/did not snack often, and were much thinner. I do not think that snacking is inherintly bad. If you eat lunch at 12 and are having dinner at 8, you may need a small snack to get you through, but the problem comes when people eat constantly through out the day, out of boredom or habit. People were not made to eat constantly. I perosnaly beloeve that the 6 meals a day thing was created by food marketers and fitness supplement companies. I know this is not the most poplular idea, but just my opinion.

Most western Europeans and Americans from thirty years ago lived more active lives then people do now. A lot of the increase in obesity is due to indolence, high fructose corn syrup, and processed foods. Yes obsessive eating etc and portion size plays a role but I don't think that portions used to be smaller in the US thirty years ago. From some of the supper clubs I've seen that seem like they haven't changed since 1950 they're pretty much the same.
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post #11 of 86
10/6/07 at 3:07pm
The reason why it's recommended to eat 6 or 7 smaller meals a day while loosing weight, is because it speeds up the metabolism. A faster metabolism means the body won't store fat as much, because it learns that another meal is coming very shortly anyway. When you only eat 3 times per day, it actually slows down your metabolism which means you're more likely to store fat. You want to loose weight the healthy way, to prevent the body from having to resort to go to muscle to get nutrients. This means you have to eat more frequently, and healthy meals, combined with exercise and preferably weightlifting for maintaining muscle tissue. Your body will turn into a furnace, burning fat very quickly.

There's other tricks you can do to accelerate fat loss. Such as doing cardio first thing in the morning before eating. It's called fasted cardio, and it works. That will also boost your metabolism like there's no tomorrow, but just be sure you don't do it for extended periods of time because you will loose some muscle tissue. Switch to doing cardio after breakfast first thing in the morning, and you'll still get the benefit of a fast metabolism throughout the day.
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post #12 of 86
10/6/07 at 4:16pm
South Beach Diet did wonders. I didn't think I had 30 lbs to lose. They came off in about 3 months!
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post #13 of 86
10/6/07 at 4:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiecollector View Post
South Beach Diet did wonders. I didn't think I had 30 lbs to lose. They came off in about 3 months!

I think the concept of the SB diet isn't bad, high protein and high fiber is generally a good thing. I would just watch your fat content very closely on diets with low carbohydrate content. A 55P:30C:15F diet would likely be ultimately more effective if all of your fats were good ones and your carbs were whole grains or fruit juices that immediately preceded or followed your workouts.
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post #14 of 86
10/6/07 at 4:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthornell View Post
I understand your reasoning, but if you look at most wester european nations, and america in the 70's and earlier you will see that people do/did not snack often, and were much thinner. I do not think that snacking is inherintly bad. If you eat lunch at 12 and are having dinner at 8, you may need a small snack to get you through, but the problem comes when people eat constantly through out the day, out of boredom or habit. People were not made to eat constantly. I perosnaly beloeve that the 6 meals a day thing was created by food marketers and fitness supplement companies. I know this is not the most poplular idea, but just my opinion.

+1
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post #15 of 86
10/6/07 at 5:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthornell View Post
I understand your reasoning, but if you look at most wester european nations, and america in the 70's and earlier you will see that people do/did not snack often, and were much thinner. I do not think that snacking is inherintly bad. If you eat lunch at 12 and are having dinner at 8, you may need a small snack to get you through, but the problem comes when people eat constantly through out the day, out of boredom or habit. People were not made to eat constantly. I perosnaly beloeve that the 6 meals a day thing was created by food marketers and fitness supplement companies. I know this is not the most poplular idea, but just my opinion.
-1. Tin foil hat much? It wasn't "created by food marketers" and fitness supplement companies. You obviously haven't thought this through at all. It's backed by science and actual results. This is what bodybuilders do to get down to 4% bodyfat for competitions. I've done it myself with excellent results, nothing has ever worked as well for me. There's so much horrible advice on this forum related to fitness that it's astonishing.
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