# Small weight loss tip



## Bruno@MT (Mar 14, 2010)

During the winter season I always pick up a couple kilos.
A couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to drop back to 150 pounds again. Of course there are the usual things that everybody knows (go easy on the calory intake, and burn more calories) but over th eyears I learned 2 little things that seem to make a measurable difference to me.

Firstly, no more alcohol. I googled a bit, and it seems that alcohol inhibits the burning of fat. Whether that is true or not, I find that losing weight is easier when not drinking any alcohol (Usually I'm partial to a glass of whisky in the evening). Purely anecdotal evidence of course.

The second: doing push ups. It sounds silly, but after I've done a hundred push ups or so, I lose all interest in sugar or snacks for the rest of the day. I can't do 100 in one go, I do it in intervals of 20, with a minute between each series. I know it sounds weird, but it really works for me. It is just sooo much easier not to snack when you've absolutely no craving for junk.

As an added side effect, all those push ups bulk up some muscles, which also means increased calory usage as the muscle is recovering from the exercise. And as another side effect, the exercise tightens my core abs. When I am eating, I feel 'full' sooner, making it easier as well to reduce calory intake without feeling hungry.

Anyway I know this is trivial and obviously not qualified medical advice. This is just personal anecdotal evidence but I thought I'd share it in case somone else might benefit from it.


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## Carol (Mar 15, 2010)

I love the idea of breaking up pushups throughout the day!  It makes sense that you have less cravings for snacks.  From what I understand, most diet drugs are a type of stimulant that artificially boosts neurotransmitter productio in the brain, which quells the appetite.

I think by taking on the vigorous exercise of doing pushups a few times a day, you are getting a similar effect, naturally...in addition to the other benefits you mentioned (building muscle, etc).

I'm going to add that to my routine as well...thanks for sharing it.


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## Bruno@MT (Mar 15, 2010)

Thanks Carol, you're welcome.
Breaking up the series also prevents the muscles from going into lactic acid mode. As a result, instead of feeling very sore for days, you can do push ups every day without discomfort. And you can do much more push ups per day as well.


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## Bill Mattocks (Mar 15, 2010)

Eat less, exercise more.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  That's the secret to weight loss.  I'm struggling myself, after losing 50 pounds; I find myself sitting at the same weight and not shedding more.  So it's more work in the gym and less food intake.

The only other thing I can think of that might help is eating more meals daily.  My health coach tells me that eating 5 small meals instead of 3 larger meals is better, because your body stores excess calories as fat when it thinks more food is not going to be forthcoming - primitive way of dealing with the uncertainties of food gathering in our ancient past.  Given more meals, the body scales back storage of excess calories as fat, because it know it doesn't need them.  Dunno, this is just what the health coach tells me.


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## Carol (Mar 15, 2010)

I am doing by exercising more and cooking more of my own meals...avoiding restaurants at all costs.  If I put the meal together, then I know exactly what is in it.

I made a huge mistake the other day.  I'm getting over the flu and a friend stopped by to say hello.   I had nothing to eat in the house so my friend suggested ordering from Domino's.  I agree.

So, I ordered one of their bread bowl pastas. Big mistake.  I looked up the nutritional info after I ate it and plugged the info in to my Weight Watchers plan, which assigns point values to foods, and gives me a budget of points per day.

OMG...that one order was two days worth of points...and it was not even that filling!


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## CoryKS (Mar 15, 2010)

Bruno@MT said:


> Firstly, no more alcohol. I googled a bit, and it seems that alcohol inhibits the burning of fat. Whether that is true or not, I find that losing weight is easier when not drinking any alcohol (Usually I'm partial to a glass of whisky in the evening). Purely anecdotal evidence of course.


 
Some fun facts about alcohol:
- it contains 7 calories per gram compared to 4 for carbs.  So those low/zero- carb beers?  Not gonna help much.
- your body processes alcohol before carbs, fat, and protein, meaning that fat burning is postponed why it deals with the alcohol.  

Also read something about how it can't be used as fuel like carbs are, so it all gets converted to fat.  TBH, I got baffled by the scientific jargon so I don't know how that works.  

Bottom line is, alcohol = teh fat.


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## Jade Tigress (Mar 15, 2010)

Great tips Bruno! I'm gonna try the push up routine too. I like the idea. I've always thought of push ups as strictly an arm exercise, but thinking deeper, it does build core strength as well. :asian:


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## Bill Mattocks (Mar 15, 2010)

Jade Tigress said:


> Great tips Bruno! I'm gonna try the push up routine too. I like the idea. I've always thought of push ups as strictly an arm exercise, but thinking deeper, it does build core strength as well. :asian:



We do 50-100 pushups as part of our warmup exercises at my dojo - we also break them down into sets of 25-35 or so.  I find they don't really do anything for my arms, but I can really feel the burn on my shoulders and surprisingly, my belly muscles (trying to hold my back straight and do 'real' pushups, back straight as a board).  My arms are not very big, but my shoulders look like one of those action-figures with movable arms - my shoulders are these big hard round knobs.


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## CoryKS (Mar 15, 2010)

Jade Tigress said:


> Great tips Bruno! I'm gonna try the push up routine too. I like the idea. I've always thought of push ups as strictly an arm exercise, but thinking deeper, it does build core strength as well. :asian:


 
For extra core-strengthening goodness, after you finish your set you can stay in the "up" position for some planks.  ow.


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## Stac3y (Mar 15, 2010)

I dunno...doing pushups tends to make me want to eat doughnuts.


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## xJOHNx (Mar 15, 2010)

Bill Mattocks said:


> We do 50-100 pushups as part of our warmup exercises at my dojo - we also break them down into sets of 25-35 or so.  I find they don't really do anything for my arms, but I can really feel the burn on my shoulders and surprisingly, my belly muscles (trying to hold my back straight and do 'real' pushups, back straight as a board).  My arms are not very big, but my shoulders look like one of those action-figures with movable arms - my shoulders are these big hard round knobs.


When you feel your belly muscles, that is your core you are training. SO that's good!


And bill, if you really want to lose some weight. Try a vegan diet for 3 weeks, works great!


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## Bruno@MT (May 25, 2010)

Ok I discovered a minor caveat to my push up regime.
Currently I am at 220 push ups. I've been doing this for 2 months now. Last week I had to go to a wedding and found out that my shirts don't exactly fit anymore around the shoulders  (I always wear t-shirts) I could still wear them, but it was getting tighter than comfortable.

Other than that I'll also say that it helps to track weight in an excel sheet. the downward trend keeps me motivated, even if my weight is sometimes higher than the week before, due to normal variation in hydration.


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## Shuto (May 25, 2010)

xJOHNx said:


> When you feel your belly muscles, that is your core you are training. SO that's good!
> 
> 
> And bill, if you really want to lose some weight. Try a vegan diet for 3 weeks, works great!


 

FWIW - I recently read about some NY Times food critic (I believe) who lost a lot of weight sticking to a vegan diet until 6 PM each day.  After that, anything goes.


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## DarkShadowfax (May 28, 2010)

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to try it ^^. 
Drinking plain (cold) water seems to help me lose weight as well, especially during the summer months, but I'm not sure why. Maybe because your body has to generate more energy to get the water to body temperature? (Besides the fact that I'm not drinking carbs)


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## Bruno@MT (May 28, 2010)

Heating cold water is indeed a factor, but a small one.
The fact that you drink water instead of soda is a HUGE factor.


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## kaizasosei (May 28, 2010)

Sounds like very correct advice to me.

So maybe if i drink more alchohol i could start putting on a few more pounds...oooh, my mormon buddies are not going to like this idea. Tough enough as it is with the smoking.

j


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## Cryozombie (May 28, 2010)

I find the secrect to weight loss is a shop vac, a fishtank and an Exacto knife.


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