Ab workouts and avoiding cravings?

[GreenApple90]

If the stretch marks are still red, you may be able to heal them somewhat(I guess with the cream things?), if they are already pale/shiny you probably can't do much of anything. I've actually heard tanning makes them more obvious? Maybe it's something dependent on each person. Best thing to prevent stretch marks = GOOD DIET. Seriously, I can't remember but there is a certain vitamin that helps skin elasticity. Prevention is the only way really in this case.

I wasn't sure about the tanning it was just a guess I think you are talking about vitamin E? I know it comes in liquid form and you can rub it right onto the skin, but I think it just hydrates the skin, I don't think it can prevent stretch marks. But I think you hit the nail on the head with prevention being your best bet. Eat a good diet, that's your best bet

[zmurd]

tanning makes them more obvious. not sure with the tan dye lotion shit or whatever. but honestly, if a guy has a problem with stretch marks kick him in the dick and tell him to grow up.

[Sari]

I'm working on losing weight here, so I'll just say what I've learned. One, you can't spot treat. Unless you're just working on toning the muscles and not losing the fat in your stomach, crunches and abs aren't going to do much. Cardio is really good for getting rid of fat. Intervals are really good for you. Your body is like a car in a sense. If you get going and just stay there, it goes into autopilot and you lose out on a lot of fat burning potential. But like a car, speeding up and slowing down use a lot more energy, therefore burning a lot more calories. Also, doing that in the morning is a great idea because it really revs up your metabolism. I've got this thing that measures your heart rate and calculates about how many calories burned in a workout. After a 45 minute workout of intervals, I burned 600 calories this morning. Afterwards, I sat and ate lunch and watched tv. 45 minutes after my initial workout, I'd burned about 250 more calories, give or take a little. Just sitting around.

With food.. I don't really know what to tell you about curbing cravings. Just try to keep yourself from getting to the point of feeling really hungry by eating small meals/snacks every 3-4 hours. Spikes and dives in blood sugar are really bad for losing weight. Fruit is good. Veggies. High protein. Try to stay away from sugar. Well anything processed. That tends to make your body hold on to fat especially around the midsection. I'm too tired to remember anything else right now, but if you have questions, ask me

Also @(you need an account to see links) might be a bit more informed about some of this than me if you're wanting more

[Maki]

Thanks guys I was thinking maybe cardio every other day?

I can't really do that stuff in the morning- my schedule is packed already so I always do them around 6/7 PM.

Maybe on weekends I can do that?

I get the sense that working out one muscle isn't good. Why?

[GreenApple90]

Thanks guys I was thinking maybe cardio every other day?

I can't really do that stuff in the morning- my schedule is packed already so I always do them around 6/7 PM.

Maybe on weekends I can do that?

I get the sense that working out one muscle isn't good. Why?

It doesn't matter what time you workout as long as you workout. Cardio every other day is just fine. You don't have to do it everyday. What you should remember is diet is far more important than exercise. You can erase 3 hours of cardio by going to McDonalds for lunch and eating a big mac, large fry, and large coke.

Working out the SAME muscle group every single day, with no days off is not good. When you workout a muscle, you create micro-tears in the muscle. It usually takes muscles 48 hours to repair themselves. These repairs make the muscle stronger, and bigger although you can't really tell unless you workout for months/years. The muscles that take 48 hours to repair themselves are your major muscle groups i.e your legs, back, chest, arms, shoulders. Your smaller muscle groups such as abs, calves, and forearms should be good to go after 24 hours. So basically do abs every other day. If you workout your abs every single day, you are not letting them heal properly, which maybe down the road could cause an injury.

[Maki]

It doesn't matter what time you workout as long as you workout. Cardio every other day is just fine. You don't have to do it everyday. What you should remember is diet is far more important than exercise. You can erase 3 hours of cardio by going to McDonalds for lunch and eating a big mac, large fry, and large coke.

Working out the SAME muscle group every single day, with no days off is not good. When you workout a muscle, you create micro-tears in the muscle. It usually takes muscles 48 hours to repair themselves. These repairs make the muscle stronger, and bigger although you can't really tell unless you workout for months/years. The muscles that take 48 hours to repair themselves are your major muscle groups i.e your legs, back, chest, arms, shoulders. Your smaller muscle groups such as abs, calves, and forearms should be good to go after 24 hours. So basically do abs every other day. If you workout your abs every single day, you are not letting them heal properly, which maybe down the road could cause an injury.

So I can work out abs on the days I'm not doing cardio?
Ex: Monday, abs; Tuesday, cardio; Wed, abs; etc?

But yeah, it's just that I need to curb certain cravings and try not to eat a large sum of food all at once. My family's extravagant with food so that's gonna be a challenge. Would you say that it's more of an eating-less type of thing?

[GreenApple90]

Yeah that schedule would work or you could do both on the same day and then have a day off, whatever is easier for you.

No, I would say it's more of what are you eating than eating-less type thing. You don't need to starve yourself to lose weight, you just have to eat healthier foods.

Cravings are hard to stop. Everyone has cravings, hell i've gone out to taco bell at 2am because I've had a craving for tacos. But there have also been many, many times where i've had cravings for tacos and I didn't go out for tacos. More times than not you just have to tell yourself no, and not eat the food you have a craving for. If it's something like chips or cookies, then try not to buy it at the grocery store because if it's in your house, chances are you will give into your cravings and eat it.

I've eaten pretty healthy since I started cooking my own food back when I was like 14 (i'm 21 now). My family eats terrible and if I didn't play soccer/cooked my own food I would most likely be over weight right now. I taught myself everything I know about nutrition and exercise. With that being said it is impossible to eat perfectly 100% of the time. You need to find a balance between foods, you'll have to learn to sacrifice some foods for other foods. What I do is I try to eat as healthy as I can the whole week and then on Friday or Saturday I have a cheat meal. Any food I want, sort of as a reward for my clean diet. I tend to feel like crap after, because I usually choose something greasy like pizza or McDonalds but it's the balance I need to eat healthy the rest of the week.


If you want to post a sample diet you would eat on a typical day, I can try and give you some advice/healthier food substitutions for you.

[Nun]

Your muscles have to rest so I think you shouldn't do 30m abs everyday. Try Monday yes Tuesday no etc

[Maki]

If you want to post a sample diet you would eat on a typical day, I can try and give you some advice/healthier food substitutions for you.

Please do! ^^

[Hale]

I tl;dr'd most of the posts in here because they're long and I can't be bothered but I saw my name get mentioned.

30 minute abs everyday is ridiculous and completely unnecessary. You can't spot reduce fat loss and you aren't going to have a flat tummy simply from killing your abdominals everyday.

(you need an account to see links)

It will make your muscles stronger but it's not going to give you the abs you're looking for. You need to eat at a deficit and exercise for fat loss. WHAT you eat and HOW MUCH you eat are the key factors here. Exercise helps a lot but if you can't control yourself in the kitchen you aren't going to get anywhere.

Don't try out any stupid diets where you cut out all your carbs or all fat. Your body needs these macronutrients for energy and without them you're going to be a cranky bitch and you'll most likely end up binging. Protein is the most important one though, your body uses protein to repair your muscles and it keeps you fuller longer. Here are some good, healthy examples of the types of protein you want:



As for cravings, honestly once you wean yourself off of all the fast food/soda/greasy crap you'll stop craving it so much. I never liked soda or fast food much to begin with but I haven't had either in months and I never crave it. If you're craving sugar just satisfy your craving and eat some because if you don't, same thing with cutting out carbs, you're going to end up binging or overeating (there's a difference!). Have some fruit instead, have a couple chocolate squares instead of the whole bar, have a cookie not the whole bag, etc. etc. It's all common sense, really.

Last month I ran almost everyday and I totalled 80 miles for the entire month. Do you need to run everyday? No. Will it hurt you? No. Just make sure you eat enough to keep your body fueled and don't destroy your metabolism by starving yourself. Figuring out your BMR and TDEE are good estimates to set you on the right track:

(you need an account to see links)
(you need an account to see links)

BMR is what you should eat at a bare minimum to keep your vital organs going. TDEE is how much you burn per day just by moving around/exercising. Stay above your BMR and below your TDEE and you'll be golden. There's no "100%-guarantee-one-size-fits-all" method that will work for everyone but doing these things generally will work for everybody that isn't a special little snowflake. You can start off with this and then tweak it as you see fit and begin to learn more about your body and what's right for you. If you have any more questions let me know. xoxo