this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2025
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Edit: I don't drink alcohol, it's just the best way to describe it. From comments I'll be going on a low carb diet, thank you all.

Explanation: male, 38, 130 pounds. Skinny, low muscle mass but have a beer keg belly.

My day is 7am wake up. Get kids to school. Work until 5. Get kids from school. Cook, shower and then I'm exhausted AF.

I'm semi fit? I'm a mechanic professionally and spring til summer I mountain bike regularly. So my calves are monsters.

But would like.. basic at home sit ups. Push ups etc like on a Saturday, would that help at all?

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[–] mstrk@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

by experience, no. You need to stop drinking beer so often, and you need to eat less. Exercise is still a plus, but you need to sync your activity with your meals. I still eat whatever I want but in less quantities in general.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I do not drink any alcohol at all.

[–] mstrk@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Apologies for assuming. Sugar is the number one culprit for a "beer belly", so you find more than enough in beer.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Gym is for strength.

Source: I'm related to a competitive body builder.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 4 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

It really depends on your metabolism. There is no right answer here. Some people can get rid of a beer belly with minimal effort and others will have to really work at it. Your best bet is changing diet, not drinking, and more regular focussed exercise.

Yup, weight management is 95% diet and 5% exercise. A single snickers bar takes a 12 minute mile of jogging to burn off; Our bodies are incredibly energy efficient. So if you’re looking to lose weight, it’s better to just skip the snickers bar altogether.

Building muscle can raise your basal metabolic rate, (because you burn more calories to maintain that extra muscle) but even that is negligible when you consider how many calories you can consume without even realizing it.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 12 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

No. I'm currently in the process of losing my beer belly.
It's going really well, here's what I do:

  • only drink water, nothing with alcohol, calories or sweeteners
  • no snacks or sweets
  • whey shake for breakfast, small lunch (sandwich) and a normal-sized supper.
  • walk 30 miles per week, generally stay physically active, commute by bicycle.

The good thing is that it works without counting calories or weighing myself.
The bad thing is that I'm hungry half the day, but I figure that's my body burning fat, so I even kinda enjoy it.
I expect my belly to be gone by midsummer. A few situps won't change much, there's a FUCKTON of calories stored in a beer belly.
It's a big ole barrel full of fuel and you need to burn it all, even though your body doesn't want to.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 14 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

No. You need to adjust your diet and cut you caloric intake. Burning calories with exercise can give you some wiggle room but won't do anything by itself. You could skip exercise entirely and still make progress with a good diet. I would suggest intermittent fasting. Everyone I know who's had success dieting has done so with that method.

[–] golli@lemm.ee 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Yep. Weight is lost through diet, sport might help but can also make you hungry. The main benefit of exercise is better health through increased fitness.

People should compare how much calories exercising burnes per hour compared to the simple act of e.g. switching sugary drinks for water. Especially when you aren't fit to begin with, meaning you won't for example be able to run for hours each week.

Intermittent fasting definitely is a good method. But it varies for everyone. Imo it helps to start with changing what you groceries you buy. At least to me the further away from the plate you implement caloric reduction the easier it is.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 4 hours ago

Yeah that's a good point and something I follow as well but didn't think about earlier. If you don't have it around you can't eat it.

[–] guaraguaito@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 11 hours ago

Exercise won’t change much.

What you need to do is eat less calories than you burn — so eat a little less, and you will lose weight.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 12 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You don't have to work out at all. Just eat clean and don't drink. It helps if you use a calorie tracker, so you know what you're taking in numerically.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah, I'm going tks tart tracking calories and carbs. I shouldn't have to adjust my diet too much. Probably cut down on breads the most. I love bread. And I love cheese

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

In did keto for a while and also started strength training.

I did really well and went from about 270 to 184. I've since gone back up because i stopped everything sure to reasons.

I'm not here to recommend keto though. (Not against it but damn is it expensive!)

Why i bring it up is that i had to look at the nutrition label on everything

Doing that for more than a year really helped me notice how many calories are in things, and that theres can be surprising differences between different brands of the same thing.

Some beef jerky could be 2 or 3 times the calorie counts of others just because of extra ingredients(it's almost always extra sugar) even when its the same serving size/package

Just start looking at the options you are considering purchasing and you can make better choices without even using a calculator, you learn then which brands of which things are better for you and that will help without even changing what you are eating.

Kind of a nice nice way to ease into changing your diet if you don't actually start with changing the things you eat, just the versions of them

[–] UristMcHolland@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

You should also use a calorie calculator to see what your maintenance caloric intake is. I.e. how many calories your body burns a day with your average routine. Then it's just a matter of eating less than that to lose weight or more than that to gain weight.

Edit: just wanted to say that cutting/reducing carbohydrate intake is definitely a good idea like you mentioned.

[–] bokherif@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

Not unless you stop drinking beer, no.

[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 19 points 17 hours ago (2 children)
[–] SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world 14 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

dudes a mechanic im sure OP gets plenty of strength training from that. could use another cardio activity tho when mountain biking isnt an option

[–] SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

So to actually be helpful and answer op's actual question.

Any physical activity will help to an extent.

What will help more for weight loss is counting calories and expending more than you consume.

But if you want to have any kind of actual muscle tone you need to do resistance training, wrenching alone isn't enough.

If op is cool being skinny/ low muscle tone, then diet and cardio will do it. If op wants muscle tone then they should lift weights or do some resistance training like calisthenics.

[–] GoodEye8@lemm.ee 10 points 16 hours ago

I think you meant:

Yes

If you stop drinking beer and get a better diet.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 62 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Working out isn’t the primary path to losing weight, though it is of course a big part of staying healthy.

You burn quite a lot of calories in a day just from being alive. The additional calories you’d burn from a brisk 20 minute walk might about to one cookie. It’s far easier to just not eat the cookie.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 14 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

.........but I like cookies.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

OP’s stated goal is to lose weight and I’m just commenting on that basis. I like cookies too.

In real life I’m hardly a proponent of skipping life’s rich pleasures. But if weight loss is the goal, a little restraint is a hell of a lot more practical than a lot of exercise.

[–] Threeme2189@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I'd happily walk a bubch if that means being able to eat more cookies

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

That’s perfectly okay as long as the ratio of 20 minutes per cookie is understood.

OP has a goal to lose weight though, not just stand still. And with the busy schedule they described, 40 minutes of exercise is hard to fit in, whereas not eating 2 cookies takes no time, and if anything puts time back in your day.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 12 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

That's interesting. I'd guess my career keeps me "fairly" fit then? I average 8,000 steps per shift, and sometimes I do "reps" with ratches and other word nonsense. (Mechanic)

This is all good info though, I had 0 knowledge about anything when asking my original question. I didn't know there were even multiple types of fat on your body.

[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Doubtful. Exercise doesn’t contribute to weight loss nearly as much as people want to believe.

Your body gets used to exercise pretty quick.

If you’re not willing to significantly change your diet the exercise isn’t going to do squat.

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

exercise isn't going to do squat

What if you do squats?

[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] DBT@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

And build muscle in your legs, which will in turn burn more calories.

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[–] kava@lemmy.world 138 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

if you stick to your workouts and train to failure, your muscles will grow.

however to eliminate fat, you don't exercise. you eat less. when you are eating below caloric maintenance, your body makes up the difference in fat. you can't control where the fat comes from. you just have to maintain that for a long time and it'll go away. everyone stores fat differently. some in legs, some in stomach, etc.

but you cannot exercise away body fat. it's like 80/20 diet exercise

[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 55 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Personal anecdote here: I run 40km/week so that I don't have to be so picky with my diet. I'm offsetting about 2,400cal from my weekly intake.

That said, I need to be careful sometimes because my appetite can surge and I can easily break even and even surpass being in a deficit. Its just a matter of being aware of how much I'm eating in general and adapting to appetite changes.

That said, when I want a pizza I'm gonna smash that pizza down my gullet lol

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[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 9 points 21 hours ago

Not to mention alcohol. It's called a beer belly for a reason.

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[–] Garibaldee@lemm.ee 33 points 1 day ago

I think the conventional wisom is diet is more important than exercise in losing weight, although I think most people would recommend working out once a week regardless if you would lose weight or not, basically any working out would be positive if you aren't at all, it couldn't hurt to do sit ups and push ups and see where that takes you.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

you don't even have to work out.

you can get there simply with diet.

that said, dieting doesn't target where the fat comes from.

Core strength training (like sit ups, push ups, etc,) will help with muscle definition, and that can improve the appearance, but if you break down how much say, a pound of body fat is in excercise vs how much that pound is in hambergers... well. restricting calories will always be more effective for weight loss.

has your doctor said you need to lose weight? 130 pounds sounds not-overweight.

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[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

CICO

Calories in <<< calories out

You can lose your beer belly sitting on a sofa all day doing nothing, just as long as you're intaking less calories than you burn.

[–] Draces@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Going from doing nothing to something one day a week will have dramatic effects. But didn't expect it to happen overnight or to have the same effect as going 3 or 4 times a week. Even just doing however many pushups you can once per day is a very good way to start condition yourself so you can handle and enjoy getting into a gym eventually. Sit ups are pretty trash. Six packs are made in the kitchen is a common adage for a reason. If you can't work your core any other way I'd suggest planks over sit ups though. If you can, get a pull-up bar and power blocks. I would strongly recommend intending to get to a gym eventually though. From personal experience having a home gym was a bit of self sabotage

Cook, shower and then I’m exhausted AF.

This probably because you don't exercise. Exercise gives you energy and is an excellent anti depressant. Starting is always the hardest part but you'll have more energy the rest of the day.

And more than anything, even what you're doing, stick with it. Results take time. You'll have days you think it's doing nothing, you'll miss days and think what's the point of starting again, you'll be disappointed with rate of progression and that's always the biggest test.

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