[pc_tiger]

Hi,
Im 39 years and 5'-9" . my weight is 74 k.g. But my tummy has came out. Actually im an I.T. professional. I sit whole day on chair. ( 9am to 6pm). Tell me what to do. Is there any diet plan.

I started eating SALAD in the lunch and nothing else. But my breakfast is heavy.

help me. Also tell me what else I can do to reduce my tummy quickly. Its 36" now and I want to be 32", or max upto 34".

Bye.

Lovely Guy.

[ampersandra]

Having a heavy breakfast is generally okay, but WHAT exactly does your breakfast consist of? Personally, my first meal of the day is the largest and then I have smaller meals throughout the day. It's not a good idea to decrease your diet drastically and suddenly because when you get off your slimming diet, you'll gain back the weight quickly. Just make sure your meals have a lot of variety like different types of meat, vegetables, nuts, eggs, etc. By variety, I also mean that your meals should have many different colours too. So you could have, for example, some eggplant and lentil soup for one meal, spaghetti and meatballs for another meal, and chicken caesar salad for your last meal.

Can you type with one hand? Do all your tasks require both your hands? If not, bring a small dumbbell to work and do exercises with one hand while you're working out with the other. I personally do pushups while doing some very light studying. Go jogging before or after work. If you like to idle around after work like watching the television or listening to the radio, you could work out while you're doing that. Get one of your friends to become a work out partner.

The main point is to have healthy habits. The healthy body will eventually come with it. Sorry if that's not the answer you want, but I'm not one to give dangerous get-slim-quick diet advice.

[kp2171]

All the above advice about nutrition is good. I tend to avoid the word "diet", since many associate that with restrictions that are often unsustainable and unhealthy. ampersandra gives good suggestions on eating right... and once you start eating healthy, your body will crave that food (such as fresh fruit, vegies, and food that isn't so "heavy").

Portion control is one of the easiest things you can do. Doesn't mean starve yourself, means eat better proportions... or switching to more portions of veggies/fruit. We try to use a small plate for dinner, and with simple cutbacks in portions (take 2/3 of what you would normally) you'll likely see within two weeks that you don't need all that food to be full.

If your breakfast is heavy you can approach this a few ways. Again... take half of what you would have. When my wife and I go out for breakfast, its not uncommon for us to split a "normal" breakfast. Add some fruit into the breakfast. Also, if you feel like you need more food in the morning and the smaller portions don't cut it, take some lean meat and cheese to work or a bag of nuts with heart healthy oils such as macademias, cashews, almonds, and sunflower seeds... just watch the salt and don't get honey roasted. It makes a great mid morning snack that can fuel you with just a few bites.

A salad at lunch can be fine, but midday isn't a bad time to fuel your body... just again, watch portions. So don't feel like you need to eat a salad over and over for lunch. And watch the high fat dressings.

Cut out the junk. Soda is bad for you (even diet pop can throw off your metabolism). Don't snack late at night. Get good sleep. A regular sleep pattern is important for good health and a poor sleep schedule is being linked to weight gain for several reasons.

The honest truth is as you age, your metabolism takes big hits. This has happened to me twice since my young 20's. Suddenly, with no change in diet or exercise, I put on a little weight. The only way to really get at this, especially if you want to do it quickly, as you asked, is to move your body.

The best case scenario is to this in the morning. With our family life, sometimes this means getting up an hour earlier than normal. When you exercise in the morning it does several things. It gets the workout done... no more putting it off until later. I love to workout at night, but find I'm not disciplined enough to keep a routine in the evening. Also, workouts in the morning will increase your metabolism, especially throughout the morning hours... this means that your breakfast will be burned more as energy. Last... I tend to feel my body feels good after exercise... while it might physically ache or those stairs might take longer to climb, I do not believe it makes you tired. With proper eating and sleep this shouldn't happen.

So you MUST move your body. If you can't go for a walk or run, get a workout dvd. When I want to get in a quick workout (35-55 min) I tend to do tae bo. Pilates is good. Pop it in the TV and just do it. When the weather is decent, a 3-4 mile walk on a trail in an hour is great.

I don't tend to watch much TV, but if I am watching a game, I tend to do something. Its easy to get through a few sets of situps, leg lifts, arm work, etc while a game is on. It all adds up.

Park farther away in the parking lot. Walk to the store once on the weekend. etc. every little bit you can do adds up.

If you aren't willing to get up earlier to workout (and get to bed earlier), lunchtime is available. You can go for a quick walk for 30-40 minutes... a reasonable pace can get you 2 miles in.

For quick results, you'll need to be more active about it. But for sustainable results, some simple changes can make a big difference. A 3 mile walk (45-60 min) twice a week over the course of a year will mean about 8lbs lost for your size. This is without drastic changes in "diet", and without a daily workout (which is really the best thing for you).

So... time to make time for it.