I am currently doing all I can to lose the
weight around my stomach as well to get flat abs before I go on vacation. I've made significant gains, and I'll try to tell you as much as I can without overdoing it.
First, realize that it takes a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose
1 pound! So, lets just make up some numbers and said you had an intake of 7,000 calories. If you burned 10,500 calories, you'd lose 1 pound. So once women hear this, what do they think? Well, I'm just not going to eat then. For guys, thats not really an option
And its a stupid one anyways. You should eat 5-6 small meals per day. A rule of thumb (but not completely accurate, better than nothing though) is take your
weight, multiply it by 15, and subtract 500. Try to keep your calories around or slightly under this number. The number may seem a bit high to you if you think about what you eat, so this might mean that you're not spreading out your meals properly. Do some cardio, or some weightlifting. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns even when you're not really doing anything. The best time to do cardio is in the morning, as it speeds up your metabolism for pretty much the rest of the day. But, before you do, remember that your body doesn't have anything to draw energy from, so while it will use stored fat to fuel your cardio workout, it may dip into your muscle as well, which you don't want. To stop this, I usually have a moderate amount of protein, but little to nothing else about 30-45 mins before I do my cardio workout. Usually I have some cottage cheese, or protein powder mixed in water, but you could maybe have a glass of milk as well or something similar, but mostly protein.
Do what you can to have a 500 calorie deficit everyday, and you'll lose 1 pound in a week. And DON'T undereat. It might sound dumb, but if your body thinks its going to starve, its not going to let go of anything. It has to be reasonably certain that it will be getting food in a short while before it decides to let go of any fat. 1 pound of fat doesn't sound like much, but its more than you might think.
And DON'T do the Atkins diet. DON'T do any crash diets. Just look to lose your
weight gradually and it will come off soon enough without bad reprocussions.
And one more thing I almost forgot, each light beer, most mixed drinks, and a glass of wine have about the same amount of calories...around 100-120 or so. 5 beers and you've already wrecked your 500 calorie deficit. This doesn't mean you can't ever drink, but just be careful not to have too much. 10 beers and you've already hit over 1,000 calories.
