Gaining stomach fat - any suggestions?



Eat real foods, preferably stuff that you can pick or kill and cook. Walk around. While you are walking, lift boulders and shit. Do pull ups on trees/structures. Do some sprints. Get some sunshine. Spend some time not eating. When you aren't hungry, don't eat. When you are on the computer, watching tv/movies, playing video games- don't mindlessly shove shit in your mouth.

If you have an actual 34 inch waist ( as opposed to a 34 pants size waist), that's really not that bad.
 
Start off by ignoring advice such as the above, it's a common myth that's perpetuated amongst magazines and the fitness community for some bizarre reason, despite having no scientific basis.

If you want to lose weight it's dead simple.

Calorie expenditure > Calorie intake

The exercise you do will determine what sort of weight you lose. If you don't do any strength/resistance training you'll lose both fat and muscle. By adding in resistance training you'll possibly even gain muscle whilst losing fat, as a complete beginner to weight training. (at least for a few months anyway)

When people say they want to lose weight they don't actually mean that for the most part (unless they're trying to qualify for some weight restricted event). Rather you want to reduce your bodyfat %.

If you're actually serious about doing something, then start making minor fixes to your diet for a start (so cut out random crap - replace standard drinks with their diet counterparts.. have an apple instead of a chocolate bar etc, try to eat more lean meats and increase your protein intake) and start going to the gym 3 days a week doing weight training. (Do anything, the important thing is you get into a routine of going to the gym several times a week)

Once you start getting into a good routine of actually going to the gym, start looking into proper routines you can do. I'd recommend Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5 for a beginner. If you're keeping your calorie intake down you'll soon start shifting some fat. Just keep going to the gym regularly and keep gradually improving your diet. Make minor changes to your habits, don't suddenly decide you want to go on a crash diet tomorrow & gym 7 days a week, ease yourself into it and you're far more likely to make changes you will stick to long term.

Just pick one change, and start at it tomorrow. So decide that this week you're going to start going to the gym on mon/wed/fri, doesn't even matter how long. Just stick to it. Once it's a solid part of your routine, start cutting back on a couple of dodgy foods you eat. Then look into the strength routines I mentioned above, etc.. Minor habit changes over months have drastic long term results.

I started off when I was ~17 going to the gym a couple days a week doing cardio and a crappy weight routine, by the time I was 20 I was taking things a lot more seriously, doing a proper strength routine (& lifting respectable numbers) and well over 40lbs lighter (~210lbs -> ~170lbs). That weight will never be coming back because I changed my lifestyle, rather than looking for a quick fix.

That's great advice, thank you.
 
Another vote for Stronglifts. It's simple but works.

+1

I've modified it a bit because I took some time off and didn't have the patience to start over with just the bar but the core elements are awesome. Also have a 34" waist, at 6-1 and 195#.

@ OP, walking doesn't count as exercise, it's something we do to move from point A to point B. Crank yo intensity up, drop the grains and you'll like the results.
 
Start eating less junk food & be more pro active or you will be like this guy
fat.bmp
in one or two year!
 
I'm having problems getting rid of fat myself. I've cut my meals in half, eat salads 3-4 times/week for dinner along with a little protein and only eat the occasional dessert now. Yet I'm still at 13% body fat and most of that is still on my tits.

Cardio and weights 4-5x/week for 1-1/2 hours at a time and it still doesn't come off. I may have to hire a nutritionist to help me lose the rest.


13% is pretty good already.
 
run at least 30 minutes every morning, you'll feel and look much better in 2-3 weeks. After a few months it will be fun to run :)
 
Burn more calories than you consume. Its really that simple. Perform resistance exercises to increase your lean muscle mass and therefore raise your metabolism. Also perform cardio exercises to burn calories and your energy stores.

You can't choose where you burn fat from, its taken equally from around your body whilst exercising. People deposit or store fat in different places, many people the belly, others the face, legs, ass etc. You always hear people saying "I did 7000 sit ups today to lose weight around my belly". It doesn't work like that. A mixture of cardio and resistance works best.

Compound exercises are good; such as squats, deadlifts, clean and press. These work a number a large muscle groups at the same time. However if you have never performed them before I recommend you get some kind of base line strength first and practice the technique with an empty bar. I've seen plenty of people jump straight into a 100kg plus squat, thinking their the man and screwed themselves over big time.

Stay away from any fad diets or weight loss pills. Yes you may lose the weight in the short term, but it's incredibly unhealthy and more often that not as soon as you stop the diet/pills/shakes you will put double the weight back on. For long term, healthy weight loss its as simple as burn more than you consume, eat healthily and exercise 4-5 times a week.