1) Nate's book The 6-Pack Checklist is the best thing I've found on the subject:
Point by point, he tackles all the things you need to know in a slender book that's a model of both clarity and depth. You begin with a daily calorie deficit if you're looking to lose fat and weight...find the right balance for you between protein, carbs and natural fat...find the right feeding timeline for you to stagger your calories through the day and night, always staying in the black...and work out 2-3 times a week, adding cardio at the end of every session to keep your body from feeding on muscle, not fat.
I know. Your head is spinning, just thinking of how you'll keep track of all that--after you've done all the necessary math: workout frequency/intensity...your daily calorie goal...the infernal ratios of protein to carbs to fat..
Me too? You betcha. Physically active since my twenties (but over-fond of the bottle back then)...I've had one fitness dream since my thirties: a lean-bean look with six-pack abs. I've come close several times, though always retaining a mini-roll I couldn't lose. More often, I've come closer than many. But always I've slipped and returned to the fold of big-armed but thick-waisted men tormented by dreams of that elusive six-pack.
I couldn't understand the math and lacked a sustainable diet. Thanks to Miyaki, I've now 'got' the math down and have a diet that works--even at 1870 calories daily (my deficit mode for now). But I had miserable memories of all the logs I've tried to keep--and they could fill a bookshelf! Sweat-stained workout logs, abandoned because of the effort of finding the right pages for last weight used and last number of reps. Diet logs abandoned because I had no idea of the fat/protein/carb content of my meals and snacks.
But I trusted Nate Miyaki, who walks the talk and also talks the walk.
Nate stood firm on the need to have a plan and to log our efforts daily. Log, at least, till we reach our goal and know in our blood and bones exactly what we're eating. This is done through daily practice and logging calorie counts. But this needn't be a log nightmare. He suggested a phone app that was new to me: MyFitnessPal.
And this baby has made all the difference. MFP knows the nutritional breakdown of nearly everything I eat: from a Kind snack bar to an Oikos Triple Zero yogurt to a veggie burger to a small /Caesar salad (no dressing). I receive kudos for wise protein or carb choices. Alerts for sugar (even fruit sugar) and fat warnings. Cardio calorie burns (this morning's 45 minute brisk walk) are deducted from my calorie goal. My walk, for example, up and down some San Francisco-style stairs, credited me with 220 calories.
When I think of how stupidly hard I've worked for too many years, I could weep. But because of all those failures, I do have it down in my blood and my bones:
--At least 80% of abdominal work is done or undone in the kitchen.
--10,00 crunches won't defeat daily scones or Oreos.
--Abs needn't be worked any harder or more often than any other muscle.
--Miyaki is right on the money with his 'inverted pyramid'. He turns the traditional big breakfast/medium lunch/salad for dinner approach on its head. And I knew from experience how miserable I always was starving myself every day after noon, avoiding dinners with family or friends. I eat mainly fruit in the mornings, enjoy a light lunch (a whole wheat pita veggiewich with an apple and some shredded carrots, an Oikos Triple Zero yogurt topped with some crushed walnuts)...and save the bulk of my calories. So far I've succeeded in always staying 300-500 calories under my limit.
*****
Enough about me, though. Let's talk about you.
You may not want or need a 6-pack. You may recoil in horror from a daily cal count of 2000 or less. And I salute you if you do. At my age, I don't need the competition from scores of washboard-abbed young buck. Seriously, whatever your goal, you should still give this cat Nate Miyaki a look. He'll help you find the right diet for you and set you straight, in the most delightful way, about the great carb vs protein debate, among other things.
Miyaki's blog is a fun place to start:
http://natemiyaki.com/about-3/
And here's the book that got me into gear:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013SC4GOC
I couldn't understand the math and lacked a sustainable diet. Thanks to Miyaki, I've now 'got' the math down and have a diet that works--even at 1870 calories daily (my deficit mode for now). But I had miserable memories of all the logs I've tried to keep--and they could fill a bookshelf! Sweat-stained workout logs, abandoned because of the effort of finding the right pages for last weight used and last number of reps. Diet logs abandoned because I had no idea of the fat/protein/carb content of my meals and snacks.
But I trusted Nate Miyaki, who walks the talk and also talks the walk.
Nate stood firm on the need to have a plan and to log our efforts daily. Log, at least, till we reach our goal and know in our blood and bones exactly what we're eating. This is done through daily practice and logging calorie counts. But this needn't be a log nightmare. He suggested a phone app that was new to me: MyFitnessPal.
And this baby has made all the difference. MFP knows the nutritional breakdown of nearly everything I eat: from a Kind snack bar to an Oikos Triple Zero yogurt to a veggie burger to a small /Caesar salad (no dressing). I receive kudos for wise protein or carb choices. Alerts for sugar (even fruit sugar) and fat warnings. Cardio calorie burns (this morning's 45 minute brisk walk) are deducted from my calorie goal. My walk, for example, up and down some San Francisco-style stairs, credited me with 220 calories.
When I think of how stupidly hard I've worked for too many years, I could weep. But because of all those failures, I do have it down in my blood and my bones:
--At least 80% of abdominal work is done or undone in the kitchen.
--10,00 crunches won't defeat daily scones or Oreos.
--Abs needn't be worked any harder or more often than any other muscle.
--Miyaki is right on the money with his 'inverted pyramid'. He turns the traditional big breakfast/medium lunch/salad for dinner approach on its head. And I knew from experience how miserable I always was starving myself every day after noon, avoiding dinners with family or friends. I eat mainly fruit in the mornings, enjoy a light lunch (a whole wheat pita veggiewich with an apple and some shredded carrots, an Oikos Triple Zero yogurt topped with some crushed walnuts)...and save the bulk of my calories. So far I've succeeded in always staying 300-500 calories under my limit.
*****
Enough about me, though. Let's talk about you.
You may not want or need a 6-pack. You may recoil in horror from a daily cal count of 2000 or less. And I salute you if you do. At my age, I don't need the competition from scores of washboard-abbed young buck. Seriously, whatever your goal, you should still give this cat Nate Miyaki a look. He'll help you find the right diet for you and set you straight, in the most delightful way, about the great carb vs protein debate, among other things.
Miyaki's blog is a fun place to start:
http://natemiyaki.com/about-3/
And here's the book that got me into gear:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013SC4GOC
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