Well, gym is really good since one realizes how fit he/she is, really, I was surprised how much endurance I had, never thought of lifting babies and carrying shopping bags actually builds up stamina. I also like to be surrounded by my local Migros cashiers 60 yrs old cranky women who lift weights for the heck of it, so nice. And most people in the gym aren't your usual crazy body builders, it is in fact even here very social and pleasant activity. Phil, didn't you give yourself a quota for meeting chicks? Why don't you go more to the gym? There's jacuzzi, etc...The thing about love handles, it is a storage of energy for the times of crisis, me thinks. I think thin people get stressed more, and I am not kidding. When I was studying taking giant exams, I wouldn't eat due to nerves, while my mates would stuff themselves because of the stress, I think I was more ill than they were..Thin yes, but more prone to catch any germ that walked by. If I work from home and have to cram or write, I graze, so bad. Especially if I look at EF food threads. Working from lib or cafe is a lot better, one has a mint and is done with cravings. I do like how fit people are here, but sometimes think some people just obsess about it way too much. Food cultures have real fun, it is a social thing, big families getting together and feasting, big meals, I do like it, have to say. After the strudel, yeah, people should get out together and play tack football or sumfin, throw frizbee, that is very true. It is all about what you eat together, too, fresh fruits, yoghurts, veggies, nice stuff, and doing things at home manually and yourself, avoiding services, avoiding lifts and escalators, etc. But don't hate your bellies.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

If you want to make a real dent in your daily diet you can do yourself a huge favour when you go shopping in a grocery store just by shopping only on the parameter of the grocery store.

Traditionally grocers market their fresh products there, veggies, dairy, meats, fish etc..

Try to avoid all the aisles in the center (put the blinders on) this will help you to reduce the processed foods that are one of the biggest offenders of a healthy diet (no matter what the label advertises). In time you will find that can't believe that you actually ate the junk they sell but it does take time and a daily conscious effort. Instead of that packet of chips choose a carrot or an apple or even some nuts, you'll be surprised how much this will help.

When I get side tracked by all the beautiful marketing on the packages I read the labels. Between the 3 languages I somehow manage to understand what all those chemicals mean and put it down (well at least most of the time).

i'm pretty anti-social at the gym. i go in, do my stuff and run back home to have a shower there. i like to concentrate and don't like talking to people when working out.

the main reason i don't go is that it is never open when i want it to be. only opens at 9.30am so can't go before work. closes by 9.30pm so often don't manage to get there after work either.

in the UK, i liked to go to the gym around 9.30pm and it closed just before midnight.

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Pffff...nice topic

I used to be 62 kgs 2 years ago...I was smoking more than one pack/day.
I decided to quit and after 3-4 month I was adding more than 3 kgs/month. Obviously, the amount of "extra" you could guess where exactly was going?

After I managed to overcome the figure of 82, I went to the gym immediately. Now I have the same weight but very less fat. And believe me, I dont't follow a special regim, I even dope myself with more than 5000 calories/day. I eat whatever I like. The only thing that I'm doing is to push at the gym untill I'm completely exhausted! 3-4 times/week, depending on workload.

But nevertheless, the pot belly is not something to worry about, it only takes hard-exercise (the hardest one to get rid off) and devotion.

I think that some ppl looks really nice a little bit more "fluffy".

And remeber: the men's belly is like the Mercedes emblem on the hood.

A long as you can pee standing up without using barbecue tongs...

Ha.

Yes, I prefer to go out with men who have seen their own willy in recent history.

I concur. If I was a guy, I'd also want to be able to look my main decision maker in the eye.

Cmon girls, where is the love...how does it go about people living in glass houses should not throw..whatever...

Oh you mean there were more in that picture than just abs?

Following this theme.

I'm proud of mine. It's taken years to cultivate. Although I do find the term pot belly a little off the mark. Beer belly is much nearer the truth.

Or give up poking around because you can't find it.

Keep up the good work. So rewarding when it happens. I thought that I'd get complacent after losing a lot of the excess weight, but it just made me more and more motivated (down to 75kg from 89 last year, my normal BMI threshhold is at 79kg). The belly is still there, but it's down to "I can tuck it in and it won't hide another one" levels. That last layer of stubborn fat should be the hardest to work off.

More annoying than a pot belly are man-boobs, which I've worked my damnest to get rid of. If you have a small body frame, they're a killer. I have friends with large body frames that can gain 10 kilos and it all goes in the gut. Me it's all over. A few extra kilos on me and I'm staring in the mirror like a girl that just started puberty, "What are these new things poking out of my chest area?"

Conclusion: As long as your penis is long enough a belly is ok.

Question: I do not get the discussion - I have the feeling that the average person in Switzerland is far less fat than in Germany or the UK... (let alone the US). It's not that I am the person who would recognize it, but my mom mentioned on her last visit "young people are less overweight here"...

But these are mainly ex-parts and they're talking about themselves, not the locals.

My dear husband loves to cook and eat. He seriously eats about 5 times what I eat, is constantly hungry and is still very slim, borderline underweight. Can you imagine (especially if you have to watch your own weight constantly) living with a person who can eat croissants, huge creamy cheese-covered pasta dishes, chocolate, jam on toast etc etc in huge quantities all day, every day, then step on a scale and say "Darn, have lost weight again.."

Not sure which parts are missing... but many of the ones in the discussion live here for quite some time, eat in the same cantine and do the same outdoor activities as the locals... even if they wanted to continue to eat at KFC, they couldn't

There must be something that's different. (and it's not bl**dy genetics!).

Ha! Ha! I'll bet that if looks could kill, when he says "Darn, have lost weight again" that you would melt his face like that guy on the island at the end of Indiana Jones

So you do not believe in the fat gene?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1647517.ece