Originally Posted by ktj4l

LMFAO!

Or even better, stop eating altogether because your body doesn't need energy to keep your metabolism going, right?

- Drink a gallon of water each day at least.
- Cut out junk from your diet (i.e. processed foods, candy, soft drinks, etc.) and try to eat whole foods (i.e. for carbs eat vegetables, fruits, brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread and pasta; for protein eat chicken, tuna, eggs, salmon and steak; for essential fats consume olive oil, flax oil, nuts)
- Eat carbs early in the day and immediately after your workout. After that just eat protein sources, fat sources and vegetables for the rest of the day.
- Try to eat 4+ small meals. Protein shakes are a great way to squeeze in a "meal" without much effort. You should feed your body some sort of protein every three hours.
- Try HIIT (high intensity interval training) instead of low intensity cardio. It doesn't take as long, is not as boring, burns the same calories in less time, burns more fat, etc., etc. ... The only reason anyone should be doing low intensity cardio is if they engage in a sport that requires it (i.e. soccer or marathon running).
- Go swimming if you can. It's the best exercise you can get.
- Lift weights again. It burns more calories than cardio and adding muscle mass means you can burn more calories overall.

Those are some rough pointers. There are very specific diets you can do where you count calories, time carbs, carb cycle, etc. but if you want to wing it mostly then that should help a good bit. If you just wanted alternatives for riding a bike for 30mins as far as sports go:
- Climbing is a good full body workout.
- Boxing/MMA or any type of fight training will kick your ass, be fairly fun and get you in shape.
- Swimming is great exercise.
- Sled dragging, beating on a tire with a hammer, digging holes with a shovel, etc. are all good exercise too.

Originally Posted by chopstick

I do not build so I cannot be taken seriously. However, I have maintained by 190Lbs (5'10") without a gut just fine like this:

Food is not entertainment.
Boredom is not the time to eat.
Food is for survival.

Hunger is a complex and simple mechanism to understand:
-Low bellies tell the brain when they're low.
--The brain then tells you to eat something. Usually nothing specific.
---Flavor in the mouth will trick the brain into thinking food is on it's way, and the stomach relaxes the signals back to the brain. This is a good use of gum to help you last until you actually need to eat.
-Empty bellies ALERT the brain when they're empty.
--The brain then MOTIVATES you to eat something. Usually something specific, and often with a sense of urgency.
---Flavor in the mouth MIGHT trick the brain into thinking food is on it's way temporarily. This might work, depending on how empty you are + how much activity you're doing.

Sometimes, you can be on empty and not realize it because you're not doing much to burn energy. And then the moment you're active your body starts needing what it doesn't have. This is where you experience panic and hunger, or the sensation of seeing stars or even vertigo. That's how you know you've been at the xbox too long.

When you eat, and then sleep, your body doesn't burn what you've just eaten, so it stores it.
When you eat and feel tired right away, that's because your body is working really hard at processing it. Sometimes it's the result of over eating, or eating something hard to break down like steak.
When you DO NOT EAT - the starvation diet - your body goes on the defensive and stores as much as it can get, and burns up what it already has available. The results are muscle loss and fat gain. You might look thinner but you're going to be a weakling with a poor immune system, the wrong skin color and probably a cough or cold most of the time.

So, for losing weight and managing a stable body I recommend an understanding of your body + eating when you actually need it, not any other time. Obviously you have to consider WHAT you eat. Feeding sugar (processed or not) to an empty belly is not going to produce positive results. Stick to as much non-processed foods as you can, and that includes eating animal products that are free of added hormones and antibiotics.

Originally Posted by chopstick

Sorry, I left out a major point:

-The size of your stomach (not your visible belly) determines when this signal is sent to the brain. A larger stomach will send this signal more frequently - not because you need more food, but because it can hold more so it expects to be holding more.
--You can increase and decrease your actual stomach by decisive eating. I habitually eat portions the size of my fist with my hand over it. Restaurants all serve huge plates that would be the size of both my feet. If you eat a large portion, you will stretch your stomach, and thus increase your capacity to eat larger portions at each sitting.
--If you already have a large stomach from your current eating habits, then eat less at each meal. You will go through the hunger experience mentioned above, but you will not actually be hungry. Your stomach is only telling your brain that it's not as full as it usually is. This is where you need self control and the understanding that you will live - just wait until the next scheduled meal time.