[SwordBurn]

Which will show better results for Muffin Top/Spare Tire removal?

Strict Macro Diet

or

Jogging 2 miles every other day

[Distilled Water]

Diet rules all!

[pdx89]

Actually a combination of both of them........but if you had to chose one go with the strict diet, from there things will fall into place better.

[LilPsychotic]

Cut down on the carbs, and get a good cardio program down.

[futurepilot]

At first diet is #1, then once you get to less than 15%, cardio+diet. Untill you drop more bodyfat I would concentrate on diet. Plus with you already watching your diet it will create a pattern for you of healthy eating, which will help to keep the weight off once you get down to your desired weight.

[Reaper329]

diet must come first, then hit the cardio and throw in some abs work, and you will see the results

[CTDeuce]

I can't see why you couldn't do both?

Since eating well won't take you 2 miles worth of time 3-4 days a week, why would it interfere with your jogging?

[BodyWizard]

C) - both
D) - neither
E) - other (please specify)

Answer: E

- the trade-off is *ALWAYS* intake vs output
portion-control trumps macro breakdowns, all other things being equal - and of course, they never are (so it's important to remember). Controlling intake volume outweighs controlling intake variety because it's simple and direct and quantifiable: calories is calories, and you have to establish a baseline. That's your target caloric intake, the heart of your diet; macros, food choices, supps, etc revolve around that. Again, simple & direct: take your BMR, subtract 10-15%, and you're there - no need to make it more elaborate when you're trying to get things working.

Okay, having established a baseline in terms of available energy, you look at how to burn it. Aside from not-eating (an extreme form of 'dieting') there are lots of ways to do it, and some are better than others. 2 miles every other might well work for a non-muffin-top, but you don't have what the non-muffin-top has yet; therefore, the muffin leads to an important trade-off, and once again, the goal is to establish a baseline, and the way to do that is to regulate your daily expenditure. That's DAILY, not EOD.

Better to run a mile every day than 2 EOD, because of the way the body regulates these things: a mile every day tells your body that you expect it to do at least that much work every day, and your caloric limit tell your body it's going to have to dip into reserves to do it. Faced w/ choices like these, your body will make adjustments and become more efficient at burning the fat you have in your muffin (and elsewhere).

2 miles every *other* day tells your body that it needs to maintain the fat reserves because every now and then, it will have to work *that* hard; that would completely defeat your effort, so not the rule you want to establish for your purpose! As your body adapts to the custom of daily miles, THEN you can toss in a second mile every other day, and *then* you ought to see some real results from that second mile.

Likewise, tweaking your carb, protein & fat sources will make more sense & achieve more effect once you've established your baseline & have your workouts in place. And if you write it all down while you're doing it, then when you get done, you're lots smarter - and if not, you'll still be doing 2 miles every day, be awarw of what and how much you eat, and you'll have no muffin.