Interesting thread. I try to stick with a primarily clean/natural diet:

-water (no sodas, sugary drinks etc.)
-avoiding all highly refined/over processed foods (i try to look for items with the least amount of ingredients on the label)
-eating foods as close to their original state as possible (ie apple instead of applesauce, lol)

Other than that its whole grains, lean protein, vegetables and fruit. I'm also a HUGE greek yogurt fan. I have 0% greek yogurt & frozen wild blueberries for breakfast almost every day. Plus it has 20 grams of protein in a serving, which is nice.

Apparently (according to my dad from watching a doco on the BBC), 100 grams of walnuts a day can help you lose weight. I'm getting some this week I want to try loose a few kgs.

I ate enough Orange Creamsicle cake to supply me with enough vitamin C for the day. I think I'm pretty healthy.

Oh, nuts are usually really high in fat, so I'd be wary.

Yes but the type of fat that nuts are high in is the good fat not the bad one

There are two different types just in case you didn't know.

Calories are still calories.

Of course but that goes without saying.

There are fat burning properties in walnuts though. So not necessarily.

The "middle" is a bitch to tackle for a few reasons. Like calves and forearms, these are muscles we use constantly, so in order to work them to fatigue you're going to need to do double what you would for a bicep. You're also going to feel that. Getting started expect to roll out of bed, and not sit up. Its also highly unresponsive so people get discouraged easily.

The good news is that theres about a million ways to hit your core so with this region, you can really find something thats more interesting to you. As an example, I hate crunches because I always feel like I can do more, no matter how much I do. Because of this, I stick with the machines. 5 sets of 10 and move on. I just can't do the "go till your sore" avenue.

Diets huge, and the gut is a huge indicator of long-term diseases. I've been told by more than one nutritionist that your gut is often a better gauge of overall health than your BMI is. The only other thing I'd say is, if you're looking to get the shape to change, you have to work the obliques as well.

I wanted to respond to this for two reasons:

1. I was you at one point. Weight, height, the whole thing...

2. The advice in this thread has been down-right ghastly.

You're what they call a "hard-gainer" in weight-lifting terms. In short it means two things:

1. eat a **** load of protein. And not healthy protein, bacon, hamburg, steak. I saw someone say in this thread "fat becomes muscle." That never happens. Fat is stored energy. If you want to remove it, you need to work beyond standard exercise level you'd normally see in a given day.

2. You want a high weight-to-rep's ratio. If you want to tone, its light weight and high reps. To bulk up you want to have enough weight on the bar so you can only do 4-6 reps. Suffice it to say, you really need a spotter.

When I worked out like a fiend, i'd have a spotter lift just enough so that I could move the bar. This was often done with two index fingers. Doing this means you're working up to the point of muscle failure. You're only being spotted for

a. movement, you do need to rack the bar at some point and..

b. for full muscle targeting. The motion you move it in should always be full so as to not tear undeveloped muscle and to get a full workout.

If you're concerned about my credentials, I've worked at a gym since I was 16 and I'm now 28. I've been working out since I was a kid because my father was a fitness nut who also thought I needed to prepare myself for fights. (he's a corrections officer and he's tapped - it is what it is.) I've spoken to physical therapists, yoga teachers, personal trainers, fitness directors, and dietitians. I've read lifting magazines and I've talked to every gym rat who walked through the door.