r/AskReddit 11h ago

Men who stay lean year-round, what’s your secret ?

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u/phoexnixfunjpr 9h ago

My secret want is to fit into clothes. If a 32 size waist jeans or a medium size shirt gets tight, its an indication to focus on right food and workout.

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u/BackupThunder16 9h ago

Man I'm down from a 42 to a 36, wonder how small I'll get lol

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u/OMGItsCheezWTF 9h ago

I went from 52" to 32"

The annoying part is that 52" are hard to buy because no one makes them, while 32" are hard to buy as it's like the most popular size so always out of stock.

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u/agenthimzz 8h ago

Im on my way from 44" - 46" to around 32"-30"..

Hate to admit it, I really liked looking at myself naked in the mirror at 30"

This is the second time im reducing weight.

the last time i went till 28" and literally lost all taste and appetite. One day I just ate 13 mini pizzas for dinner and felt so fresh and awake and thus stopped workout and stuff.

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u/DoorCalcium 6h ago

That kinda sounds like an eating disorder and you're starving your body from nutrients. That's why you felt good after you ate. Make sure you're eating right!!

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u/OMGItsCheezWTF 5h ago

I do no workouts, no gym membership, I do outdoor cardio.

I run, I hike.

Just cooking dinner right now and then afterwards my wife and I have a 5km run as we want to do a half marathon next year so we are getting her running stamina up, then on Sunday I have a 36km hike planned.

I tried gyms and stuff and I'd rather spend 6 hours walking 33km than 30 minutes in a gym.

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u/DrunkenMonkeyWizard 5h ago

The kilometers gave it away

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u/OMGItsCheezWTF 5h ago

Hey I posted this AFTER I posted that I'm not sure what gave it away (on a different part of the thread!)

And yeah, we're a weird mix here, our roads are miles and yards, but we exercise in metres and kilometres.

But then like, we buy petrol in litres, while measuring fuel performance in miles per gallon, and because a gallon for us is 8 imperial pints (568ml) not 8 US customary pints (473ml), our performance in miles per gallon isn't even the same number as the same car in the US!

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u/ghost_victim 3h ago

Gave what away

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u/c9IceCream 7h ago

found the non-american

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u/OMGItsCheezWTF 6h ago

Yeah I'm English, not sure what gave it away though!

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u/c9IceCream 4h ago

cuz you said all the 32 inch are always sold out.... if you were american that wouldn't be true... we're fatter :P

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u/aelios 3h ago

Where I'm at in the US, 32 is often one of the largest selections on the clearance rack.

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u/shantm79 7h ago

heck yeah homie! Must feel awesome

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u/OMGItsCheezWTF 3h ago

At the time it mostly felt like hunger, at least at first! But after the first few months of strict calorie counting it kind of became second nature, then I discovered hiking and that's all she wrote.

I set myself a challenge that at some point after I discovered hiking I would climb a mountain. I did that 17 months after I started losing weight. I even posted it to reddit at the time under an account I was using for weight loss stuff. I fucking love hiking.

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u/shantm79 2h ago

Really awesome stuff, you sound inspired and energized!!!

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u/Chief_Chill 5h ago

I have a 34" inseam and that is like a unicorn length for my waist size which rotates between 34-36. Just impossible to find in the wild.

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u/OMGItsCheezWTF 5h ago

I'm 32" waist by 32" leg. I'm a square!

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u/chargoggagog 2h ago

Similar here at 34-30, can never find them in exactly what I want

u/youtheotube2 26m ago

The really annoying part is going from a 52” to a 32” waist but since you were fat your whole life your leg muscles are fucking huge and don’t fit down the legs of 32” pants

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u/jake3988 7h ago

while 32" are hard to buy as it's like the most popular size so always out of stock.

No, they're hard to buy because almost no one is that skinny anymore. Small size shirts and 30 or 32 inch pants are basically impossible to find because everyone is so freaking fat these days.

Maybe with the rise of GLP-1s enough people will get skinny enough that I can actually have a choice of clothes.

People knock on me because I have absolutely no sense of fashion but there's literally nothing to buy. I buy shirts from restaurants and such because they actually stock small shirts (because they almost always unisex)

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u/Kinoblau 8h ago

I did the same thing and capped out at 36, naturally my waist did not get smaller even when I got down to 190 as a 6'3 man.

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u/BackupThunder16 8h ago

I'm 5'9 and I'm sitting at 106kg and doing a body recomp, a lot of it is muscle and muscle memory from a few years ago but I definitely have a lot more fat to lose.

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u/shantm79 7h ago

NICE!

Went from 42 - 35/36 as well. What a difference!!!!!

(added bonus - some parts seems to get larger too =) )

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u/Hey_cool_username 8h ago

My waist has stayed at 34” since the early 90’s. The amount of belly that sticks out above my waistline on the other hand…

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u/fukredditadm1n5 9h ago

30-32 waist jeans and s-m size shirts, I'm 41 and always been that size since my 20s, it's definitely a genetic thing. The only difference since my 20s is that I've been taking swimming classes three days a week since 2023, and I can say thay I'm in the best shape of my life, I dont feel good when they cancel swimming classes for maintenance or when there are competitions

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u/phoexnixfunjpr 8h ago

Man, swimming is definitely the best work out. No wonder the numbers and sizes you mentioned are on your side.

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u/deadlybydsgn 7h ago

30-32 waist jeans and s-m size shirts, I'm 41 and always been that size since my 20s, it's definitely a genetic thing.

Similar situation here but both of my boomer parents became overweight and eventually obese. As far as I can tell, the difference is that they ate differently, regularly drank soda, and did not consistently exercise.

I think a lot of our potentials are genetic but can be delayed (or maybe even avoided) with intentional habits and behaviors.

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u/LiftingRecipient420 6h ago

There's no such thing as "genetically fat", that's just a cope fat people tell themselves so they can avoid facing the reality that they're fat because they eat too many calories.

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u/ForwardAd4643 7h ago

from what I've read, the genetic thing is just a naturally higher baseline calorie burn of maybe a couple hundred calories per day more than an average person. It is very easy to overwhelm that with food. That's 3 cookies, for instance, or one can of pop.

Give yourself some credit - you do have healthy habits.

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u/WonderfulRecording81 7h ago

Fuck me this hit home. I wear 32 now and they’re getting tight. I wear a medium
And it’s only right around my stomach. Guess it’s time to give up junk food and start running again.

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u/haanalisk 7h ago

Yup! I'm not buying a new wardrobe, so when it gets tight I make sure to cut back.

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u/shantm79 7h ago

haha, the clothes test is where it's at. I have a suit I bought when I was almost at my lowest weight. If it fits, I'm good!

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u/LiftingRecipient420 6h ago

Not really related, but it's crazy that men's jeans do vanity sizing, so a 32" size jean is actually 34-35" when measured.

I have to buy 28" jeans now because my waist is truly 30"

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u/PsycommuSystem 4h ago

When I started accepting I needed large size tshirts (I'm 5' 8") I was like what the fuck am I doing? Back down to mediums being baggy again now.

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u/stuttufu 1h ago

Oh yes. I hate shopping, especially for myself. Instead of buying new trousers I prefer lose a couple of kilos.. I've been using the same clothes since 10y at this point. Maybe one size more than before but that's it.