Visceral Fat won't budge!!!!!

dw300

vs wrote:

dw300 wrote:

Plus, the carbs in the alcoholic drinks which Bryan didnt mention for some reason.

Beer and alcopops (probably anything with coke etc as a mixer too) - 30% carbs. Red wine - 15% carbs.

You obviously didn't read too much of the link.

It sounds to me that you really want to believe this so badly that you might be misunderstanding it. Maybe I'm the one misunderstanding, but isn't he saying the calories from the alcohol (7cals/g I believe) are the ones that cannot be stored. The ones from the carbs in the drink however can, cant they??

You know from cycling that the body rarely uses a single source of calories, its normally a mix of carbs and fat when on the bike. And perhaps in 'excessive drinkers' or maybe if someones in ketosis, or some other extreme case, then a single source would be the major source. But I highly doubt that if youre having a glass of wine with your dinner that your body isnt storing the calories from the carbs in the wine, or the carbs and fat in your meal.

It would be great to think that if you drink alcohol with ever meal you can avoid storing the cals in your food. Im no expert and appreciate further discussion on this.

vs

dw300 wrote:

It sounds to me that you really want to believe this so badly that you might be misunderstanding it. Maybe I'm the one misunderstanding, but isn't he saying the calories from the alcohol (7cals/g I believe) are the ones that cannot be stored. The ones from the carbs in the drink however can, cant they??

I don't really worry about it, I'm 5'11 and 63kg at 49. However, I'd always wondered why, despite always enjoying a few pints (probably a few too many in my 20s' and 30's), I never put on weight, or got that so-called 'beer belly'. I now know that it's because I always ate well and the alcohol made no difference.

If you think about it, up to 97% of beer is water, so zero cals there. Of the remainder, the grains provide the sugars, which are fermented by the yeast to produce the alcohol, and if your body can't store the calories from the alcohol you don't put on weight.

dw300 wrote:

It would be great to think that if you drink alcohol with ever meal you can avoid storing the cals in your food. Im no expert and appreciate further discussion on this.

This is a misunderstanding, your body will always store the calories provided by food.

Camcycle1974

neilr4 wrote:

Hi,

I'm at my wits end......

After years of inactivity and somewhat unhealthy lifestyle (I raced up until 12 years ago!) I finally got back cycling in january, the scales tipped 91kg (my heaviest ever for my 5' 7" frame) I've gotten my weight down to a respectable 82kg but I can't seem to get it any lower!!!!!

I commute 20km to (on an empty stomach) and from work 4 days per week almost always in heartrate zone D2 in order to stimulate fat burning and in the weekend with a group approx. 100km avg zone D3. Sometimes on my way home from work I will do a couple of intense intervals just to break the monotomy of the commute and to help with fat burning.

I have reduced eating and eat predominently whole foods and make sure that I always have a calorie deficit at the end of the day but I have been stuck on 82kg for the past two months and can't shift the hard visceral fat from my stomach........ At first I thought just get excercising, eat healthy and the rest will happen, didnt get hung up on the whole 'get lean' thing but just do things right and enjoy it but after a good 7 months of drinking 2 litres of water per day, reducing alcohol and eating healthy food I just don't know anymore!!! At work a couple of days ago I'm sitting eating my lunch consisting of a home made pasta salad with no dressing and a colleague jokinglycommented that I would be better off eating a fry-up as eating healthy food wasn't having any effect and I thought "you're damn right!", no matter what I do I just can't seem to shift 'the belly'........

Any dietician I consulted only talk about a balanced healthy diet with a calorie deficit but in my case it just isn't helping..... Am I eating the 'wrong' food? Are there certain foods that are prohibiting losing visceral stomach fat?

I have to admit it was difficult getting back on a racing bike in lycra looking like Danny de Vito but I always had a deep respect even when I was a lean 72kg 12 years ago for overweight people doing sport that's why I could swallow my pride and laugh off the slagging from co workers and club mates regarding my shape, the surprising looks and comments when the speed in the group goes above 45kph (27mph) and I'm still doing turns at the front "Jeez Neil howcome you still carry so much around the middle? must be doing something wrong?" people of course mean well and generally only want to help but for me what other's think comes second, what I think is important!!!

Has anyone ANY advice? I typed my story so that any suggestions will be new and not anything to do with 'burn-more-calories-than-you-take-in' as I've been doing that very strict for the past 3 months!!!!! :roll:

Neil.

My target is 75kg as I would like to ride some sportifs over mountainous terrain at some stage

Try IF. A 16-8 protocol is easy to maintain. You will lose fat from your midriff. Nutrient timing and composition are important for fat loss. Search Martin Berkhan for all the info you need. Calories taken in are almost always underestimated and calories burnt overestimated. You can't be in deficit and not lose fat!

jgsi

+1 for sugar intake reduction as much as possible by the way... however
for serious concentrated diet appraisal... stuff any Internet bollox quasi personal trainer doo dah shoite...
get yourself a MyfitnessPal app download/account.
print off daily food/drink logs
FILL out EVERYTHING you consume... it will be a complete ballsache but if you want to break a barrier.. you'll have to do it.
You will probably shock yourself as to how much you are eating in terms of calories.
Prepare to go hungry despite all the Internet bollox quais personal trainer shoite that says no need to go hungry.. you will be hungry.

I did this last year and went from 82kg to 72 kg and was moaned at for looking like a skeleton .. flew uphills though for a while until the lost power caught up with me.

hypster

JGSI wrote:

I did this last year and went from 82kg to 72 kg and was moaned at for looking like a skeleton .. flew uphills though for a while until the lost power caught up with me.

I made the same mistake this year until I stopped obsessing about getting as light as possible and started eating normally again. Now I am slightly heavier again and a lot faster.

LAXman

I'm 59yo, 5'7" and weight 68kg ish... I decided to enter a tri this year. I'm not a swimmer, long time soccer and tennis player. So I was never heavy, typically weigh about 72kg.... however I started the swim workout this past January with a trainer and started losing weight. I lost almost 4.5kg.... the trainer attributes the loss to interval training. He gave me the explaination... I just take his word for it... but I have lost a lot of weight for my size and age. I also don't eat many carbs or drink much alcohol. I do eat a lot of protein. I live off Greek no fat yogurt, seafood and some red meet.

Camcycle1974

I bet the explanation was that interval training creates EPOC? Unfortunately EPOC is vastly overrated and duration of exercise is far more important than any effect EPOC may have. Have a read of Lyle McDonald's writings on the subject.

dw300

Camcycle1974 wrote:

I bet the explanation was that interval training creates EPOC? Unfortunately EPOC is vastly overrated and duration of exercise is far more important than any effect EPOC may have. Have a read of Lyle McDonald's writings on the subject.

This.

JGSI wrote:

I did this last year and went from 82kg to 72 kg and was moaned at for looking like a skeleton .. flew uphills though for a while until the lost power caught up with me.

Interesting point. I've dropped a couple of kilos recently. I'm now 67kg at 5'10". I do feel like I've had (a little), more power in the past (maybe 20W ish), but I'm almost sure that's due to not effectively replacing all the calories I am burning to drop the weight having an effect on performance during this weight loss period.

In a calorie deficit, you'll loose weight, but you'll also be in a situation where your energy reserves are not as optimal most of the time as they could be if you were matching food intake with calories burned during maintenance.

Obviously this is why you can taper and eat more in the days/week coming up to an event where you need the power. But during regular training, especially base, that's when you want an energy deficit to loose the weight, but have it not adversely affect your training because you're never going that hard anyway.

You should have a re-feed week every so often (maybe 1 week in every 4-8weeks, or whatever way you currently do it), probably best to coincide that with an easy training week/taper week too, because the stress on your body isnt just coming from pushing the pedals round, its also the energy deficit, and the mental drain of it all as well.

Roberto di Velo

I was going to say that I've shifted some weight over the last few months, and frankly pretty easily, just by not having too many carbs.

The downside for me is that whilst I'm generally going up hills quicker, I also feel like I've lost a bit of power, which I really notice on long shallow climbs. At 5'9", I've gone from about 72 kgs to about 67kg. What I have noticed is that my body fat % hasn't changed too dramatically. In the past it was about 15%, whereas I'm now between 12-14% (depending on where I put the callipers), so I guess that I must have also lost some muscle.

Camcycle1974

That is often the conundrum. losing weight is relatively easy, losing fat whilst maintaining muscle mass somewhat harder. Resistance training whilst dieting is the only way to minimize the muscle that is lost along with the fat.

dw300

Camcycle1974 wrote:

That is often the conundrum. losing weight is relatively easy, losing fat whilst maintaining muscle mass somewhat harder. Resistance training whilst dieting is the only way to minimize the muscle that is lost along with the fat.

Id add that having sufficient protein in your diet and spread evenly throughout the day does help reduce catabolism. When bodybuilders are cutting, it more important that they hit their protein needs. If you need it for recovery and its in your bloodstream, then youre unlikely to atrophy. I suspect this is why IF works well, because it maximises the routes to loosing mass.

I don't agree that you have to be lifting to maintain if you werent lifting before. Your amount of muscle mass will plateau just as other things do, and if you dont lift and only cycle and have done for years then you're probably at a point where you ahve reached equilibrium and won't loose much more as long as your body doesnt have to break it down due to a less than optimum diet.

LAXman

Having been training for 9 months... I found the biggest weight loss due to the interval training while swimming. I only due 30 minutes, and nothing long at first. but I lost 60 to 70% of the weight in the first 3 months. I also lift weights have since I was 16yo. I don't notice any power loss and biking has really helped my leg strength for soccer and tennis. In the end I think a well rounded mix of intense intervals and long distance riding/running/swimming a person will lose the weight. Just keep the carbs low and protein high!