Getting rid of middle aged spread\belly fat

[subaqua]

Booo no magic answers! Not sure I can face a life without any alcohol

More details on what I currently do

Food wise, I tend to have porridge for breakfast, then meal deal lunch ie sandwich, snack and lunch, dinner is normally some sort of homemade curry, bolognaise, chilli etc with rice or pasta and then maybe some kind of snack eg couple biscuits.

At weekends me and wife will share bottle wine on a Friday and Saturday or few beers or gin and tonics

Exercise wise I am currently playing 5 aside and running 5k twice a week.

So damn frustrating as it’s litera only my belly and most people would probably say I could do with putting weight on!!

not saying NO alcohol . but reduce down as much as can .

I have gone from 6 pints a night in the week plus lots more at weekends to a few on a friday and saturday, and the beer belly is going rather sharpish . my big killer was the wrong type of foods. ( pies pasties , full english etc ) in work. started to take a poched chicken breast and a "salad" ( lettuce , cucumber, toms, artichoke , jalapeno, fresh basil from the pot I grow in Kitchen .

I swim 3 times a week as a minimum too

 

[iateyoubutler]

I haven't had a 32 waist since I was 11.

11? I was about 3 months old!!

 

[Blue Hills]

Red Wine is good for you (that is my excuse).

Quite right.

https://www.today.com/health/sardinias-mediterranean-diet-10-foods-lengthen-your-life-t13951

skip straight to number 10.

 

[PaulSB]

I have gone from 6 pints a night in the week plus lots more at weekends to a few on a friday and saturday, and the beer belly is going rather sharpish

Really? Six pints a night? I find that an astonishing level of alcohol consumption. Congratulations on reducing it, I’m sure you’re going to do yourself more good than losing weight.

 

[subaqua]

Really? Six pints a night? I find that an astonishing level of alcohol consumption. Congratulations on reducing it, I’m sure you’re going to do yourself more good than losing weight.

not proud of drinking that much every night... but it was enjoyable at the time.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Many forget that weight gain was not a rapid process but often it has crept up over many years. They then try to lose weight rapidly , get the munchies, and feel disappointed when they don't get results in a month or two. It is easy to deceive yourself about the snacks and how much exercise you do as well. Small changes in diet and exercise and you will find your balance point.

I think the fast and normal diet is not so much about weight loss but enabling the body's regulating hormones and processes to reset themselves. A blood stream and body that is constantly full of glucose becomes desensitised and loses its ability to stay in balance and stay healthy.

 

[hoopdriver]

It is possible but it takes dedication. I am 59 and decided to do something about the weight that has crept up. Just eating more sensibly, and less, and going to the gym regularly for what are pretty intense sessions in the cross trainer has seen me lost over two stone since August, and my waist drop to 32” - or a bit less actually. I did nothing extreme, nothing really that I am uncomfortable maintaining in terms of diet or exercise and the extra energy and spark have been well worth it. As I say, I am 59. It is possible.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Many forget that weight gain was not a rapid process but often it has crept up over many years. They then try to lose weight rapidly , get the munchies, and feel disappointed when they don't get results in a month or two. It is easy to deceive yourself about the snacks and how much exercise you do as well. Small changes in diet and exercise and you will find your balance point..

A colleague of mine who was seriously into fitness & weight training once gave me this advice:- don't ever try to reduce weight by dieting to the point of feeling hungry or lacking in energy, and don't make yourself grumpy and miserable by totally cutting out things you enjoy. Doing those things sets you up to fail as you then won't stick with it. Most people simply don't have the dedication to adopt strict diet or fitness regimes, and people who are pragmatic about it tend to succeed better than those who go OTT then get sick of it and revert completely to their previous lifestyle. Instead, just do things in very small increments. If you want to lose a stone in weight, allow yourself a full year to do it, don't try to crash your weight down in a couple of months. Drink half a pint less beer here and there. Have a smaller spoonful of sugar in your tea. Avoid having too many packets of biscuits and snacks in the house. If you can't stand drinking tasteless skimmed milk, just settle for semi-skimmed rather than full fat. His thinking was if you make small dietary changes combined with more physical activity, you'll slowly lose weight and also build up a bit more muscle, so your body shape will improve and you will burn more calories even resting, because you'll be more muscular. He had a theory that a lot of overweight people were basically of weak physical build who also generally did fairly sedentary jobs, so their baseline calorific requirement was low which meant they stored a lot of excess fat. Rather than reduce calorie intake by very much, he favoured doing a mix of strength training & cycling/treadmill to burn energy and permanently increase baseline calorie needs. Also don't obsess about using BMI as a measure of being overweight or not. For him, ideal weight meant having a strong build but no excess visible fat round your middle, regardless of what your measured BMI was. His BMI was 28, IIRC, but no-one would ever call him fat.

 

[Fonze]

Some very good points and advice , a lot I can relate to ..

 

[The Jogger]

In my own experience not speaking for anyone else, I find intermittent fasting, eating in a specific window has helped me feel physically better and gradually lose weight, (very gradually) but it is definitely getting there. I don't have breakfast and either go to the gym or jog before I eat. I generally don't eat until about 13:00 and stop eating by about 20:00 so usually for me it is a 7 hour eating window. This helps reduce insulin spikes in the body and it also helps to rest the gut which now is being recognised as being an organ and a very important function in relation to the rest of the organs. I also try to eat less carbs as these just affect insulin, tummy fat, heart health in a negative manner.

 

[ColinJ]

Which reminds me ... today is one of my fasting days. I had a few grapes and strawberries plus a small banana and a spoon of natural yoghurt this morning, but I have forgotten to eat anything since! I'd better eat something now or I will be getting too hungry just before I go to bed.

This is the 10th fasting day since starting back on 5:2 at the end of October. I can feel the difference round my waist and my scales showed a significant drop in my weight the last time I checked. I'll weigh myself in the morning to see how much progress I have made. I think that I will have shed about 25% of the weight that I want to lose.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

So when you lose whatever amount of weight you are targeting, do you intend to keep up this fasting regime, or ditch it and revert to a normal eating pattern, mission accomplished? I must admit I cannot for the life of me see the benefit of eating more on some days then starving myself on others. If I tried that trick, I know I would end up ravenously hungry and would immediately go and wolf down the largest, most unhealthy meal I could lay my hands on, and completely negate any gain.

 

[ColinJ]

So when you lose whatever amount of weight you are targeting, do you intend to keep up this fasting regime, or ditch it and revert to a normal eating pattern, mission accomplished? I must admit I cannot for the life of me see the benefit of eating more on some days then starving myself on others. If I tried that trick, I know I would end up ravenously hungry and would immediately go and wolf down the largest, most unhealthy meal I could lay my hands on, and completely negate any gain.

I will stick to it and enjoy eating what I like the rest of the time. I'll set myself a maximum and minimum weight. If I find that I am getting too skinny I will either eat a little more on the 5 non-fasting days or cut down to 1 fast a week until I put a couple of pounds back on. If I get to the maximum limit I will do 2 good fasts a week and I know from experience that I will lose weight that way.

I am not 'starving' myself - I am just eating less a couple of days a week! As I mentioned above - I actually forgot to eat my main meal today so I was not exactly ravenous. I just had 3 large bowls of home-made spicy carrot and parsnip soup with some steamed cabbage and broccoli plus 3 spoons of natural yoghurt. It was a healthy meal and very filling; it just didn't equate to a huge number of Calories

Weight loss is really just a side-effect of the eating regime. The main idea is actually those benefits that you admit that you can't see! How about ... lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, reducing the risk of heart disease, stimulating the body's cellular repair processes, helping to prevent cancer, improving brain health including reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer's, and ... living longer? (LINK) Sounds good to me, and I feel good too!

 

[The Jogger]

What I said in fewer words agrees with your post and the link you supplied CJ. Just fewer words

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

I’ve lost 5 st in 11 months. I did this to become more healthy. My goal is to be healthy, part of which is not being overweight.

It’s all about getting into new habits.

I changed my diet to smaller portions, eat mostly fruit, vegetables and chicken/turkey plus fish. I allow myself a KitKat every day (which is far better than the SIX chocolate bars a day I used to eat! I haven’t drunk alcohol in over 10 years and don’t smoke or anything like that. People ask if I miss alcohol, but to be honest, to me, it would be weird to drink it. Plus with one of the conditions I’ve got, it would take me a week or more to get over drinking a couple of pints. I’ve cut out all cake, biscuits and anything like that and do not miss it at all. Get into the routine and habit of automatically saying no when offered, and it’s easy. If I get the munchies then an orange, apple or banana is always there waiting. Get into the habit of going straight to the fruit bowl or fridge when you get hungry and not the cupboard filled with chocolate and crap. If you live alone or with just your partner then I imagine it would be easier as you can throw out the chocolate. If like me, you have kids then it’s more difficult. However, one good side effect of me eating healthily is that of being a good role model. My kids (and wife) now eat less crap than they used to too.

I significantly and steadily increased my exercise going from nothing to walking between 8-10 miles per day. Once fit enough I started cycling again. Again gradually increasing the distance. At present I can cycle up 22 miles at a time. I won’t be happy until I reach 30 miles. Once I do reach that, I won’t be happy until I reach 40. Once I reach... well, you get the idea. It’s going to be harder to do all this during winter as the cold seriously increases the amount of pain I get. I’ve got to work out what I can do about this. Cycling is not bad as I warm up with the activity. Just worried about coming off my bike on ice as it would stop me cycling for a week or more which equals less exercise.

My parents asked me what size waist I was trying to reach. I flippantly answered 30” and got a lecture (apparently I’m not to old for lectures). I clarified by saying I’m not trying to reach a specific waist size. I’m trying to be healthy. Losing weight is a side effect, but losing too much weight would be unhealthy too.

I like to think all this isn’t bad for someone with three chronic disabilities. I certainly feel better now than I have done in the last 10 years or more. What also helped is stopping taking the medication the doctor had me on. Tramadol, pregabalin (pain relief) and mirtazapine (anti-depressant) made me far worse. And I feel the same amount of pain now as I did when I was taking the tablets regularly. Plus my memory works now too (more or less - birthdays and anniversaries don’t count ). These tablets have a bad effect on memory and can cause problems with concentration.

I feel I should apologise to you all now. I started off talking about losing weight and you get my life story. I do think that being healthy and losing weight aren’t quite the same thing. Also, you cannot do either simply by ‘dieting’. It’s a whole life approach. If you’re not prepared to change then you won’t become healthy and subsequently lose weight. We are what we eat and do.