uluchay

In the last couple years I have lost around 25 kg (that's about 55 lbs) and I feel much better now.

I now have much narrower calves, ankles, hips, arms, shoulders, neck and whatnot. I have almost zero love-handles, visible collarbones and everything. I do, however have a good amount of belly fat still intact. It sure is much less than before but it's still there.

I am 1.80m tall (5'11") at some point I was 106 kg (234 lbs) and I now weigh roughly 80-81 kg (178 lbs). I know it's completely BS but my BMI is 24,9 which is just below the overweight threshold. I'm not into six-packs or 18% body fat or whatever. I just want this thing completely gone.

Is there something I'm missing? I'm doing a fair amount of cardio workouts (bike & run) and I do not overeat.


PS: I am on a LCHF diet and it seems to work well. Please do not try to convince me to change my diet.

Machka 

BMI is not completely BS.

How much alcohol do you consume?

And ... while your diet may have worked well for a while, perhaps it is time for a change?? More veggies?

Coachtj Cormier

Spot reducing is not going to happen. The place you want to lose fat is normally the last place you will lose fat from.
It has a lot to do with genetics and such. Your body stores fat where it wants to your's has chosen your belly.
It means that you still have a long way to go.
I assume LCHF= Low CHO High FAT Diet. Is this something that was recommended by a Doc, RD, or nutritionist? If not that would be where I would start, these types of diets(& diets in general) are not very good.
You may not be getting enough CHO in your diet to use as much FAT. You need CHO to burn FAT otherwise your system will 'save" FAT and use other sub-strates for fuel.
Side note for active people BMI is BS it doesn't work very well.

lenA

Congrats on your LCHF success.

I've lost 80# (same way of eating)

Are you sure it is not mostly skin? I'm 67 and probably don't have the elasticity for all that stretched out skin to return to normal.

uluchay

To some extent it is not. At some point it is. Trackies (Sir Chris Hoy is obese for example), track converted cyclists and sprinters are usually considered to have overweight BMI. Check this graph about the comparison of BMI of TdF riders and NBA players.



Almost none and when I do, I try to chose drinks without sugar (wine, champagne, gin).

My diet is rich on vegetables but I should eat a bit more you're right.

uluchay

LCHF stands for Low Carb, High Fat. It is the official recommended diet by the Swedish Ministry of Health. In the past my nutritionist offered me a high carb low fat (complete opposite) diet which works at first but starves you to death and is not sustainable. LCHF is a much more sustainable diet.

I'm just trying to limit my carb intake, I'm not completely avoiding carbs but limit them to about 10%. Fat is my primary source of energy and the my body knows how to burn fat.

If you want to know more about Low Carb diets I strongly recommend you to watch the "Fat Head" documentary. It's on youtube.

Ursa Minor

Congrats on your LCHF success. I've been on LCHF for 3 years now and am very happy with it.
Lost 143 pounds so far and I have lots of energy. However I do have saggy skin around my belly
but o well.

Charlie

uluchay

Congrats to you too! Always happy to see a fellow Low Carber.

Well I have to say your theory is interesting. It's true that after a fast weight loss I have skin cracks all over the place (even in my calves) and the skin I'm wearing is a bit oversize at the moment.

Is there a way to know if it's excess skin or fat? Because if it's skin it's a thick one!

uluchay

Congrats to you too. 143 pounds wow!

I know in some cases people need surgery to lose excess skin (hope that's not your case) but I don't think I do.

BTW, did you reach your goal weight and still have a belly or do you still have some more to go?

Machka 

Thanks, but no. We've got a great big thread about all that stuff:
https://www.bikeforums.net/training-n...heck-here.html

Coachtj Cormier

Not convinced. Most "peer reviewed research doesn't back it up at all ((very)short trem maybe)
To try an exercise on a diet of under 10%CHO is not good either,not to mention that your brain runs on Glucose and need about 500Cal/day from CHO just to function.
You won't be able to do any real higher intensity work (Need CHO for that) won't be able to add much muscle as you're probably using more PRO for fuel (then FAT) so it's not going to muscle repair/growth, also probably not able to produce much in the way of HGH, or Test.
So if you take those points you're BMI is probaly correct as Muscle mass is down. A good indicator would be getting a "true" measure of body fat(using a bod pod DEXA, or Claipers (done by some one with alot of experience). Your blood work must be all over the place with that type of diet HighLDL, Colesterol and such. Though exercise will help.
It's really just basic nutrition stuff well documented and what's taught in many uni/college programs, and back by science. That's great that you were able to drop that weight butI would think that youreally haven't changed body comp much at all.

uluchay

Yeah I know that thread. Big fan!

Ursa Minor

Thanks. No I still have about 50 pounds to lose so most of my belly fat is just that. Started out
at 352 and this morning I weighed 209. I want to get down to 162 = my old high school weight.

Charlie

CharlyAlfaRomeo

I have a couple of questions. You say you don't overheat, are you ever out of breath? If you've been doing the same type of workouts for a couple of years your body has become well adapted to it. Time to up the intensity a bunch, with your doctor's ok of course. You'll need to up your carb I take to pull this off.

My second question is do you lift weights? If you haven't been lifting during this period of extreme weight loss then a good percentage of it was probably lean muscle mass. More muscle = more calories burned even while sedentary. Make sure you're getting enough protein or you'll be zoning your wheels.

Dave Cutter

I am a cyclist first and foremost! So don't get me wrong... I am not advocating weight lifting or any such thing. But a soft middle.... may be exactly as it seems. Bicycling will not firm-up a weak core. I started a 20 minute core and upper body work-out this past winter, mostly to get me active in the mornings.

I do a half dozen dumbbell exercises, some calisthenics, push-ups, setups, and some resistance stuff. Even though I am an old retired guy I got really good results with firming and added muscle. And... an unexpected bonus... less back problems and more flexibility.

uluchay

o·ver·eat Verb (used without object): to eat too much.

o·ver·heat Verb (used without object): to become too hot.

Subtle differences...

When I work out I run out of breath and sweat a fair amount, especially when riding.

I personally HATE lifting weights. I don't have a problem with my protein intake. It is true to a point that I have lost some muscle weight alongside with fat. I didn't have a lot upper body strength and don't have it now either but my legs are OK. I used to do sit-ups and squads but maybe I should do some more core body exercises.

Since I hate going to the gym I guess I better sign up for the swimming pool.

uluchay

You're absolutely right. Core body exercises are crucial.

I think I'll just start swimming again.

CbadRider

^^This. I am female and when I was younger and gained weight it went to my rear and upper thighs. Now that I'm older and my body chemistry/hormones have changed a bit, any extra weight goes to my midsection instead.


^^And this.

A question for the OP: stand in front of a mirror, roll your shoulders back, straighten your spine and tighten your stomach muscles. Do you see much of a difference in your midsection profile? Weak muscles and poor posture can make your stomach hang out more.

uluchay

I see a significant difference but I don't really know how much difference is too much. I had really bad posture in the past and I could say running helped me a lot to correct my posture and spinal awareness (I totally made that up) in general.

/*DISCLAIMER FOR SENSITIVE PEOPLE*/

I took some pictures. Won't put them here, just the links.
No one has to see my body so click at your own risk:

/*DISCLAIMER FOR SENSITIVE PEOPLE*/

Completely tucked in:
https://i.imgur.com/jeMM4rJ.jpg

Normal:
https://i.imgur.com/mAgP3J0.jpg

Pushed as far as I could:
https://i.imgur.com/JZGSjZ7.jpg

Sixty Fiver

Looking good.

My wife and I also practice LCHF and she lost 50 pounds between August and February of this year, stalled a bit when her thyroid medications were changed, and now that those are starting to balance out she has probably lost another 5-10 pounds and is shapelier than ever.

I started this 2 years ago to lose 15 pounds and the last place it left was my belly, all the core workouts I do to help my back did not do a lot to give me this six pack as I was doing those before... it was all diet.

Planks are one of the best core exercises ever developed and this will increase core strength and muscle but it is not going to burn off a lot of fat as it is anaerobic exercise, the fat will have to get burned off and diet is 80% of that.

For the poster who said that this kind of diet will mess up your numbers... evidence and research would suggest that reducing carbs will not do anything but improve lipid profiles as it is the carbs that throw those out of whack because of the insulin response.

My wife and I both have paper perfect numbers and mine only got better when I adopted this way of eating.

CharlyAlfaRomeo

Thats what I get for posting too early in the morning.

Many way my comment regarding protein intake went hand in hand with strength training. If you lift you'll have to eat more protein.

FWIW swimming is not a substitute for lifting. You'll see some small gains in upper body strength and maybe a little mass but you're just adding another endurance exercise to the pile.

If you really want to get rid of that belly you may have to nut up and do something you don't necessarily enjoy.

squirtdad

A lot of current research is suggesting that intervals are helpful for lots of things like getting over plateau's and fat loss There are about a million different types of inttervals out there but here is a totally simple one (meaning I can remember it easily)

2 min warm up

30 sec as hard as you can go
1 min 30 sec easy.

repeat for a total of 8 times

2 minute cool down

20 min total.

Weatherby

Congrats on the weight loss but you are still heavy.

Lose 20-30 more pounds and the gut will disappear. A normal weight for your size is probably 140-155#

Carbonfiberboy 

Belly fat is just fat. LCHF dieters lose weight easily on an ad libitum diet because fats satisfy hunger long term. Be that as it may, Coach Cormier is correct. Fat burns in a carbohydrate flame:
A Simplified Description of Low-Carb Diets
Fat Burning Process | LIVESTRONG.COM

To lose more fat may entail getting fitter. You won't be able to do intervals, lift weights easily, or do other high intensity exercise without upping your carb intake. I have had a tendency to do long hard group rides for about the past 15 years. I've ridden with hundreds of other riders. I've met no (that would be zero) riders who can ride like that on a LC diet.

A HCLF diet is also not indicated unless one is racing long distance. There is a happy medium. Eat enough carbs so that you can go out and do hill repeats a couple times a week and a 4 hour ride in the hills on the weekends without getting particularly winded or being particularly slower than other riders. You'll know you're eating enough if, with practice, you can do that. The lower limit is probably around 40% carbs, including fruit and veggies. You might enjoy lifting weights if you had the carb metabolism to allow it to be fun. Be sure to eat carbs on the bike, around 60g/hr. for someone your size. Otherwise it's all otherwise. You can eat all the carbs you need, as long as you burn them in exercise. You'll be calorie negative and will lose fat and gain a little muscle.

For core work without the gym, the best thing I've encountered is Core Advantage.

BigAura

+1

Were you fit at 21-25 years old, and did you have a flat stomach? If so, what did you weigh then? I'm 5'11 and used to keep my weight around 175 lbs, in my later years, forgetting that when I was 21, I weighed 162. At 175 I had some belly fat. Then it dawned on me, I should weigh 162 lbs, as I did at 21!