Who Here Has Gone From Having Belly Fat To Having A Flat Stomach?

[Nebula]

Cool. Is that fat from the belly, hips, and lower back/sides or just the belly? I could probably deal with a bit of belly fat; it's the love handles I hate. You can see them through my shirt if I turn or bend over. Very unattractive for a young male.

The reduction seems to have happened everywhere fairly quickly so I think it was mostly inflammation/water.

 

[thisoldtown1978]

The reduction seems to have happened everywhere fairly quickly so I think it was mostly inflammation/water.

That's positive. How much of this do you attribute to the [edit]magnesium succinate?

 

[Ron J]

Thanks, Ron. Do you experience with this process? Have you vanquished your belly fat, going from fat to flat?

Never had a protruded gut/a lot of abdominal fat. I thought I had slightly more lower ab fat, but it may just have been my bad posture(with forward head) distorting my perception. I'm currently very lean, so there isn't much body fat anywhere. Before leaning out I was leaner than most 25+year-old men I come across, yet I lost a considerable amount of size.

 

[rei]

\o_

 

[ecstatichamster]

I have a belly and not sure why. I guess I could lose 20 pounds or so. I find it very, very difficult to lose any fat at all.

I think one reason is that I have an ambiguous feeling about losing fat. I don’t want to become unhealthy and I think losing fat can result in health issues. I’m very concerned about that. So as a result perhaps of that concern, I haven’t lose any.

 

[ecstatichamster]

One more thing — how old are you?

I think that’s crucial.

I’m almost 60. I see most people my age have a pot belly, or worse. I have high testosterone, good health, I don’t take anything or need anything other than thyroid at the moment.

If you are 25 and lost a belly, I’m not impressed. If you are 60, that’s more impressive. I could easily lose fat at 25, but not now.

 

[Broken man]

That's interesting - I'm guessing succinic acid is based on the hypothesis that gut bacteria contributes to weight gain? Can you attribute your weight loss to the succinic acid?

No, succinic acid improves bowel movements, stomach acid and cellular respiration, also your microbiome profile so you will be more resillient and energic.

 

[EmptyCalories]

I think Ron is right on. We are, optimally, quite lean animals. When I've had excess weight, I've always "worn it well" such that outside observers don't see me as fat, but the pants and shirts (neck) get tight. As I lean out, I lose fat all over -- the belly gets smaller proportionally but doesn't disappear until I'm very lean everywhere. I look "smaller" but strength is same (if same exercise regime). Some people think they're losing muscle but it is just body fat in places they think are healthy extra size.

Bottom line -- if you still have a belly, lose more weight. IMO, forget the "hormonal" theories of excess weight placement.

 

[cdg]

I lost 30 kg of weight during 3 months, I still have abdominal fat and some chest fat but its disappearing. I am taking succinic acid and focusing on improving bile throough taurine and androsterone. Dont train hard, good sleeping patterns and calcium are also important.

Where can you get succinic acid? Thanks

 

[baccheion]

The fastest and most effective way to lose weight is an extended water fast (with days without water to add in some 3-5 day dry fasts). It even tends to prevent loose/sagging skin.

I suppose fasting isn't really for weight loss, as a lot of it comes back. But that "a lot" is mainly relevant to shorter fasts and poor breaking of the fast.

 

[Inaut]

I take quite a few supplements but one thing I attribute to reduction of belly fat and development of abs is rebounding. Overall my muscles are firmer and i think my rebounding routine 30-50 minutes a day spread out is a big factor (in addition to my diet and weight training -but no cardio)

 

[olive]

The fastest and most effective way to lose weight is an extended water fast (with days without water to add in some 3-5 day dry fasts). It even tends to prevent loose/sagging skin.

I suppose fasting isn't really for weight loss, as a lot of it comes back. But that "a lot" is mainly relevant to shorter fasts and poor breaking of the fast.

This is good advice but I wouldn’t recommend fasts longer than 5 days unless specifically chasing autophagy benefits. Studies show a marked reduction in T3 after that point, probably a mechanism to prevent muscle atrophy. 5 days fasting, followed by large carb refeed, 4 days at TDEE, repeating until at desired bodyfat. Seems to be the best strategy for long term fat loss. Low volume, heavy full body workouts 2-3 times a week to encourage muscle preservation. Sauna use during fasting periods for the same reason.

 

[Broken man]

Where can you get succinic acid? Thanks

Here: Succinic acid (Butanedioic acid)- 99.5% pure p.a powder 50-100-200-800g 110-15-6 | eBay

 

[cdg]

Here: Succinic acid (Butanedioic acid)- 99.5% pure p.a powder 50-100-200-800g 110-15-6 | eBay

Many thanks

 

[belcanto]

Here: Succinic acid (Butanedioic acid)- 99.5% pure p.a powder 50-100-200-800g 110-15-6 | eBay

What is your succinic acid protocol? I have this powder too but am unsure how to use it! Thanks.

 

[Hans]

The fastest and most effective way to lose weight is an extended water fast (with days without water to add in some 3-5 day dry fasts). It even tends to prevent loose/sagging skin.

I suppose fasting isn't really for weight loss, as a lot of it comes back. But that "a lot" is mainly relevant to shorter fasts and poor breaking of the fast.

During short term fasting about 80% of the weight loss (excluding the water loss) is from muscles mass.

 

[Hans]

This is good advice but I wouldn’t recommend fasts longer than 5 days unless specifically chasing autophagy benefits. Studies show a marked reduction in T3 after that point, probably a mechanism to prevent muscle atrophy. 5 days fasting, followed by large carb refeed, 4 days at TDEE, repeating until at desired bodyfat. Seems to be the best strategy for long term fat loss. Low volume, heavy full body workouts 2-3 times a week to encourage muscle preservation. Sauna use during fasting periods for the same reason.

Thyroid and having a fast metabolism increases cellular turnover a.k.a. mitochondrial biogenesis, fusion, fission, autophagy. Foods and carbs are needed for this. A good nights rest is enough to promote autophagy and research doesn't show that long term fasting is any better at it.

I personally think that 5 days of fasting followed by a carb refeed and a 4 day maintenance will only slow down metabolism, shoot hunger and fatigue through the roof and reduce adherence significantly. After losing a few pounds together will all your motivation will make you ditch that diet in no time, overfeed like crazy and gain it all back and maybe a little more.
Are you suggesting training while fasted?

 

[olive]

Thyroid and having a fast metabolism increases cellular turnover a.k.a. mitochondrial biogenesis, fusion, fission, autophagy. Foods and carbs are needed for this. A good nights rest is enough to promote autophagy and research doesn't show that long term fasting is any better at it.

I personally think that 5 days of fasting followed by a carb refeed and a 4 day maintenance will only slow down metabolism, shoot hunger and fatigue through the roof and reduce adherence significantly. After losing a few pounds together will all your motivation will make you ditch that diet in no time, overfeed like crazy and gain it all back and maybe a little more.
Are you suggesting training while fasted?

Autophagy is a complex biological system. The longer the fast, the more complex it gets. Studies show the autophagy process progresses through a fasting period. It takes many days of fasting before certain processes begin, modulation of the immune system for example.

I won’t bother replying to the second paragraph because your response is full of assumptions.

Yes, I suggest high intensity but low volume training while fasted in order to encourage the preservation of muscle tissue, there’s a myriad of studies that have come to this as the best possible course of action. If you are in a caloric deficit and you are not actively using your muscle tissue the body will see it as low priority and catabolise the tissue for energy very quickly. This can be seen in metabolic ward patients over and over again.
So for example, 2-3 times a week you’d go in and do 1 set of 80% of your 1RM for 3-5 reps on squat, deadlift (or RDL) and bench.

 

[Broken man]

What is your succinic acid protocol? I have this powder too but am unsure how to use it! Thanks.

Amber acid for weight loss: user manual and reviews | Competently about health on iLive read here as much as you can, there is more articles about it.

 

[Hans]

Autophagy is a complex biological system. The longer the fast, the more complex it gets. Studies show the autophagy process progresses through a fasting period. It takes many days of fasting before certain processes begin, modulation of the immune system for example.

True, but has fasting been shown in humans to extend lifespan. Acute short term fasting has been shown to solve health issues, but is regular fasting necessary and/or beneficial? Generally not.

I won’t bother replying to the second paragraph because your response is full of assumptions.

It wasn't meant to be full of assumptions, it's merely based on a large number of anecdotal evidence (as there are no studies on that protocol). Extreme dieting protocols, including fasting, have been shown to be very unsuccessful in the long term. Most people would find fasting for 5 days very tough, not even to mention doing it repeatitively with minimal breaks. Have you personally done this spesific protocol or know of people who did it with great success and maintained that success in the long run (without using anabolics or sarms etc.)?
You said: "Seems to be the best strategy for long term fat loss". I'm sure if it was so successful people would be all over it. I'm not saying it hasn't worked for anyone... it probably has, but I wouldn't bet on it having a positive effect long-term.

Yes, I suggest high intensity but low volume training while fasted in order to encourage the preservation of muscle tissue, there’s a myriad of studies that have come to this as the best possible course of action. If you are in a caloric deficit and you are not actively using your muscle tissue the body will see it as low priority and catabolise the tissue for energy very quickly. This can be seen in metabolic ward patients over and over again.
So for example, 2-3 times a week you’d go in and do 1 set of 80% of your 1RM for 3-5 reps on squat, deadlift (or RDL) and bench.

Yes, training does encourage muscle mass retention, but during a fast, it might not mean anything. Your body needs glucose from somewhere and if it's not entirely going to come from muscle, it's going to come from organs and other tissue that contain amino acids. Furthermore, training in a fasted state significantly increases the cortisol to testosterone ratio, and given that you won't be eating afterwards it will keep that ratio sky high for days. Ketones might spare protein to a degree but ketones take many days to rise to a meaningful level. Hence, people lose the most amount of muscle in short term fasts. But even if someone eventually reaches their goal weight, they'll be "skinny fat" due to significant muscle loss.

I've done a lot of different kinds of fasts before and some had good short-term effects but non of them were sustainable and non of them came without the cost of losing a bit to a lot of muscle mass. I haven't done an exact fast like this before but I'm sure I wouldn't want to try it either.