Anyone Shed Their Belly-hip Fat?

[thisoldtown1978]

What lifestyle and diet changes made the biggest difference?

If anyone has any pics to show the change, that’d be very interesting :)

 

[sladerunner69]

I'm attempting to do so via an ad-hoc headstart on a new years resolution, pre-emptively. No results yet to speak of, but spirits are high!

 

[brix]

What lifestyle and diet changes made the biggest difference?

If anyone has any pics to show the change, that’d be very interesting :)

Alcohol and complex carbs seems to be the killer for me.

 

[Jez]

@tca300 is the go to guy for this. I got good results dropped 4kg in a few months nice and slow weight loss was the best in think and @ecstatichamster has posted about this.
I just went low fat 20g fat a day and all the usual peat foods. skim milk, gelatin, fresh or good quality oj, fruit, honey, pure casein, pastured egg one a day main fats was hydro coconut or mct and low to no starch. I'll do a longer run on this in the new year but anticipate 6 months to get to a bf 20 % that I'm after I'm not concerned with being super lean at this stage.

also lowering estrogen and raising androgens helped me. @haiduts androsterone and pansterone was great for lab numbers and feeling better.

carrot salad daily and regular well cooked mushrooms along with aspirin and cascara have been awesome

 

[thisoldtown1978]

@tca300 is the go to guy for this. I got good results dropped 4kg in a few months nice and slow weight loss was the best in think and @ecstatichamster has posted about this.
I just went low fat 20g fat a day and all the usual peat foods. skim milk, gelatin, fresh or good quality oj, fruit, honey, pure casein, pastured egg one a day main fats was hydro coconut or mct and low to no starch. I'll do a longer run on this in the new year but anticipate 6 months to get to a bf 20 % that I'm after I'm not concerned with being super lean at this stage.

also lowering estrogen and raising androgens helped me. @haiduts androsterone and pansterone was great for lab numbers and feeling better.

carrot salad daily and regular well cooked mushrooms along with aspirin and cascara have been awesome

Cheers guys. @Jez do you think low starch is key to this working for you? I was finding it damn near impossible to get enough calories on low fat and low starch. Well cooked potatoes and rice have no place in this?

 

[Jez]

yeah not for me, this is a huge debate on this forum lol but I guess it's individual I used to do more starch initially when I was starting out improving my health but now feel great on very little and prefer fruit. it's all trial and error @Westside PUFAs is a supporter of starch and low fat I hope he might chime in. Also I'm not currently doing any serious training so am fine on 120g protein as gelatin is my main source and eat alot of skim milk, oj, coffee, oranges, mangos, lychees, cherries, melons etc prob eat between 2500 to 2700 Cal's and just maintaining Weight it's hard for me to stick to that I could easily eat 3k+ Cal's a day

 

[DuggaDugga]

I would seek to lower cortisol, estrogen, and the stress hormones in general which are known to increase adipose accumulation, especially in the abdomen.
I doubt starches would be much of an issue if consumed well-cooked, in moderation, with saturated fat, and ideally some sort of fructose to mediate the insulin response. Increasing muscle mass through non-stressful weight lifting would be beneficial as myocytes primarily oxidize fat at rest. Lowering fat will decrease aromatase expression, sparing unnecessary exposure to adipogenesis-promoting estrogens. Once you get going the weight should come off easy. I maintain a 6-pack lifting weights every other day and eating plenty of food in general, but especially protein and carbs.

Stress and abdominal Fat: Preliminary Evidence of Moderation by the Cortisol awakening Response in Hispanic Peripubertal Girls
Is visceral obesity a physiological adaptation to stress? - PubMed - NCBI
Chronic stress, visceral obesity and gonadal dysfunction. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[thisoldtown1978]

I would seek to lower cortisol, estrogen, and the stress hormones in general which are known to increase adipose accumulation, especially in the abdomen.
I doubt starches would be much of an issue if consumed well-cooked, in moderation, with saturated fat, and ideally some sort of fructose to mediate the insulin response. Increasing muscle mass through non-stressful weight lifting would be beneficial as myocytes primarily oxidize fat at rest. Lowering fat will decrease aromatase expression, sparing unnecessary exposure to adipogenesis-promoting estrogens. Once you get going the weight should come off easy. I maintain a 6-pack lifting weights every other day and eating plenty of food in general, but especially protein and carbs.

Stress and abdominal Fat: Preliminary Evidence of Moderation by the Cortisol awakening Response in Hispanic Peripubertal Girls
Is visceral obesity a physiological adaptation to stress? - PubMed - NCBI
Chronic stress, visceral obesity and gonadal dysfunction. - PubMed - NCBI

Do you have any tips for non-stressful weight lifting? Slow reps heavy weights? Making sure you don’t get out of breath?

 

[cyclops]

I doubt starches would be much of an issue if consumed well-cooked, in moderation, with saturated fat, and ideally some sort of fructose to mediate the insulin response.

I know Peat recommends eating a good amount of fat with starch, but I wouldn't if you're trying to lose fat. Maybe eat it with fructose and some fiber. Maybe a little coconut oil. Low fat for the win baby.

 

[thisoldtown1978]

@Jez haha yeah I’m well aware of the debate. But it’s interesting to hear it in the context of different health objectives.

Keeping protein high is another struggle for me, especially whilst trying to avoid muscle meat, fat, and too much fluid.

I remember Peat saying he “didn’t feel right” when he doesn’t get enough protein, but do you have any experience with what he means?

 

[cyclops]

I remember Peat saying he “didn’t feel right” when he doesn’t get enough protein, but do you have any experience with what he means?

I think he becomes more liberal if he doesn't get enough.

 

[DuggaDugga]

Do you have any tips for non-stressful weight lifting? Slow reps heavy weights? Making sure you don’t get out of breath?

Slow reps with heavy weights is what works for me. I think exercise is stressful when it removes you from oxidative metabolism, as indicated by loss of breath (as you mentioned) and lactic acid build up. Cold hands and feet are likely signs of adrenaline/cortisol.
I think it's also helpful to think about what you can do after working out to promote fast recovery and prevention of more latent stress. There's a decent body of evidence that intense and extended bouts of exercise can cause oxidative stress due to the spike in ROS extending beyond your body's ability to manage it. So, promoting good glutathione status (glycine, carb consumption to support the pentose phosphate pathway) and having sufficient dietary vitamin E are things one might consider.
Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress: Cellular Mechanisms and Impact on Muscle Force Production
In the past I've made the mistake of not increasing my protein intake sufficiently with exercise, and I would tend to get anxious, have acne breakouts, and accumulate fat around my midsection. Supporting anabolic processes like muscle growth obviously require more protein, and I think we compromise the liver's ability to produce CoQ10 as well as SBHG and ablumin to manage stress hormones, when we don't up protein accordingly.
Liver disease and protein needs. - PubMed - NCBI
I would seek to get enough zinc and retinol as well. I try to eat ripe fruit directly after work out to replenish hepatic glycogen for many reasons. Let your appetite drive how much food you eat. When hungry, go for it.

If you're still sore it's worth avoiding those muscle groups and maybe any sort of lifting. I think the whole "no pain, no gain" thing is antithetical to well-being in general, including body composition.

I know Peat recommends eating a good amount of fat with starch, but I wouldn't if you're trying to lose
fat. Maybe eat it with fructose and some fiber. Maybe a little coconut oil. Low fat for the win baby.

I don't really eat fat except what's contained in dairy products or the butter and coconut oil I cook with. I don't think it's worth obsessively avoiding fat since the heart, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue burn it preferentially. I do agree with you there's no reason to just eat fat though. the body can synthesize saturated fats with carbs. It's a matter of balance.
Fatty acid metabolism in adipose tissue, muscle and liver in health and disease. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Stilgar]

I have lost quite a lot of body fat recently being careful with my gut. Cascara, carrots, lots of espresso and cream and having potato juice and mushroom soup rather than a meal when I am not hungry or my gut seems aggravated.

 

[Regina]

Slow reps with heavy weights is what works for me. I think exercise is stressful when it removes you from oxidative metabolism, as indicated by loss of breath (as you mentioned) and lactic acid build up. Cold hands and feet are likely signs of adrenaline/cortisol.
I think it's also helpful to think about what you can do after working out to promote fast recovery and prevention of more latent stress. There's a decent body of evidence that intense and extended bouts of exercise can cause oxidative stress due to the spike in ROS extending beyond your body's ability to manage it. So, promoting good glutathione status (glycine, carb consumption to support the pentose phosphate pathway) and having sufficient dietary vitamin E are things one might consider.
Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress: Cellular Mechanisms and Impact on Muscle Force Production
In the past I've made the mistake of not increasing my protein intake sufficiently with exercise, and I would tend to get anxious, have acne breakouts, and accumulate fat around my midsection. Supporting anabolic processes like muscle growth obviously require more protein, and I think we compromise the liver's ability to produce CoQ10 as well as SBHG and ablumin to manage stress hormones, when we don't up protein accordingly.
Liver disease and protein needs. - PubMed - NCBI
I would seek to get enough zinc and retinol as well. I try to eat ripe fruit directly after work out to replenish hepatic glycogen for many reasons. Let your appetite drive how much food you eat. When hungry, go for it.

If you're still sore it's worth avoiding those muscle groups and maybe any sort of lifting. I think the whole "no pain, no gain" thing is antithetical to well-being in general, including body composition.


I don't really eat fat except what's contained in dairy products or the butter and coconut oil I cook with. I don't think it's worth obsessively avoiding fat since the heart, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue burn it preferentially. I do agree with you there's no reason to just eat fat though. the body can synthesize saturated fats with carbs. It's a matter of balance.
Fatty acid metabolism in adipose tissue, muscle and liver in health and disease. - PubMed - NCBI

Great post DuggaDugga! (and Aurelius quote)!

 

[schultz]

What lifestyle and diet changes made the biggest difference?

If anyone has any pics to show the change, that’d be very interesting :)

I started a cut in September (the 4th of Sept I think it was). I took a break in November for 2-1/2 weeks or so but have lost about 25.5lbs so far. I plan on continuing until I am lean and then I am going to do a slow bulk. My plan was to go to 175lbs then reassess. I should reach that by April or May. I think people tend to have more fat than they think so I'll have to see what I look like at that weight. "Bulking" is what caused me to gain weight last time and although I gained some nice muscle, I also gained quite a bit of fat which I was not impressed with. What actually happened is that I up'd my calories and was working out pretty hard then got a sore back from carrying my daughter around all day at a wedding so I stopped working out but kept eating a lot. Good times.

I did take before pics and I think I did measurements as well. I may end up posting them...

In my experience if you want to lose bodyfat then you should log your food intake. I don't like guessing so if I am going to bother trying to lose fat then I will make sure that I actually lose consistently. I like aiming for 1-2lbs a week. If the weight is too slow to come off I get bored and if it comes off too quickly then it's probably stressful.

Do you have any tips for non-stressful weight lifting? Slow reps heavy weights? Making sure you don’t get out of breath?

Pavel Tsatsouline has solid routines in my opinion. They seem to jive with the kind of training people tend to recommend around here. They are best if you have weights at home since some of the routines are 5 days a week. For hypertrophy I really like Escalating Density Training by Charles Staley (Pavel has even recommended this routine). I am no expert at training or anything though.

 

[Lurker]

Do you have any tips for non-stressful weight lifting? Slow reps heavy weights? Making sure you don’t get out of breath?

I started a cut in September (the 4th of Sept I think it was). I took a break in November for 2-1/2 weeks or so but have lost about 25.5lbs so far. I plan on continuing until I am lean and then I am going to do a slow bulk. My plan was to go to 175lbs then reassess. I should reach that by April or May. I think people tend to have more fat than they think so I'll have to see what I look like at that weight. "Bulking" is what caused me to gain weight last time and although I gained some nice muscle, I also gained quite a bit of fat which I was not impressed with. What actually happened is that I up'd my calories and was working out pretty hard then got a sore back from carrying my daughter around all day at a wedding so I stopped working out but kept eating a lot. Good times.

I did take before pics and I think I did measurements as well. I may end up posting them...

In my experience if you want to lose bodyfat then you should log your food intake. I don't like guessing so if I am going to bother trying to lose fat then I will make sure that I actually lose consistently. I like aiming for 1-2lbs a week. If the weight is too slow to come off I get bored and if it comes off too quickly then it's probably stressful.



Pavel Tsatsouline has solid routines in my opinion. They seem to jive with the kind of training people tend to recommend around here. They are best if you have weights at home since some of the routines are 5 days a week. For hypertrophy I really like Escalating Density Training by Charles Staley (Pavel has even recommended this routine). I am no expert at training or anything though.

Pavel and Dan John have a good book called Easy Strength that is focused on frequent low to mid weight strength training with intuitive progression. The emphasis is on habitually doing the work not on exactly how much you lift. Also kettlebell workouts in general are great for fat loss. You want to do explosive compound movements, not long duration and not heavy.

 

[superhuman]

find out your maintenance calorie intake. Drop that with 10 or 20%, start walk a bit more. Do some strength training. Eat Peaty foods with focus on low fat

 

[YourUniverse]

Slow reps with heavy weights is what works for me. I think exercise is stressful when it removes you from oxidative metabolism, as indicated by loss of breath (as you mentioned) and lactic acid build up. Cold hands and feet are likely signs of adrenaline/cortisol.
I think it's also helpful to think about what you can do after working out to promote fast recovery and prevention of more latent stress. There's a decent body of evidence that intense and extended bouts of exercise can cause oxidative stress due to the spike in ROS extending beyond your body's ability to manage it. So, promoting good glutathione status (glycine, carb consumption to support the pentose phosphate pathway) and having sufficient dietary vitamin E are things one might consider.
Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress: Cellular Mechanisms and Impact on Muscle Force Production
In the past I've made the mistake of not increasing my protein intake sufficiently with exercise, and I would tend to get anxious, have acne breakouts, and accumulate fat around my midsection. Supporting anabolic processes like muscle growth obviously require more protein, and I think we compromise the liver's ability to produce CoQ10 as well as SBHG and ablumin to manage stress hormones, when we don't up protein accordingly.
Liver disease and protein needs. - PubMed - NCBI
I would seek to get enough zinc and retinol as well. I try to eat ripe fruit directly after work out to replenish hepatic glycogen for many reasons. Let your appetite drive how much food you eat. When hungry, go for it.

If you're still sore it's worth avoiding those muscle groups and maybe any sort of lifting. I think the whole "no pain, no gain" thing is antithetical to well-being in general, including body composition.


I don't really eat fat except what's contained in dairy products or the butter and coconut oil I cook with. I don't think it's worth obsessively avoiding fat since the heart, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue burn it preferentially. I do agree with you there's no reason to just eat fat though. the body can synthesize saturated fats with carbs. It's a matter of balance.
Fatty acid metabolism in adipose tissue, muscle and liver in health and disease. - PubMed - NCBI

what are your protein sources, and how much protein do you get per day? Can you post your height and approx weight?

 

[DuggaDugga]

what are your protein sources, and how much protein do you get per day? Can you post your height and approx weight?

Grass fed beef, bone broth, gelatin snack, liver, eggs, oysters, cheese, and milk make up my protein sources. When I'm lifting weights I increase my meat and overall protein considerably. Without that anabolic stimulus I eat meat far less often and the other protein sources become more dominant. I pretty consistently drink a half gallon of grass fed milk a day. I'm frankly not sure how many grams of protein I eat. I let my appetite drive.
I'm 5'11, 160 lbs on the dot as of yesterday.

 

[thisoldtown1978]

Thanks @DuggaDugga that’s really interesting and helpful. I think I’ve been raised to believe that if you’re not hyperventilating and feeling like you’re going to burst, you’re not lifting heavy or fast enough. I’ll try to get used to more relaxed but focused reps.

@Stilgar I too have experienced similar in the past. Flawless digestion usually means weight loss for me. However, I’m having trouble figuring out exactly what causes my lapses. I think it could be psychological stress.

@schultz did you accompany this with any specific dietary changes? Or was it just calories in vs calories out?