'Soft' Body

[Peater]

I've always had a 'soft' looking body, even when I ate low-carb paleo, and even when I was a vegan training hard 3 - 4 times a week, weighing 74kg at 6ft tall, and have always had a bit of a belly, again even when training HARD.

I wonder what the causes could be, as RP makes me think it could be anything from high estrogen to liver function, thyroid function, gut flora...

I am currently experimenting with the aromatase inhibitor Aromasin/Exemastane as this has been safely trialled in men at 25mg a day, with beneficial affects.

For my liver, I have tried milk thistle but never noticed any difference. For my thyroid, years ago I took standard kelp tablets and then experimented with David Brownsteins ideas, although again I did not notice any difference. I eat sushi Nori now as a source of iodine.

For gut flora, I tried 'standard' probiotics, and then when I found out the milk-based ones can cause problems, tried PrescriptRX soil-based probiotics. These did seem to help gut function actually, but not the paunch. :)

I am wary of trying dessicated thyroid or any of the thyroid hormones due to mixed reactions I've read about on here.

I eat a lot of coconut oil, gelatin and avoid PUFAs as much as possible.

 

[Daimyo]

What's your temperature, pulse and diet like?

 

[Peater]

Good question Daimyo, I forgot about RP's main tenets being pulse and temp. I will check pulse tomorrow morning, and get a thermometer ordered.

Diet is mainly paleo based on RP, so gluten-free, plenty of coconut oil, occasional liver, gelatin and gelatinous meats like oxtail. Recently started having more sugar which is a hard change to get used to!

Like I say, my diet has changed drastically over the years and I have always felt somewhat...undefined!

 

[GAF]

Until December 2013, sometimes, I would be lovingly referred to as the Pillsbury doughboy because of my "soft" body. I never could achieve much muscle definition my whole life no matter the workout or weight lifting or what (I was 57 yrs old back then). I wasn't fat, just soft. For no particular reason, I happened to be in GNC and bought some 2.5 gram Glutamine Chews and I started popping 2 to 4 of those a day. About a month later, I looked at my biceps in the mirror, and then I flexed them, and then I flexed them again and then I said to myself, "Holy Arnold". Mind you, there was no weight lifting or really any unusual exercise going on. No change at all from the months before. So, like any good supplement taker, I immediately went back to GNC and bought all the bags they had and started upping the dosage. More and more muscle definition began appearing in my arms, forearms and legs and thighs and so on over the next few months. No other change in diet at the time.

This was pre-RP, so I did not know anything about a supposed glutamine feeding cancer connection at the time.

Anyway, update to today, I am 59 and never before have I had anywhere near the muscles I have now. Zero weight lifting or intense exercise. I am doing the same sports (wcs/country/ballroom dancing and golf) I did before and doing them at about the same rate, except that my speed and quickness and endurance is way way way up. Of course, the RP metabolic info has greatly enhanced the entire massive increase in functionality and I make sure I get plenty of protein and carb fuel and low fat, and I supplement with micronized glutamine powder 10-20g per day maybe once a week. I also do serotonin and prolactin lowering and dopamine increasing activities recommended here on the forum.

Nowadays, I goof on my pals who are workout freaks but have way less muscle definition than I - a person who hasn't been in a boring gym in a long long time.

Bottom line: In my experience, it is all about fluid compartmentalization. Moving some of that extracellular fluid into the muscles so they are bigger and properly hydrated and using high protein intake to keep the body in a positive nitrogen balance so all exercise is anabolic and not catabolic.

 

[CoolTweetPete]

Keep at it with adding sugar to your diet. I was on Tim Ferriss' slow carb diet, Paleo, then a Cyclical Ketogenic abomination which collectively wrecked my health. It took time (about 6 months) before I started feeling/seeing very obvious improvements in health.

Initially though, the added sugar improved my mood (this is a common experience for people on this forum) drastically, which I did not expect. That is what kept me going. If your temp / pulse rate are low, continuing to supplement with sugar, and maybe adding thyroid, aspirin, niacinamide, coffee may be warranted.

If you choose to continue exercising (Ray does not recommend it), you will also notice that you recover better on an RP diet, probably due to the anabolic nature of carbohydrate.

Good luck!

 

[ddjd]

I've always had a 'soft' looking body, even when I ate low-carb paleo, and even when I was a vegan training hard 3 - 4 times a week, weighing 74kg at 6ft tall, and have always had a bit of a belly, again even when training HARD.

I wonder what the causes could be, as RP makes me think it could be anything from high estrogen to liver function, thyroid function, gut flora...

I am currently experimenting with the aromatase inhibitor Aromasin/Exemastane as this has been safely trialled in men at 25mg a day, with beneficial affects.

For my liver, I have tried milk thistle but never noticed any difference. For my thyroid, years ago I took standard kelp tablets and then experimented with David Brownsteins ideas, although again I did not notice any difference. I eat sushi Nori now as a source of iodine.

For gut flora, I tried 'standard' probiotics, and then when I found out the milk-based ones can cause problems, tried PrescriptRX soil-based probiotics. These did seem to help gut function actually, but not the paunch. :)

I am wary of trying dessicated thyroid or any of the thyroid hormones due to mixed reactions I've read about on here.

I eat a lot of coconut oil, gelatin and avoid PUFAs as much as possible.

are you still taking the exemestane?

 

[Peater]

are you still taking the exemestane?

No, I finished it quite a while ago. I'd look at Haiduts Estroban to lower estrogen specifically as although aromasin is the best synthetic aromatase inhibitor, something more 'natural ' would have been my first purchase had i known about it