Stubborn fat

[Charles Long]

I'm 5'7", 150 pounds, and 43 years old. I have no idea about body fat but I can still pinch a good 2-3 inches of fat around my waist. I haven't worked out for awhile due to a shoulder injury but I'm mostly recovered now and need to get started again. I weighed 174 at one time. I stopped drinking Mountain Dew and cut out most sugar and started lifting with the PTP program by Pavel. I added one kettlebell later. I have an Olympic weight set and the kettlebell to workout with. I hope to add clubbells soon. I'm not on any specific diet. I try to avoid sugar and highly processed foods. I eat meat, lots of eggs (including at least one raw egg a day), and consume cultured dairy products like kefir and yogurt. I also eat fresh vegetables and try to drink kombucha and beet kvass daily if I have the stuff to prepare it.

I've gained back a few pounds since my injury but not much. I need to lose the stubborn fat around my midsection and on my chest so I don't look like I need a bra when I have my shirt off. Anybody have any advice on diet and workout to get rid of this stubborn fat that I just haven't been able to shake? I've gotten rid of a lot of it but won't be ahppy until the rest is gone. I'm stubborn, determined, and ready to get back to work.

Charles

Charles

Here's a start since an actual answer to your question is 25 page deal.

Read my interview with Ori Hofmekler in this issue of CST mag , click thru and read the info on his site.

Read Connie's article in CST mag on sophisticating food choices.

Read Coach Sonnon's posts/articles/and training logs on the Double D program here - which you could do with barbells or KBs too till you get a CB.

Read Steve Maxwell's article here on Sophisticating the Burpee.

When you put something together, post it in detail and I'll give you some feedback.

Bill
www.movingcenterfitness.com

[Connie Brown]

And I would be curious about:

what kinds, amounts, and proportions of "meat" - do you also mean chicken and fish? I am wondering if you are getting mostly sat fats and are light on the other kinds.

what kinds and proportions of veg - if it's only rabbit food, that can make the fat-burning furnace go cold. A little more dense veggies and slow carbs can heat it up again.

[humilispuer]

Connie,

Would you mind extrapolating on your comment that rabbit food can make the fat burning furnace go cold? Too few calories or too few carbs (low carb potentially lowering thyroid, metabolism, and things of the sort)? Thanks in advance.

-Jonathon

[Connie Brown]

Okay Jonathan but it gets complicated so I may even confuse myself but I will try.

As you mention, lowered thyroid function can happen depending on the choices one makes while low-carbing. That is one way the metabolism slows down. You can think of it not so much the furnace going cold, as a smaller furnace. (The cold metaphor works for people who have not been able to exercise but I digress. )

Another way to get a smaller furnace is from hormonal disturbance. Ref Brett in the low carb thread http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1709:


A diet too low in carbs creates hormonal panic. Low blood sugar leads to increase in epinephrine to increase in cortisol and glucagon, which leads to an increase in insulin. Yes, the body adapts until it reaches the latter stages of Stress adaptation. I am starting to see many people fit an adrenal burnout pattern from low carb diets where previously, I only saw in high carb diets.


This all very much depends on an individual's genetic blood sugar & insulin workings.

What can happen is that insulin rises to try to keep up with the adrenaline level of that "lean and high" feeling from very low carb. In individuals with a genetic susceptibility to insulin resistance, this higher insulin can make the body shut down some insulin receptors to try to regulate the flow better.

Then, fewer insulin receptors mean less glucose getting into muscle. So the effect is that of a smaller metabolic fire.

I think of it as a barbecue. Say someone like Scott or Bill has these giant barrel ones that can fire a lot at a time. Someone with depressed thyroid and insulin resistance has a tabletop hibachi. (I am up to a Lil' Joe I am proud to say.)

So over time, very low carbing can increase insulin resistance from the adrenaline high.

A third way is from a high proportion of storage sat fats. Say one chooses, as I did, supermarket meat with its grain-fed sat fat (yum) to make up for the calories not getting in from carbs.

The proportion of fat in the diet can be too high from those storage sat fats instead of from high omega3s and what not. And a high percentage of that kind of sat fat has also been associated with increased insulin resistance.

Stands to reason that if I want to get rid of my own stored fat, I would not want to eat another animal's, LOL. Notice that this is not the same as the animal's structural fats like from brain and marrow and grass-fed meat.

[/quote]

[Scott Sonnon]

Fascinating, Brett. We need to chat about this when we get together next.

[Charles Long]

And I would be curious about:

what kinds, amounts, and proportions of "meat" - do you also mean chicken and fish? I am wondering if you are getting mostly sat fats and are light on the other kinds.

what kinds and proportions of veg - if it's only rabbit food, that can make the fat-burning furnace go cold. A little more dense veggies and slow carbs can heat it up again.

When I say "meat" I mean anything with flesh including poultry and fish but not everyone uses my terminolgy so I should have been more specific. I eat more beef and chicken than pork or fish. The beef we have in the freezer now is grass fed but when that's gone, I'll have to go back to the supermarket until I can afford to buy a cow to have slaughtered. I live in a rural are and good fish rarley shows up at the stores here. The fish I eat comes from what I catch (if I can go fishing and get anything) or canned fish:tuna, sardines, mackeral, and salmon. I don't count calories or proportions but I would guess that on any given day 40-60% comes from meat, eggs (free range bought locally), and raw dairy (fresh milk or kefir made from same). On weekdays when I work, I eat very little during the day and eat a large supper.

As for the vegetables, I'm not that fond of rabbit food but eat salad 3-4 times a week. I prefer asparagus, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, yams, and potatos. I don't eat many grains but have bread 2-3 times a week and usually have Scottish oatmeal for weekend breakfasts with my eggs. I generally eat 1 to 1 1/2 dozen eggs per week. I aslo like lacto-fermented veggies like saurkraut and kimchee. If your familiar with Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, that's how I try to eat most of the time.

Charles Long

[Charles Long]

[Read Steve Maxwell's article here on Sophisticating the Burpee.

When you put something together, post it in detail and I'll give you some feedback.[/quote]

I read the first two articles you mentioned. I have read Warrior's Diet and have his second book. I started to read it but found it incredibly boring and haven't finished. I suppose I should if I can stay awake. I could not find the article above but my computer didn't seem to want to take me to some of the archived issues so I assume it's in one of those. I'll try again later.

Charles Long

[Connie Brown]

Charles that sounds really good. Will you be my personal chef? just kidding.

Bill is the expert at helping people lean out so maybe it's just a matter of getting your exercise back, we can hope.

[sresell]

Regarding workouts for fatloss, I would definitely utilize your kettlebell for this purpose.

I personally managed to lose a lot of fat by doing a ton of KB ballistic exercises (snatches / swings / clean & jerk), usually 10 reps L/R x 10 sets, which I alternated with one to two minute rounds of jump rope. I would do this type of workout three to four times per week (over a 5 month period). On alternate days I would do resistance training (either PTP or Scrapper's Workout 1 or RnR). I would take Sundays off from my resistance and cardio training. I also do Warrior Wellness every AM (and I have started to integrate some BME from GTB into this workout as well), 7 days per week.

During this phase of my training I subscribed to the 5 - 6 meals per day type of diet with a 40%/30%/30% (protein/carbs/fat) split. This worked well for me although it was tough for me to plan my meals at first I got used to it and sat down every Sunday night to plan out my week's meals... (yeah, I got a little carried away about the whole thing). I only drank water (and occasionally some iced tea) during this time, which to me was relatively easy as I haven't drank a soda in over four years.

In any event, I lost about 20lbs doing this type of a training scheme last year (Jan - May). I went from roughly 225lbs to 205lbs (I'm 6'1") with my bodyfat going from roughly 20% to 12% (I used digital calipers so it's not 100% accurate...).

I learned a lot about my body and training as well as diet last year and feel I will improve on these results this year.


On another note, you can learn the basics of Warrior Diet listed here: http://www.warriordiet.com/how2follow.html
I figure it will give you the basics and if you find it interesting you can buy the book. :) There's also a section on "how to lose stubborn fat" taken out of the Warrior Diet book at the same website and can be found here: http://www.warriordiet.com/pdfs/stubbornfat.pdf

Hope this helps.
Steven

Charles

Your diet looks good although poritons are key and i have no idea about that.

Scotts excercise plan will definetly work and will work wirh CBs as well.

How about laying a typical day of eating and what you plan on doing with your training

Bill

[Charles Long]

Charles

Your diet looks good although poritons are key and i have no idea about that.

Scotts excercise plan will definetly work and will work wirh Clubbells® as well.

How about laying a typical day of eating and what you plan on doing with your training

Bill

Bill,

Today, I've had 3 glasses of raw milk and will eat whatever we have for supper. Sometime before bed I will typically have some kefir (6-8 ounces) and a raw egg or a shake made with kefir, plain yogurt, egg, and some berries. Yesterday I was on a 24 hour fast which I ended at supper with one bowl of chili, some crackers, and a glass of milk. On weekdays I typically have some milk or kefir before going to work, and during the day I may snack on some raw almonds if I get hungry. I keep some in my truck along with some pliers for cracking them. One day last week I had 2 chicken breasts and some salad. This is typical for the amount I eat. Another day we had some chicken/aspargus stir fry and some rice. I ate mostly the chicken dish with a small portion of rice. On weekends I eat more, usually 2 fried eggs and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and then supper like I usually do. So I don't generally consume large amounts.

I started working out again last week and did 4 workouts. I plan on doing 5-6 this week. I did one Sunday, skipped yesterday (I didn't feel up to it after fasting) and worked out again today. I've been working with the kettlebell doing swings, snatches, and cleans with some presses interspersed for good measure. I haven't been doing a fixed routine but have been free styling it, varying the order and amounts of what I've been doing but have been going for 20 minutes. I've also done some other exercises in Pavel's books with the kettlebell but mostly what's above. I try to do a few joint exercises that I learned from Vladimir Vasiliev when I met him. I'm hoping to be able to purchase Warrior Wellness soon as that seems to be popular with people on this forum. When I get that, I will add that to my workouts or do it at a different time of the day. I have lost a few pounds since last week when I started again and my shoulder is coming along nicely. I'm hoping it will be at 100% within 2-3 weeks.

Charles Long

Charles

Frankly it looks pretty good. I'm a fan of frestyle workouts and a fan of 5-6 days a week for 20-30 minutes.

Your diet consists of healthy foods, which is of course good ...but the kefir, milk, berries and yogurt all have a fair amount of not so complex carbs. If you could up the salads and down the dairy some it might help.

Beyond that it looks like your on the right track

Bill

[Charles Long]

Charles

Frankly it looks pretty good. I'm a fan of frestyle workouts and a fan of 5-6 days a week for 20-30 minutes.

Beyond that it looks like your on the right track

Bill

Thanks, Bill.

Charles Long