[WGH]

And I aint posting any damn pictures of this shit.

You are smarter than you look. Or, as an old girlfriend added "you'd have to be".

The only reason I started exercising 7 years ago was because I had a chronic lumbar strain that was beginning to lay me up twice a year for a couple of weeks at a time. As the lumbar muscle spasmed around the sciatic nerve the pain approached a 10.

I'm now 68, and with slow, controlled, steady exercise with a professional trainer I am 100% cured. From the start Maria would poke my belly (sweet gal) and tell me "we're going to get rid of that". Belly is gone.
Can't sleep? Work out 3 times a week and you will sleep like a baby and you will never see 10:00 pm again because you'll be asleep by 9:00 and have more energy than a 40 year old.

 

[Odal3]

Plus one on the type of training WGH is doing and the focus on the core that Folsom recommends. High intensity interval type of training often gives the best result in the least amount of time invested. The best part is that it doesn't take so long.

Find a GOOD personal trainer to get you started. With good I mean avoid the big box gym type of trainers and find one with a smaller gym filled with kettle bells, free weights, ropes, etc. If they want you to do crunches or use standard gym machines, go somewhere else. 
One of the best is Alwyn Cosgrove's gym. He focus a lot on combining movement with fat loss strategies (most are based on high intensity training) Here's one of his books that may give some ideas. Ignore the tacky cover picture, his books are really good. Easy read with both theory, and programs to follow.  http://www.thenewrulesoflifting.com/nrol-for-life

Looks like you can get a used copy on amazon for less than $5
He got several other books as well.

[Folsom]

I wouldn't recommend HIIT, for you. It may increase stress and keep the belly. I'd focus on stress. Clearly it has such a powerful effect on you, that you're gaining weight you've never had!

BTW the key trick to doing sit-ups and crunchies correctly is to suck in your gut. If you allow it to push out, it'll develop a pot belly even if you have .5% body fat. This isn't known well, and a lot of women have obsessively done them to only grow the pot belly and lose their mind!

[rodge827]

Wow such a timely post.

I'm 51 (52 in a month) and self employed as a paper hanger. For the last couple for months been very sluggish, tired all the time, have bad memory, and gained about 10lbs.
Went to see my Dr and got a blood test. Turns out my Thyroid and Testoterone are way low. My Doc was impressed I could get out of bed let alone work a full day. Looking for an endocrinologist that will take my insurance now. 

I found that sitting on a balance ball at my desk is an easy way to help strengthen the core.

Chris

[thunderbrick]

.... a lot of women have obsessively done them to only grow the pot belly and lose their mind!

So THAT'S the reason they go nuts! 

[Folsom]

Rephrase... "more of it" or "part of it" 

[Guy 13]

Hi dr,
I am half way to 69 and a few years back my doctor told me that I was diabetic type 2,
she prescribe pills (Methaformin 500mg X 3 a day)
I change my diet and went more healthy eating,
I kept doing my daily 15 minutes stretching exercises.
I've lost 18 pounds without much effort
and 6 months ago I stop completely the pills.
I am now at 6.3 on my blood sugar.
Looking several times a day at myself in the mirror,
I don't like what I see or should I say,
I don't like how my belly look like.
(No, I will not post a picture here,
I don't want to get thrown in jail
for what the communist here would call :
Pornographic material 
I have double my belly related exercises,
but it won't go away.
Now after reading all the post above,
I realize that I am extremely stressed,
normal for a foreigner living on planet Vietnam.
Everything here is stressfull...
I will work on that and keep exercising.
All comments and suggestions are welcome.
drphoto, I sure don't want to steal your topic,
but I think we are more or less in the same situation.

Guy 13
 

[FullRangeMan]

I guess the title says it all. I'm 58. BMI normal to low. Great health other than idiopathic hypertension (genetic most likely)

am Veg. Don't sit on my ass all day. When doing the photo thing, I'm on my feet. When I wear my pharmacy hat (like now) I walk as much as 5 miles a day at hospital.

But I have this belly. It's embarrassing. What to do?? Crunches, sit-ups? need help.

thanks.

PS: I was always a rail thin endurance athlete when young. I used to road race bikes. I dunno maybe I need to ride, but work just wears me the hell out.

Veg is not a benefit in this case as beef dont made belly.
What made belly are bread, beer, sodas imo.

[roscoe65]

I guess the title says it all. I'm 58. BMI normal to low. Great health other than idiopathic hypertension (genetic most likely)

am Veg. Don't sit on my ass all day. When doing the photo thing, I'm on my feet. When I wear my pharmacy hat (like now) I walk as much as 5 miles a day at hospital.

But I have this belly. It's embarrassing. What to do?? Crunches, sit-ups? need help.

thanks.

PS: I was always a rail thin endurance athlete when young. I used to road race bikes. I dunno maybe I need to ride, but work just wears me the hell out.

I can think of a number of things:

1.  You're 58, normal/low BMI, "was always rail thin", vegetarian.  I could guess without looking at you that you are "skinny fat" - low muscle mass with some extra body fat.  You probably alway had low muscle mass, and with age and disuse, you now have very little.  Your BMI stays the same but muscle is diminishing and fat is increasing.  You're vegetarian, so you're likely low on protein.

2.  You carry weight around your middle, which is partly genetics and partly diet.  Alcohol, starches and sugars tend to cause body fat to preferentially deposit around the belly.

3.  General dietary advice:  You need adequate protein intake (80 - 100 grams per day).  You should avoid soy as a protein source due to the effects of phytoestrogens.  You need adequate fat to synthesize hormones - if your dietary fat is too low you cannot make adequate testosterone.  You should also ensure that you have adequate vitamin D, Vitamin C, and Zinc.

4.  General exercise advice:  You absolutely need to lift weights and build muscle.  Big, compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, barbell row, pullups) will increase testosterone and stimulate muscle growth, and you need muscle growth.  You can do core work (knee raises, l-sits, hollow holds, planks) but the most important thing is to lift heavy things.  You can also add windsprints or other HIIT (such as running stairs or hills).

I'm almost 52 and have been addressing the same issues.  I can attest that religiously lifting weights 3-6 times per week and adding some intense cardio will take years off your age.  It is also very difficult to accomplish this if you are vegan.  If you allow yourself dairy and eggs, you should have no problem getting adequate protein.  I would avoid vegetable-based protein sources (gluten, soy, beans) as they generally come with starchy components.

[werd]

Join the Marines.

[werd]

Or

you could cross train using Yoga. Yoga is great for core strength. It will shake up your ab fat. It did for me. Then do some cardio or concentrate on hitting those ab muscles using crunches. In not to long.. Voilà Fabio

[ctviggen]

One of the best websites to follow weight problems is dietdoctor.com.

Here is a guy that lost over 300 pounds.

http://www.dietdoctor.com/302-pounds-lchf-diet

LCHF diet is how many are reversing heart disease and diabetes.

While I'm totally on board with you (I've been low carbing for about 2.5 years now, and have recently concentrated on a ketogenic diet), it's going to be difficult to get a vegetarian to go low carb.  And if he wants to be vegetarian, low carb is possible, but difficult.

As for the original poster, what's your fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin, and hemoglobin A1C?    These tell you more than anything else (especially lipids, which are useless, unless your HDL is low, which it most likely is, but all that tells you is you have insulin resistance). 

[WGH]

Those nice taught belly muscles of your youth are now like old, stretched out rubber bands, no wonder your profile looks like a pear. You, along with everyone else over 30, has age-related muscle loss. Depending on the source, inactive people loose 3% to 8% of muscle every decade after 30 years old. Walking 5 miles a day in the hospital does nothing for core or upper body strength.

Exercise break - everyone drop and do 10 pushups right now!

Truthfully now - How many made it to 10? See what I mean.

The good news is that strength can be increased. I am working on this 1 person experiment, me. When does a person stop getting stronger? So far, at age 68 my strength is still increasing. Maria, my trainer, adds a little more weight when I'm not looking. She lets me know later. Glancing around the gym as I work out I see my strength and stamina in the same range as people half my age, some are stronger for sure, but many who have not exercised are weaker. This is not a competition on my part, just an observation on the human condition known as ageing.

[ctviggen]

By the way, low total blood cholesterol is associated with higher rates of death.  The overall death rate curve for cholesterol is a bath tub curve--high at low cholesterol, lower in the middle, high again at high cholesterol. This does not mean that low cholesterol levels cause death, however, but just because one has "low" cholesterol is meaningless.  I've actually been trying to increase my total cholesterol, but I cannot.  I've increased my HDL (so called "good" "cholesterol") using low carb over several years, but my total cholesterol is basically unchanged.

One of many studies:

http://www.unisci.com/stories/20013/0803014.htm

[WGH]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the most obvious solution:

[werd]

Those nice taught belly muscles of your youth are now like old, stretched out rubber bands, no wonder your profile looks like a pear. You, along with everyone else over 30, has age-related muscle loss. Depending on the source, inactive people loose 3% to 8% of muscle every decade after 30 years old. Walking 5 miles a day in the hospital does nothing for core or upper body strength.

Exercise break - everyone drop and do 10 pushups right now!

Truthfully now - How many made it to 10? See what I mean.

The good news is that strength can be increased. I am working on this 1 person experiment, me. When does a person stop getting stronger? So far, at age 68 my strength is still increasing. Maria, my trainer, adds a little more weight when I'm not looking. She lets me know later. Glancing around the gym as I work out I see my strength and stamina in the same range as people half my age, some are stronger for sure, but many who have not exercised are weaker. This is not a competition on my part, just an observation on the human condition known as ageing.

Just did 10 pushups so back at you.

 

[werd]

BTW if you build your shoulders and chest and work your lower back,  by default it makes your gut look smaller because your chest and shoulders have gotten bigger.

[Folsom]

I'm glad everyone is so enthusiastic... but I wouldn't jump into all sorts of hardcore exercise right away. It may not be good for everyone. Just to note the stress of real intense exercise... well... you've got elevated levels to begin with so maybe take what I'm saying seriously?

[drphoto]

Blood sugar is normal, so is thyroxine level. Dunno about testosterone.  I believe I get pretty adequate protein from fish. And again, especially on salmon I pay a premium for allegedly wild caught pacific type, not that dyed farm raised junk. Same for rare times I get shrimp. Always from US gulf, not the asian pond scum.

I do occasionally use tofu in a stir fry, but I have heard stories that it can increase estrogen levels. (oh am I suddenly going to feel a desire to watch oprah?  )

I don't eat much in the way of refined carbs. Never white bread, donuts, cakes or the like. Never cared for sweets other than occasional bit of dark chocolate. Don't add sugar to anything. Only brown rice. not many potatoes. Almost never fast food unless desperate. And please don't hate me.....I actually like quinoa!. Not keen on raw kale, but I do like it slow cooked southern style, but of course I don't use a ham hock for the flavor. Just a bit of soy and some veg. broth.

BTW: I really became a vegetarian because I personally don't like the way animals are treated on factory farms. I am NOT trying to stir up some shit storm political debate. I understand in an industrial/service economy nation how the world works. I can't change it, I just choose not to be in that part of it. I'm not some PETA nut job. (well I may be a nut job, but not on that) I grew up on a farm. We raised animals and processed them. And we used the whole carcess. But we took very good care of those animals. Because it was a small operation, they weren't 'just' a commodity to us.

But aside from all the walking at work, I get no exercise. I haven't even hit a golf ball this season. (& I did mostly walk when I used to play, except at places that made you ride of course)

Hey thanks for all the replies.

Join the Marines! That was my favorite!!

[Folsom]

Your diet is fine.

Soy's phytoestrogen is super low quality, it actually displaces quality estrogen the male body makes. The problem is that if it has antioxident activities that are stressful for a person. In your case this is extremely unlikely. I've only found one rare person that while consuming any form of phyotoestrogen (not just soy) had an estrogen response. The hate on it is retard speak for "I don't know what the fuck is going on with food but I need some powerful excuses." It primarily comes from people that don't like people that go to health food stores. The person whom eats soy and seems girly doesn't need soy to be that way, and/or isn't consuming the things that would make them feel manly.

Lots of polyunsaturated fats are more likely to raise estrogen levels than anything else.

Seriously, you need to lower stress. Tia Chi is easy to follow from videos. Yoga... I'd get an instructor.