So you want a nice stomach
Replies
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standenvernet wrote: »
For me, injuries are a time to focus on healing without too much back-slide. Depending on the work that needs to be done (on your shoulder) and how that will limit your mobility and weight bearing, you'll have to focus on what works best for you and your physician.caterpillardreams wrote: »Hi
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When you have injured yourself how do you keep yourself from falling off the wagon? do I adjust my calories? how do you stay motivated?
Thank you.
I was focused on protein-sparing weight loss, but healing and recovery were a priority over any weight loss goal.
My approach was to perfect my eating and logging on a reduced calorie feeding plan. I set my calories to TDEE for the period of my initial recovery, expecting to neither gain nor lose weight. This had the effect of feeding my body well enough to recover. As soon as I was able to work the physical therapy for my injuries, my TDEE increased by the level of my activity, and I chose to feed on a negative taper -- first week was 100% of the new TDEE, and each successive week was a drop of a few hundred calories for the week titrated by weight loss and any decreased slope on recovery.
Basically, I focused on fully recovering, and worked what I was allowed to when I was allowed to... ALL of my pre-therapy eating was at 100% TDEE to properly fuel my healing, and I slowly returned to deficit as my physical activity increased.
I don't mean this in the flippant way it could be interpreted...but the real long-term secret to dealing with injuries is not to get injured (or at least not to get injured as often).
Hold on. Before you start hurling insults at me and my mom, just hear me out.
Maybe your situation is entirely different, but I spent much of my adult life with the "go hard or go home" mentality and I never went home. Always 110%. (Don't tell me that is mathematically impossible, because for the truly dedicated and hardcore, *NOTHING* is impossible!) Maximum intensity, always.
Problem is, my gains (both strength and aesthetic) were moderate at best...because I was spending as much time rehabbing or working around an injury as I was making progress. And even my rehab was doing as much as quickly as I could.
At some point, either maturity or dumb luck, I stopped constantly pushing so hard and started going through the motions with less weight, focusing on form, and not maxing out every workout...and I stopped being injured (as much) and starting making some decent progress.
TL;DR - How to work around injuries is a great question. But if you're like me (or like I was), it might also be beneficial to step back and reevaluate your approach. And if this isn't applicable to your situation, pretend like I didn't say anything.
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Thanks for answering my question @usmcmp I really appreciate it. I will continue to count my calories and exercise within my limits.
I know its life, you begin something and then you get knocked down just a little. The best thing is to get back up again and never give up.
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standenvernet wrote: »
For me, injuries are a time to focus on healing without too much back-slide. Depending on the work that needs to be done (on your shoulder) and how that will limit your mobility and weight bearing, you'll have to focus on what works best for you and your physician.caterpillardreams wrote: »Hi
...
When you have injured yourself how do you keep yourself from falling off the wagon? do I adjust my calories? how do you stay motivated?
Thank you.
I was focused on protein-sparing weight loss, but healing and recovery were a priority over any weight loss goal.
My approach was to perfect my eating and logging on a reduced calorie feeding plan. I set my calories to TDEE for the period of my initial recovery, expecting to neither gain nor lose weight. This had the effect of feeding my body well enough to recover. As soon as I was able to work the physical therapy for my injuries, my TDEE increased by the level of my activity, and I chose to feed on a negative taper -- first week was 100% of the new TDEE, and each successive week was a drop of a few hundred calories for the week titrated by weight loss and any decreased slope on recovery.
Basically, I focused on fully recovering, and worked what I was allowed to when I was allowed to... ALL of my pre-therapy eating was at 100% TDEE to properly fuel my healing, and I slowly returned to deficit as my physical activity increased.
Thanks for the feedback.
reading your response and usmscmp helped me not get too down on myself. Like I have done in the past, but I know that kind of thinking is not good. So I came here and I got some good answers.
Sometimes we need an outside perspective ,at least I do, to stop overanalyzing and putting myself down.
I have made great progress and I will continue to work towards my goals though how I get there may be a little different due to this set back.
Thanks again2 -
Bumping...cos awesome!
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Okay... so I’ve been doing all this. And still no flat stomach... what the heck is wrong with me?0
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Okay... so I’ve been doing all this. And still no flat stomach... what the heck is wrong with me?5. Patience! It is not going to happen overnight.
You didn't give any specifics in your post, so I don't know what else you could be doing beyond just continuing to work at it.
You likely need to lose more fat.
You might need a better lifting program.
You might be doing it all right and just need more time to get there.6 -
Hi, is it possible to get lean with resistance bands as a temporary workout until i get a gym membership?0
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Hi, is it possible to get lean with resistance bands as a temporary workout until i get a gym membership?
It's possible to get lean with body weight as long as you find ways to make it progressively more difficult, so you shouldn't have a problem with using bands for workouts until you get a gym membership. You might have to do some looking to find a full body program that incorporates bands.3 -
Ok, thank you for the reply.0
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Okay... so I’ve been doing all this. And still no flat stomach... what the heck is wrong with me?5. Patience! It is not going to happen overnight.
You didn't give any specifics in your post, so I don't know what else you could be doing beyond just continuing to work at it.
You likely need to lose more fat.
You might need a better lifting program.
You might be doing it all right and just need more time to get there.
Also worth mentioning is looking out for anterior pelvic tilt. There seems to be an epidemic of people unconsciously conditioning themselves to stand all goofy so that they have a larger booty, with the unfortunate side effect of forcing their lower abdomen forward like a little pooch. Posture is a thing, and it may be possible that your hard work is concealed by compromised posture.
remember Occam's razor !7 -
standenvernet wrote: »Okay... so I’ve been doing all this. And still no flat stomach... what the heck is wrong with me?5. Patience! It is not going to happen overnight.
You didn't give any specifics in your post, so I don't know what else you could be doing beyond just continuing to work at it.
You likely need to lose more fat.
You might need a better lifting program.
You might be doing it all right and just need more time to get there.
Also worth mentioning is looking out for anterior pelvic tilt. There seems to be an epidemic of people unconsciously conditioning themselves to stand all goofy so that they have a larger booty, with the unfortunate side effect of forcing their lower abdomen forward like a little pooch. Posture is a thing, and it may be possible that your hard work is concealed by compromised posture.
remember Occam's razor !
I'm not disagreeing with your advice, but I suspect Occam's razor would more likely suggest that it's a matter of losing more overall body fat. Anyone who has achieved a truly low body fat can attest that the difference is substantial between just being leaner and actually being lean...and even more so for those who are genetically predisposed for abdominal fat to be the last to lose
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jofjltncb6 wrote: »standenvernet wrote: »Okay... so I’ve been doing all this. And still no flat stomach... what the heck is wrong with me?5. Patience! It is not going to happen overnight.
You didn't give any specifics in your post, so I don't know what else you could be doing beyond just continuing to work at it.
You likely need to lose more fat.
You might need a better lifting program.
You might be doing it all right and just need more time to get there.
Also worth mentioning is looking out for anterior pelvic tilt. There seems to be an epidemic of people unconsciously conditioning themselves to stand all goofy so that they have a larger booty, with the unfortunate side effect of forcing their lower abdomen forward like a little pooch. Posture is a thing, and it may be possible that your hard work is concealed by compromised posture.
remember Occam's razor !
I'm not disagreeing with your advice, but I suspect Occam's razor would more likely suggest that it's a matter of losing more overall body fat. Anyone who has achieved a truly low body fat can attest that the difference is substantial between just being leaner and actually being lean...and even more so for those who are genetically predisposed for abdominal fat to be the last to lose
Yup -- the least complicated for certain.0 -
Bumpski
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OMG! There was a young woman at my gym wearing a cropped hoodie exposing the Saran Wrap she had wrapped around her midsection. Lordy, I wanted to tell her that wasn't going to take her midsection away. It just wasn't my place, I didn't feel. I wanted to give the Op's advice but held my tongue. Thanks for your post Op.10
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OMG! There was a young woman at my gym wearing a cropped hoodie exposing the Saran Wrap she had wrapped around her midsection. Lordy, I wanted to tell her that wasn't going to take her midsection away. It just wasn't my place, I didn't feel. I wanted to give the Op's advice but held my tongue. Thanks for your post Op.
But..... It Works!! Lol4 -
I think planks work wonders on your belly , as long as you do themEVERY day. ... Patti3
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Losing a lot of weight doesn't necessarily get someone a lean core. I didn't say people can't do cardio, but cardio didn't do anything for the fat loss without the dieting part. I explained multiple times throughout this thread that the point of telling people they don't have to do cardio is because of the misconception that cardio is responsible for fat loss and it is vital to having a nice stomach. Someone can get visible abs with zero cardio.
Sure, if they lose fat. How do *I* lose fat? Calorie deficit, lifting and an hour a day of cardio (for additional calorie deficit). (Btw, at my most fit and with a strong core and low body fat, my stomach wasn't very flat because of the damage done by three pregnancies. I had my abs surgically repaired. NOW my stomach is flat.)2 -
You want to lose belly fat and have a nice flat toned mid section? We see that a lot on this site. Hell, that was my goal for my birthday last year. We all want to be able to take our shirt off at the pool or beach and look great, but how do we do it?
1. Slight calorie deficit. Eating 800 calories and killing yourself in the gym is not going to get you there any faster. You need to fuel your body appropriately. I suggest the TDEE-20% method. http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ (If you have questions please feel free to ask them here). Make sure to weigh everything you eat! Guessing could put you well over your calories.
2. Strength training. If you want that toned mid section look you have to put some muscle there. If you just want a nice flat stomach muscle will still help it look tight. You can begin with Strong Lifts, a hypertrophy routine or a strength program from bodybuilding.com (free!). One that includes compound lifts like deadlift, squat, bench press and pull ups will help. Work on increasing the amount of weight you use. When the weight gets heavier you engage your core more and it builds the muscle.
3. Muscle insurance. There are a variety of studies done on the amount of protein the body needs. I like to think of higher protein as muscle insurance. My suggestion is about .8 grams to 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass. Make sure to get fat in your diet to help joints and metabolic processes. Make sure to get carbs in your diet to fuel workouts.
4. Cardio. I like cardio once or twice a week for 30 minutes. It's good for the heart and lungs. It doesn't add much to the calorie burn for the week, but it helps even things out in case you haven't been completely accurate weighing food.
5. Patience! It is not going to happen overnight. If you stick with it you could lose around 1% body fat a month. We aren't going to be perfect all the time. Enjoy birthdays and holidays. It is life and things will happen. Don't stress, learn to love the process.
FINALLY: Losing fat is like trying to dry out a sponge. You can't dry a corner while the rest of it is still wet. You won't magically lose belly fat or thigh fat or any other fat. It will come off where it wants to. Keep working at it! It is possible!
i'm going to cut out dairy to see if this will help me with belly fat (in addition to the above mentioned that i'm already doing)9 -
marissafit06 wrote: »OMG! There was a young woman at my gym wearing a cropped hoodie exposing the Saran Wrap she had wrapped around her midsection. Lordy, I wanted to tell her that wasn't going to take her midsection away. It just wasn't my place, I didn't feel. I wanted to give the Op's advice but held my tongue. Thanks for your post Op.
But..... It Works!! Lol
Planks are mediocre for working your core. There are much better ab exercise that engage the core more and will develop ab muscles better. The below video is a good explanation of them.
https://youtu.be/_xdOuqokcm4 10
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