Belly Fat, how do we get it off? Without hurting my back, cuz I have nerve damage down my spine?

DetroitLadyTeresa · April 2023

I am losing weight, lost 12 lb in 40 days. However, my belly is not going down. I have gone down a size in my pants, two sizes in my tops. Well please! I am also noticing as I'm losing weight, some loose skin that needs to be tightened up. Here's the problem, I am limited to what exercise I can do, because I have metal plates in my legs. I can't do things like hiking. I am walking, which is helping significantly. I want to now start tightening up my body, without hurting myself, because I am somewhat handicapped. Nerve damage all down my spine, so I can't do just any exercise. I hope someone reads all this before they reply.

ninerbuff · April 2023

Many people retain fat in certain places due to genetics. Belly may be the last place you lose but first place you gain. Not uncommon in many people. Loose skin retracts on it's own, however if you have lots to lose and you're up there in age, it may be limited on how much retracts. It might be best to get with a physical therapist to clear you of exercise you CAN do before taking any advice here without anyone knowing your true limitations.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

DetroitLadyTeresa · April 2023

I stated, I have nerve damage, all the way down my spine, starting at my neck, thanks anyways. I'm absolutely sure I can't do kickboxing. Have a great day!

AnnPT77 · April 2023

DetroitLadyTeresa wrote: »

I stated, I have nerve damage, all the way down my spine, starting at my neck, thanks anyways. I'm absolutely sure I can't do kickboxing. Have a great day!

I don't think Niner was telling you to kick-box. He's a personal trainer, he does all kinds of things - kickboxing is one. His advice to access physical therapy for advice is really good. I endorse that.

I'm going to speak to the self-perception and appearance side of things. (Context: I'm a 67 year old woman who went from class 1 obese to a healthy weight at age 59-60 without materially increasing exercise. I'm active, but do have some physical limitations to work within myself. I'm now in year 7+ of maintenance.)

Our bodies lose fat from where they please, in whatever order they please. For a lot of us, the last bit of abdominal fat is the last to deplete. Some will deplete along the way, though.

Loose skin can't really start shrinking until most of the fat keeping the area stretched out is gone. Often, the belly area will look worse on the way to goal weight (squishy, droopy, floppy, wrinkly) than it will at goal weight, and worse at goal weight than it will after a few weeks/months of maintaining that healthy weight. Mostly, skin takes time to shrink as much as it will, and it can't make a decent start until most of the fat is gone from an area. (The remaining fat conspires with gravity to keep skin stretched, basically.)

That's not what you want to hear, but it's what I think is true. The process is going to require patience, and persistence.

A sensibly moderate calorie deficit - for a sensible weight loss rate - will eventually get you to the best point of fat depletion that you can reach.

When it comes to skin shrinkage: Recognize that skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means elastic and more willing to adjust. These include:

* avoiding fast loss (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength) - but I know you have limitations here!,
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

If you can get physical therapist advice to find some exercises you can do, that's great. In fact, the walking is great.

Like I said, this is going to require patience and persistence. Hang in there: You can succeed.

cmriverside · April 2023

Yeah, that "kickboxing" thing is just ninerbuff's "signature," it's on all his posts - nothing to do with you.

Weight loss is going to take care of a lot of your current questions.

It took me a good two years after I lost 80 pounds for the skin to retract. I was in my mid fifties when I lost the weight. I still do have some saggy skin, but I'm nearly 69, so, there's that.

As far as exercise? Do any kind of movement that you can safely do. Walking is great. Any kind of exercise is good for all of us. Weight loss happens 99.9% in the kitchen. It's much more about how much you're eating when it comes to weight loss.

sarabushby · April 2023

I don’t know if you’re able but swimming could be a good exercise for you? If you have trouble using your legs you can even use a pull buoy (a float) between your thighs and swim with arms only.
It would be a great way to burn calories and strengthen your body with no impact. Swimmers tend to have great core strength and if you’re not already swimming then I’ll bet you’ll get a kick out of learning a new skill and how quickly you can improve your speed and endurance.

Most pools should be able to recommend a teacher for adult tuition.

Just throwing it out there in case it’s something you’d not considered.

albamarie61 · April 2023

I would recommend swimming as well. I see you might be in the Detroit area. I am in Oakland County. Just got done with a one hour swim at Oakland University. Cost for community members is $38 a month. A bargain! They have a great indoor walking track too. If that is not nearby, there are pools all around the metro area. I would suggest try finding one with a moderately deep end and get yourself an aqua belt. I used mine today and "ran" and "skied" for 15 minutes. My Fitbit said I burned more calories doing that than the breaststroke or crawl! With nerve damage, the pool is a great place to get in non-load bearing exercise. Good luck!

tomcustombuilder · April 2023

The 2 best exercises for Fatloss are Table Pushbacks and Fork Putdowns.

nsk1951 · April 2023

Well, @DetroitLadyTeresa ... you've gotten some really sound advice from the people who posted ahead of me ... but i will still add in my penny's worth. ...
I understand the issue with spinal stuff and leg stuff has you stymied as to what you can do to move about more. I'm in a similar situation myself and cannot walk on my own for more than a few steps. I am quickly closing in on age 80, and have joint inflammation in all of them so any 'exercise' feels really impossible. ...
... and so I told that to my doctor and she said ... "I don't want you to 'exercise' .. I want you to simply move more whenever you can and however you can. And, did you know that housework is a great form of exercise? .. Plus it gives you the bonus of a really sparkling home!" ...

Good luck with your issue. I hope you find the solution you seek.

kaygirl9 · April 2023

I'm age 81 and can't exercise much because of hip and knee replacements . . but as others said above, try to just keep moving! And now I've added in water aerobics, which is absolutely wonderful!! I didn't think I could go back to real swimming lengths of a pool, and found the water aerobics classes available almost every day at the Seattle parks department pools throughout the city. I started two months go, and it's made a huge difference, and I'm feeling so much better, stronger, and better balance, and slowly losing the weight I need to get rid of. I can't recommend this highly enough. You can be in the shallow end, or deep end with a waist buoy, the 50-minute classes are led by qualified instructors, to music, and exercise all muscles in a fun, non-weight-bearing way. Check out your city's public pools --each class costs only $4!

tomcustombuilder · April 2023

kaythor wrote: »

I'm age 81 and can't exercise much because of hip and knee replacements . . but as others said above, try to just keep moving! And now I've added in water aerobics, which is absolutely wonderful!! I didn't think I could go back to real swimming lengths of a pool, and found the water aerobics classes available almost every day at the Seattle parks department pools throughout the city. I started two months go, and it's made a huge difference, and I'm feeling so much better, stronger, and better balance, and slowly losing the weight I need to get rid of. I can't recommend this highly enough. You can be in the shallow end, or deep end with a waist buoy, the 50-minute classes are led by qualified instructors, to music, and exercise all muscles in a fun, non-weight-bearing way. Check out your city's public pools --each class costs only $4!

Pool workouts are amazing. Even Usain Bolt, the worlds fastest human does pool running as part of his training.

springlering62 · April 2023

I’d like to shoot the person who came up with the insidious internet spam term “belly fat”.

I’m 60, lost 100, gained back a few as muscle weight. I’m tight everywhere except my belly. After two or three years of maintenance, the loose stomach skin is slooooooooowly starting to tighten up.

I don’t know if it’s the vastly improved nutrition of the past few years, or the array of exercise I incorporate, but assume it’s a combination of the two, plus a simple dose of time.

It’s possible to get a fabulous, low impact workout doing aqua or hydro fit classes, if you put effort into it. Aquafit can easily devolve into a gossipfest. I can get a great core workout with Aqua Bells (resistance devices with zero flotation), and feel like it complements weight training very well.

As others say, check out your local community gym. Our local gym is only $65 a month for both of us and has a vast array of classes- including classes for people with limited mobility- as well as pool and indoor track.

My neighbors have free membership at a big chain gym via Medicare and Silver Sneakers.

You might also check out yin yoga, a very specific style of low impact yoga where you hold a single pose 3-5 minutes on each side in order for the benefits of the pose to take ahold. It worked wonders for my arthritis and ultimately, my flexibility.

I’m going to assume you’re starting well over 200, as I did. The weight came off quickly for the first three or four months. If you’re under 200, you may want to slow it down for health reasons. And do expect it will not continue at the pace you’re going now. When it slows down- and it will- it can be maddening, frustrating, irritating, hissy-fit inducing (been there done that!)

At that point, look for other improvements besides the scale: rings/shoes/waistbands getting looser, losing inches, face shrinking, unexpected baggy spots. All indicate continuing change that the scale won’t reflect til it’s ready to.

Good for you for asking for help and getting off to a banging start!

Belly Fat, how do we get it off? Without hurting my back, cuz I have nerve damage down my spine?

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