LF feedback, tip and tricks in regards to burning viscal fat / all round tune up

Hi all,

recently i have started to get mt general health up and focus on daily exercise to focus on the build up of viscal fat around abdomen / lower abdomen.

Basically my body type would be inbetween ecto / mesomorph. I have a generally lean build that iam happy with, but over the last 3 years i have developed a small amount of belly flab on lower abdomen. I now wish to remove it, to rediscover the ol muscles hiding in there.

I consider my diet to be excellent. i suffer from insulin dependant diabetes and coeliac, so my diet consist of alternative organic carbos, as much of the low gi school as possable. I eat a large amount of fresh fruit and veg. i do not at all eat junk / overprocessed / fatty ect foods. in addition, i do not smoke or binge drink. oh, in addition im a vegetarian... just to make things even more tricky :action2:

i guess the bit of stomach flab is the result of a lack of exercise over the last few years. i used to 'extreme bmx' but after a accident that hospitalised me for a long while / uni studies i noticed i wasnt exercising daily enough.

To combat this around two weeks ago i started doing a daily walk (fast paced - conscious of heart rate, pushin it ect) for around a hour (maximising periodic uphill routes ect) followed by a home work-out every second day involving pushups / situps / squats for around 25 mins. I can feel post through tenderness that it seems to be working.

Would like feedback if at all possible, do you think this is enough? any tips to help maximize / alter my daily exercise to see better / results. also will soon be purchasing a mountain bike to break up daily walks with mountain tracking ... which would be considered a better choice?

any help is much appreciated
 
I think you just need to give yourself more time to establish a consistent exercise routine and give your body time to adapt. Pay really close attention to your sugar levels as you're adding new activities as you really want to avoid highs and especially lows with regard to your blood glucose. Uncontrolled insulin and blood glucose levels can often be a barrier to fat loss, so try to keep your glucose control as tight as possible. Try to build up to at least 30 mins (you're already doing 60, so that's even better!) of aerobic activity almost every day and resistance exercise 3 days per week.

Try things out for a bit longer.... if you're not seeing the results you want, you may want to consider a gym membership so that you can get a better resistance training program going to lose the 'stubborn' fat :).

Some good reads are in the sticky threads at the top of the thread lists, here are a couple of good sections:

Weight Training

Young Athlete Development
 
Thanks for the reply! Great advice, i have started to do intensive BSL monitoring (poor fingers :speechless: ) to fine tune insulin doses. On days combining cardio and a str based workout, i now seperate the exercise, cardio in the morning / workout at night, as i was flatlining (hypoglycemic) post exercise far to frequently. A mate told me that it is less efficient to separate the activity, but it seems much safer consider what i need to balance.

Also i have had to compromise with the vegetarian aspect of my diet, increasing protein intake through consuming seafood, esp sardines ect.

Would love a gym membership, however fresh out of higher education ... and the price of them where i live, they arent quite within grasp at the mo. def something i will be keen to start up perhaps over the coming months. but with xmas inc, u never know what ol santa may bring, esp if i pester him enough! haha

*also started calorie counting / keeping a health journal! things are coming along nicely!
 
Well, it sounds like you have things fairly under control at the moment... can't wait to hear about your progress! Just have patience!
 
*Update* Insulin cutbacks pre and post exercise ... around 18 - 22%. In addition, increased Low GI carbo intake pre and post exercise meals. Last week very low BSLs, trial and error still but things are coming along nicely, things will calm down over the coming week. Increasing sets / reps with each strength workout.

** Bought a norco wolverine, also a reason for low BSL, have the bike bug again! /harder faster and all that :angry: it seems dirt track biking is burning up a huge amount of glucose (inc the stores in liver / calories) - i really have to try and control myself to not end up in a dangerous situation
 
You don't need a gym membership. There is plenty to do at home with bodyweight exercises and some cheap equipment such as a homemade medicine ball, slosh tube, macebell, clubbell, etc.

I agree with watching insulin (Zone diet is a way to live to keep that balanced - just google them).

For weight loss though, there are some good studies showing how High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) will burn calories for a day to a day and a half later in comparison to just aerobic activity. Think doing something very aggressive (always in good form) then resting. Then repeat. You can do a couple different circuits each day you workout. Personally I do 30-45 minutes of exercise 4 times a week and that is all I need to be in the best shape of my life (I'm almost 37 years old). Crossfit is close to this, but you don't have to do the whole barbell/olympic lift thing with a timer all the time.

If you need ideas for workouts or types of exercises I can point you to some links. I am not going to just "plug my site" unsolicited.
 
Kemmefitness... I understand your reasoning for recommending HIIT, but I think you might have missed the part about the original poster being insulin dependent diabetic.... You can't just go around recommending the same thing for everyone. Someone who has to inject insulin based on their diet and exercise patterns would have to work up to high intensity training very gradually while paying very close attention to their diet, exercise intensity, and insulin dosage surrounding each workout. Not to say that it can't be done, but there are steps that need to be followed in order for the person to exercise safely.
 
PLBFitness,
You are totally right...I was extremely hasty and missed that very important point. This was a good lesson for me. I am so big into sharing with others that I need to remember to listen (or read) and also to remember that others may actually listen too much to me.

I can't imagine anything worse than harming somebody else because I am just so into helping. I am very safety oriented and being new to the Forum setting is an adjustment. I will either refrain from commenting, or I will be much more cautious in the future.

I do hope that I am in a place where I can share what I learned. Is there a different forum with this site more geared for me to share? I guess, my question is, is this forum more for people to ask the administrators/doctors/etc for advice, versus just fitness enthusiasts to weigh in?

My apologies to the original poster for steering you in the wrong direction...and make no point, it would be the wrong direction for a person at your current state without direct guidance.
 
No need to apologize. HIIT once or twice weekly is indeed a benchmark i would like to work towards, i heart it is great for heart health ... however at this moment in time it would be very dangerous for me to start it up. I do hope this thread is in the right area, apologies if not Basically the goals are to increase general health / add definition to existing muscle mass / burn off the small amount of 'belly fat' i have let accrued and obtain a benchmark of strength improvement so i can continue down a road towards heavy / medium strength straining. I opened this thread because maybe it will help someone else who is in the same position as me (coeliac / type 1 diab) - there just isnt much literature around that focuses on what i want to hope to achieve.

I also should explain no insulin doses will ever be discussed here, or should be. no two people are the same, i will talk about % cut, but nothing specific. if you are not comfortable with your condition / understand the processes / experience ANY complications from poor control / experience HEET hypoglycemia (that is symptom less hypos) your first port of call before trying any changes in your fitness regime is your team of doctors.

here are some stats (ill upload some photos of body whenever my mate that has gone bush brings back my dig. SLR)
height: 184.5
weight: 80.0
body mass index: 23.5
body fat index - NO idea - i would like to find out though
 
oh and def drop a link for 'your site' regarding workout / types of exercises. im always scouring the net for new types of exercises / form tips ect
 
Pete, you are definitely welcome to share ideas, comments, experiences, etc. anywhere on the forum. I get my hackles up a bit when I see something being recommended that I know is possibly not safe, so I apologize if my response was harsh. If you have info that you want to share, please share it here and avoid posting links to your site. You are welcome to keep your links in your profile and people will look there if they are interested in what you are posting on the forum. Encouraging people to look at your profile, check out your site, PM you, etc. are all considered spam and we have to be consistent with all members. There are a very select few that have been allowed to post their own site in their signature, but that is because they have been around for a long time, have contributed a lot to the forums, and have been approved by the site owner. Hope that clears things up a bit, I'm not meaning to scare you away from the forums. Just keep in mind that most personal training certifications don't even certify those trainers to work with anyone other than "apparently healthy" individuals (i.e. no known heart disease, diabetes, etc.), so just be aware of when to comment, and when to avoid commenting because it's out of your scope.
 
Valid_Invalid, I'm not too picky about what sections people write things in in the forum.... So don't worry too much about that! If it helps somebody, it really doesn't matter what section it's in.
 
Thank you for you encouragement. This is the first forum I have ever joined other than the Barefoot Running Society, but I don't really have anything to comment there (it is more social). I will be select and see if I can (with caution) share with those that are appropriate.
 
If i could have some feedback on this workout. Be gentle ;) im increasing the reps generally each session (doing sessions every second day - this too soon?) Any feedback of any muscle groups i may be missing would be appreciated. also the set / rep setup (i rly have no idea about this relationship) Im not going for huge muscle... aiming 4 more defintion or 'beach bod' type form. i have noticed increased def in legs / arms (not tricep though). far too early to notice any diff in belly (should be noted i now have a exercise bike that uses magnet resistence - used it once in the form of a morning cardio workout, 12 sets of 3 min rides at max resistance possible while maintaining above 90RPM - Plan to do twice weekly). Anyhow, before i go offtopic again... here is my last workout (last night - do i need more focus on chest / back?)

(stretch) -10m

Table, into cat then dog (yoga poses) - 3 sets / 6 reps

Lunge Stretch - 4 sets, (each set consists of a 30 sec stretch n hold on each leg)

Side Raises - 15 / 12 / 12 (used 2kg weights - im soft-_-)** not sure if next session to increase weight by 500g or increases reps? this applies to all weighted activity

Dumbell Shoulder Press - 15 / 12 / 12 (same weight as above)

Dumbell kick backs - 12 / 10 / 10 (same weight as above)

Glute Bridge - 5 sets / 6 reps (15 sec hold each stretch, no bum contact with floor during a set, usng a mat behind upper back / shoulder / head)

Push ups - 5 sets / 5 reps (i really focus on my form - i generally take a break for 5 mins post push ups - hardest hitting exercise for me)

Standing Oblique Twists - 5 sets / 15 reps

Planks - 3 sets / 4 reps (set progression is front, side a, side b), push out a 30 sec hold, 30 sec rest between each one

Squats - 5 sets/ 5 reps (15 sec hold @ parallel, weighted 2kg)

double crunches - 5 sets / 5 reps


and generally my week looks / will look like this
mon: cardio (60 min powerwalk of morning) str workout of evening
tuesday (cardio - exercise bike - set above)
wed cardio (60m powerwalk morn) str workout evening
thur (cardio - dirt biking)
fri - (cardio powerwalk morning) str workout evening
sat - (cardio - exercise bike)
sun - No focused exercise, maybe a lil beach with lady friend, not interested in swimming though! (er light cardio)

any feedback mcuh appreciated
 
*changed double crunches to 4 sets, 12 reps
**Dumbbell kick backs are done for each arm, and weight increased to 3kg for all weighted exercises
*** will be adding sets of bulgarian split squats & upside down shoulder presses next workout (upside down shoulder press may end in tears! only one way to find out:jump1:)

Also increased insulin reductions across the board, excluding tea (especially lunch, beyond a 50% reduction depending on activity!)
 
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Noticed small amount of weight loss around stomach, however, the loss has been unsymetrical. right side shows more than the left, i hope this isnt a result of me doing something wrong, i just assumed stomach fat loss would be slow and balanced. Noticed small increase in def of muscles around the stomach, esp external obliques (standing obliques / planks / push ups no doubt)

Trying to clean up set / reps involved with str workouts. limited all breaks between sets / change in exercise to 45 - 60 secs.

Paying very close attention to the system of Excarbs (Excarbs is a system that allows exercise to be effectively balanced by eating replacement carbohydrates and by adjusting insulin. Extra Carbs for Exercise, or ExCarbs, provide the yardstick to measure the impact an exercise will have on the blood sugars) as insulin doses at meals pre and post exercise are getting close to a 50% cut (it is generally agreed upon that a decrease beyond 50% is not ideal) Excarbs can be used in a diet that is operating in a calorie neutral / deficit manner. Health care providers should be consulted upon teaching this system, i have found it very valuable:party2:
 
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