Losing That Last Bit of Stomach Fat

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dbmathis

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Hi Peeps,

I am a 38 year old male that's been sitting on a computer for the last 18 years with no exercise. Recently it caught up to me and I started feeling horrible and ended up in the hospital. I will not go into those details.

4 months ago, a heart doctor, and many other doctors did a full workup on me and told me I am healthy enough for exercise. Fast forward to now, I went from barely able to walk, to walking 0.5 miles a day, to cycling and running 100 miles a week. Additionally, I do an intense array of ab exercises (ab wheel, planks, side planks, leg lifts etc), pushups and other body weight exercises. My weight is down to 170 lbs (from 220), my heart rate recovery is 65+ (was about 10) and my resting heart rate is 58 (was 110). I have had a good diet for the past 10 years, currently doing paleo with zero processed all organic foods and drink about 3 liters of filtered water per day.

I feel like I am getting into shape, however I still have this tid bit of stomach fat left that will not go away. Should I just be patient and keep doing what I am doing?

I bought a body fat measuring device today, it's about the only health device I don't own at this point :)

Best Regards

David
 
I will add that I read all the Sticky's including the one by Goldfish. I am more about doing things like a caveman may have done it, because that's how the human body has evolved doing it over millions of years. I like natural workouts like hiking, mimicking tree climbing, rock climbing etc.

I guess what I am after here is whether or not it's normal for those last few fat lbs to linger in the mid section.
 
Fair enough. Obviously the cost to training caveman style is you will look caveman style. A look at native wild living humans throughout the world will show a distinct lack of pretty 6 packs, plenty of functional fitness but not a lot of aesthetic.
There is nothing at all wrong with this, I love being functionally fit far more than being pretty, it's just important to keep your aims in mind when setting your training.

Only issue I can see with your training is how uneven it is around your core, lots of ab not a lot of the rest of your core, lower back etc. Be careful on uneven training, especially on postural muscles.
Paleo man will have still lifted things so deadlifts etc. will still fit to this concept.
 
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You might want to YouTube ab wheel and then ab wheel from standing. My guess is that both the floor standing and regular version target those deadlift muscles big time. Try it yourself as well. ;)

I do about 20 different core exercises including kettlebell deadlifts. I definitely agree that a paleo man would have been lifting mist likely.
 
Used ab wheels a few times, and they are inappropriately named when used well as you state.
Favourite core exercise is overhead squats, I do them as a finisher on squat days sometimes and there is nothing I have ever done which makes you so aware of every stabiliser in your core.
I have done a number of things that hit core hard, including ballet and power lifting (separate sessions).
I have found that having useful core and pretty abs don't always coincide, in fairness I had the full 6 for several years and thought losing it would be quite traumatic, but the power I was building along with other functional ability meant I didn't care.
My body has to be useful first, prettiness is in the eye of the beholder, as long as the wife is happy I am. Abs range from 1 to 6 pack most of the time now. Target this year is to add bodyweight and I wanted this to be pure lean. The fact that I am aiming to be over 1.5 times my genetic weight means this simply isn't happening so I will bulk now and trim down later, after 23 years of training with weights and more before this of other things, I am in no hurry.

You've done well over the last 10 years. Your paleo approach will get you a functional base to rival most, and this is worth having trust me. The usual reason for wanting to be pretty is to be appealing to the opposite gender, or your own or both for that matter. I found the fact that I looked a bit fit but could do things people didn't expect worked very well, but I had the confidence to do stupid things to demonstrate this.
After this time you will be really enjoying your training and be fully addicted to it, like the regulars here. That's always key. While you enjoy it and are happy to see results coming over time you will always succeed.

Welcome to the asylum.
 
Thanks CrazyOldMan,

My problem is that I don't know if a caveman of the Paleo times would have carried around stomach fat. That's something that's hard to know. My assumption is no, they didn't. I have looked around at photos of modern day hunter gatherers and some have a tummy and some don't. Perhaps it's that some did and some didn't. I am sure there were lazy Paleos too, and sympathetic Paleos that carried their weight. I doubt there were any morbidly obese Paleos though.
 
The chances are you are right on the variation and lack of morbidly obese. I would bet good money that a 6 pack was not part of the deal in over 99.9% of cases though.
I have read up a lot on early human evolution etc. and the environment of the times as well as anatomy to understand why we are built the way we are so I can bore you with stuff like this. We are omnivores with a digestive tract that is almost 100% efficient at absorbing carbohydrate and fat, perfect for an environment where the abundance of food was varied and we would need to lay down stores to get through lean times. The environment that forced Palaeolithic man to spread was subject to steady but dramatic climate change our ability to get nutrition from so many sources meant we thrived and spread while other species became limited and died out. During times of roaming and gathering it is virtually unheard of to become muscular and defined, the slim built will have been catabolising muscle so they will be lean but not muscular, during times of plenty fat stores will have been gladly laid down to ensure survival.
Hollywood gives the impression that during these times there were gymnasiums in every small village and in some cases massive volumes of hormone supplements. Reality is very different.
 
I read an interesting article a few days ago about a scientific study that made a interesting discovery about the immune system. The scientists have discovered that if a person doesn't eat for 3 days, the body wipes out the white blood cells / immune system, and then when eating starts again the body creates a brand new immune system. They say that it's very promising for cancer treatment people who have had their immune system wiped out. It's good for anyone in my opinion, if the study is accurate. It got me thinking, how this ties into paleo and human evolution. I think that it's logical to theorize that the paleo man would go days without food sometimes and the body evolved a mechanism to boost the immune system when food was finally found. It's definitely an interesting subject that can be subjectively and objectively experimented upon.
 
Now days it is very important to do regular exercise to keep your body fit and have less risk of any disease. Exercise is also very useful to control your stomach fat. Spend almost 2 hours in gym or go for running in the morning. Caffeine in coffee will also help to raise your metabolic rate which will burn a little more of your body fat.
 
A diet to get a flat stomach can be highly effective. There are many ways to lose weight specifically in the mid section of the body.
•Eat healthier and cut down junk food, such as replacing sweets and chips with fruits.
•Eat smaller meals a day. To get a flat stomach you should eat many small meals throughout the day. Eat just enough until you feel full; don't overeat and know which flat-belly foods actually work
•Eating raw foods are to avoid the loss of enzymes that result from cooking food, which also decreases its nutritional value. Raw food, unlike cooked and processed foods, takes longer to digest.
•Add stomach exercises to your workout. Simple exercises such as sit-ups, basic abdominal crunches and turn around abdominal crunches can contribute toward that curved flat stomach you need.
•Cardio constitutes as an effective means of reducing stomsch fat, provided you keep it within reason. Losing belly fat with cardio is a tool. There is no way to target fat loss in any area of your body. You need to lose some of that extra fat over your abs. Even if you work out and get huge abs muscles, if there is still a layer of fat over them no one will ever get to see them. Cardio workouts are workouts that raise your heart rate for a given set of time
 
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