Can anyone help to lose the 10 pound muffin top?

[Ellen Jones]

Been vegan about half my life (57). Run 5K's, locally place in my age group, doing my 2nd half marathon soon, weight train 2-3x/wk, run 3-4 miles every other day or a little more, depending on upcoming race. Got down to my ideal weight (10 pounds less) 3 years ago but it has slowly crept back on in the form of a muffin top, 33 in. waist. Lost it, I thought, by drinking green tea 3x a day. But that doesn't seem to help now, no matter how much tea I drink. Have tried vega protein drinks a few times, but I didn't cut out any food with that. No change. Is it just menopot, and I have to live with it, or do you have any ideas? Thanks!

[horsedoc]

Hi Mamawama,

 

I have found that age will not keep you from getting in shape but age can make things a bit more of a challenge.

Long slow cardio such as distance running is not, in my experience, a good way to lose fat. Weight training is a good way, depending on your routine.

 

Green tea has some good anti-oxidan and toxin flushing properties but no magic potion. It would help you hydrate and maybe decrease food consumption.

 

What has worked best for me is high intensity interval cardio training and weight training. Also finding the right food combinations for my body, then eating super lean and clean. I work out 3 - 4 days a week for less than an hour per session and have maintained muscle while also being lean. My diet consists of a lot of greens for their minerals, amino acids and chlorophyll. They are the key for me.

[BlueRose]

I'm a chick who has an hourglass so maybe I have it good, but doing exercises like crunches and stretches to help trim your waist might help. In the combo cardio/strength program I do they do a lot of exercise to trim away at the waist and I've already lost 2" in two weeks.

 

Is it genuinely fat or do you feel bloated, compressed, etc?

[beforewisdom]

Even people who are well educated about fitness and nutrition have been shown to routinely UNDER estimate how much they eat. It is like how much you think you are spending and how shocked you are to find out how much you ACTUALLY spend once you begin writing down what you buy.

 

Keeping a calorie log only takes a few minutes a day and can make the difference with losing that last little bit of weight.

 

Once you look at the numbers you can see that you easily put back any calories you may burn off via exercise without realizing it.

 

nutritiondata.com is a great resource and is free.

[horsedoc]

Keeping a calorie log only takes a few minutes a day and can make the difference with losing that last little bit of weight.

 

Once you look at the numbers you can see that you easily put back any calories you may burn off via exercise without realizing it.

 

I agree with beforewisdom, it can by eye-opening to track your eating for a week or so. I have used http://www.fitday.com and also heard that many people like http://www.nutridiary.com. I don't use fitday now as I have a good feel for how much I'm eating but it was very helpful when I started eating a mostly raw vegan diet.

[strawberryriddick]

Great advice so far, but let me add something else: increase intensity.

 

Clearly, what you are doing now isn't working, so doing the same thing over and over and expecting new results is, well, crazy...let's just be honest. If your current activity level and diet have allowed a froofy muffin top to creep onto you, then you're not doing enough to keep it off. If you were, it wouldn't have come back.

 

You didn't post your diet, and I do recommend that you post a sample of your daily diet so we can help you assess it. What you eat, how much of it, and when you eat needs to be spelled out. On top of this, reassess the intensity of your workouts. Too many people just "workout" by hitting the pavement or the weights doing the same thing, the same weights, the same reps/sets, the same exercises, the same distance done in the same time. The body responds to being challenged, and if you don't challenge it, you won't see the results you want.

[Theresaann]

three things:

 

1. yes, as mentioned above, get really straight with yourself about what you are really eating

2. KETTLEBELLS!!! This workout will blast fat off of your body in only (3) 30 min workouts a week-way more effective than just free weights and cardio routines. Super amazing. Check out mikemahler.com (vegan kb instructor), dragondoor.com and ontheedgefitness.com. PLus you get great abs and glutes without ever doing a single crunch or lunge.

3. do not eat after 6:30 pm, and get to sleep by 10pm as often as possible. Tons of research shows that not eating at night (at all) and getting to sleep by 10 really revs up metabolism by increasing growth hormone, and allowing the body to detox properly. The body naturally does its detoxing between 10pm and 2 am, and if we have eaten within 3 or 4 hours, or do not get to sleep early enough, we squander that very important function, lowering metabolism, increasing cortisol (which puts on abdominal fat), and leads towards insulin resistance.

 

I'm 45 and perimenopausal, whole food vegan, and am effortlessly a size 6 (doing kettlebells sometimes only twice a week for 20 min). WHen I really stick to this, I easily get to a really lean size 4. But my metabolism was shot at age 43, when I started working out again, but with a vegan diet and regular exercise I went from a 12 to a 6. Now, with kettlebells, its like I'm 28 again, in terms of my metabolism being a lot higher. Hormones don't have to defeat us-not if we do what fixes the problem....peace!