Possible to lose just belly fat?
#51
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To the contrary, they did consider keto, in fact it made the list for short term weight loss, but didn't make any of the "good diet" lists simply because it's a very unhealthy diet with poor results over the long term. The Standard American Diet didn't make the list either. I've been eating the same Med diet, though minus the dinosaurs and mammals, for over 50 years. I've had very good results, very good health numbers, still skiing bumps, still climbing mountain passes, backpacking, all that good stuff, not that different from 50 years ago, just a bit slower. Time has borne out the diet preferences of the medical societies.
I do full body strength training, but not at the expense of cycling training. With age, one has to stress the muscles more than is necessary for a young person. But burning calories over many hours per week of aerobic exercise while keeping portion sizes down is the way to lose weight. And "aerobic exercise" doesn't mean piddling along or doing rhumba. If your legs aren't hurting after 3 hours on the bike, you should be going harder. Unless of course it's a 10 hour ride, in which case you should be keeping the effort just below the pain threshold for most of the ride.
A caution though: A younger friend of ours, who's been doing rhumba 2 hours/week and thought that meant she was in shape, went snowshoeing and had a cardiac event which put her in the hospital. The doctor said she'd just overworked her heart, which couldn't supply enough blood to keep her tissues alive, just walking uphill on snowshoes. My wife and I had done this same trip the previous week and nothing to it. So work up to aerobic stuff gradually if you haven't been doing it. The heart is the last thing to get into good shape. Skeletal muscles are much more responsive to training.
I do full body strength training, but not at the expense of cycling training. With age, one has to stress the muscles more than is necessary for a young person. But burning calories over many hours per week of aerobic exercise while keeping portion sizes down is the way to lose weight. And "aerobic exercise" doesn't mean piddling along or doing rhumba. If your legs aren't hurting after 3 hours on the bike, you should be going harder. Unless of course it's a 10 hour ride, in which case you should be keeping the effort just below the pain threshold for most of the ride.
A caution though: A younger friend of ours, who's been doing rhumba 2 hours/week and thought that meant she was in shape, went snowshoeing and had a cardiac event which put her in the hospital. The doctor said she'd just overworked her heart, which couldn't supply enough blood to keep her tissues alive, just walking uphill on snowshoes. My wife and I had done this same trip the previous week and nothing to it. So work up to aerobic stuff gradually if you haven't been doing it. The heart is the last thing to get into good shape. Skeletal muscles are much more responsive to training.
And what is rhumba?
#52
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#53
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For what it's worth, the people who enjoy the longest lives, and the longest health, all eat a lot of carbs. Look up "blue zones." Eating very low carb increases your chance of getting some cancers, possibly because the lack of fiber is back for your "gut bacteria." Everybody gets to make their own choices in life, but this one seems pretty obvious for healthy people. For cyclists, it's even more obvious because you need carbs for anerobic energy, to give it your all.
I'm on board with the fiber research, though... I'm trying to get in the habit of incorporating several types of fiber and setting an interim goal of getting 50% of the RDA each day, if not more.
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#55
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See my post No. 50, this thread. And sorry for the brain fade. The vacuum cleaner is a roomba, the dance is a rhumba, and the silly group exercise is Zumba, which is what I meant to say.
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#56
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A friend posted this interesting perspective on the "blue zones". The paper he references is not as scientifically rigorous as it could be, but I found it thought-provoking, if nothing else.
I'm on board with the fiber research, though... I'm trying to get in the habit of incorporating several types of fiber and setting an interim goal of getting 50% of the RDA each day, if not more.
I'm on board with the fiber research, though... I'm trying to get in the habit of incorporating several types of fiber and setting an interim goal of getting 50% of the RDA each day, if not more.
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#57
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#58
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#59
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#60
Isn't the keto diet just the Atkins diet rebranded? Perhaps with guidance on what fats to prefer, but still, the object is to put the body into ketosis to simulate famine/starvation. I don't know if it's possible for many people to maintain this state for the long term or even to maintain it sporadically for the long term. Besides that, speaking from experience, ketones stink.
"The folks I know who have tried to eat keto for years are all fat, just like folks who overeat carbs. Why? Because folks who are driven toward keto for weight loss have a problem with diet and exercise: they eat too much and exercise too little." That's the harsh reality for many of us who have trouble not gaining weight and have trouble losing it, myself included. For someone who is weight "correct" or close to weight correct, there seems to me no good reason to achieve ketosis. Of course, if someone has a medical condition for which competent medical advice suggests, ketosis, that's different. It's like taking synthroid. If you are hypothyroid, your doctor may prescribe synthroid and in that case, it is a wonder drug. But, don't take synthroid because excess thyroid hormone will help you lose weight. It, also, may make you stink.
My preferred fad diet? Rotel and black beans.
"The folks I know who have tried to eat keto for years are all fat, just like folks who overeat carbs. Why? Because folks who are driven toward keto for weight loss have a problem with diet and exercise: they eat too much and exercise too little." That's the harsh reality for many of us who have trouble not gaining weight and have trouble losing it, myself included. For someone who is weight "correct" or close to weight correct, there seems to me no good reason to achieve ketosis. Of course, if someone has a medical condition for which competent medical advice suggests, ketosis, that's different. It's like taking synthroid. If you are hypothyroid, your doctor may prescribe synthroid and in that case, it is a wonder drug. But, don't take synthroid because excess thyroid hormone will help you lose weight. It, also, may make you stink.
My preferred fad diet? Rotel and black beans.
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Keto predates Atkins and was originally invented for the purpose of treating epilepsy and seizures and was meant to be used under medical supervision. Keto diets are for sick people only....A normal healthy person shouldn't follow Keto diets or any other restrictive diet plans which forbid eating certain foods. A lot of people who claim to follow Keto diet haven't even achieved true ketosis and are unable to maintain ketosis for extended periods of time because it's not easy to do that. Not eating carbs doesn't mean that you're going to enter ketosis. Eating too much protein will prevent ketosis. To enter and maintain ketosis your diet has to be 90% or more fat and the remaining 10% or less protein. Good luck following such a restrictive diet especially for somebody who is physically active and trains a lot.
#62
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Keto isn't a diet, it's a cult. As you can see from some of the posts in this thread.
#63
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The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
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All diets are cults. Some are more cultish than others. The cultish aspect of a diet can be what makes people stick to it. Many diets are difficult to follow, you have to try very hard and not back slide.
The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
#65
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Oh, backsliding, what a great term. I remember when I was a kid, a group of older Christian men talking quietly in a corner about someone else, "Oh, he's been backsliding again. We need to talk to him." Yeah, there's that backsliding thing again. I never could relate to that. Let's have some good old public self-criticism, too. I ate 2! TWO slices of pizza for dinner last night. The first one felt pretty good, and then I ate another. Homemade though and really tasty, but I know I shouldn'ta. That's how that belly fat thing gets started and I knew it. But I'm not sorry, not sorry at all, and further not sorry for not feeling sorry. But I do know that's how that good food addiction thing gets started . . .
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#66
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All diets are cults. Some are more cultish than others. The cultish aspect of a diet can be what makes people stick to it. Many diets are difficult to follow, you have to try very hard and not back slide.
The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
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#68
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I had a friend who was piscetarian. He said it’s like being Catholic, minus Confession, and the priests can be married. Or was that the Episcopalian? Hold on...
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#69
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If your diet is hard to follow and you're worried about backsliding, it means that you're doing something wrong and you're following a wrong diet plan.....The term " backsliding" shouldn't even be applied to eating and nutrition because eating food isn't a religion.
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Vegan cults judge and condemn me for eating steak... Keto and paleo cults judge and condemn me for eating white rice....And I don't care what any of them think or believe, I just fuel my body with what works best for me.
#71
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All diets are cults. Some are more cultish than others. The cultish aspect of a diet can be what makes people stick to it. Many diets are difficult to follow, you have to try very hard and not back slide.
The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
The sense of being part of a special group, with knowledge that others do not have, is empowering.
You should try keto.
Dessert is going to be oatmeal with berries.
#72
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Funny thing about Keto. Most people who think they are doing it, aren't. It's a pretty extreme diet originally developed to treat juveniles with epilepsy. The average adult can't really sustain it for long.
I did it go into true ketoacidosis two years ago for a month by eating only eggs, 361 for 28 days or 12.9/day (0 carbs, 0 sugars, 70/30 protein/fat split). By the end I lacked any quick energy and had to calculate how I would expend what I had. I wasn't starving but I was mild - moderately lethargic.
Also, as noted, you can't exactly target belly fat. A pronounced belly may just be a personal genetic disposition (similarly, some women carry fat disproportionately on the hips) or you could have some very slack abdomen muscles. That would allow the gut to hang forward. In that case some targeted abdomonal exercises would firm the belly but it won't really target the fat that is there specifically.
I did it go into true ketoacidosis two years ago for a month by eating only eggs, 361 for 28 days or 12.9/day (0 carbs, 0 sugars, 70/30 protein/fat split). By the end I lacked any quick energy and had to calculate how I would expend what I had. I wasn't starving but I was mild - moderately lethargic.
Also, as noted, you can't exactly target belly fat. A pronounced belly may just be a personal genetic disposition (similarly, some women carry fat disproportionately on the hips) or you could have some very slack abdomen muscles. That would allow the gut to hang forward. In that case some targeted abdomonal exercises would firm the belly but it won't really target the fat that is there specifically.
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#75
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