Skinny fat - any suggestions?

elsien

Fitting exercise in (without a great deal of motivation, hence the excuses) isn't easy at the moment. Not so bad if I'm on an evening shift starting at 3 ish, although I do tend to spend those mornings catching up on house jobs and shopping. But at the moment if I'm working early, I finish 4 or 5, walk the dog, visit relative in nursing home (have to stay at least an hour) get home 7 ish, slump in front of telly, come on here.
I did try the early bird swim sessions but I need the incentive of meeting a friend to get my @rse out of bed that time of the morning, and she's now working then. Although I could try to go once a week on one of my days off.

belfastgirl23

elsien wrote: »

Fitting exercise in (without a great deal of motivation, hence the excuses) isn't easy at the moment. Not so bad if I'm on an evening shift starting at 3 ish, although I do tend to spend those mornings catching up on house jobs and shopping. But at the moment if I'm working early, I finish 4 or 5, walk the dog, visit relative in nursing home (have to stay at least an hour) get home 7 ish, slump in front of telly, come on here.
I did try the early bird swim sessions but I need the incentive of meeting a friend to get my @rse out of bed that time of the morning, and she's now working then. Although I could try to go once a week on one of my days off.

This is where a pedometer type thing can really help with the motivation though. I only got one lately but it really encourages me to take the stairs instead of the lift and walk the slightly longer way round when I'm popping to the shop. I'm not talking about walking miles, more just adding a bit of extra walking in to your everyday activities.

Minimal changes would probably make a major difference in your case!

murphydog999

Your head needs to be in the right place if you want to make big changes, otherwise i can guarantee 100% you will fail. Health and fitness comes in that order, think about your health first (by eating healthier foods rather than dieting) and then tackle your fitness - it will be easier and you will feel better for it.

Simple steps like eating no processed/pre-made foods, take-aways, cakes, biscuits, crisps, anything deep-fried, and eating lots more veg. (not fruit - except berries - as they are mainly sugar) are easy to do and will make a big difference.

Finally, sugar! It is one of the worse foods on the planet, if you restrict the above foods you will be cutting out a lot of it, but if you take it in hot drinks or have fizzy drinks, try and cut down.

Also, do see your doctor, if you are only putting weight on in one area, it could be down to something else.

ktb

I am the same as you OP, have always been slim and a healthy weight/BMI, but any body fat I do have is on my tummy. I adopted low carb eating (purely for health reasons) and coincidently it has been great at reducing my tummy.

When researching it, I found out that the fat that the body stores when you eat carbs/sugar, usually goes onto the tummy & around your internal organs and it can be almost impossible to get rid of with exercise alone. You can tone your abs underneath the layer of tummy fat, but you really need to stop the body storing the layer of fat there in the first place. In order to do that you need to adjust the way you eat. This can be done by swapping out things which cause your body to produce high levels of insulin, which is the fat storage hormone. This is things like sugar, carbohydrates (simple & complex) and fruit. Basically all things people have listed in the thread.

If you don't want to jump fully on the low carb bandwagon, you could pick up a Low GI diet book which would be good start (although there are lots of things in low GI that will still cause the production of insulin and fat storage.... hence why it tends to be all or nothing for low carb to be effective) but it might help you to make better choices without having to be extreme.

elsien

I don't eat lots of rubbishy stuff - although when I'm at work I often forget/don't have time for lunch (we don't get lunch breaks) so aim for the crisps/choccy's as a quick fix. No fizzy drinks unless they're diet ones, and sweeteners in my tea.
No ready meals, crisps or biscuits when I'm at home, and "proper" home cooked food of an evening, stir fries, spag bol, chicken portion potatoes and veg, that sort of thing. But if I get home and realise I'm starving, I aim for the toast or cereal bars to keep me going, and I did get into the habit of munching on crumpets at night - my comfort food!
So if I start with trying to make sure I have regular meals instead of the bread, crisps and chocs in between, and stop filling up with bread and butter with every meal that might be a good starting point. Plus a realistic once a fortnight to go swimming to start with, and see how it goes.
The thing is, unless I have bread, potatoes or rice with a main meal, I don't feel as if I've had a proper meal, I feel as if I still need more. All in the head, or something I can do something about?

Edit - just bought a lorry load of nectarines from Lidl as they were on offer - sounds like not a good start!

GFN123

Your troubles sound very familiar to me! Am the very the same not least with the excuses and the utter lack of will to exercise

Other posters are right and I think you should make changes gradually. A hardcore low carb approach may not suit you right now, but bear it in mind as you can fill up on protein and certain veg etc to your heart's content which may stop you feeling like you're missing out?

elsien wrote: »

The thing is, unless I have bread, potatoes or rice with a main meal, I don't feel as if I've had a proper meal, I feel as if I still need more. All in the head, or something I can do something about?

How about simply halving the amount of bread/rice/potatoes and doubling the amount of veg with your meals to start? You won't feel deprived that way but will be cutting back, and adding more veg is simply being healthier, rather than a 'diet'. You may find there are some meals you can enjoy without any starch and some are better with. The thing about low carb (sorry if I sound evangelical, not my intention!) is it's very easy and requires little thought, unlike calorie counting which is way too tedious for me! I dip in and out of low carb without being very strict about it, but if I am more conscientious I can drop weight off without problems and maintain it without having to really think. It just seems it may suit you, but if not, the plans you have outlined sound perfectly good.

On 'our' One Stone thread there is some info about just being much more mindful of what you eat - no food is banned, but you aim to eat slowly and appreciate your food, and just stop when you are full. I believe it's Paul McKenna's system but it makes a lot of sense!

daska

It's partly in the head LOL. Sugar is addictive and the effects act on the brain in the same way that other addictive substances do. And the bulky starches you feel you need (I'd use the word crave for myself LOL) i.e. the bread, potatoes and rice turn to sugar when you eat them. This is turn raises your blood sugar, raises your insulin levels which leads to fat storage etc.

I find it takes about 5 days to get over the feeling of needing the bulky starches. But it's actually the protein and fat that keep you sated. So if you have eggs for breakfast these will keep your blood sugars steadier and help stop you reaching for the toast - a good cook-in-advance idea is frittata or crustless quiche, it keeps well in the fridge and can be warmed in the microwave really easily, I often do something like this without the pastry, I use tuna, chicken, ham etc plus whatever veg is in the fridge/freezer.

For something you can grab in a hurry try cheese, nuts or biltong/jerky.

BTW diet drinks aren't that great, one theory is that the effect they have on the brain leads it to expect a surge in energy dense food and when it doesn't get that it can trigger over-eating. And if you can get that sweet tooth under control to the point that diet drinks are too sweet it's much easier to keep off the really sugar laden things.

Skymist

Hi elsien.... I''ve already posted this on the Low Carb thread, but think you might find it helpful.......

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2182575/YOU-special-report-Are-addicted-sugar.html

S

Keeping_Motivated

How about finding out the correct portion size for rice, potatoes etc and then weighing all the time? Its surprising how we over load our plates and using scales for a while will educate you on portions and will only not deny you the food you like.

Maybe worth a try?

krlyr

Similar to you - never worried about my weight or exercise, but now in my mid-twenties and definately noticing a little belly starting to develop! I walk the dogs but it's not overly challenging, and OH's fondness for takeaways and evening snacks was rubbing off on me too.
So I decided to start running. OH laughed at me, I doubted if I could do it, but decided to give it a try. If nothing else, I wanted to give one of my dogs a bit more exercise - she was born to run but there's no secure areas at the new house I can really let her off in (the other dog can take it or leave it, he's much more of a plodder!). So off I went, downloaded the Couch to 5K podcasts, strapped the mutt around my waist and off we went.
It took me a while - I was unfit and it showed. I had to repeat week one twice as I wasn't managing the whole 30 minutes first of all (nearly there but not quite) and had a couple of setbacks with sore knees but after a couple of months I actually really got into it. I'm on another rest period at the moment after twisting my ankle dogwalking, but I really want to get back out there - never thought I'd be itching to exercise!
The best thing is, it's just 30 minute sessions, 3 times a week, so fairly easy to fit in. I was also surprised with how quickly my fitness levels rose, even when I had to take breaks for my knee, I thought my stamina would drop a lot but I managed to pick things back up pretty easily once I got back out running.
Could be worth a try. If you have some half decent shoes and an MP3 player (or a phone that does the same), then there's no initial outlay either - I just picked up some cheapy running shoes off Ebay to start with which I decided would just be delegated as dog-walking shoes if I didn't get into the running, but now I've got into it I've splurged on some better shoes (still Ebay bargains - tried on around the house but didn't fit the seller so picked them up practically new for 1/3 of the RRP!)
Also as a side effect, if I've had a run, I find myself being pickier about what I eat. The post-run feeling certainly makes me question grabbing a packet of crisps and I'd much rather have a healthy meal to refuel than 'waste' all that exercise on snacks that won't fill me up anyway.
Within weeks, the belly was going, I was fitting back into jeans I hadn't worn since I first met OH, and not just losing weight but feeling a lot fitter as well, which is another reason I wanted to do something - skinny doesn't equal healthy and I wanted to try to get in better shape healthwise too.
Kiki turned out to love it too and I've even started taking Casper out with us as well! Gives them a good workout, and I think it helped to build them up to it slowly too. They soon got into the pace of it and learning when to slow down and speed up for the various walking and running sessions, and I feel a lot safer running out in fields on my own with a GSD and Rottie x attached to me, but if your dog isn't quite fit enough then you could always find a running buddy to join you.