Skinny Dude with big tummy!

[Kiwi Man]

Hey There!

First of all, I'd to say that I'm Asian and my English is not my mother-tounge. If my English does not make any sense, please ask me to clarify whatever that confuses you.

Anyway, I'd like to know if you guys can give me any suggestion of what I should do with my health issues.

I am considered to be rather skinny guy. I would fit into 14.5 dress shirt nicely and I can fit myself into pants that are sized 30 if I wear them one inch below my belly botton. BUT sometime I measured my waist around my belly button. It goes as big as 35. I know that is crazy, but it is what it is and I don't know what to do.

If I eat more, I feel like my stomach will get bigger, but other part of my body would remain the same. As of right now, I tried to reduced my stomach by trying to excercise approximately 30-40 minutes four times a week. The exercise focuses more on building abs or so called "Six packs"

In the past, I was concerned if I have eating disorder, but I know that those who have that decease, they do not think that they are thin and any food repell them. Well, I'm different. I enjoy eating. In average, I can eat up to 1 pint of Ben and Jerry for every week. More importantly, I do realize that I'm skinny.

Even though skinny jeans are considered to be fashionable as of right now, I actually enjoy that I get wear what most people would prefer to call trendy.

If anybody should know, I'm about 5'7 and 133 pounds.

 

[Khayembii Communique]

If your waist is large due to fat then ab workouts will help little. It is not possible to target one area of your body for fat loss. Your body prioritizes and stores fat in a genetically predetermined manner, and so you will also lose body fat in a predetermined manner. If you would like to lose fat then you are going to have to increase your cardio and tailor your diet for this to happen.

Do 30-45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical 5 days a week after waking up in the morning and before your first meal.

As for your diet, just eat healthy. Replace white bread and other simple carbohydrate sources with whole grain and complex carbohydrates. Cut down on any foods high in simple carbohydrates and/or saturated fat. If you drink soda then switch to diet or cut it out completely.

Simple carbohydrates are processed quickly by your body which results in a spike in blood pressure, an increased load on your metabolism and also means that you will get hungry faster. Complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to process and so you will feel full longer. This also applies to foods high in fiber. Increasing your water intake will also help you feel full longer and will help hydrate you.

If necessary, avoid drinks that contain caffeine as these speed up your metabolism and also cause you to crash.

 

[Kiwi Man]

Originally Posted by JLay87

If your waist is large due to fat then ab workouts will help little. It is not possible to target one area of your body for fat loss. Your body prioritizes and stores fat in a genetically predetermined manner, and so you will also lose body fat in a predetermined manner. If you would like to lose fat then you are going to have to increase your cardio and tailor your diet for this to happen.

Do 30-45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical 5 days a week after waking up in the morning and before your first meal.

As for your diet, just eat healthy. Replace white bread and other simple carbohydrate sources with whole grain and complex carbohydrates. Cut down on any foods high in simple carbohydrates and/or saturated fat. If you drink soda then switch to diet or cut it out completely.

Simple carbohydrates are processed quickly by your body which results in a spike in blood pressure, an increased load on your metabolism and also means that you will get hungry faster. Complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to process and so you will feel full longer. This also applies to foods high in fiber. Increasing your water intake will also help you feel full longer and will help hydrate you.

If necessary, avoid drinks that contain caffeine as these speed up your metabolism and also cause you to crash.

Thanks for your suggestion.

I don't drink soda/pop, but I do drink fruit punch such as Minute Maid or Tropicana. I understand that they are as bad, am I correct?

Honestly, I don't mind gain weight, but I just do NOT know how to make other part of my body to go bigger and not just my stomach. It simply looks ridiculous.

 

[willpower]

Don't eat anything that comes from a box (ice cream, cookies, etc). Fruit punch is terrible for you.

 

[Khayembii Communique]

If your belly is "big" then you are either fat or have a medical condition.

I don't drink soda/pop, but I do drink fruit punch such as Minute Maid or Tropicana. I understand that they are as bad, am I correct?

Those have just as much, if not more, sugar.

 

[boomer mitra]

well for building 6 packs abs, you have to work harder mate..you will have to do plenty of exercise and take care of your diet plans

 

[dron]

it's real easy actually. drop the ab training. do a lot of all round cardio training and focus your wheight training on your chest, shoulders and upper arms.
cut down on the carbohydrates and get more fibres and lots of protein.
you want to loose fat aver all and gain muscular mass on strategic places that will improve your proportions.

i have sort of the same problem, but i'm even more skinny/underwheight so i have been only focusing on mass gaining.

(please excuse my english as well)

 

[jiggy]

cardio cardio cardio.. i was like you once but i worked it out just running then slowly doing situps etc as i got into shape

 

[Nereis]

You're skinny-fat. Take up weights and eat clean.

 

[cb200]

At 5'7 and 133 you are on the low side of weight for your height and if you do have belly fat then I would be concerned about your health. You need to develop muscle this will also help you burn off your fat. If you focus only on loosing the fat I would think you would end up being too skinny or if you react poorly to the stress of increased exercise it may just be worse for your body.

Many people who are skinny-fat have digestive and hormonal problems. Not that these are things you have done by choice but you may have to work with them. Stress can be a big part of the problem as well. You may have to look at your whole life as part of the problem but it's also the solution.

Instead of focussing on a particular thing like weight or fat try to make a goal of building a healthy body.
If you are a person who reacts poorly to stress definitely look at learning to cope with it.

 

[Gus]

Try and cut out or reduce any rice, bread, potatoes and cereals. It is amazing how many carbs get into a diet because of these and they tend to go right for the belly.

 

[Gtea]

Feel your stomach area, is it soft and you have a lot of fat or does it not have much fat? If it doesn't have much fat there, then make sure you don't have some internal issues.

Otherwise try to strengthen your lower abs region. When you stand up flex you abs but don't suck it in. This will keep your stomach in. Will be hard a first but will you get used to it over time and it will be natural.

 

[otc]

Maybe you just have some lovely Scandinavian genes (I know you say you are asian...maybe the mailman was swedish).

They say that there is that stress hormone or whatever that causes fat to build up in the stomach/ass regions but I feel like most of it is just genetic. The belly is a good place to keep excess fat for the long, cold winter...

 

[Mr. Clean]

No need to drop the ab training.

Keep it up if you want. You are building your abs regardless of whether you can see them or not at this point. Once you start losing fat, they will be there!

Otherwise, everyone here is right. Exercise and eat healthy food. Done.

 

[Monaco]

If your stomach is all puffed out like that and you are a skinny build then I believe you either have some medical condition or your body is just trying to tell you that it is stressed out. How old are you? most middle age men experience 'tummies' even with a skinny body.

some questions for you,
how often do you poop?
what are the foods you eat? and where do they come from?

You might be suffering from food intolerances but I believe you're experiencing hormonal and gastro-intestinal stress meaning you have to balance out your life and do the 'right things'

First of all, you need to sleep earlier (10-6 is optimal as 10-2am = physical repair and 2-6am = neural repair). Believe it or not, this helps to balance out many irregularities in your body.

Second of all, I would suggest to lay off simple sugars (fruit) for a bit and remove processed sugars (table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and zero calorie sweetners).

third, cut out overly processed oils like vegetable, cottonseed, canola, and replace with pure virgin coconut oil

fourth, cut out overly processed foods like most commercial pre-packaged foods like breads, microwave dinners, pre-packged foods, pancake mixes, and fake drinks (soda, sunny d), etc..etc...

In the end, it is all about balance and eating natural/whole foods.