Weight gain..getting thicker (sigh).

I have had a fairly rapid weight gain of around 5-10 pounds over the last couple months. There are a few obvious reasons including my age (41), my drinking habits ( 3-4 alcoholic drinks a day) and the fact that I quit smoking around 9 months ago.

I am not really surprised about gaining weight but I find it strange that the weight gain appears to be around my upper stomach and not my belly. In other words, my middle seems to be thicker with internal fat gain as opposed to just have more fat around my belly.

Is this normal? And, most importantly, what are the recommendations to get rid of the excess weight. I do plan to scale back the drinking and re-start some aerobic exercising 3-4 times/week (30 minutes cycling or walking). i also do some light dumbbell lifting a few days a week. Is this a good approach?

Originally Posted by Alter

Click to expand...

Is this normal? And, most importantly, what are the recommendations to get rid of the excess weight. I do plan to scale back the drinking and re-start some aerobic exercising 3-4 times/week (30 minutes cycling or walking). i also do some light dumbbell lifting a few days a week. Is this a good approach?

Check with your doctor first. But yeah, cutting back on the drinking and increasing the exercising is a good idea.

Also, get rid of the crap in your diet. Increase your whole grains, vegetables, fruit and legumes, cut back on fats and sweets.

I hereby summon drizz to this thread

You should definitely read this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18594089/ I think it sounds like you're developing "internal" fat.

Start getting rid of that fat asap, internal fat is much more risky than subcutaneous.

Cut back or stop drinking, exercise more and eat more healthy food. Since you stopped smoking your metabolism (so does the age) will have slowed down which is most likely one of the reasons you've put on weight, alcohol stops the fat burning process as the body will concentrate on getting rid of it (alcohol = poison), which could be another. Just as Eason says you could be building fat internally (stomach), but it could also be the way your body distributes the calorie excess for now, it differs from person to person.

Originally Posted by Alter

Click to expand...

I have had a fairly rapid weight gain of around 5-10 pounds over the last couple months. There are a few obvious reasons including my age (41), my drinking habits ( 3-4 alcoholic drinks a day) and the fact that I quit smoking around 9 months ago.

I am not really surprised about gaining weight but I find it strange that the weight gain appears to be around my upper stomach and not my belly. In other words, my middle seems to be thicker with internal fat gain as opposed to just have more fat around my belly.

Is this normal? And, most importantly, what are the recommendations to get rid of the excess weight. I do plan to scale back the drinking and re-start some aerobic exercising 3-4 times/week (30 minutes cycling or walking). i also do some light dumbbell lifting a few days a week. Is this a good approach?

Diet and exercise are the root of your problem- not age! I'm older than you, and I've maintained my BF 10-12% for many years by watching what I eat and staying active. My diet advice is to reduce total calories, increase lean protein, and get rid of as many carbs and simple sugars as possible- No fast foods, no sodas, and no deserts! For exercise, walking 30 minutes is a start, but it won't burn enough calories to matter. You need to do more intensive cardio, and weight training. I lift 3 times a week doing 2 sets of each exercise at 10-12 reps. Focus on form and keep up a good pace. For cardio, you need to get your whole body involved, not just your legs. Lots of kicking, puching, jumping, running, jacks, knee lifts, and burpees. I also spend an hour every morning before breakfast doing stretching, yoga, and simple exercises at low intensity.

try a fast day, drink green tea - ease off the drinking if you can, or at least cut out all 'colored' (sugar) drinks and stick to vodka.

consume large amounts of fiber in the purest form in the morning and before bed, suggest pure psyllium husk and large amounts of water. get the toxins out of your body, start the day with 20-30 min moderate movement such as a walk or ride a stationary bike.

take a multi-vitamin.

http://www.gicare.com/pated/ecdlv37.htm Alcohol can lead to a ***** liver, and that may explain the bulge closer to your rib cage. Cut the booze to 3-4 drinks a week instead of 3-4 drinks a day. I know this is hard in social situations, and I suspect in Japan you're expected to drink every day after work?? I slowly gained weight for years and never lost more than 5-10 pounds at a time. Since I cut way back on the booze I'm 30 pounds off my all-time high. Think of it this way: every time you drink your metabolism shuts down until the alcohol is burned off. Also, alcohol makes you hungry and leads to poor food choices (quality and quantity) when you're drinking.... and the day after.

I drank 6 beers and ate a hot dog at a football game last night. In pennance to this thread I just did 20 minutes on the stairs in the park.

This seems, to me, like a normal occurrence among some older guys. Look at recent pictures of Schwarzenegger: he's got that distended upper stomach, too.

The easiest way to eat well is to weigh yourself before you go shopping. This will put you (well, it does me) into a mindset to buy healthy foods. I will usually come back from the grocery store with better foods.

I'm 40 and in decent shape - it's tough to keep up these days with work and 2 young children, but here is how I've managed to stave off excess weight gain:

1. Pay more attention to my portions - I try to stop eating as soon as I feel satisfied, but not overly full. I also limit my intake of processed carbs including white rice, flour, and sugar. I've designated Saturday as my cheat day, which is when I'll allow myself some leeway.

2. I try to limit myself to 4 drinks/week - 2 on Friday and 2 on Saturday. I will have an occasional glass of wine during the week if it's a business dinner.

3. Bought some adjustable dumbells for home weight training. I use a Swiss ball as my "bench". Works great nowadays when I don't have time to actually drive to a gym. For cardio I do Tabata intervals a few times a week, as well as jump rope.

Here are the dumbells I use:



For the tabata exercise I do the "thrusters" as detailed on this page, using my dumbells:

Tabata Article

It's not a terribly elaborate or disciplined plan, but it's relatively easy to stick to and it works for me at this stage of my life considering my time constraints and family situation. I'm able to maintain my weight, and if I want to drop a few pounds I simply substitute a few meals with protein shakes or salad.

Originally Posted by Taxler

Click to expand...

Diet and exercise are the root of your problem- not age!

+1 Anything beyond this is just details and it's up to you how to control your diet and what exercise, or lack thereof, you do.

How are your sleeping habits? There are studies that recently showed that test subjects who made no other changes other than getting upto 9 hours of quality sleep would lose up to 30 lbs in one year. The idea is that your body when tired is stressed and produces the stress hormone called Cortisol. Cortisol plays havoc on your Insulin production and facilitates the creation of fat and Brown fat which is the inter organal fat that we guys get as we get older.

This is not to say that proper diet, excercise and moderation of vices (damn) are not the way to go. Just consider what would happen if you do include good sleep into your regimen.

I recently enrolled in Kung-Fu. The conditioning is just amazing and it really keeps your interest as you learn practical skills. First couple of lessons I wanted to puke. Now I crank off pushups, situps, stretches and a variety of stations with aplomb. The average workout that we do will burn up to 1000 calories in 1 hour.

Good Luck..... getting old sucks!