Aging and Losing weight, How am I Getting it SO Wrong

LIAR!

In this day and age of too much information, the ability for our culture to lose weight remains a challenge, and especially for the over 40 something crowd. NO matter that we are bombarded by advice daily!

My commitment of going to the gym, scaling back rich foods, and drinking water should have in my theory helped to recreate my once youthful thin body. Wishful thinking wasn't getting it done.

For years I stayed in a health regime...a discipline of  cardio, weights, recreational exercise, eating mostly right and what did it gain me? About 10 to 15 pounds.

Who can win this battle of the bulge?

After suffering from a series of health issues since January, for the first time in years, my gym card was tucked away and only used a couple of times in the past eight months. My diet became more and more of ‘whatever’ and the power of carbs took me to the dark side. For years I had given up sodas except for very special occasions, however, my new job has exposed me to the temptation of the afternoon sugar drop resulting in two to three sodas a week.
Now, you must say, yep, she is going to tell us how she has gained a bunch of weight.

I have gained 5 pounds.

So, why am I complaining? Five pounds isn’t so bad is it....especially when two Augusts ago, I gained 20 pounds in six weeks while doing everything right! 

At that time, I was diligently going three to four times a week to the gym for 45 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes on weights, eating a discipline diet, plenty of extra recreational activity on the weekends with the family, like biking, hiking in the mountains, canoeing. 

I was living a fairly decent healthy lifestyle. 

Can you imagine my horror at the number on the scale that appeared. OMG

So, my complaint is:

Why did I only gain 5 pounds when I was not following the rules of healthy living and gain 20 when I was doing the right things?

 Why am I middle age spreading?

Its Hormones!

So many things about losing weight make no sense. 

I do realize if I go on Naked and Afraid or Survivor, I will lose weight. Because that part isn't rocket science. You actually stop putting food into your body, you WILL lose pounds. But, the body also will go into starvation mode and shut down fat burning in self defense.

So, if your diet plan is refraining from eating...then you better be committed to it for a good month or two.

Then, I read this workout article. (maxworkouts.com)

Yes, the article is selling a plan, a something or other, but the basic information is fascinating. It answers why people at my age are working out and getting bigger in the belly!! WHY?

Familiar?

Below I have shared the part of the article that was free to read for you to peruse and hopefully will send you (and Me) in a good direction for losing our 40 and 50 something waistline. 

I know so many folks working hard and seeing no results and an ever widening stomach! What are we doing wrong? Three things apparently.


You must avoid……………

CARDIO, SLEEP DEPRIVATION, and AB EXERCISES.

I have edited this article.
(maxworkouts.com)

Three things you MUST AVOID if you want to burn off unwanted age-related stomach fat, regain lost muscle tone and get your lean, fit and youthful body back.

• Number 1: CARDIO

Chronic cardio increases belly fat and speeds aging.
(DID YOU HEAR THAT? So, it makes my heart healthy right? Do I have a skinny heart and fat belly? Just wonderin’)
Too many people think that cardio is the answer to everything related to weight-loss and fat-loss. But current studies prove otherwise… doing conventional long cardio overtaxes your body and increases the production of stress hormone “cortisol”, which causes you to gain belly fat.
Studies have also found that doing long frequent cardio sessions break down your lean muscles and increase the production of free radicals. Free radicals are nasty little molecules that damage cells in your body and cause chronic inflammation that accelerates aging and lead to serious diseases.
So if you’ve been pounding away on a treadmill, cranking away on a stationary bike or slaving away on some other cardio machine… you need to STOP.

• Number 2: SLEEP DEPRIVATION

Lack of sleep causes stubborn middle-age belly fat.
As you get older and busier, getting enough sleep becomes a BIG issue. Although your body is resilient and can handle a lot of stress, there’s one thing it can NOT cope well without… and that’s sleep.
In fact, when you’re sleep deprived your body becomes overwhelmed with stress hormone “cortisol”, which loves to deposit fat in and around your belly.

And unfortunately, you can’t exercise or diet your way to a flat stomach, if cortisol is the cause of your problem. You need to get quality sleep… period.

• Number 3: Ab Exercises

Sit-ups and crunches DO NOT effectively reduce your belly fat.
If you want to get rid of those pesky age-related stomach weight, you have to get to the source of the problem.

Unfortunately, doing ab-targeted exercises like sit ups, crunches and side bends will do absolutely nothing to help you get rid of your ab flab, because it’s not getting at the heart of the problem.
In fact, doing excessive ab-targeted moves can injure to your low back by causing unnecessary stress on your spine. This may come as a surprise but the purpose of your ab muscles is to PREVENT excessive bending and twisting.

Bottom line… don’t waste your time doing typical ab exercises.

The cause of fat accumulation in your stomach area is due to hormonal changes in your body that occur as you get older. That means you have to stimulate the right biochemical processes in your body to trigger the youth-enhancing hormones that enable you to burn off your stubborn belly fat.

Here’s the truth… the KEY to this scientifically-proven method is based on doing specific exercises performed at HIGH INTENSITY for a very short duration.

These essential factors combined together elicit a powerful physiological response that floods your body with anti-aging and fat-burning hormones - so you can burn off ALL of your middle-age stubborn belly fat and get a lean toned body…. in the quickest way possible.
Your results are intensity dependent… not time dependent.

Maxworkouts.com