I just saw your profile pics, you look great! Why add more training if you are already busy? Sometimes getting that great lean look is all genetics, however having said that. Lifting weights is a great thing to make yourself stronger and leaner...good luck!

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http://www.konashelley.blogspot.com

Well, I carry more belly fat and hip fat than I want to. I jiggle a little too much for my comfort when I run :-)

I'm not trying to get unrealistic, just around 18 - 20%. For an athlete that is reasonable.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Honey I'm in the same boat. If I figure it out, I'll let you know; if you figure it out, let me know. ;-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Reducing BF is really hard. A lot of factors are at play, obviously.

I'll just share what worked for me to get my BF from 20 to about 17% (the lowest for me that I can still have enough to be competitive IMO) over the past few months. I put a little on since then, but I'm still quite happy overall.

I cut my total fat intake (not just sat fat) to less than 60g per day, and increased my protein to 100g or more per day.

My training consisted of mainly high intensity work, and long distance on the weekend (pretty standard). Here's the amazing thing for me- my breasts have shrunk. That has never happened before, and was something I had really, really wanted!

I am also a believer in restricting carbs before bedtime, unless you need to replace them from late-night exercise. I know it's not popular, but it makes sense to me to do so based on my 300-level biochem courses I've taken, and my knowledge of how carbs are converted to fat in the body. Sorry, but I just don't have the time right now, and I have a long post on carbs on another forum. If you want it I'll get it for you. :)

In conclusion, now I'm a firm believer in cutting fat out of the diet, and limiting carbs close to bedtime except after exercise.

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I have just finished my first tri- IMC '09!

I have been taking a group pilates reformer class for about 6 months now and I feel like the class is really helping me lean out. I haven't really changed much else in my diet and training (compared to last year) but I have been able to drop some of that mid-line excess. It was a happy day a few weeks back when I friend said to me "wow, you have ab muscles".

I also attribute the strenght and flexibility I have gained through the class to my new found form on the run and bike.

Pilates would add to your training workload but it is way more fun than lifting weights.

When I was teaching Pilates, I too, had really toned up and lost body fat- even though I was actually training (as in swim/bike/run) less. Yoga is similar for me...but who can find the time in the race season? That's why I opt for yoga and pilates in the off-season when my training sessions are typically shorter and only to maintain fitness, not for racing.

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Tracy M. De Soto
Femme Designer/CFO/Attorney
De Soto Sport

if your goal is to lose body fat percentage then yes, strength work (whether weights, pilates, yoga....) and less cardio is what you need.

but are you trying to be faster? or just trying for lower bf?

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cat
Sponsored by Suntheanine, Lycored and Celadrin
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Are those mutually exclusive?

Working on the faster via training. Adding in reducing body fat will help even more.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

well this gets into that whole argument of strength train or not - I am in favor - but of course there will be all those who say it does not make you faster.

but ignore the scale and go by how your clothes fit - muscle weighs more than fat.

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cat
Sponsored by Suntheanine, Lycored and Celadrin
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It's been my experience, that when I stress, my belly fat goes up, but I don't seem to notice a weight gain or more fat elsewhere. For me running is a HUGE stress reliever, so when I run, my belly fat goes down. Lack of sleep for a while also impacts this area for me.

Since it's impossible to spot reduce, lifting weights (or yoga, pilates) should help increase your metabolism and help you burn more fat. If you practice yoga (as oposed to doing power yoga w/o focusing on the relaxation/breathing techniques...not that there's anything wrong with that), it's also a great stress reliever. You can't really think about breathing and stress about something at the same time. So thinking about breathing is a GREAT mind clearer.

You? Belly fat? Is that some kind of sick joke?

Strength training and increased protein always does it for me. Especially on the protein part (which means a reduction in carbs/fat at the same time - super lame!).

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I know I'm promiscuous, but in a classy way

Things that have worked for me:

• I've increased protein first thing in the morning (via greek yogurt) which cuts down on the amount of carbs and overall calories I eat throughout the day (typically - right now cookies are baking in the oven).
• Cut out as much refined sugar as possible. Unless it was made from scratch I try not to eat it.
• 'Crossfit' strength training. I just go 1x week and it's made a huge difference in my core strength.
• On days I can't get a decent workout in for whatever reason I do a modified crossfit workout which consists of 100 situps, 100 pushups, 100 squats.
• Try to do 100 situps at least 5x daily. Typically get it in right after a run or other early morning workout. It's easy to bang out 100 but it's made a huge difference. Some woman recently told me she was in awe of my abs. I've never been the "ab" person in a group!

But yeah, last time I checked you were looking great!

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
</blatent self-marketing>

Uh, you do 500 situps a day??

All good advice. I've been doing the dietary changes but adding in some strength training, whether weights or Pilates or Yoga, sounds like the next step.

Thanks :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

such a mistype - 100 a day.

but if it will help maintain my hardcore reputation then I'll stick with the 500 number. :)

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
</blatent self-marketing>

+1 on crossfit, protein, and crunches. It's actually not too hard to get up to 300-500 crunches per day.

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I have just finished my first tri- IMC '09!

What do you eat for a snack in the evening?

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When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, you suffer.
Dan

I'm with you too. I'm 1.5 pounds from race weight, I feel good, I can finally fit into my "skinny" shorts, but I still have a pot belly. And a very round badonk. And big boobs although my bras are finally getting loose. Oh well, genetics and aging and being a curvy female I guess.

My winter plan is to hit the gym and hit the weights. My belly will probably never go away unless I go on a hunger strike, but I know the rest of me will get stronger and leaner with a consistent strength plan.

such a mistype - 100 a day.

heh-heh, I was thinking "damn, Jen's hardcore..."

I, on the otherhand, would need to do 500 a day if I could bake like you do!

Try P90X. I am starting as soon as I am recovered from IMC.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

Yeah, I've got the series. Did it for 10 days and felt really good. I'm switching around my running to before work then will probably do that after work.

Thanks everyone. Good advice all around.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

That's a tough one. You have to get rid of the mindset that bedtime snack=dessert.

Off the top of my head:
-Tuna with a small amount of rice, with lemon juice and pepper.
-skim milk (has some carbs, but still)
-cold steak
-venison sausage
-basically any meat with veggies

The point is that your body turns excess carbs in your bloodstream to fat, via the liver. When you sleep, your liver has 8 hours to work on making some fat out of that nice bowl of ice cream you just ate.

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I have just finished my first tri- IMC '09!

The hardest part, for me, of reducing my body fat percentage is figuring out what my body fat actually is!

I now have four different numbers all done in the past two weeks:

Calipers (at the gym): 17%
Handheld bio-impedience device: 24%
Cheap 20 year old consumer scale: 19-20%
Expensive new scale: 9-11%

As you can see... that's a BIG range. So one way to lower your body fat percentage is to borrow my Tanita Ironman Segmental Body Composition scale. :D

I'm going to try to get a DEXA scan next month for other reasons. That also tells you your body fat % and is considered by some to be the most accurate method, more accurate than even the dunk tank method. That will let me see which of these numbers is the most accurate and then I'll just use the method that produced that number from now on.

If you are doing DEXA for bone density your doc has to specifically also order body fat - it is a separate pass with the machine. (I had it done last summer). It is awesome, just difficult to now figure out where I am - don't really want to go get radiated again....

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cat
Sponsored by Suntheanine, Lycored and Celadrin
http://www.lycored.com/web/content/library.asp http://suntheanine.com/Research.cfm http://celadrin.com/pages/studies.php