Today at the gym I asked a lady how to get rid of ab fat…don’t get me wrong, I’m no skinny minnie, but the rest of me is in pretty good shape, except those pesky abs.
She said to avoid estrogen foods. Estrogen foods? I’ve never even heard of that. She said that foods that carry estrogen go straight to the ab region. Dairy is apparently full of estrogen.
Has anyone heard of this?
Do you know what other foods can be classified as estrogen foods?
thanks for any advice…kittycat
I typed estrogen foods into google and it returned a lot of information.
Here’s a sample:
Foods rich in phytoestrogens, a natural estrogen: Soy. Millet. Barley. Flax seed. Lentils. Kidney beans. Lima beans. Rye. Clover. Fennel. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans).
Other foods containing the estrogen compound phytoestrogen include; Apples. Alfalfa sprouts. Celery. Parsley. Beets. Bok choy. Broccoli. Cauliflower. Carrots. Cucumbers. Mushrooms. Brussel sprouts. Seaweeds. Squash. Pumpkin seeds. Sunflower seeds. Cherries. Olives. Pears. Plums. Tomatoes. Prunes. Barley. Oats. Brown rice. Wheat germ. Bulgur. Brewer’s Yeast. Black-eye peas. Mung bean sprouts. Navy beans. Red beans. Split peas. Spices; cloves, ginger, hops, oregano, red raspberry, sage tea, thyme, turmeric.
http://www.womens-menopause-health.com/natural_estrogen_replacement.htm
Don’t swallow that baloney! Spot fat-reducing doesn’t exist, and I doubt that you could affect subcutaneous fat deposits around your abdomen by what you eat.
The fattest subcutaneous area on my body is on my upper calf…if I could spot reduce, surely the calf area would be the least fat area on my body. Your genetics determine where you store the most fat, not what exercise you do. There are some reports of intra-abdominal fat being affected by other things, such as cortisol levels, etc. I don’t know how much of that is true and how much is urban myth.
You want a ripped abdominal wall? Lose total body fat and build the rectus abdominus. How soon you get the look you want depends upon your starting point, your desired end point, your methods used to get there, and genetics.
Strive to be healthy over all. Your body will be what it will be when you are healthy…which may not be what everyone else looks like.
I haven’t heard that theory before… but how could you possibly avoid all of those foods in your diet? That’s near impossible…
Also, soy is listed first there, but it is supposed to be very good for women.
Your ovaries put out a lot more estrogen than you could get from eating those foods. Also note that soy is supposed to be good for women because of the phytoestrogens, although with the exception of maintaining bone mineral density I’m not so sure that added estrogen is such a good thing.
(A little OT, but now hormone replacement treatment is now not being recommended for menopausal women for the prevention of heart disease as it doesn’t protect against heart disease and increases the risk of stroke)
it’s all very confusing. I don’t think I could avoid all of those foods even if I tried!
In general my mother always had weight around the abdominal area–lots of fat with cellulite on top (gross, I know!)…that’s where I have mine too. Even when I was a super slim 134 pre-marathon race, i still had it. The rest of me was skin and bones, but still had a chubby ab area–not a six pack or anywhere close to it.
In general, I’m beginning to realize that my body likes to hold onto fat. At the level I’m training, most people would be skin and bones by now. But not me–my shoulders and back are full of muscles and the most out of shape part of me is the ab region.
In fact, when I was running marathons, it wasn’t until the second one that I really started getting slim. It took alot of mileage–and also reduced eating signifigantly…I mostly ate eggs and cheese and that was it.
Oh well, it just takes time I guess.
What he said, times two.
-Robert
You are probably very healthy in part due to your training. Just make sure you are being truthful to yourself in what you consume, and get adequate calories to support your muscle/connective tissue/bones, and not an excess of calories above that level, and you will be just fine. Your “fine” may not be the ideal “great” that you picture in your mind, but, I know very few people that ever achieve that mental picture. Acheiving the imaginary mental picture isn’t as important as your overall health! You are right, though, a healthy, substantial, lasting change can take quite a long time…but, that’s fine! You’ll gradually improve as long as you keep at it…just don’t be unrealistic about it!
I tend to float between 4 and 7% bodyfat, and I do not have ripped abs. A caliper test will show near 0% fat in every pinch except the one for my abs. It’s not lack of ab work either - same result when I was doing in excess of 1000 (yes, 1k) various types of crunches a day.
You will actually see this on lots of pro-cyclists. Skin and bones, ripped, with a little pooch of a belly.
Not fair. Genetics suck.
I tend to float between 4 and 7% bodyfat, and I do not have ripped abs. A caliper test will show near 0% fat in every pinch except the one for my abs. It’s not lack of ab work either - same result when I was doing in excess of 1000 (yes, 1k) various types of crunches a day.
You will actually see this on lots of pro-cyclists. Skin and bones, ripped, with a little pooch of a belly.
Not fair. Genetics suck.
OK, so this is genetics? I know a couple of guys and one woman that bodybuild and they say that you just have to keep on dieting and it will happen. Not sure if i believe that… If you have such low bodyfat then obviously you know how to diet.
I used to have goals of doing a figure (not bodybuilding, but close to it) contest, but I just don’t think I could get my abs down…the rest of me could be 8-9%, but not the abs. I would hate to diet down that hard only to be disappointed.
Oh well. I"m just happy to be alive and healthy. Heck, this time last year I had such a bad injury I couldn’y do a thing–and I was 12 pounds heavier. I’m just happy to be able to run and play again!
kittycat
kittycat wrote: If you have such low bodyfat then obviously you know how to diet.
This was in response to fredly’s post about having 4-7% body fat. Kittycat, I don’t know fredly, but, I’ll bet he doesn’t “diet” like I think you think of “dieting”. Fredly may watch his diet, but, I doubt he “diets”. THAT difference is important.
If you can get over the idea that a “diet” is a term describing something that you “go on” and “get off of”, and make the term “diet” meaning everthing you put in your stomach for the rest of your life, perhaps it will remove some of the expectations of a quick result, and the disappointment that accompanies the usually inevitable failure. One piece of pie kills so many people’s “diets”, but, one piece of pie in my diet simply means I should adjust what I do/eat the next few meals/days. Not a big deal at all, certainly not a “diet killer”.
It’s the long haul that counts. It’s taken me nearly 5 decades of diet and exercise to get where I am right now. If I don’t like where I am, I can change it by modifying my caloric intake/exercise balance…but, there’s no need to try and do it quickly by going on a “diet” that isn’t healthy nor sustainable. It’s most important to do it healthfully, and in a manner that is sustainable.
This is one reason I hope you don’t ditch the Triathlon “lifestyle” due to a bad experience in your first race. This lifestyle is a good one for overall health and fitness…enough diversity to lessen the chances of becoming injured due to chronic overuse, as well as the various disciplines providing mental breaks/challenges, and it’s a good way to burn excess calories. I hope you stick around a few years and see what I mean!
well, it’s interesting that you bring up injury prevention, because that’s what lured me to the sport in the first place. and, training for tris has helped me come back from a horrible injury, and has kept me injury free due to the diversity in the training. i appreciate that and it’s been a good season of training overall (well, a good 8 months of training let’s say).
in the end, the gear is a little shocking to me and probably always will be. for someone who is a purist, i like things straight up without fuss. that’s just my style. from here on out I’m not going to let that intimidate me. in my first race people were blowing by me on the bike but I didn’t let it get me down. i raced my own race and caught up to many of them on the run. i think with experiece I will enjoy the sport more and more.
just like with developing a solid weight loss program, finding out what training techniques work best, what nutrition works best, etc, it’s all about learning for me right now, and I’m going to try to be more open minded and less judgemental.
and, about “diet” I was talking in terms of how bodybuilders “diet down” for contests. Personally I stink at this and can never stay on a “diet” for more than 2 weeks (this would really hurt my chances of doing a figure contest, but I don’t think that’s worth it anyway). What does work for me though are gradual changes that aren’t terribly limiting. It sounds cliche, but I try to approach eating in more of a nutritional and lifestyle way as opposed to “diet”. after all, diet is spelled DIE with a T on the end> garfield the cat.
kittycat
I don’t know what my true body fat % is, but calipers consistently put me around 5%, depending on the formula used down to 3-4% but I think that is not accurate. I specialized in butterfly on the high school swim team and had an ab fetish anyway since my older sister told me that girls loved a six pack. Anyway, I gaurantee that I’ve got crazy strong abs, but I don’t have a six pack. My family all are at healthy weights but Dad, my sister and I all carry their weight in a belt right around the middle.
As far as weight is concerned, I don’t care about it. I track it pretty casually so that I can see if something is going wrong, but I don’t worry about it. I eat as healthy as I can, train hard and let my weight fall where it may.
Just so that you don’t think this is just a man’s perspective, my wife has the same viewpoint and boy let me tell you - it’s working! She gradually came to this perspective when she was trying to lose 30 lbs. She got it off and it has stayed off for many years now.
Hmmm. I am absolutely no expert on this, but that sounds like baloney to me.
Does this mean birth control pills have a similar effect?
Again, I am absolutely no authority- it just sounds highly suspect.
Hey Kittykat,
I’m a woman who is also not genetically predisposed to be thin, so I feel your frustration in this skinny worshiping culture.
A word of caution though: I was a competitive bodybuilder for several years and did manage to successfully diet down to very low bodyfat. A bodybuilding diet is a “diet” in the most extreme sense of the word, and has all of the problems associated with it that other diets have, especially those involving extreme calorie deprivation. It created several mental and physical problems for me that it took me years to overcome. (If you want to know more about that pm me)
In recent years I’ve focused more on performance and enjoying my participation in the sports I do over the “appearance enhancing” benefits of my workouts. Life is a lot better. I focus on eating healthy foods to support my workouts and recovery. I am extremely healthy with a stable bodyweight and I am much leaner than the average woman my age.
I suspect you look great. Try and remember that we all have physical differences. I wish I was four inches taller, I’d be better at all the sports I do. Oh well.
Good luck!
Leigh
Birth control pills are (or used to be) good for about ten pounds of weight gain (all over, not just the abdomen). Newer versions of the pill don’t have this effect as much.
Ironically, abdominal weight gain later in life for women is associated with the falling estrogen levels of post menopausal women. And it is a problem because abdominal weight gain (as opposed to to other areas of the body) is specifically linked to an increased risk of heart disease.
I’m not a doctor, but I don’t think that kk’s abdominal weight has hormonal implications at all (or implications for a higher risk of heart disease). It sounds like it’s just her genetic disposition to carry some fat in that area.
I have no idea where that theory of eating “low estrogen” foods comes from.
Leigh
erm, nonsense I think… spot reduction of fat isn’t possible, and I doubt very much that the body knows where to route the fat depending on the kind of food eaten…
Only way to get the ab display is to drop body fat down to ridiculous levels. The one bit of good news is that I’m closer to the sixpack as a 44yr-old triathlete than I was as a 25yr ultramarathoner… so the tri workout regime seems to help.
I know it’s been said before, but if you really focus on developing you Ab muscles, you can get some nice looking Abs even with some fat remaining.