I started my LC journey almost a year ago, with Atkins, but switched after reading PP and PPFL in early summer. I am quite tall and athletic, and my middle is my weight-loss Waterloo, it seems. So far I have lost 50 pounds more or less, and have visibly diminished (although I have to admit that I don't think I look that different, but I do get almost daily comments from people about the change in my looks, so.... )

I still feel that I have a lot of midriff bulge (there's no pretty way to phrase this, is there?) It has gotten smaller, I guess, but there is still a lot of squelchy stuff there that I can manipulate like play-doh. My question is this: Will this eventually go away with continued weight loss? I would like to lose more weight, but my goal number is completely arbitrary. I'll be happy to stop and maintain when I look okay to myself. Will the skin ever shrink back to its pre-fat state? I have to admit that I can't remember NOT having this, after three full-term pregnancies. No interest in skin-chopping-off surgery, either (it's not that bad).

I know that SBD touts itself as doing away with the abdominal fat first thing, but I am happy with PP and don't want to make a change, especially since I find PP easy enough to follow indefinitely. I guess I just want to know whether visible squishiness is indicative of hidden (harmful) fat left to get rid of or whether a slightly doughy middle is my lot in life .

i really don't have an answer to your question, but wanted to reply anyway....hehe

i was always under the impression that when we lost weight we would just be smaller versions of our "big" selves. for example the shape will always be the same, the size is what changes.

i supose you could always work that part really hard at the gym and see a difference.

anyway, that is what i always though...

I can attest to this. I've also heard it from others as well. Really, the only way to sculpt your body is with weight training. Sorry. The last time I was at this weight, I was tight. I still had a belly, etc., but it was somehow firmer, and I was doing Body for Life workouts (strenuous weights alternating with cardio).

Now I'm back at 152, but feeling decidedly squishy. I think that even if I got down to 125 with no exercise, I'd still be squishy.

Hmmmmm. Maybe I better fit in a workout later!

Thanks. I appreciate your answers, which sort of confirm what I had suspected -- that I would have to actually make some sort of exercise effort apart from running and walking the dog. Ack.

I'm really happy with PP, though. I was just curious as to whether SB was indeed more efficient at trimming fatty abdominal areas, and if so, why? (It seems to me that I heard SB's Dr. Agatson (sp?) talking about this, although it was probably SB's efficiency at reducing abdominal fat versus that of a more traditional, low-cal, diet such as WW. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't comparing SB to any of the other low-carb plans during this interview.

Well, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, then, and we'll see where we end up. I'll be going in for an annual physical in February, with fasting blood work -- should be interesting to compare results with baselines from last year, before LC!

Happy holidays to all.

If you want my 2 cents worth, I would say Agatston is talking complete garbage (just as he does about saturated fat).

This will vary from person to person, but fat is normally lost last from wherever it was put on first (does that make sense? - it is late here) If you couple that with the loss of muscle tone in the intervening years(?) - then you will need to lose those last few ponds and exercise those muscles to get back to where you were.

Cheers,

Malcolm

just a quick 2 cents ~

i have recently read, i believe it was in a book called "The Power of Ten", that if you are a pear or an apple, and you lose weight without weight training, meaning cardio only or very little exercise, you will become a smaller pear or apple. i think this is what you're saying right?
in order to actually change the shape of your body you have to strength train.
i am an apple, and this is a big issue for me, since most women's clothing is designed for pears. i can pull on a pair of size 12's and they fit my butt and legs perfectly, but i am miles away from being able to zip them up. pants that fit my middle(18's maybe?) look like clown pants on me. it was a sad sad day when i had to accept that i had become an elastic waist wearer.

oh, and HI! Bawdy

I have the "middlefat" too. The only thing that will make it go away is to lose more fat. You'll probably be thinner than you'd like in your arms and legs.. and have very small breasts. Think of yourself as a model You can help your ratios by training your shoulders, arms, back.. and especially gain muscle mass in your legs, glutes and hips. It will make your waist APPEAR smaller, it will also make your body more shapely. Your legs/butt won't look "big" if you gain muscle there, but your middle will look smaller. Again, squishyness will only go away with more fat loss.

There is also a lot of talk about cortisol and its tendancy to make you store more fat abdominally. Cortisol levels are increased by stress, insufficient sleep, caffeine, alcohol, and other nasty stuff. There doesn't seem to be a lot of research on it, but there's probably something to the idea.

I find that if I have too much salt w\out drinking enough water, I retain water and bloat up in my mid section first. Cutting back on sodium helps and dairy too., but certain excersizes help me too. I do a lot of Pilates and hip hop dancing and both focus on using the core\mid section, so I even tend to have a bit of a six pack if I follow my diet and exersize regime.