Visceral abdominal fat loss

Nutrition
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As someone else said, men generally put more fat around their midsections while women general put more fat around their hips and thighs. Obviously this may not be true for everyone though. There are also studies that show some correlation to elevated levels of certain hormones and places of stubborn body fat. Alcohol and Cortisol are two things that have a link to abdominal fat.

Unfortunately, in the end everybody is pretty different so something that works for one person may not work for you and vice versa. But most things are worth a try and wonā€™t cause any harm.

In the end, extra sleep, less stress, higher quality diet, keeping calories in check, and the proper amount of exercise will all do much more for body comp than something like a shot of apple cider vinegar.

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For sure! I was mainly curious if adding those dietary supplements to a good exercise and diet regimen had any effect, in the same way that tart cherry extract improves DOMs symptoms even more than a good recovery regimen on itā€™s own, or that caffiene can lower TTE at a certain power output even more than good training on itā€™s own.

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This has been a life long issue of mine. I donā€™t ever remember having a 6 pack/flat stomach. There was a time I lost massive weight by eating nothing but lean meat and vegetables, and completely cut sugar and carbs. I was extremely skinny all over the place except my midsection. These days, I gave up and learned to accept the fact that itā€™s always going to be a part of me.

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There is a very interesting paragraph on lifestyle in the study you linked:

As with many other chronic diseases, lifestyle plays a crucial role in the prevention and modification of obesity. While many studies have assessed predictors of change in waist circumference (a surrogate for VAT), few predictors of directly measured abdominal obesity have been identified. In one study of white college students, total dietary fat was the strongest predictor of abdominal visceral fat. In a Japanese cohort, regaining previously lost VAT was linked with a diet high in rice, pickles, miso, alcohol, and meat. Another study in middle-aged white adults found that high intensity physical activity had a significant impact on VAT reduction. In our own study of African Americans and Hispanics, aged 18ā€“80, short sleep duration was a risk factor for increased accumulation of VAT.

Looking at that it seems that the OP just needs to keep on while avoiding a diet of rice, pickles, alcohol and meat!
More seriously, the mention of sleep brings up the possibility that maybe oneā€™s total stress also plays a role by adding cortisol and making the repair of sleep less effective.

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Greg ā€œIā€™m not a doctorā€ Doucette :slight_smile: Heā€™s a great dude. Iā€™m a physique competitor and been following him for a long time. His Zwift competition with Vegan Cyclist was so fun to watch. Iā€™ve met Paul at a competition, and he is just the nicest guy, and so great at taking care of his athletes. :slight_smile:

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Nothing, repeat, NOTHING legal allows you to target fat loss in specific locations on your body.

Any product or supposed fitness professional claiming otherwise is talking total and utter BS. They are telling you what you want to here. It is a lie.

The rate and location you lose bodyfat is a function of your genetics. Some lose bodyfat from their back first, then legs, some lose it evenly.

Generally, men carry most of their subcutaneous fat on their torso, particularly the abdominal area and lower back. Sadly, it is usually the last site to see fat loss in a majority of men. Women generally carry bodyfat on their legs and bottom. Again, given the overall percentage, it is often the last place to lose the fat.

This is just the reality. It means men only get veins on their abs when they are VERY lean. However, women often have incredibly lean abdominal areas while still carrying significant bodyfat on their lower body.

The lucky ones carry bodyfat evenly and lose it evenly. I HATE THESE PEOPLE :wink:

Solution. Tighten up your diet further, do more zone 2 riding or do any exercise in a fasted state. Try intermittent fasting with zone 2 fasted riding. That is, from my experience, the fastest method of dropping bodyfat. Long Z2 rides, totally fasted.

The final 2 to 5kgs that get you ā€˜shirt offā€™ lean with incredible abs or toned legs and booty is BY FAR, the hardest part of any weight loss program. Itā€™s the most rewarding weight loss as you ā€˜lookā€™ lean and fit, but each final kg is harder to lose, it requires more and more diet control and unrelenting will power.

Any healthy human can achieve an incredible lean physique, however it takes long term consistent calorie control and often immense will power.

You can definitely get there. Stay consistent and steadily increase your choice of calorie restriction techniques.

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Unfortunately for me, I have a high Cortisol count. (I had full bloods done, HCT, Cortisol, Haemoglobin, etc) Iā€™m easily stressed. Go from 0-100 fairly quickly although I am working on that.

My diet is good. I do skip breakfast and go for 11-16hrs fast most days. Unless I have high volume of training. I have cut down on how many coffeeā€™s.

If I can cut some of this fat off me eventually, its a slow process, I hope to get down to 79kgs, thatā€™s a competitive weight @4.3w/kg. Currently 4.02

I train 7-11hrs per week, 450TSS avg. 500+ when Im not tapering to race.

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I found core exercises help me the most.

Aside from planned training/ride, every night I would also do 10 min of planks/side planks & variations like superman planksā€¦

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Call me old fashioned but I found training more, then getting a (hopefully) higher FTP, burning more kJs, results in more of a delta between and in and then you are leaner. At least my n=1. I find fasted rides a bit overrated personally.

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100% agree. Have never been leaner than now when I am doing tons of volume, fully fueled with carbs and a diet that is focused on plant based high fiber foods.

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Intermittent fasting is very much not my jam! I did it for a long time and when I stopped I felt and continue to feel so much better. Energy levels through the roof. I will try folding more endurance work into my schedule though!

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4w/kg is good going, anything beyond that is bonus! Congrats

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Definitely agree on raising carb intake, that was the difference that got me from 76 to 66 kg in a winter

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Welcome! Started this too, just for being more comfortable on the bike when fatigued

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Thanks - I still have a way to go. Itā€™s a ā€œlookā€ thing as well, I have been leaner years past, but not as fit. Due to two major surgeries in 4 years, snapped achilles and cage in my spine @L5. Put me waaay behind where I was.

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Has anyone considered Coolsculpting? You can look at youtube for videos.

Itā€™s kind of gross, expensive, but non-surgical. They spot freeze your fat away. It seems to be legit.

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Daily (14-16 hours) IF. 15 min ab workouts 2x week. Fasted 2 to 3 hour cardio 1x week. 30 min full body HIT workouts 3x week. Cut carb (rice, oats) by 1/2. Cut out desserts, pasta, bread, processed snacks. Do this for 3-4 months. Then cut carbs in half again. Eat as much veggies, lean proteins, and soups/broths as you want. Went from 5 pant sizes. Went from 12% BF to 4%.

No magic pill or ā€œsupplementā€ can targe your visceral fat. It is literally the last fat (fat to protect your vital organs) to go.

Will this negatively affect your performance. Maybe. Will it increase injury potential. Maybe. But you will look good and thatā€™s all the counts. Am I right?

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Science says otherwise unfortunately.

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Apologies for the thread bump, but the book The Stubborn Fat Solution - Bodyrecomposition Store is a really, really in-depth look at how to attempt to lose ā€˜stubborn fatā€™. Essentially the protocol is:

  1. HIIT for a bit, to get a lot of FFAs (Free Fatty Acids) released from ā€˜stubbornā€™ areas - say a 2-3min VO2 max-type interval workout
  2. Chill for a couple minutes (I suppose a Z1 couple of mins would work here)
  3. Steady-state Z2 for a half hour or so to burn those FFAs

and thatā€™s it! There are a number of TrainerRoad workouts that fit this bill, and Iā€™ve been attempting to do a few of them in this style. Tomorrow Iā€™ll do a half hour of Mills followed by Takuā€¦ should roughly match the protocol. Honestly, I need to go back and re-read it, but thatā€™s the general gist. If anyone wants to know more about this, I can get some snippets from the book and paste here.

I also have been experimenting with a heat pad over the belly/bottom 4 ab area and the love handle area too to try and promote blood flow to these places, although, YMMV. I just donā€™t want to burn fat around my chest/arms/wherever else it still exists, then have that be re-stored around my lower back :sweat_smile:

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Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet but the best way to reduce body fatā€¦ you need to reduce consumption of sugars, seed oils, junk food, soft drinks, processed foods and eat whole foods. Reduce alcohol. Increase proteins. Eat 2x per day or maybe just 1x if youā€™re up for it. Reduce carbohydrate/fat combination foods (ie bread & butter) meaning eat protein & carbs or protein & fats. Use clean carbs to fuel your exercises.