I'm always offering advice, now I desperately need some!

[Teeny Tiny]

Hi all, I've been really excited about my progress lately, I've had another growth spurt and have increased from a 36B to a small 36C, but now I have a problem that is threatening my results. As I've posted before I had tried a fast fat loss diet a few months ago but stopped because the low carb intake was making me sick because I need a high carb intake to help control and prevent attacks from my porphyria. That and within the first 2 weeks I started loosing breast size, which I have recovered from, and then some now. But now I desperately need to loose my stubborn belly fat and drop some weight and fast. It's not that hard, under muscle fat that some get that I know of, it's more of a jelly belly fat. The problem is as my weight has increases 15 pounds in the last year I've been having strange pains around my belly button, and am starting to experience signs of a possible umbilical hernia trying to form. I've been ordered by my gynecologist who I saw yesterday for other reasons who examined me yesterday because I mentioned it and found a pulled muscle just below my belly button to take it easy and allow it to heal for the next two weeks. She said if it doesn't get better, or gets any worse in that time to see my primary care doctor (which I don't have) for further testing and treatment. She said in two weeks if it's feeling better to start to light abdominal exercises to try and strengthen my abdominal muscle and try to prevent a hernia from forming. This morning I was searching on line for ways to prevent it and they say there is no way to prevent it, other than weight loss if overweight.

Anyone have any ideas how I can gently work on losing belly fat, strengthening the muscle, or possible diet that won't heavily restrict carbs, that hopefully won't make me lose what breast size I've gained.

I'm really scared, I don't want to deal with getting a hernia and am in a lot of pain right now from the pulled muscle. Any thoughts or ideas would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any replies I get! :'(

 

[britney316]

Tiny, how low are you restricting carbs? How about the main meals at 60grams of carbs only, then between breakfast and lunch some snack at 15-30grams of carbs. Between lunch and dinner another snack the same amount. As for excerise, walking is still best. For breasts bench press is still best, with dumbells even better. Belly fat is the toughest and the last to drop. I am the same way. I'm pretty sure the girls here have more advice than me. Good luck.
Britney

 

[Strumpet]

It sounds like your gyno gave you good advice surrounding what to do as far as attempting abdominal exercises. I think it's hard to try to lose fat in one area. You can build up muscle there, but if it's more an issue of excess fat than needing to tone up you'd have to lose weight all over, which might knock down breast size. I don't know much about dieting, but cardio's always the best for that - walking, running, swimming, jump rope, etc. To build abdominals I think the best exercise is still crunches. I found an article on livestrong.com about belly fat that includes diet-type suggestions: http://www.livestrong.com/article/534663-how-to-destroy-belly-fat-in-eight-weeks/ It talks about eating small, high-fiber foods that make you feel full but don't have a lot of calories.

If you can, I'd try to make an appointment somewhere for the suspicious pains, and then if it goes away you can usually just cancel as long as you call more than 48 hours in advance. Medical care might just be crazy bad where I live, but I always have to make appointments at least a month in advance. When I had to establish (adult) primary care to get a physical it took the health center about 6 months to get back to me after I transferred all my medical information over from pediatrics, but I think that's on the long side.

Hope some of this is helpful and you feel better.

 

[KittyKat]

You don't have to go on a ridiculously low-carb diet to lose weight successfully, but your meals should be high in protein to prevent lean muscle loss. Losing weight rapidly only means you will dehydrate and lose a lot of muscle, then a small percentage of fat because it's easier for the body to turn muscle into energy than fat. I don't know how your breasts will respond but since you will lose fat, they might go down in size a little bit unfortunately. Thing is, if you lose fat the right way, no more than 2lbs a week or so, then you will most likely be able to grow enough breast tissue so that by the end of your weightloss, your breasts will look as though they have maintained the same size, rather than deflate like they often do on a crash diet.

So I would strongly advise you to first calculate roughly how many calories you currently consume daily. If it's in the range of 2000 or so, you should cut down on calories just a bit. Say you can start with 1800 daily and have small frequent meals composed of mostly protein, moderate carbs and of course, vegetables and moderate healthy fats. No need to cut the carbs waaay down, just as long as they are not the main part of your meal. Then as you start losing weight, reduce the daily calorie intake by 200 cals or so. It's not good to reduce them A LOT from the start because you WILL reach a stopping point. Also, I would advise mainly long walks and (essential) training with weights as your main exercise. Of course nice rigorous cardio sessions are good, but I think that if you want to lose weight at a slow steady pace without losing your muscle and allowing your body to deflate, you should take it easy. Training with weights is also great as far as burning calories, not to mention they help you tone up and build more muscle which in turn will speed up your metabolism and you will end up burning more and more calories even at rest. I think that's the best road to go. Slow steady weight-loss means tighter skin, no starvation and sustained weight loss (if you keep it up!) and it's the healthiest way. Your boobies also won't look like they had gone a cup size down in a week. Have smaller frequent meals where you never feel stuffed (and remember to eat slowly because it takes 20 minutes for your brain to send a signal that you are full) and don't let yourself ever get hungry! Have a little something every 3 hours or so. That will have your metabolic rate at an all time high
Best exercises would be weight training, long walks (like 90 minutes+) and something low impact like hula hooping.

 

[barbie11]

I'm not sure if this is appropriate in your case--I feel like it has the potential to either make things worse or better. But have you tried a waist cincher? It does work to reduce tummy fat (and tummy fat ONLY), enhances posture, and has strengthened by abs. I'm not sure if it would irritate your condition or improve it thought. I guess I'll just say if you're at all interested in it as an option, reply and I'll have a little more info for you? Good luck!

 

[hermanus02]

Hiya, another option might be to start Pilates, I think I would wait for the pulled muscle to recover and then mention it to who ever teaches you as they will be carefull not to strain that area and to build up strength. I have also heard that hula hooping with a weighted hoop also targets the stomach area like Pilates. Good luck xxx

 

[tatiana673]

Try hot yoga hun. It is a 90 minute training of yoga in a hot room (40 degrees celsius) . You will sweat a lot. the good thing with hot yoga is that it burns the fat from INSIDE (all the cellulite as well) while a gym is more outside - muscles and stuff u know. one lesson of yoga burns 800 calories. it is way more than running for 90 minutes. hot yoga is good for almost everything. depression, high blood pressure, not too serious heart problems, joints even skin. if you are not sure about it - read about it online and drop in for one class. see how you feel. However, bare in mind you will sweat a lot. so be prepared to take clean clothes with you and to shower afterwards. i tried hot yoga around 10 days ago and it is like the best thing ever. made my depression much better, i dont feel like i hvae to starve myself after a very heavy meal (before i had to or i got a big belly) and my skin has never been better. i have problems with my knees because of previous proffesional volleyball playing and yoga has improved it... WITHIN TEN DAYS! i always used to feel my right knee and at tiems i couldnt bear it. now it is perfect. i never feel it. i brought my mum to it too because she has depression and has high blood pressure it worked. now i am not sure about the thing you mentioned about.. but bikram yoga does only good and no bad has recorded yet so maybe it will be good for that too? i know it is good for the intenstense

 

[chloespeaks]

Tiny,
I think all the advice given here so far is pretty good. I think most of us here trying to get some cup size genetically tend to put our fat somewhere else than boobage, unfortunately. Myself, the belly is the first and last place for fat :-\!

However, first and foremost, your health comes first. The most sensible way to gain your goal is a gradual loss of overall fat/weight and replacing that with lean muscle, targeting your abs.

Don't worry that the only way that you can do this is a high protein - low carb. I did a bit of searching and I've found that there isn't a reason why you need to turn your back on the higher carb profile that you need for you Porphyria. (http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/10/science/sci-diet-mood10). Actually, there are alot of really good diets out there that high carb -try ones that use foods high in fiber and protein such as those using beans. Food products like whole grains and beans fill you up, have lots of protein for growth as well as high carbohydrate profiles so that your glucose levels are solid. It also means that you end up feeling pretty full so you're less likely to binge on extra calories!

For abdominals, the best for what you want is Pilates - but be very gentle when starting out; hopefully you can find a good instructor that can give you alot of attention even within a class session - I know Pilates can get very expensive. I used Pilates after I had my C-section and it was very effective and I learned alot. A good thing to remember (which Pilates is based on) is that there is no ONE exercise to create abdominal strength. Total core strength can be grouped primarily into THREE category sets of muscles in your abdominal working together (plus also the back-balancing front and back is very important). The first layer is the Tranverse Abdominus, which is the deepest one that wraps around your core like a corset; the second is two sets (internal and external) called Obliques, and the last is the Rectus Abdominus which is the top most superficial layer responsible for the "6pack". Unfortunately most people focus only on the Rectus (which is doing crunches/situps) and strengthening only that one won't give you true abdominal strength (or even that leaned out side of the waist which causes the 6pack to 'pop' out), plus you can actually cause problems if you work the Rectus too strongly and neglect doing back exercises.

http://www.tuckthattummy.com/anatomy.htm
http://backandneck.about.com/od/anatomyexplained/p/abdominalmuscle.htm

Hope that helps! Best, Chloe

 

[Teeny Tiny]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to give it a couple weeks to heal, then start out slow on exercising. I have an LA Fitness membership, so I can use it for things like taking aquafit classes, which is exercising in the pool. They also have yoga, pilates, and other classes I can join that are all included in my monthly membership. I can take any of them any time I want. I think I'll start out just doing some swimming on my own, then start adding other classes as I feel my abdomen is ready for them. As far as dieting, I'll check out some of the different ones that were discussed, and see which one works best for my needs. I've read that link you gave me before chloespeaks, and I think that's the one I'll probably try first. I was originally just trying to do the same diet as my husband to uncomplicate things, like having to cook two completely different meals for each of us to accommodate both of our dietary needs. But if I need to so be it. With his crazy life right now he hasn't been able to stick to the one he was on well enough for it to work anyway, so maybe I'll try us both on the high carb diet for a while and see if it'll work for both of us. If not I can always change him back to the other one.

Thanks again for all the advice and support, it's really appreciated. It's so wonderful to have an online family that all support and try to help each other so much.

I love you all!!! :-* :'(

 

[tatiana673]

Good luck to you!
But either way, if you will get the chance - try Hot yoga (Or Bikram Yoga it is also called). It is much better than "regular" yoga, benefits much more and by far I honestly know nothing else that burns even nearly as much calories as hot yoga.

 

[Teeny Tiny]

Thanks for the tip tatiana, I may try it once, but not sure I'll be able to handle it as I cannot even sit in a sauna or steam room, I get dizzy, light headed and pass out. If it's anywhere near that hot inside I seriously doubt I'd be able to handle the heat mixed with physical exertion. But I'll look into it and see if it's something that might be safe for me to try or not.

Thanks again! ;D

 

[0xducesax0]

Hey

The best way to lose weight fast and it to stay away is through focusing on speeding up your metabolism.
This can be done in two ways = working out frequently + eating 5 small meals a day

A huge myth that exists in the workout world: if you work out your tummy (so by doing ab workouts) you will lose fat from that area. This is complete nonsense because your body will choose to lose the fat from wherever it wants to. So you can be doing ab workouts until you're blue in the face and you may lose from you legs.

Another myth is that running, aerobics, treadmills, machines at the gym make you lose weight. Best workouts to speed up your metabolism? High intensity interval training. You can look that up online for more details if you want. You can start very lightly and then increase the intensity slowly. Also, you don't even need to join a gym.

With regards to lowering carbs that is not at all healthy. Your body needs a balanced diet and if you want to speed up your metabolism you should be focusing on eating healthier and spreading your calories in 5 meals a day. The more frequently you eat the more you body is going to know that it will get fed in a while so its free to burn all the food you ate!

I hope this made sense. Also, you can find a lot of useful stuff online so I suggest you get some research. But what I told you is the basics

 

[Teeny Tiny]

Thanks epic.cleavage, I appreciate all the advice. I know one thing that was working on my abs a year ago, a Hip Hop Abs workout dvd program by Shawn T my hubby bought me. But then we had to move in with his mom, and well, this house is such a disaster I have had no room to do the moves so I had to quit last October. I'm hoping to be able to move out of here soon, then I'll be able to add that in every day again, help strengthen my core using dance moves, and help trim down my mid section again. If my hubby doesn't screw around again and make me laugh and screw up the moves again, although him making me laugh usually gives me one hell of an ab workout.

Shawn T has another program I want to get my hands on to use once I've completed the Hip Hop Abs, it's called Insanity. Here's a link to see what kind of workout program it is.

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do?gclid=CKCNksS8zKsCFccaQgodujTx0Q&code=SEMB_GOOGLE_SAN&extcmp=1513034204&ef_id=uVROdkf8OzQAAE8y:20111003120456:s

I don't know if he really got in the shape he's in using all these moves, but if he did, damn! I know he's had a lot of users that have had really good results. Another program my hubby wants to get to try that he's heard a lot of good stuff about is that P90X Boot Camp, or whatever it's called. Personally I really love the Hip Hop Abs myself, it's a good workout and fun to do, I wish I had the space to use it now, I know that would tone and strengthen my abs. Until I can I'll just have to diet and do what exercises I can do. Unfortunately I can't do a lot of intense exercise fast, as my medical condition is a pain in the butt and restricts what I can do too much. After about 3-5 minutes of intense workout, or getting my pulse up to 140 or beyond I experience a very not fun attack. I had an elliptical machine I used for about a week, it was really cool, had a built in computerized trainer program to try and help you reach your goals, but after working myself up to a pulse of about 160 one day I ended up waking up on the floor about an hour later. I know what kind of exercises I should do, and how I should do them, but I'm not physically able to. Hip Hop Abs is the only intense workout I've been able to complete without passing out, but I have no idea why. :-\

 

[Lily13]

Thanks for the tip tatiana, I may try it once, but not sure I'll be able to handle it as I cannot even sit in a sauna or steam room, I get dizzy, light headed and pass out. If it's anywhere near that hot inside I seriously doubt I'd be able to handle the heat mixed with physical exertion. But I'll look into it and see if it's something that might be safe for me to try or not.

Thanks again! ;D

Wow we sound so much alike, but not in a good way! :-[ edit: Have you ever looked into POTS or a type of dysautonomia? A common symptom is heat intolerance, exercise intolerance and orthostatic intolerance.

 

[Teeny Tiny]

No, but I think I'll look into it now. The only thing I've been diagnosed with so far (once) was porphyria. And that happened after 2 months of being constantly sick from working out in the sun 5 days a week, except for the ones I had to call in sick. I mentioned to the doctor I was seeing at the time for my constant nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, etc. that I noticed when I spent a few days inside without going outside for anything I started to feel a little better. Then the first time I went outside to spend some time with the horses we had within 20 minutes I was running back in to the bathroom and felt terrible again. That's when he had a 24 hour urine collection done to test for porphyria, and my porphyrin count in my urine was double the normal limit. I haven't work since being diagnosed July 1, 2008, and haven't been able to get another positive result since, I'm guessing because I'm not spending the time in the sun I was, and unless you're in the middle of an attack all levels can read perfectly normal, making further diagnosis very difficult. There are no porphyria specialists in Arizona, there's one in southern California that my husband wants to take me to when he can for further diagnosis and hopefully for some kind of treatment plan that will help. Either that or I'm thinking about contacting the American Porphyria Foundation in Texas when we have the ability to go somewhere and see if there's anywhere they'll recommend for me to get further help with my condition.

But I'll also look into what you mentioned and see, all I know is every time I go to the er or doctor because I'm sick they run lab tests and they say I'm the healthiest sick person they've ever seen. All my tests have always come back normal, with the exception of my DHEA level and occasional UTI and yeast infections. And now I'm dealing with this abdominal muscle pain, and trying to bust my butt around the house to try and combat a tick problem our dog and moms three dogs have, along with every part of the house they hang out in. I spent all day yesterday killing and removing every tick I could find in our bedroom, YUCK!!!

 

[Teeny Tiny]

Just checked out that dysautonomia you mentioned. Well, if I do in fact have the porphyria I was diagnosed with 3 years ago I guess I have it in a way, as porphyria affects the nervous system. During a severe attack I have symptoms that make me want to curl up and die like, Headache, dizziness, cold sweats, convulsions or seizure, chest pain, rapid irregular heart beat, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping pain, diarrhea, extreme fatigue, and passing out on the floor before I can make it back to bed, all at once. Those severe, quick to show attacks used to only happen at night, I'd wake up having to run to the bathroom, then while sitting on the toilet all the rest would hit at once, making me have to try to hurry to get back to bed, many times ending up with me collapsing on the floor before I could make it there, or curling up on the bathroom floor before I collapsed if I knew I wouldn't make it. I've suffered from those attacks off and on all my life, over the last 2 years or so they have become an any time of the day event though, they sometimes happen right during the middle of the day, making it very dangerous for me to be out by myself at times if they hit while I'm out. Luckily they usually happen when I'm home, I've only had a few occurrences of them in public, usually when I've been out at a restaurant and eaten something I shouldn't have. Oh, ya, I also have to be careful what I eat, because there are several foods that can trigger an attack, and different drugs, mostly narcotics and steroids can trigger a very scary attack. About a year and a half ago I had gone to the ER with a severe headache that was accompanied by some other odd symptoms, while there they wanted to give me some pain med in my IV accompanied by a steroid, I warned them I couldn't have any steroids so they said they wouldn't use the steroid, just the nsaid. Well, the nurse ended up giving me the full cocktail and within 30 seconds of him walking away my life turned to hell. I was sitting in this stupid recliner chair they started using in the ER in an uncomfortable position, then the meds hit me and I suffered from dizziness, chest pain, felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest or jump out of my mouth, my head was pounding, nausea, and I was completely paralyzed, unable to speak out for help, or even push the damn call button that was right under my thumb. I wanted to just pass out and sleep it off, but my room was right across from an over crowded waiting room full of people talking, baby's crying, and kids screaming that kept me awake through it all. It took two hours of sitting there in that chair before I could move a muscle, and almost three hours before I could get up and use the bathroom, with assistance to keep me from collapsing on the floor. Needless to say, I went back to refusing pain meds after that. For years every time I went to the ER I would refuse pain meds, even when doctors and nurses thought I was insane for doing so, but I've had the same side affects from narcotics they'd given me in the ER several years ago so I went for diagnosis, and treatment of what ever was wrong with me, but not pain management. I have a very low pain tolerance, but I'd rather live with pain than the fear of dying from an attack set off by the pain meds. :-X

 

[Lily13]

Wow all of this sounds very scary! :'(

Another thing to look into is if your episodes could have been an Addisonian crisis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001397/
Some of your symptoms seem to coincide, but I'm sure there are other explanations too. I don't want to sound like I'm a doctor here. I've just done a lot of research over the years into my own illness/problems.

Since your DHEA is high, I still think you should have your doctor look into late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia. It's a wordy condition, but it could explain some of your issues. If you have this, then you also essentially have Addison's disease, which you have to treat with small doses of steroids taken on a daily basis. There are tests available for all of this.

Here's info on Addison's Disease.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001416/

Here's info on LOCAH which is sometimes misdiagnosed as PCOS
http://www.caresfoundation.org/productcart/pc/ncah_late_onset_cah.html

Just take it easy on the exercise. I know everyone says it's good to exercise, but if you have a serious health condition that keeps you from doing it, then you have to be careful. Sometimes resting is better. I cannot do any exercise where I have to be standing. The only thing I can do is spin on my recumbent bike. Even then once I get overheated, I have to stop or my heart rate will get too fast and I feel like I will pass out.

 

[34asm]

just thought i'd chime in. losing fat is really 80% diet and 20% exercise. so if you're not able to do high intensity workouts, adjusting your diet can still make a big difference.

in the past year, i've toned down, lost weight, while still able to slowly grow boobs. (and i stress slowly!). i saw the biggest difference when i cut out sugary food/drinks and processed food. i eat a lot of fat (olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, pork belly) and proteins (mainly animal sources).

i've also tried insanity and p90x, and am now taking pilates classes. insanity and p90x are great products but i wouldn't recommend them if you're not 100% ready to tear your body apart! pilates is great for toning muscles, building core strength, and improving your flexibility. but by itself, pilates just isn't the best route to drop the belly fat. diet is.

 

[Teeny Tiny]

Thanks 34asm for the comment. I think I'll refrain from using insanity until I can get better control of my health, and get my body in shape enough to handle the torture. I know it was created to be used after completing hip hop abs anyway, which is why most of their success stories really weren't that bad off when they started, you don't see anyone completely out of shape who started and completed the program. Right now I'm way to out of shape to attempt it, I might complete it, but I know I'd get better results if I was in a little better shape to start with. And with my health I'm afraid it would be way to hard on me anyway, I could barely complete sessions of Hip Hop Abs when I was using it, and I never got to complete the whole program or do everything in it. Hopefully when I get the chance I'll be able to complete it and get in better condition. Right now I think the most important thing is to get my health under control, then work on my physical issues, just have to be very careful in the meantime not to do anything that can cause this possible hernia to form. Right now I'm having possible bladder/kidney issues. I was having severe, debilitating bladder area pains a couple weeks ago and went to my gynecologist for antibiotics because a urine test in the ER a week earlier showed signs of bacteria in my urine, but I was on my period at the time so they did not diagnose me with a UTI. I was prescribed keflex, then when the symptoms started coming back and spread to my kidney area just before finishing them I was prescribed bactrim. Well, the pains went away for a while again, now they're back, mostly in the kidney area and some in the bladder area. The funny thing is I just got the results of my urine culture that was ran when I went to the doctors office with the debilitating pain in my bladder area and it came back normal, no sign of infection. What the hell! How could I possibly be in so much pain without any infection? I'm extremely puzzled. :-\

 

[Lily13]

You are going to think I'm nuts, but I've dealt with that too. haha Look up interstitial cystitis.