Transcription
So I have found that removing belly fat was harder than I thought. And I have identified five factors that I believe may be relevant to many of you. Let's talk about it. So, as you remember, I said that I had decided to get rid of this belly fat. And the reason for that was that I want better health and so on and so on. Now, it has been perhaps a couple of months since I started this project. I also told you about the methods I would use. Uh, exercise, meaning progressive strength training, cardio training, uh, reducing food intake with the help of intermittent fasting, eating more protein and vegetables, getting enough sleep, and so on and so on. The truth is, it has worked very poorly. Um, if we are to use any objective measures to assess the progress so far, it is that the weight remains stagnant. To be completely honest, I haven't really lost any weight at all in the last couple of months. Maybe half a kilo, maybe 1 kilo. But you know what, [sigh] that can't be counted because it's within the margin of error of the bathroom scale. It's the difference between being hydrated or not. It can be whether you've had a bowel movement or not. So, that I have lost half a kilo, 1 kilo, I hardly count as progress. But what about the indicators? My pants. Are they a little looser? No, I can't say that. Not if I'm to be completely honest. I can't say that. Sometimes I feel it, but I think it's just a feeling. So, not that either. And when I look at myself in the mirror, I actually look exactly the same. So, I feel better, I must say. I actually feel, it has helped. I feel more alert. I exercise quite a bit, so I feel in better shape. So that's a positive thing. But on the other things that are objective measures that I am actually losing body fat percentage, I can't say that I have succeeded. When you don't have the progress you want, it's time to take a step back and evaluate what am I doing, what is not working, and what do I possibly need to change? Because I am determined to still achieve this. I have identified five factors. Um, five things that probably explain why I haven't had better progress than I have had. Uh, yes, hum, it's nothing dangerous. Uh, and uh, yes, I will go through the five things. [music] Factor number one is my training. Uh, I train several times a week, and I train both strength and cardio. I push myself in my workouts, but I've noticed that I don't have the beast in me that I perhaps had 5 years ago, 10 years ago. That ability to just tolerate discomfort and to just keep going when your body says I can't. And then have the ability to say, you know what? You. I'm going to train anyway. I don't care about those signals from my body. That, like, uh, pushing yourself and giving that little extra. I feel that's something I've lost a bit with age. And that's probably something you have as a youth and to a lesser extent as you get older. But I remember, for example, when I was younger and was supposed to do a set, had done 10 repetitions, almost managed the tenth, and I still had that fighting spirit in me. No, you know what? I'll do an eleventh, I'll do a twelfth. I don't care if my chest muscles burn or my thighs burn. I'm going to squeeze out three more repetitions. I notice that's gone. So, the ability to push yourself beyond what you can manage, that's not there anymore. Yes, I still train quite hard. I push myself. I get sweaty. But I also notice that I'm a bit kinder to myself. And when, for example, I can't push myself that little extra, I think, you know what, it's okay. It's okay. Today you can't do more. So you've done enough. Great. On to the next machine. So, I think that's lacking a bit in my training. It's a bit different, but you know what, that's how it should be. I don't want to, I actually don't want to be the beast I was before, pushing myself to the extreme. I think it's enough that I train reasonably hard and sensibly. But the other problem I have with training is that I probably haven't been consistent enough all the time. So something comes up. And today I had a night shift. Then I can't work. Today I have extra outpatient clinics on the weekend. Then I can't work. Today there's some visit. Today we're going shopping. So there are always things that get in the way that have made it a bit difficult to train, at least as often as I want to. So that's factor number one where I have potential for improvement. Factor number two is about intermittent fasting. As you know, I do intermittent fasting. I eat my first meal at 12 noon. That's lunch, and then I eat dinner and supper and so on. But I make sure that the last meal is not later than 8:00 PM. So I have an 8-hour window from 12 to 8 in the middle of the day where I can eat and then not eat. So I fast from 8:00 PM through the entire evening and night until 12 noon the next day when I have lunch again. And that is a very good way to limit your calorie intake. And I would say I'm good at intermittent fasting in a way. I'm not so good. That is, that morning thing, I can skip breakfast. That's not a problem. That I have to have my first meal at 12 noon. Not a problem. I'm not hungry in the morning. So that part, I've mastered it. The problem is, it's after the evening. And even though I've had a good lunch with a lot of protein and vegetables, even though I've had a good dinner again with good protein sources and eaten well and felt full, after a certain time, I get hungry again. I get hungry again. Then I have to have a slice of bread. Something with carbohydrates. A slice of bread with a little bit of brown cheese or yellow cheese and a glass of milk. At 10 PM. That hits differently. And that temptation, I give in to it afterwards. Uh, after. I can't even talk. That temptation, I give in to it because it's quality of life. And unfortunately, there are too many evenings where I choose to eat something after that time. So I don't get that 8-hour window. My window quickly becomes 10, 11 hours. And then a bit of the point of intermittent fasting is lost. Um, so some of you might say, oh my god, a couple of slices of whole wheat bread with yellow cheese and cold milk on the side, that's healthy. That's true. If only it were that simple. Because, of course, it's not just that I eat after 8:00 PM. Sometimes we have yogurt in the fridge, sometimes we have nuts on the table. Sometimes there are chips and chocolate for some reason on a weekday too. I don't know where it comes from, but it's there. [sniffles] So with my intermittent fasting, I've slacked off. There's definitely potential for improvement there. [music] Number three, it's a bit related to the previous point, number two. And it has to do with too many extra calories when they are not really needed. This spring, for some reason, there have been quite a few occasions and celebrations. I had a silver wedding a couple of weeks ago. For some reason, I ordered a huge cake even though there were only six of us who were going to have it. And then I ordered cake for 16 people. And that cake had to be eaten over several days afterwards, of course. You can't throw away such an expensive and good cake. So there was cake every single evening for a whole week. That's a lot of extra calories. Apart from that, there was a birthday celebration not too long ago. Then there were visits back and forth, lots of good food. There have been other birthdays, there have been visits, and sometimes the weather has been bad outside, and that's a very good reason to buy some extra snacks and sit and eat while watching TV. Uh, have some biscuits and some chocolate and other good snacks on the table. Um, it's clear that it doesn't help with a calorie deficit if that's what you're aiming for. You can do intermittent fasting as much as you want and train as hard as you want and be a beast at the gym if you want. But if you then sit in the evening and eat cake every single day and eat candy every other day, then all that you have done will be eaten up by those extra calories. So I've indulged too much. I realize there's a logical explanation for everything here. Fades [music] Factor number 4. You know, you guys, look at this meat. Are we at the cinema now or? It's fantastic. Factor number 4 is sleep. I've talked several times about how good sleep is at least as important as diet and exercise when you want to reduce body fat. You need to recover. The body needs to rest, rebuild itself so that you have more energy the next day. So that you can continue to eat healthy, train. Not least, it's important for regulating stress hormones, for example, cortisol. If you sleep poorly, are very worried, lie awake at night, toss and turn, stress hormones go up, cortisol goes up, and we know that it's a hormone that prevents fat burning, because then the body thinks I'm in an emergency situation, it's a stressful situation. I need to hold onto my energy stores. And it sees fat stores as energy stores. So it counteracts fat burning. That means it becomes much harder to burn fat if you are not properly rested. And I am unfortunately a [sigh] restless and worried soul. I always have worries. I always have depressions. No, that's wrong to say. I don't have depressions, but there's always something that makes me sad. Uh, that makes me lie awake at night and just stare at the ceiling and groan and toss and turn and sleep poorly. And what is my big fear is that I will fall asleep in the evening and then wake up in the middle of the night because of something that worries me. Because then I know I won't be able to sleep again. Then I'll lie in bed for several hours just tossing and turning. And the next day I'll have a terrible day because I have no energy. I'm sleepy, tired, don't feel like training, don't feel like eating healthy. And then I have a real crash in the afternoon, because my eyes are completely bloodshot and I just want to go to bed. I can't do that, of course, because I'm at work. I'm working. Uh, but uh, so I don't know how to improve my sleep. If anyone has any tips, tell me. Uh, if one, I don't know, I'm just, there are probably many of you who are just worried souls and that's just how we are. What can you do about it? I can't change my entire personality just to lose belly fat, you know. But you don't have to change your entire personality. You can just, yes, process your thoughts a bit. Yes, [music] I have to do that. And that, my friends, brings us to the fifth and final factor that explains why I haven't succeeded exactly as I wanted in removing belly fat. It's age. Uh, I notice that my metabolism, that is, my burning, is completely different now that I'm almost 51 years old, compared to what it was when I was 25. 35, 40, 45. It has been a gradual change all along. Uh, and [clears throat] it's a bit difficult to explain if you haven't experienced it yourself. Those of you who are my age or older will probably understand it better than those of you who are younger. Um, you feel like you can do the same things, the same training as you did before, the same intensity, but still you don't burn as quickly and as much as you did when you were younger. And this is a known phenomenon. Metabolism slows down as we get older. It's harder. Uh, and that's just biology. There are certainly things you can do to increase your metabolism. Have muscle mass, have more daily activity, and so on and so on. Uh, but still, we see biological limitations to this that make metabolism slower. And that's a factor I just have to accept. Can't turn back the clock, can't turn back time. It only goes one way for all of us. I'm getting older. Look at this beard, it's dyed. Yes, I know one should perhaps embrace gray hair and so on, and I probably will eventually, but right now I wanted to dye it. Uh, yes, you get older, metabolism slows down, but that's precisely why it's so important to continue to be active. And for those of us who are getting older, those of us over 50, it's especially important to do muscle-building training, that is, strength training, strengthen muscles, improve balance, stabilize joints. It prevents falls, it increases metabolism. It's so important for health. Cardio training is of course also important, but we who are older must spend more time lifting weights, building muscles, becoming stronger and more stable and more robust. So these are the five factors that explain why I haven't succeeded so far. But note, I say so far because I haven't given up. I want to prove to myself that I still have that spark. I still have that fighting spirit inside me. I may not have the beast inside me, but I still have a little animal inside me, and I'm not going to give up. Uh, it was quite nice to think through these things, because now I have sorted the problems. At least that's what I believe the challenges are. And then it's easier to do something about these things. So all these points here I will now adjust a bit. I will be a bit more aware of these things. That in itself will lead to a small improvement, just being aware of the problems, having them a bit as a reminder in your thoughts, in your head. It makes you a bit more focused. I will be a bit more focused on not eating junk food in the evening. I will be a bit more focused on being a bit stricter with snacks and so on. Try to push myself a bit more in training. Try to process my thoughts so that I get, so that I sleep better. Um, another thing is that tinnitus, it doesn't exactly work wonders for sleep. And poor sleep certainly doesn't work wonders for tinnitus. So it's a vicious cycle. I won't be able to break that. That's just how it is. But forget about that now. Uh, but I will, I have no intention of giving up. I will continue, and I will keep you updated. A new update on this project will come in about a month or a month and a half. [music] So let's see how it goes. Let's >> [music]