David Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 So... First of all, I know the Whole30 is not about weight loss, and that's not my problem anyway. My problem is related to body composition. I'm a crossfitter and have been so for over two years. I work out five times a week, with two fixed rest days to allow for recovery. I'm used to training a lot, I rarely have any trouble with recovering from workouts, and results are improving slowly but steadily which suggests I'm not training too much. What never seems to improve though is my body composition. I used to be quite overweight in my teenage years, though I'm not really anymore, at least not with today's standards. What just won't go away though is the annoying wall of fat that covers my abdominal muscles! The rest of my body is quite lean, but my abdominal region isn't. I figured this might be the cause of some sort of food sensitivity or insulin resistance so I had no hesitation trying out the whole30 when I learned about it. I'm now eight days short of completing a whole60, and still my abdominal region isn't really much leaner. What I've noticed is that I have many ups and downs - sometimes it seems like I'm making progress towards losing some belly fat only to find that I've reclaimed it a couple of days later. What on earth am I doing wrong??? By now I should be insulin sensitive and fat adapted since I've been eating nothing but whole30 foods for the best part of two months. I try to do everything to perfection, in terms of proportions and quantities. I sleep at least 8 hours every night, I bring a plentiful post-WOD meal to the gym, I don't often have snacks between meals, I do not have more than 2-3 fruits per day, and I eat plenty of protein and fat. Since I train a lot I should need plenty of nutrition. I have pretty large meals but isn't that normal for a 27 year old male (6"2, 190 lb) that works out high intensity five times a week? I try to listen to my body - I eat when I'm hungry, and stop when I'm full which according to ISWF should be a safe bet after the first few weeks. Does anybody have a clue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quotidianlight Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Sounds like stress to me. Check out robb Wolf's podcast he's covered this a bunch. If it were me I'd add meditation or move sleep to 9 hours and drop one day of cross fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Sounds like stress to me. Check out robb Wolf's podcast he's covered this a bunch. If it were me I'd add meditation or move sleep to 9 hours and drop one day of cross fit. Thanks for your reply. Talking about stress, could it be that I want it so much that it stresses me out? Should I ditch my mirror not my scale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quotidianlight Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 It could be anything that's causing you stress. I NEVER gained weight in my waist intl mom dies then financial, love life, work stress. Bam... A year later people assume I'm pregnant. Belly fat it a much better gauge of stress or over training than anything else far me. I'm in such a stressed out shape even walking more than a half hour a day haults my fat loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 David - You're telling my story, friend. But this time, the end is changing. Let me explain. While I wasn't overweight as a child, my body went through a rough 5 years - I had a complete small intestinal blockage for about 3 months, was diagnosed with Crohn's, on steroids and then I had two babies in two years. I had a decent layer of chub covering my midsection. Enter CrossFit. We started CrossFit about 3 years ago, paleo 2 years ago and STILL there was no change in that ring of chub. About 2 months ago, things in our life got really busy and CrossFit is where we cut back. Lo and behold, my spare tire stared shrinking! I started a Whole45 29 days ago (our gym is halfway through a 30 and I wanted to be at a happy place when they all started ;0) ) and I have already seen a significant decrease in that layer. I can see my abs!! If I had to guess, I'd say I've lost an inch right around my belly button (that's about half of what I have to lose there - I'm pint sized to start with). I say all that to say this: If you are a busy person - family, job, spouse, stress of any kind at all - seriously consider dropping one or two days of CrossFit (or even taking a day or two to work on skills - double unders, hspu, bar muscle-ups - at low intensity). Also, make SURE you're eating three good sized, fat-filled meals a day so that your body knows you're going to give it enough. I think a little rest will change your landscape more than you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 quotidianlight - I think that my sheer desperation to finally ditch that belly fat has become an obsession to the point where that in itself stresses me out. I'm sad to hear about your situation. Hopefully you'll get through this and allow your body to relax! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Robin - Thank you very much for your reply. It's great to hear from a fellow crossfitter who understands my addiction to working out. Since my social life is centered around my friends at the box, the idea of introducing a skills day - which by the way will do me no harm whatsoever considering my gymnastic shortcomings ;-) - sounds very appealing. This would allow me to be around them and do things that I will benefit from. I currently train on mondays, tuesdays, wednesdays, fridays and saturdays, so maybe the tuesday or wednesday workout could be replaced by some skills work, or even lifting technique work at low to moderate loads?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quotidianlight Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Thank you. I'm just taking is easy,eating strict and sleeping a lot. Hopefully it'll just take a few months for my hormones to recover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 I currently train on mondays, tuesdays, wednesdays, fridays and saturdays, so maybe the tuesday or wednesday workout could be replaced by some skills work, or even lifting technique work at low to moderate loads?? Sounds good! Personally, i'd do skills on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but Tu and W works too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 What Renee said :0) And yeah, low to moderate loads. Light enough that you don't have to think about lifting the weight and can concentrate on form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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