I recently started running and other cardio in addition to my regular lifting. My diet has remained constant yet I am gaining fat around my midsection. I have always been lean, what the hell is going on? Ending the cardio is not an option, as I am going into the military soon.
It’s probably caused by cortisol due to you overtraining. Cut back on the cardio a bit and slowly add it into your routine instead of hitting it balls to the wall every day. Also, a simple thing you can do is take a high carbohydrate drink after both your weight training and cardio sessions coupled with 1000 mg vitamin C. This has been shown to produce a favorable testosterone/cortisol ratio. Charles Poliquin also has his clients use CLA when under stress because stress causes high cortisol which leads to abdominal bodyfat accumulation…according to Charles, the CLA blunts cortisol.
uh, lets look at the diet…
Thanks Kelly, I never considered the overtraining/cortisol angle.
It’s probably meessing with your endocrine system, like KElly suggested. Cardio is the devil.
are you sure your diet is constant?
r u pregnant???but really if u r doulbing your resting hart rate for 1 hour 3 or 4 times a week and watching your diet then you MUST lose fat. you can not spot reduce, it will come off ,IT HAST TO…
I know this is an old post, but could it be that the person appeared fatter in the midsection because he was losing so much fat from the limbs first, while the midsection fat remained constant?
I thought I read an article here on the site that talked about the order in which the male body typically loses it’s weight.
Wasn’t it legs → arms → trunk → abs?
Sort of like when a woman drops weight and how she typically loses weight first in the last place she’d like to reduce… her breasts.
Although memory may be fading on this one as I age. Anyone remember if that’s the correct order or not? Or if I’m just way off base?
Oh wait… I posted that backwards! lol
Just found the article… it was the Meltdown training (I’m actually nearing the end of it in my training cycle.)
No wonder it sounded familiar.
Here’s the link if anyone needs it.
I’m LOVING the workout.
I found CT’s “Ripped to the bone” article very useful.
Hope that helps !
Luca