Male thin with 5 month pregnant belly look

TheDark_Knight

Male thin with 5 month pregnant belly look

So ya, im a 32 yr old male, ive always been thin, thin arms legs waist chest etc, but of late my belly has ballooned, its embarrassing, i do my best to keep it sucked in around people, but it seems now if i drink a pint of water it bulges out 3 inches,
I dont have the best diet in the world, lots of carbs and junk, and I guess at my age now my metab has crawled to a halt, i realise the days of being able to handle that are gone,
so i want to know, how best to flatten my belly, i dont even have much fat around my abs, its literally my stomach bulging out, I do eat monster portions i guess, out of habbit, which ive cut

can i return to normal belly size, or has it stretched out now, any advice please

thank you

very worried

Ouijaboard

If its not overly fat (some people deposit more fat in one area than anywhere else) i.e. skinny fat; then its most likely a posture problem.

Look up Lordosis and anterior pelvic tilt. Most often caused by weak abs coupled with stiff spinal erectors, hamstrings and and hip flexors. This basically pulls your pelvis down and causes the belly to distend.

Takes a while to fix...strengthen the abs, transverse abdominus, stretch the back, hamstrings and hips everyday and be patient. You will eventually pull back into good posture...also btw make a conscious effort to keep reasonably good posture most of the time, not just around people....in the long run this will help your spinal health.

TheDark_Knight

hi thank you for your comment,
Im no expert but i'm fairly positive it isnt posture/spinal related, ive been a carpenter for many years, Im well used to swinging from the rafters having such a physical job, I can run, and lift heavy items with relative ease

think ill just eat feck all for 4 weeks, and hope it shrinks !
not the wisest, but sure we'll see how it goes

Ouijaboard

Bare in mind that pelvic tilt isn't necessarily spinal related, its a combination of minor posture problems that cause the belly to be forced out abnormally. But if you are sure its not a posture issue then fair enough.

Anyway you could be carb intolerant, lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant.....take your pick, you also may be retaining excessive amounts of water (what is your salt intake like?)...best to get these issues checked out by a doctor.
It would be no harm to cut down on carbs though quite a bit for a few weeks and see if you it improves; eat plenty of protein and good fats and cut out the shiiite food for a while. Do not starve yourself, that will make the situation much worse as you will totally upend your metabolism and you may end up storing more carbs as fat when you come back to 'normal' calorie intake.o

Parsley

TheDark_Knight wrote: »

hi thank you for your comment,
Im no expert but i'm fairly positive it isnt posture/spinal related, ive been a carpenter for many years, Im well used to swinging from the rafters having such a physical job, I can run, and lift heavy items with relative ease

think ill just eat feck all for 4 weeks, and hope it shrinks !
not the wisest, but sure we'll see how it goes

there are guys round here that can shift some serious weights that have suffered from this problem. eating feck all for 4 weeks will do nothing to fix it.

Ouijaboard

Parsley wrote: »

there are guys round here that can shift some serious weights that have suffered from this problem. eating feck all for 4 weeks will do nothing to fix it.

Exactly, never underestimate balanced core strength, so bloody easy to think all is fine but its very easy for one weak area to throw it all off.

Also cant ever assume that just because a person has skinny arms/legs and thin shoulders that they couldn't possibly be storing fat on the midsection...some frames love to store fat in fcuked up ways!

johnn

cougar1 wrote: »

If its not overly fat (some people deposit more fat in one area than anywhere else) i.e. skinny fat; then its most likely a posture problem.

Look up Lordosis and anterior pelvic tilt. Most often caused by weak abs coupled with stiff spinal erectors, hamstrings and and hip flexors. This basically pulls your pelvis down and causes the belly to distend.

Takes a while to fix...strengthen the abs, transverse abdominus, stretch the back, hamstrings and hips everyday and be patient. You will eventually pull back into good posture...also btw make a conscious effort to keep reasonably good posture most of the time, not just around people....in the long run this will help your spinal health.

Im fairly sure i have this pelvic tilt along with slouched shoulders, wanted to sort it out. Im now squating, deadlifting and doing some back work(lat pull downs, seated rows etc) and i also do planks for my abs/core. Will including these in my routine sort me out naturally or do i need to do a serious amount of stretching also?

Ouijaboard

For the slouched shoulders its called kyphosis, lots of rear delt work, trap work and lat work will help enormously with this.

As regards the pelvic tilt it can be a bit of a minefield to know what exact areas are causing the problem for each individual, but generally it's caused by stronger stiffer spinal erectors coupled with weaker looser abdominals and added to this stiff hamstrings, hip flexors and glutes.

So I would concentrate on stretching the hamstrings and the hip flexors everyday. Strengthen the abdominals i.e. planks are fine also hanging leg raises and crunches. Try to stretch the spinal erectors if they are stiff. The thing is while deadlifts are a phenomenal exercise it may well contribute to making this problem worse if other core work is not implemented into a program to keep other areas of the core balanced. Working the transverse abdominus muscle is very important!

I've listed a few links below, some of them are very helpful...



http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/11/5-simple-exercises-for-correcting.html
http://www.mindandmuscle.net/node/286
http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/posture.htm
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/core_training_for_smart_folks
http://www.fitnessforoneandall.com/powerlifting/article/proper/abs.htm
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/noglutes.html
http://www.healthline.com/blogs/exercise_fitness/2006/09/fixing-commonest-source-of-mystery.html

For me just stretching my hamstrings was a massive part to play in sorting out lordosis and also fixing my back pain, who would of thought, all the deadlifts and and squats imaginable and never a day bothering to stretch my hamstrings properly. In fairness I never bothered my arrse with abdominal work neither.
This left me with very strong and stiff hamstrings and back and weaker abdominals. Took me about 6 months to fix it.
Best of luck....

AARRRGH

Not sure why everyone is talking about posture. You admit yourself your diet is awful. Eat clean and you'll lose weight. Note I'm assuming your job as a carpenter has you fit.

No harm in joining a gym either and eating more protein.

You could do well doing these few exercises:

Military press
Deadlift
Squat
Bench press
Bent over row

And for your glamour muscles...

Bicep curls
Tricep pulldown

This entire workout would take you about 45 mins. If you did it three times a week and had a high protein diet you would notice quite visible changes in your body in 10 weeks.

unreggd

Portion size could be part of the issue

Do you eat 2 or 3 HUGE meals as opposed to 5/6 smaller meals spread out over the day?

Me Da's the same, not overly fat, but looks 15 months pregnant :O

TheDark_Knight

unreggd wrote: »

Portion size could be part of the issue

Do you eat 2 or 3 HUGE meals as opposed to 5/6 smaller meals spread out over the day?

Me Da's the same, not overly fat, but looks 15 months pregnant :O

kinda hit the nail on the head here, and my salt intake as mentioned earlier is excessive to say the least, Ive been a salt addict all my life, people are disgusted by the amount i use, but i cant help it !! :eek:

thanks for all the input guys, so i guess the obvious thing is diet, I was always aware i was eating sh1et, but I had a good metab as a young lad and into my 20's, i guess the body isnt as young as it used to be, and serious changes need to be made,