Hey, all, just a quick likkle question here. Although I have noticed quite a bit of results in the last 4 weeks since I've been watching my diet/exercising, and even though I can flex and have a pretty good six-pack now, when I relax, my belly is still round and kinda big, extending out a bit past my chest. It is not that I have a lot of fat there...i just have a large stomach. Now that I think of it, even when I was very small and had very little body fat, my belly was big. Is this just genetics? Will I ever be able to look thin even when I'm completely relaxed or will my belly size decrease as I continue to work out and eat more healhtily? Thanks and God Bless, Jeremy :D

Hey, all, just a quick likkle question here. Although I have noticed quite a bit of results in the last 4 weeks since I've been watching my diet/exercising, and even though I can flex and have a pretty good six-pack now, when I relax, my belly is still round and kinda big, extending out a bit past my chest. It is not that I have a lot of fat there...i just have a large stomach. Now that I think of it, even when I was very small and had very little body fat, my belly was big. Is this just genetics? Will I ever be able to look thin even when I'm completely relaxed or will my belly size decrease as I continue to work out and eat more healhtily? Thanks and God Bless, Jeremy :D

This isn't an insult. It's just a theory that proved true in my case. Try some fiber, metamucil or something else. Anything psyllium is good, but there are other varieties as well.

For me, a lot of the symptoms you describe were a continual state of slight constipation and bloating.

I think a lot of people are this way, including me. What I've heard that works is an exercise called "Stomach Vacuum". Look it up and you'll see how to do them. Its basically sucking in your gut for 20 seconds and doing 3 sets like that twice a week.
I guess the theory is training your gut to even out instead of bulging which could be due to bad posture or a lot of weight in the front, or both.

Thanks to both of you for replying. IP - I know this is at least partly true. I have been getting nowhere near enough fiber since I started watching my diet...i'll try to get some next time I go to the store. Teamhwn - thanks a lot for this. I immediately did some research and found this website: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ms-fit5.htm. Apparently, this is just what I need to do. I'm going to start adding this to my workout routine tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes in a couple of weeks. Thanks again. God Bless - Jeremy ;)

I'm a little confused by the article. It says "One isometric contraction of "X" seconds is one repetition", but doesn't say how may reps in a set.

Week Exercise Seconds Sets
1 Vacuum 20 3
2 Vacuum 40 3
3 Vacuum 60 3

And are you supposed to breathe? I don't know if I can exhale and contract my stomach for 60 seconds without breathing....

And are you supposed to breathe? I don't know if I can exhale and contract my stomach for 60 seconds without breathing....

Don't breathe for as long as you can, and when you need one -- without uncontracting your stomach -- take a tiny breath in before re-exhaling. Make sure your stomach is contracted all the way again.

Gotcha. So I'll also assume each "rep" is also a set in the above example.

For the last couple of years I've kind of trained myself to hold my stomach in as much as possible throughout the day, partly for vanity but also partly to try and build up my abs a little in the background.

If you're not following the specific Vacuum exercises, am I just wasting my time? I guess I'm not going to find out how good my abs are until I've lost more weight!

I actually have the same problem as you guys. I am 20 160lbs and got the the belly syndrome. At first I thought th reason why i had it was because of excess fat but as I cut down to six pack shape I realized that it had nothing to do with it. The reason why was due to overeating. A while back i decided to put on some weight and gained 30lbs. To do this I stuffed myself with food constantly. What happened was the the large intestine streached out and made the stomach larger. What I have been doing recently is what someone commented on earlier is eating less! Not in a sense that your starving but eating much smaller meals more times a day like every hour to 2 hours. I can't tell you how well its working because i just started doing it recently but I am getting pretty nice results. I also do the stomach suction that seems to be helping too. I have concluded that its due to a large food intake. This seems to get worse with age as you see with older guys. So you got to start taking care of it as soon as possible.

Yep I have it... Most of my fat is in my chest and stomach and I agree it's from eating to much because I'm a beige eater... and when a I drank beer(I quit three years ago) I would get sugar cravings and eat while drinking my favorite was tooties rools and gum at the sametime or smarties..
nothing worse then drinking and sweets :)

I'll try the vacuum excerises :)

Also... When Men have the big belly..it could also be alot of fat around your internal organs..which is bad! heart disease bad... So Men with hyper extended belly's..Get to work. :) The life you save might just be your own!!