Flab and painful shoulders.

[Hellish]

Hi.

I'm new to the forum, and I apologise in advance for the lengthy debut.

I've just turned 45yrs, and since September I have been trying to regain my fitness, which had slipped.

About 8yrs ago I'd put on quite a bit of weight, and over an approx. 2yr period, through exercise and healthy eating, I lost 3.5 stone. At the time I was approx. 12.5 stone, which meant I was severely overweight for my height of 5' 6". I dropped down to below 9 stone at the lightest, but settled at approx. 9.5 stone.

I achieved the transformation through eating heathily, mountain-biking and regular work-outs (3-4 per wek) in the garage. I also used to cycle to work and back every day. I can honestly say that I was probably the fittest I'd been in years at the grand old age of 40. I'd lost weight, increased my overall fitness, and toned-up quite considerably. However, I could never quite lose the bit of fat around my waist.

Five years ago my place of work re-located, which meant that I couldn't cycle to work on a regular basis, but I still maintained my diet and continued to mountain bike at the weekends...although the work-outs did drop off due to increased work. Even though I continued to eat well and cycle, the pounds crept back on and by September last year I was at around 10.5 stone. I really am one of those people that can put on weight walking past chocolate.

I realise that this is not exactly overweight, and I do appear quite slim when dressed, but I am one of those flabby, skinny people - i.e. not toned at all. I seem to have trouble maintaining any muscle, and just seem to hold on to fat.

I regularly eat fish, vegetables, meat and fruit, but I can still put weight on doing this, which frustrates the hell out of me. I'm not a massive fan of chocolate etc., so I'm not consuming lots of garbage either. I started with the gym again, in September, and I go three times in the week at 6am before work, and Sat morning when possible. I am still relatively fit when it comes to cycling, and I love climbing those awful hills that most dread - I have had regular comments from other cyclists regarding how fit I must be to climb the hills that I do (if I ride with anyone I'm usually the one at the top waiting for others), but I still remain flabby whereas everyone else is toned.

I've started to see some improvements through the gym, but the flab is proving difficult to move again. I'm still eating heathily, but still retaining a lot of fat/flab. Work colleagues shovel nothing but rubbish down their necks all week and still look firmer than I do.

For the last few weeks I've been suffering from very painful shoulders, which has put me back somewhat. I still go to the gym (I travel abroad for work and go to the hotel gym if they have one while away also), but I'm struggling to do any shoulder work due to the pain. At first the pain started to hurt after the gym, and not in the gym, but now the pain is there during exercise and after.

I apologise for the ramble, but has anyone any advice regarding my general fat-burning/muscle retaining issue, and also my shoulder pains?

Thanks.

[Waterfield]

Hi Hellish, welcome to the forums and good job on the weight/fat loss!

I'm not knowledgeable enough to answer your dietary question in regards to getting your fat off and keeping it off, there are a lot of intelligent members here who'll probably answer that!

Could you please write down your exercise plan, it's important to know what exercises cause the pain and which exercises you are doing which targets your shoulders specifically. Bench press, dips, standing press, pull ups?

Most injuries come through a technique error, for example the most common injuries in the bench press is probably rotator cuff - pressing the bar too high close to the shoulders, or wrist pain - not holding the bar correctly.

Also you're going to have to describe the soreness, if it's DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) which comes from after having a vigorous workout in which our body is not used to (where the phrase "no pain no gain" comes from), or if it's a pain of a joint or tendon. If it's DOMS I can suggest some exercises which relieve the pain temporarily but in all likeliness it sounds like a rotator cuff issue.

Once again welcome to the forums!

[munch]

Hellish

First of all great work on the weight loss. I'm not the one to best answer this post, Wotan et al will be around and may suggest hormone check at 40. This could be making things hard for you. Again don't have enough knowledge in this area. Do you do any weight training or is it all cardio based, if the latter weights will help with tone and fat loss, in fact its the best or so I am told :-). Also any idea of how many cals you are eating per day ?

Dan

[Hellish]

Thanks, everyone.

The pain has more of an injury feel to it - right at the top of the arm where it meets the shoulders (if that makes sense). I can be painful just doing ordinary things, and does seem to hurt more if I lift my arms from my side - 90 degrees to my torso (crucifix position, if you will).

When exercising it hurts more during dumbell presses, and also on the chest press machine. I do get some slight pain doing pull-ups, ans press-ups, but it hurts more during dumbell presses, and chest-press. I was doind dips, but I have stopped doing so - in fact, I think that it may have been this specific exercise that started it all.

My gym routine tends to be more cardio at the moment -
10mins. on treadmill to warm up
10mins. om rowing machine
15mins. on cycle machine
10 mins. on cross-trainer
10 mins. on treamill again
Dropped to 2 x sets of dumbell presses
3 x dumbell curls
3 x chest-press

The weights have been dropped too to reduce the pain, so I'm not able to progress to heavier weights as I'd like.

I wouldn't know my exact calorie intake, but I tend to eat the following -
2 x boiled eggs for breakfast
Various fruits mid-morning (grapes, bananas, oranges and apples)
Tuna or mackerel with veg for lunch
Various fruits in the afternoon
Tuna, chicken with rice or veg for tea
Also have three MP Whey Protein shakes per day

At the weekend I tend to relax a little and maybe have some bread, and a little bit of rubbish (biscuit or bit of chocolate etc.)

[NU_nutrition_TS]

Welcome.

Regarding the shoulder problem - could it be subacromial impingement? See the video below for an explanation:


Have you spoken to your medical practitioner about this? If not, it would be wise to get a proper medical diagnosis because, if it is an injury like the above, you may be referred to a specialist who can offer help in resolving this issue.

Regarding the stubborn fat issue, it could be a hormonal thing related to middle age (as suggested) so you could also discuss this with your medical practitioner. Another possibility is that, with your previous weight-loss efforts and loss of weight, you have increased your overall insulin sensitivity (including the insulin sensitivity of the adipocytes). This often predisposes people, who have lost weight through a combination of caloric restriction and exercise, to rapid regain of fat and subsequent difficulty in shedding it again. Diet may also play a part, since you seem to eat quite a bit of fruit and starchy grains, like rice.