Legs

[badger]

ah... muffin top. I'm quite familiar with it, too. I've always had this little bit of fat around my belly button that no amount of exercise will rid of. I even had it when I weighed 100lbs. Now I weigh a bit more and it's gotten a bit more squishy, so I get the ever-flattering spillage when I wear anything with a waistband (which is pretty much everything). The muscles underneath are pretty damn solid, but alas, no flat tummy.

[Crankin]

+1 Emily. People who see me in clothes think I am teeny teeny. And yes, thanks to size creep I wear a teeny tiny size. I am barely 5' 1" and my normal weight is about 107. During the cycling season, it's between 104 and 107, but if I am not totally stringent with my eating and exercise, it goes up pretty quickly to close to 110. At one point, in my early thirties I weighed 92-95. That didn't look so good, either.
I've always had a small waist and bigger hips/butt. In fact, my butt was huge at one point. When I was in my twenties, before I started going to the gym, it was very difficult for me to buy pants or skirts. I have a very small bust, too.
So, in the last couple of months, I notice my stomach, which is flat, is getting loose. I do not like this at all. I did core work all winter, but I think doing it at home doesn't push me enough. My hips seem to be getting bigger, too. My clothes still fit, but I am noticing a little more muffin top. The beginning of the cycling season has been slow here, with rain and cold. The muffin top usually goes away by June, but I think it's going to take more work.
My legs are short and my thighs are big from riding, but not entirely "hard." They seem to be a bit more flabby now, even with all of the x country skiing I did this winter. Well, at least my calves have that "cyclist" look.
I asked my DH to pay for personal training for my graduation present. I think it's going to take a big push to get me back to where I want to be. I know that for age 57 I look good, but it's not good enough for me.

[emily_in_nc]

The muffin top usually goes away by June, but I think it's going to take more work.

My problem is no matter how much I cycle and work out, all that activity makes me eat more, so I can't seem to get ahead the way I could when I was younger. Therefore, I am quite sure I'll still have a muffin top in May or June. It used to be that I could eat everything in sight and still not gain, so long as I was really active. Now, not so much. I know you have experienced the same from some of your other posts. Frustrating, isn't it?

Good luck with the personal training -- you are right that they will push you harder than you will push yourself!

[Crankin]

Yup, DH and I have deduced that it's all about the eating. I know I eat well and I do not like to restrict myself... I already eat so much better than most people, it's not fair. And I like to cook, it's as relaxing as riding is for me. So, I think the personal training, weights and core stuff will help jump start my metabolism. I am hungry *all* of the time, except for when I am so busy I can't think about it. I don't worry about it too much when I'm on a hard tour or riding in the Berkshires, but for normal riding/living, it does matter. The only food thing I am trying to watch is the bread, event the whole wheat bread, rice, etc. I think I might have to cut down on the wine, too. In the last year I have upped my red wine from maybe once a week to 3 or 4 times a week (I mean a glass, nothing more), and it has made a difference in my cholesterol.
Then I look at my friends who don't exercise, eat kind of badly, and have resigned themselves to thinking "this is what getting older is."
Noooooooo.

[emily_in_nc]

In the last year I have upped my red wine from maybe once a week to 3 or 4 times a week (I mean a glass, nothing more), and it has made a difference in my cholesterol.

Interesting. I drink a glass of wine per day (or a beer, if we're having pizza, say), and my cholesterol is pretty close to ideal -- high HDL, low LDL, low triglycerides. My doc says the red wine helps that, not the opposite. But I guess everyone is different.

I totally, completely agree with what you say about your friends who aren't fit. It's amazing how many people reach a certain age -- often 40 -- and just GIVE UP on fitness and healthy living and let themselves go. Never!

[OakLeaf]

I'm not sure those people are really "letting themselves go," I don't know that they ever had a hold of themselves...

A lot of it I have to blame on the medical establishment, honestly. It seems like every time I've had an injury, from age 16 to relatively recently, the only advice I've ever gotten from doctors is rest, rest, rest. I had to figure it out on my own that after the acute phase was over, resting was making it worse, and that in a lot of cases, if I stopped resting (and maybe made some tweaks in form or strength), the problem would go away entirely.

There are a very, very many people out there who don't exert themselves because it hurts. Many of them have been my clients. I would never advise someone to ignore pain, and I really try not to discount others' pain. Unfortunately, these people have just gotten very bad advice when it comes to dealing with their pain.

[Crankin]

That is all certainly true, Oak. I once went for a walk with a friend, down to a beautiful nature reservation about 2.5 miles from my old house. It was kind of a hot day and my friend brought a large towel, put it around her neck, and then proceeded to wipe the sweat with it and complain and sigh loudly with every step. I thought I was going to kill her.
Emily, I meant the red wine has helped my cholesterol. I also have very high HDL, low LDL, and good triglycerides. But my total is high.... so over the past 2 years I have been tweaking my diet with the red wine, dark chocolate, and more salmon and tuna. Right before I started cycling, my total was 244. I had totally burned out on the exercise I had been doing and had gained almost 20 lbs. I had it down to 220 after a year of riding, and now ten years later it's 208. I really want to get it below 200, even though my doctor has told me my ratio is the best she has ever seen.