Belly fat

[reader]

I open this thread to give members an opportunity to express any opinions, pro or con, on the subject of belly fat without hijacking another thread.

 

Personally, many of us very likely have some.  I confess that I am among them.  Although I don't spend time thinking about it, I acknowledge that others may feel differently.

 

Steveboy, the floor is your's.

[a447a]

"pro or con"

 

I'm waiting to see if anyone can possibly come up with a 'pro'!

 

Plenty of 'cons' though.

 

I don't have a beer belly - I'm a social drinker and don't drink beer - but I imagine it would be hard to find pants that fit properly, hard to bend down and tie up your shoe laces, may cause problems when having sex (that would be the killer for me!) and you'd only ever see your cock in a mirror.

 

Then there's the health issue. And that's serious.

[steveboy]

Thank you, Reader.

 

I don't have any morbid obsession with belly fat, as you said in another thread.

However I started writing about it years ago in another gay forum, because so many Asian gays in their 30s start displaying a belly, and I don't like this. Otherwise still decent looking men start losing attractiveness because of a belly!

 

It is said that our emotions are handled by our belly and stress has a big effect in putting on belly fat. Loss of tone in the core muscles help the abdomen to protrude and form a disgusting shape. The damage is not only visual but also spiritual.

 

Now, you probably are able to forget about having a belly and maybe you even feel comfortable with it like a symbol of opulence and richness of your food.  If so, enjoy it, and maybe you can exhibit a nice golden chain of a pocket watch with it.

 

If you are not totally satisfied with a big belly, the Internet is full of information on how to reduce and even get rid of it, and much can be written about without hijacking other important threads.

[kokopelli]

reader, please define "belly fat" as you see it?  In my mind belly fat and a beer belly are quite different .

[steveboy]

I'm waiting to see if anyone can possibly come up with a 'pro'!

 

 

In the past, a big belly was a respect inspiring sign of wealth and power, of having others do the hard work while one enjoying good food and leisure.   Some may still think this way, but this is mostly passe.

[reader]

 

I don't have any morbid obsession with belly fat, as you said in another thread.

However I started writing about it years ago in another gay forum, because so many Asian gays in their 30s start displaying a belly, and I don't like this. Otherwise still decent looking men start losing attractiveness because of a belly!

 

It is said that our emotions are handled by our belly and stress has a big effect in putting on belly fat. Loss of tone in the core muscles help the abdomen to protrude and form a disgusting shape. The damage is not only visual but also spiritual.

 

 

You're right, Stevie. I see absolutely no indication whatsoever that you're morbidly obsessed with the belly fat of others....

[reader]

reader, please define "belly fat" as you see it?  In my mind belly fat and a beer belly are quite different .

 

Indeed they are. 

 

My doctor tells me that I'm carrying about 5-10 pounds of extra weight but not to worry about it. He told me he'd prefer to see older folks a little overweight than a little underweight because they're more likely to recover from illness faster. 

 

There are apparently some other benefits, too. The following article from JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) reports that mild to moderately overweight individuals actually have a longer life expectancy.

 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1555137

[forky123]

I tend to find most people obsessed with belly or other fat in others are those more likely to be vain and self-centred.

[steveboy]

reader, please define "belly fat" as you see it?  In my mind belly fat and a beer belly are quite different .

 

Well, they are different like it is effect and cause.  A beer belly is not full of beer but of belly fat.

 

Reader tried to explain it quite well, but he treats belly fat as overweight.  While moderate overweight is seen more favorably these days, belly fat has still a quite negative connotation.  One can be overweight without belly fat, or slim with a big belly.

 

I'm sorry to have let out my "morbid obsession" about belly fat according to Reader.   In reality more than an "obsession" it is my good heart trying to help those who suffer the belly stigma.  Reader is obviously not one of these since he does not care about his belly.  He feels comfortable thinking that his belly merely makes him "overweight", which is not bad.  However, he should investigate a little more into the health risk of visceral fat, and perhaps he would rather trade the "overweight" from a fat belly to an overweight due to a very big and heavy cock.  (one observation though, the "overweight" comes from an estimation of body mass index, and I don't know if the cock enters into this calculation)

[steveboy]

I tend to find most people obsessed with belly or other fat in others are those more likely to be vain and self-centred.

 

Sorry forky, this makes little sense.

A vain and self-centered person will be obsessed WITH HIS OWN BELLY, AND BE VAIN ABOUT NOT HAVING ONE.

 

An obsession with the belly of others, in the scheme of the gay meat market, is simply a desire that fewer gays have a big belly so that they remain more attractive for the benefit of those who want to have sex with attractive gays.  In this sense they are... perhaps... selfish.

[kokopelli]

forky, I am not at all obsessed with other's belly or belly fat, only with my own, does that make me vain?5555

[steveboy]

forky, I am not at all obsessed with other's belly or belly fat, only with my own, does that make me vain?5555

 

Sorry kokopelli,  i just wrote that obsession with one's own belly fat can be vain and self-centered.  But of course it can also be a smart involvement with one's good looks and good health.  It is hard to define a line between smartness and vanity.

[kokopelli]

Well, they are different like it is effect and cause.  A beer belly is not full of beer but of belly fat.

 

 However, he should investigate a little more into the health risk of visceral fat, and perhaps he would rather trade the "overweight" from a fat belly to an overweight due to a very big and heavy cock.  (one observation though, the "overweight" comes from an estimation of body mass index, and I don't know if the cock enters into this calculation)

From what you write, and what I believe, visceral fat is the cause of a beer belly, fat that is internal. While belly fat is just  some excess fat just below the skin. I don't believe the cock enters into the calculation.

[reader]

Again, more indications that you're totally free of any obsession about belly fat of others...

 

Well, they are different like it is effect and cause.  A beer belly is not full of beer but of belly fat.

 

Reader tried to explain it quite well, but he treats belly fat as overweight.  While moderate overweight is seen more favorably these days, belly fat has still a quite negative connotation.  One can be overweight without belly fat, or slim with a big belly.

 

I'm sorry to have let out my "morbid obsession" about belly fat according to Reader.   In reality more than an "obsession" it is my good heart trying to help those who suffer the belly stigma.  Reader is obviously not one of these since he does not care about his belly.  He feels comfortable thinking that his belly merely makes him "overweight", which is not bad.  However, he should investigate a little more into the health risk of visceral fat, and perhaps he would rather trade the "overweight" from a fat belly to an overweight due to a very big and heavy cock.  (one observation though, the "overweight" comes from an estimation of body mass index, and I don't know if the cock enters into this calculation)

 

Then we have this:

"...perhaps he would rather trade the "overweight" from a fat belly to an overweight due to a very big and heavy cock."

 

Are you losing your mind right here on line?  Are you introducing a new obsession with my cock?

[forky123]

It isn't a one to one relationship. You don't have to be vain or self-centred to obsess about others body fat or your own. My own observation though is that most people who do obsess about their own or others body fat do have one or both of those characteristics. That isn't people who care about it, it's those that obsess about it. I couldn't care less if people want to obsess about their own bodies or weight. Inflicting those opinions on others though is simply none of their business.

[forky123]

Sorry forky, this makes little sense.

A vain and self-centered person will be obsessed WITH HIS OWN BELLY, AND BE VAIN ABOUT NOT HAVING ONE.

 

An obsession with the belly of others, in the scheme of the gay meat market, is simply a desire that fewer gays have a big belly so that they remain more attractive for the benefit of those who want to have sex with attractive gays.  In this sense they are... perhaps... selfish.

I didn't say the definition of vain and self-centred was an obsession with body fat in others. I said that, in my opinion, most people who do obsess about body fat in others tend to be vain and self-centred themselves.

[Guest McGarty]

       *yawn*

[sglad]

I didn't say the definition of vain and self-centred was an obsession with body fat in others. I said that, in my opinion, most people who do obsess about body fat in others tend to be vain and self-centred themselves.

 

...or anorexic.

[Vessey]

Well at just under 16 stone and 5ft 10 tall I am classed as not only overweight but obese, not helped that the most obvious sign of that is a fat belly and 40 inch waist.  I look at myself in the bedroom mirror, especially my profile and wince - its not a pretty reflection staring back at me. 

 

I am neither happy nor proud of that, but at 63 it is a major challenge to put that all into reverse. I do not have the energy I had, I snore for England, and when it comes to sex, most lads just slide on top of me and use me as their 'bouncy castle'.

 

Every trip I promise myself that I will get off the plane at Swampy lighter and fitter than last time - but mostly its been about the same for the last five years or so.

 

Its down to me, of course it is, I know that, fundamentally its lack of willpower to alter my lifestyle.

 

My main excuse (I have hundreds of excuses) is that I live alone and still have a busy and stressful worklife and that, at the end of a long day/evening, the fast-food solution is easier than going home and starting to cook for myself at 8 or 9pm.

 

So to summarise, I am fat, I have a fat belly, and that's down to me and no one else. 

[ggobkk]

One of the boys at Hotmale once said (asked) "Baby" (!/?) as he rubbed my belly...after many decades of living, as Vessey notes, it's hard to put things in reverse.  Instead, I continue to enjoy food, but do my best to walk several miles a day, do some serious stretching in the mornings, and not get too hung up on body image.  Though Vessey's self description of being being a bouncy castle is something to contemplate.

[steveboy]

---

Its down to me, of course it is, I know that, fundamentally its lack of willpower to alter my lifestyle.

 

My main excuse (I have hundreds of excuses) is that I live alone and still have a busy and stressful worklife and that, at the end of a long day/evening, the fast-food solution is easier than going home and starting to cook for myself at 8 or 9pm.

 

So to summarise, I am fat, I have a fat belly, and that's down to me and no one else. 

 

I'm sorry for your situation.  I hope you don't mind that I comment about it. (it's not a morbid obsession).

 

We all are born lacking willpower. Like happiness, willpower must be built up laboriously.  The way to do this is to frequently apply small amounts of willpower, and the feeling of satisfaction from this will bootstrap this power into major accomplishments.

 

At 63 you have plenty of time to take control of yourself, and you may need it to live 11 more years and reach my age. I have an experience I want to share:  several years ago I started practicing a martial art, and one important requirement is to be flexible. This seems difficult for an old man.  Another necessity is to sit on one's heels, and this is hard when one starts having some arthritis of the toes.  I HATED stretching. And the pain in my big toe and knee was strong.

 

Then I called to mind the idea of an extreme act of will.  I was on top of a high rise on fire, and the only way to save my life was to walk over a narrow board to a high rise nearby, making equilibrium over the precipice. Would I be able to have the will to do this?  maybe yes, if my life depends on it.  So then, why not make the infinitely less act of will with zero risk, and... and do this damn stretching and other exercises?  And so I did.  The next day I confronted the stretching with the same idea: what is this compared to walking over a precipice? and I stretched. And so the next day and days thereafter.  Today I can stretch without even thinking it twice.  Now I make progress in a martial art where the other guys half my age can't believe that an old man can keep up with them... 

 

Your commitment to change your body for the better can surely be subdivided into many partial goals, like for example, change from beer to a non-alcoholic beverage with little calories (water ??).  Another one is to learn to like simple food that can be easily prepared at 9PM, therefore staying out of fast-food places. Compare in your mind such act of will with an extreme act of will to save your life, and the act will become small and well within reach.  A small act of will, done every day, can build up to amazing results over the years.

[Alexx]

Yeah that's all very well, but where's the fun in that?

[steveboy]

Yeah that's all very well, but where's the fun in that?

 

There is a lot of fun in that.

[Alexx]

I don't know, steveboy. To me, your lifestyle sounds anything but fun, but I might be wrong. You remind me of the sour faces who order a bottle of water when everyone around them orders cocktails. Is that you?

[steveboy]

I don't know, steveboy. To me, your lifestyle sounds anything but fun, but I might be wrong. You remind me of the sour faces who order a bottle of water when everyone around them orders cocktails. Is that you?

 

No.  And thanks for insinuate that I have a sour face.

I don't drink water from bottles.  Instead I have a good filter at home.

Your criticism of my life style (the very little you can know about it) tells me that you haven't found happiness yet. 

If you had, you would not criticize someone who gives good advice to a fellow person who can use it.