So all of us have at least a little stubborn body fat.
For the most part it is the last little bit of fat that stops you from having the muscle definition you are after. So what if you are creating a large calorie deficit through diet and exercise and still have a bit of fat that you can’t shake? Well you might want to blame the estrogen mimicking effects of “Xenoestrogens”.
Don’t know what xenoestrogens are? Keep reading…
[I’m going to talk about ways to limiting your exposure to xenoestrogens…as well as foods to eat that counteract the xenoestrogens you do get exposed to. None of this will involve wearing a freaky suit, like pictured above!]
Excess Estrogen May be “Softening” Up Your Body
The body is meant to balance estrogen with other hormones in the body…progesterone in women and testosterone in men. Before the widespread use of chemicals, the body did a great job of regulating hormones. Today, the body is out of whack!
The onslaught of estrogen mimicking compounds is so large, that it takes an active approach to maintain hormonal balance. If you don’t take precautions, there is a good chance that you will accumulate stubborn body fat that is hard to get rid of.
Stubborn Body Fat – Short Description?
A lot of people misuse the term stubborn body fat. If you have 20+ pounds to lose you have a “calorie deficit” problem, not a “stubborn body fat” problem.
My definition of stubborn body fat is the last 5-10 pounds that are really hard to shake. I’m not going to get technical and talk about alpha-2 receptors vs beta-2 receptors. Let’s just say that certain areas of the body are resistant to fat loss.
For men it is the midsection and women it is the lower body.
Ice Cold Butt Syndrome or…ICBS
I was trying to create the acronym ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile), because then it would make sense to include this video…
One of the indications of true stubborn body fat is if it is cold to the touch. Stubborn fat cells have less blood flow, which is one of the reasons why this fat is tough to lose.
You will notice the parts of your body that tend to get lean easy are warm to the touch…and the particularly stubborn areas are a bit cooler.
Excess Estrogen = More of These Stubborn Fat Cells
So it makes sense that we want to keep our estrogen levels in check.
If you are a man this is especially true, because all sort of nasty things can happen to your body (man boobs, extra body fat on hips and butt, crying during “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”, or watching any movie with “Sisterhood” as part of the title, etc). Beyond body composition, it is simply unhealthy to have excess estrogen.
How Can We Stop This Madness?
Sorry, but I am having flashes of good movie scenes…
“It’s a Mad House…A MAD House!”
[My good friend Gerry loves Planet of the Apes. He used to use this “Madhouse” line from the movie and I didn’t know what the heck, he was talking about. After knowing Gerry for over 20 years, I recently watched the movie..and must say…pretty impressive Charlton Heston impression!]
How to Balance Out Estrogen Levels
- Limit substances that increase estrogen
- Increase intake of “estrogen inhibitors”
So What Substances Increase Estrogen?
There are many things that increase estrogen…pesticides and herbicides in fruits and vegetables, soy products, hormones in meat and dairy, plastic in packaged foods and bottled water, excessive consumption of omega 6 rich oils (soy, corn, canola, and safflower oils).
The more processed, the stronger the negative effect. Whenever possible, try to eat organic fruit, milk, yogurt, beef, etc.
Organic Food – Cheaper in the Long Run
More Foods That Balance Out Estrogen Levels
Here are some of the things that inhibit estrogen to a certain extent…omega 3 (from fish oils, flaxseed and hempseeds), citrus fruits, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and garlic.
From the research that I’ve done, it is the phytonutrients in these plants that fight estrogen…and most vitamins can’t replace eating vegetables.
If you do take vitamins stick to the ones that are made from whole vegetables…not synthetic made vitamins. Even if you do take whole food based vitamins, do your best to include plenty of organic vegetables in your diet.
A Calorie Deficit Still Comes First
To lose body fat you still need to create a calorie deficit with diet and exercise…this just insures that you will be successful losing those last 5-10 pounds. There is nothing worse than working hard for months and not seeing progress.
Note: Those last 5-10 pounds can be tough even without the xenoestrogens.
This is just one more tweak to turn your fat loss goals into a reality. Hope this helps!
{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }
Rusty,
Great post! Not only did you cover estrogen, but two of my favorite topics: Flight of the Conchords and Charleton Heston. In the past I’ve heard about estrogen in soy products and from hormones in meat, but I didn’t realize it was found in so many other sources.
Sometimes it can be a challenge to go with organic foods since they usually costs more and don’t look as nice as the “enhanced” foods, but appearances can be deceiving.
Thanks. Despite having too much testosterone, I have too much woman hormones, too. Hope primal diet will get rid of these quickly. I am especially concerned about prolactin
This is a good point and people should be watching out fo rit. Just two points I’d like to add are:
– Increased estrogen or ‘mimicking compounds’ can also increase the likelihood of prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women.
– The best source of omega-3 is actually Krill Oil (or wild Alaskan Salmon), this has shown to be many times more effective than fish oils.
I definitely have that last 5 lbs (ehh maybe 10) of fat to lose.
I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome though, so my hormones are all out of whack. The best way I’ve found to regulate them is a solid workout routine with lots of high-intensity training.
I consider myself lucky that I only have 5 vanity lbs to lose, most PCOS’ers battle obesity due to the hormonal issues.
I’ve heard that flaxseeds actually increase estrogen – is this true?
Great suggestion for that last bit of body fat hanging around but this is starting to do my head in .. Too much to think about .. I think I just be happy carrying around my extra 5-10lbs and just drink beer while steady state on a treadmill … Cheers! … Seriously excellent point I’ve dropped soy right out of the equation and it’s helped a lot with getting leaner
Did you come across anything about green tea in your research? You often see green tea listed as an alternative to coffee (and of course, soda) for a caffeine kick, but I have also heard that drinking more than two small cups per day can result in a build up of estrogen levels.
Great post! Two additional ways you can avoid unnecessary estrogens is to never heat your food in the microwave in plastic containers, tupperware, etc. Use glass or ceramic instead. Also, use aluminum drink bottles for water rather than plastic.
Gotta say also that I love “Flight of the Conchords”! Search for their stuff on You Tube if you have never seen them before..
The title of this post should have been: *Eat Broccoli and Salmon to Prevent Man Boobs*
Good stuff Rusty. I don’t think people realize just how estrogenic certain things are. On top of being highly estrogenic, soy is also the most pesticide sprayed crop there is.
Another one to watch out for is beer. Beer is very estrogenic. Glad you posted this, I thought I was the only one paranoid of xenoestrogens.
Very important post Rusty. Its worth taking note of cooking in and heating plastic, this is something that has become common place with people today and it is very toxic and releases loads of Xenoestrogens into the food.
Also definitely decrease the intake of uncooked vegetables as they are thyroid inhibiting which in turn leads to high estrogen or whacked hormonal levels. Cooked veggies though help flush stuff out, so steam em’.
A healthy liver is also key for regulating hormones. Herbal tinctures can be great (milk thistle, dandelion etc….) but from a dietary standpoint eating more bitters (endive, rocket, radish, watercress) and lemon juice in hot water to start the day is a great way to give the liver a mild flush….
Could it be that the last ten pounds are hard to shift because any extra dieting will simply burn muscle, and the body’s metabolism slows down due to this. Forget about weight, try increasing your muscle mass instead with some toning exercises.
I do my best to stick with organic produce (it often means I have to by a little less but I think it’s worth it). There are certain fruits and vegetables that are much less chemically treated than others, like onions for example, so I’ll just by the regular onions. When it comes to things like strawberries or bell peppers, I’ll either by organic or not bother with them.
When it comes to trying your best to be healthy in modern society, I think Charlton is right on the money, “IT’S A MAD HOUSE!”. But it does get easier.
Excellent, Rusty. Martin Berkhan also wrote a piece similar to this a while back. Essentially, his main points were that fasting helps you get rid of the excess fat as the fat cell receptors become more sensitive. Lipolysis is increased as glucagon is typically high. He also recommends fasted cardio 45-60min after your training session. It’s low intensity cardio, steady-state, and of course with BCAA ingestion, which he’s a big fan of. He also recommeda caffeine and yohimbine. Previously, I’ve had no problems dealing with stubborn belly fat, though now I’m rather out of shape. Blame it on the exams. What I’ve found is that you have to crash-diet in spurts to get it off. It may sound controversial, but what I did was basically a PSMF, with horribly bland food such as steamed chicken breast, no salt, with a cup of vegetables and only ingesting 800kcal a day. I’d do this for 11 days, refeed for a day at maintenance, then go for another 11 days. I know this might not bode well for some people, but I’m a fan of going all-out when you want to lose that fat. I managed to get from 14% to 7% in a month with this regimen, adding in really intense heavy lifting and some cardio after my training sessions. I didn’t really lose muscle mass, as after 2 days of referring, I looked dense once again. But the deficit was really harsh. And since I don’t really watch what I eat, it’s a small price to pay for continually letting myself go. At least I’d have that 6-pack!
Hey Rusty, I like what you said about, if you still have 20 lbs or more to lose, it’s a calorie deficit problem. This is so true for my clients who have “trouble” losing weight even though they still have a lot to lose. I always pin point it to their excess calories even if they claim to eat “healthy.”
Great article on Estrogen. Hormones can be hard to deal with but per your suggestion, proper nutrition usually solves the problem.
Anna
Hi there, I think that staying reasonably ‘paleo’ automatically sorts out the weight and the excess dodgy hormone issues in one go. And any excess abdominal fat soon bids an extra hasty retreat with at least two days a week fasting between 15- 24 hours.
As for Charlton Heston , started to watch ‘The Omega Man’ the other eve. At first we couldn’t decide if it was ‘so bad it was good’ or simply ‘bad’. We decided on the latter, after about 20 minutes. Maybe we didn’t give it long enough!
Janet
I have been stuck at 8% BF for about 6 months. The whey protein shake that i drink has soy lecithin in it. Should I cut this from my diet?
Though this is a great post about excess estrogen the point that I am so glad you mentioned is the one about people confusing overeating (too many calories in) versus stubborn fat. When you are 20-40lbs overweight its not stubborn body fat its simply eating too much.
When I got down to 9% it seemed to take forever to drop another 1%. Maybe it was the estrogen, who knows. I like staying 5-10lbs from my summer weight so I don’t really worry about it too much especially in the winter.
Thomas
I’m a big believer in eating organic whenever possible for numerous health reasons. However, I never really thought about the hormones in non-organic meats and dairy that could be increasing my estrogen levels.
It’s always hard to get rid of those last few pounds. I’m going to be even stricter when it comes to eating organic.
Thanks for the information.
Rusty,
Sounds like the winning formula is calorie deficit + Primal diet. This is what I follow and I’ve noticed recently, I’ve been able to lose a lot of the fat in “stubborn” areas that I’d never been able to get rid of before.
Alykhan
cut the shake and eat real food man!!
Nice Article Rusty!
Eragon, Kaayla T. Daniel, author of the Whole Soy Story, commented on Soy Lecithin saying it’s not favorable but the only way the extremely small amount in supplements would have a negative effect on you is if you were allergic.
In simple terms, you’re fine.
” crying during “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” ”
Haha! I laughed out loud at that one. Though the whole concept of the plastic in bottled water harming us kind of alarmed me. I drink bottled water all the time, namely to avoid the chemicals added to our tap water! Though, that inch of fat covering my bottom two abs is warm to the touch, so I guess I have nothing to blame but myself 😉
Rusty – about the organic stuff – I’ve had some thoughts on this in the past and something didn’t gel with the whole organic movement – but then I found “Bull $#!t” the Penn and Teller show about the organic food movement. Watch it when you get a chance and respond back with some thoughts!
Keep up the good work with the Blog – I’m hit and miss on what I actually apply from stuff that you put out, but what I do use I get great results from! Next time I am in Seattle – I’ll buy you a cup of joe (organic, if you insist).
I totally believe it. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that women lose weight so so so much slower than men. We have all that additional catching up to do. So not fair.
I have never really given this much thought until now. I have been working on the caloric deficit and the primal eating components of my diet for just over a year now, and have been very successful. Stubborn fat was flying off. Now I am at the stage where my bottom two abdominals are covered with that layer of fat! I’m going to push hard to get rid of that, and sport a 6 pack for the first time!. Visual Impact is changing my body so fast, it is remarkable.
A few other PE teachers at work have been warning me not to use plastic in the microwave, but for other reasons. Now that I know it could stall my quest for a 6 pack, I might actually take their advice!
Thanks for all the information ladies and gentlemen.
Cheers,
Jordan
Rusty,
You have an awesome site and I read all of your posts, but on this subject I generally agree with most of clements comments and that an overall weekly caloric deficit along with 1-2 internmittent fasts/week (ie ESE) will get a defined 6 pack. How aggressive you make that overall deficit determines how fast you get to the 6 pack. I think HIIT in a fasted state helps as well (as you’ve recommended in prior posts). This is based on personnal experience because I’ve made it down to ~8% BF this way. Now that I’m down to this BF I only use intermittent fasts on occasion to maintain it. In personnal opinion, I think the “organic hype” is primarily a marketing scheme.
Jeremy
good stuff rusty, organic food very expensive here in the philippines.
RUSTY HELP!!!
Ive been following eat stop eat lately. What do you eat after the 24 hour fast? I think i might be overdoing it a bit. Heres what i ate:
omellette(4 eggs,1 yolk)
1 cup brown rice
2 small pcs lean canadian bacon.
small pc of fish
120 grams cottage cheeze
1 mango
vegetables
1 small bowl of sugar free, low fat low calorie frozen yoghurt.
I get so hungry after the fasts, Whats your typical meal like after a 24 hour fast?
OMG!!! This sounds like the answer I’ve been after for YEARS!!! I’m not a big girl, but I’ve held proportionally more weight on my lower half since my early teens no matter what my overall weight or to which extreme I’ve taken my excercise and diet. But the most stricking indicator – I’ve always had a cold butt! I’ll tweek my diet and see how it goes….
Nice one Rusty.
I like the fact that you pointed out more often than not ‘stubborn body fat’ is actually just body fat—and you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose it.
Ive really cut back on processed goods this fat-loss cycle. Combine that with my once a week 24 hour fast, and my abs are actually showing for the first time in a couple of years.
I definitely believe estrogen can effect body fat levels. Years ago (when I was trying to gain muscle and weight) I noticed that birth control pills kept me from gaining muscle. I was very thin so it was easy to gauge muscle gains. Within a week of quitting birth control I noticed a difference. Ab muscles were more prominent yet my waist was smaller. Whenever I want to get super trim I skip the BC pills.
@Clement
I’m so glad you’ve posted your experience. The term ‘Crash Diet’ seems to evoke fear in everybody. But hearing that you dropped your BF by 50% in less than a month is very encouraging. At where I am now – hovering over 10% and needing that little extra sharpness – I think I am going to enjoy xmas while working out hard, and then go all out in January
Cool post Rusty. Another thing I’ve read that it helpful with stubborn body fat is intermittent fasting. I think Martin Berkhan has written some posts about why 15-18 hours fasts help eliminate stubborn body fat. Generally speaking, I still use Eat Stop Eat for the most part but try to perform more daily fasting when I want to get really lean.
hey rusty love reading your posts i downloaded vacation body and its great im really interested in what matts exact workout and diet was i know you said he was on the warrior diet and then you put him onto eat stop eat but what did he eat and what did he do for his workouts. ps. im 17 and would love the oppotunity to do what craig and matt did and would love to do a testimony thing im sure these plenty of teenage guys that would like to see someone their age achieve results through your advice any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Rusty , love the site. I was wondering if you could do a post of how your body shape changes through different kinds of sports ex: swimming lenghten your torso and gives you that long looking body and a good v taper and how marathon runners have that anarexia body look. Also if you could help me on acheving this body swimmersbody…
can you give me an workout that gives me that kind of body?
currently i am doing swimming twice a week( for one hour) and twice a week full body resistance workout( like push ups, pull ups and renegade rows), stretching and jump rope intervals ( i am doing it becuase i like this more than regular intervals on treadmill)
Thanks alot for everything you have done
yours sincerely David
@Jordy: thanks! I dropped my bodyfat by 7%, actually, not 50%. 50% in a month would be wishful thinking, even in a crash diet!
About the organic food, is buying organic chicken and meat a good idea? friend of mine says that there is no difference.
Though my friend did say that there is a significant difference between organic fruits and veggies and supermarket fruits and veggies, he said they look better and taste a WHOLE LOT better.
-Alex
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! Enjoy and Be Safe.
-Thomas
DAMN YOU MUST BE BUSY RUSTY
Hi again.
Ive added this page also to http://www.quakefitness.com. Scroll down the page and you will find the link back to your blog.
Quake Fitness – Connecting Fitness and Health blogs
Soy and all the hormones that are put into our food supply increase the estrogen levels so much men are starting to develop breasts …. or some men are with out even knowing its the soy the are drinking.
There are so many reasons to try and eat more organic foods these days and this just adds to it! It is a little challenging in the cold months in my area, (Pittsburgh, Pa) to find fresh fruits and vegetables that have not been covered with pesticides. We have been looking for a local farmer to get some meat from that we can freeze. It takes more work than just going to the grocery store and buying whatever they have, but I think it is worth it.
I heard about microwaving plastics a while back and have been using glass instead. We have a water dispenser and filter system that I use for water and fill up a jug with ice when I am away from home. Once you get in a routine of doing things different or buying organic, it doesn’t take that much extra time and it is better for you.
Kelly
Interesting! It pays to read good articles to keep the body fit, Yet reading alone will not help but definite action.
Hey Rusty I follow your site fairly regularly. I was wondering what your opinion would be for taking hcg and having a low calorie diet500-800 cal a day. Can you sustain muscle mass while on such a low calorie diet? Or is this just another fad diet I should overlook. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
-Brad
I have heard fasting techniques to help with the “last mile” for weight loss. Interesting info on the estrogen.
Great post Rusty.
Great point about “calorie deficit” problem not stubborn fat. People do the same when it comes to muscle building. Don’t be so quick to call yourself a hardgainer.
Do what you need to then if that doesn’t work we can talk about the stubborn things
Useful information! Thanks.
Everything seems to come right back to processed foods doesn’t it?
I agree with the premise of this article — that excess estrogen is a big contributor to the retention of stubborn fat — but I don’t believe there is anything of real benefit offered in the article.
The advice advocated here is merely a parrot of similar advice strewn across the internet and has yielded no real benefits to those who truly suffer from excess estrogen. Like me. I am one of thousands of men suffering from pseudo-gyno caused by excess estrogen. I can tell you that the diet and supplement suggestions in this article for controlling excess estrogens will yield minimal, if any, real results on fatty areas caused by excess estrogen.
I am a vegetarian and have been for 8 years — no meat, no dairy. I eat as much organic as I can. I also eat plenty of cruciferous veggies and take at least 3 estrogen-blocking supplements 3x per day in rotating fashion. In addition I do 30 minutes cardio 5 times a week. In fact, I am as of now 135lbs. All of this, however has had absolutely zero effect on estrogen-caused fatty deposits around my chest. And I have read from hundreds of other men who have desperately taken a similar path with equally negligible results. It seems that once you get these deposits the only way out is surgery, which I am unwilling to do b/c of the expense.
Basically, while well-meaning, the solutions proposed by this article are of very little practical value for the suggested area of focus — estrogen caused fatty deposits.
Hey was just readin stuff u said sounds good to me 🙂 clement jordy ment going from 14% to 7% so thats 50% of your body fat not 50% literally! just taut id tell u! 🙂 but the crash diet u do really sounds hard…but good!.as i need to keep up energy levels for my rough runnin training!!
Hey Rusty,
Never knew that xenoestrogens are responsible for the kind of fat that is super hard to get rid off. And the tip about feeling cold, gosh that is so true! especially the tummy area :S
hmmm interesting…I never knew certain foods could cause an increase in estrogen….wow
Rusty,
For those with “stubborn body fat”, especially around the pecs, (Moobs or Man-Boobs)
I would definitely add in Turmeric/Curcuma and tons of supplemental fiber, especially soluble like citrus pectin or even psylllium.
I had them and I got totally rid of this embarrassing problem by burning the fat and utilizing a anti-estrogenic diet/supplement regime.
Good Luck everybody !;-)
Mark
They give so many hormones to cattle to beef them up, who knows what damage they are doing to our bodies?
Help I think this may be my problem. I can’t lose any body fat!!
I am a spinning instructor I teach two weight/spin classes per week and two spin classes. I basically work-out 6 days per week I do HIIT twice per week in addition to the spin. I eat clean
my diet looks like this:
1st meal: 2 egg whites
2nd meal: Almonds
3rd meal: Carrots/ green tea
4th meal: strawberries
5th meal: greek yogurt/almonds or cottage cheese
6th meal: diet cocoa and skinny cow ice-cream snack
I drink two cups of green tea per day and lots of water.
I do 2 cheat days a week (Sat. and Sun.)
HELP, I would so much appreciate any advice. I would like to be 17% body fat. I am about 19% now and I am a 43 years old female.
I lost the last 5 pounds, tnx to the flax seed.. Nobody should avoid it.. So, just a liitle bit of diet modification can do dramatic impact.
Detoxing goes a long way in reducing Oestrogen levels. When the liver is cleansed out of toxins it works much better to neutralize Oestrogen.
Fat cells produce estrogen too. The more body fat you have, the higher your estrogen levels can be. It’s a bit of a catch 22, and it makes it that much harder to lose the fat once you’ve got it. Prevention will always be the preferred method for staying lean.
Thank you for this blog. It has a lot of great information and some great contributors. Two things I like about the post, one it is straight forward and two it does not attempt to promote anyone’s position particularly.
It’s like I always say – you can’t eat too many vegetables. They are great in so many ways.
Estrogen is everywhere these days. In many places it’s in the drinking water too, so these tips on addressing the balance are really useful
You’re right about the stubborn fat areas being colder – I just tested it out on myself! I also grew up on Doritos and Banquet chicken – Hamburger Helper, too – and it is very hard to break those unhealthy eating habits. But I’m working on it and really being helped with your great site – thanks! =)
Hey Rusty was wondering does taking testosterone supplements help in dealing with this problem? I can’t seem to get rid of my stubborn fat. Or Fat Burners?
Thanks!
I really want to thank you from he deepest part of my heart REALLY
I STRUGGLED for long time to lose my last 10 pounds but I failed, I always lose weight from my breasts and waist but not hips and belly
I know know they are stubborn and you gave me the solution I looked fr so long
This was a real problem to me
Thank you again
And I wish to VANISH those pounds 🙂
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