Jiggly Stomach - aka Belly Quakes

Ladybug on Grass

Today's blog will be just a bit silly and perhaps a bit disturbing to envision. But before I go there a short report on successful breakthrough - my weight dropped below 180 lbs today (179.5 lbs) for the first time since I lost 40+ lbs in 2006. Oh happy days!

I performed a full week of Kettlebell training last week and this morning as well. I'm up to 18 exercises per session and later this week, when I present the three month side by side photo comparison I'll also list the exercises I've been executing.

On to the silliness. If you, like me, have been at one time or another, a bit overweight, you might have paid attention to the appearance and attributes of the extra weight you carry and where you carry it. My extra weight ends up in my belly as a spare tire and love handles. In my disgust with the size and shape of these fat rolls, I would sometimes pinch a roll with a sour face to see how big it was getting. Occasionally I'd give that pinch a shake and watch how my belly wiggled like a bowl of jello. "Eww-yuck," I'd think as I observed the waves roll around my waist in a mini-earthquake.

A couple of days ago, after nearly three months of working out with the Kettlebell, I admired in the mirror that my belly shrank considerably, and gave the shrunken, but still present roll a measuring pinch (yes! smaller!) and for fun, gave it a generous jiggle. I was stunned at the difference in the jiggle! Thinking in terms of earthquakes, instead of long waves that spread across the whole belly as before, the jiggle only wiggled a short distance from the pinch with short wave appearance. I took the change as confirmation that the crunches and other exercises have tightened the muscles under the shrinking fat rolls and thus the jiggle didn't wiggle as far.

Another similar observation occurs on my chest. When I poked my chest with my finger at the beginning of the year it reminded me of commercials of poking the Pillsbury Doughboy. Little to no resistance for quite a depth. Now, with the Kettlebell training, I encounter nearly immediate muscle resistance to the measuring poke and a pinch of skin results in pain and very little loose skin. In fact, the chest area shows the results of the training quite well in my eyes. The belly, though, needs more work to get to the appearance I envision.