What is the best way to decrease the your waist size?
I have to answer this knowing nothing about you, so here goes…
One thing you can do is stand up straight and suck in your stomach muscles and hold them as long as you can (at least 30 seconds, if you can). Do it numerous times throughout the day, and before long you will be standing up straighter and those stomach muscles (the deep ones) will be tighter. A lot of us have become slouchers and our stomach and back muscles have become lazy.
Then there is always eating fewer calories to drop weight. Cutting carbs typically is the easiest way for people to lose weight, because since insulin is a growth hormone, the more insulin your body uses, the more weight you gain. I see you are on insulin injections, so you need to be careful if you start cutting back drastically on carbs, because you may have some unexpected, possibly severe, lows. Make sure you know your insulin to carb ratios when you do that. Also, when you drop even 5 pounds, sometimes your insulin to carb ratios may change, so be aware.
agree on the carbs. before i got sick, i was 185 pound. when i went to the hospital with DKA i was at 155 pounds. 2 days in the hospital and i was up to 165, all water weight!
I made 3 main dietary changes - eating less than 100 grams of carbs a day (more fats and proteins, lots of nuts), much better portion control, and minimal snacking between meals. i only eat nuts and cheese between meals when hungry, or a few carbs if my sugar is a little low. now i weigh 153, less than when i went into the hospital, and i’m not dehydrated.
also, when i have a high reading, i usually bring it down with exercise, and only resort to insulin if it’s over 200 or i have no time to exercise, so i’ve definitely increased my activity level.
I love your answer. The exercise you describe is called the “Stomach Vacuum” and is a bodybuilding exercise used back in the day (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ms-fit5.htm). It certainly can help in how you look as can better posture. But in the end, the measuring tape does not lie.
And, particularly for men, that is where bodyfat comes in. Most men accumulate bodyfat in their abdomen and the surest way to decrease waist size is losing bodyfat. Although embarrasing, here is my example.
At diagnosis (5’11"), 16 in neck, 42 in waist, bodyfat ~28%. Now 5 years later, basically the same weight, but after diet and exercise, 18in neck, 36 in waist, bodyfat ~15%. A simple way of estimating bodyfat is using the Navy method (http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm). If you run a few numbers, you will basically see that for me, it is really all about accumulated fat around you waist. And I am basically at the same weight.
The way I did this was through primarily through diet changes, adopting a low carb diet and through heavy weight training.
ps. If you build up your shoulders and butt with weight training, it will also make your waist look smaller.
pps. My endo still tells me I’m fat ever time I see him and I’ve had to accept I’ll probably never have a 32" waist and look like Ryan Reynolds, but I am in better shape.
I decreased my waist size and size all over through Weight Watchers - Just over 30 lbs at a rate of about 1-2 lbs per week. Through the WW plan I adjusted my portion sizes, moved to a more Mediterranian style diet, and increased physical activites.