Body shape, not getting lean

body mass is almost entirely controlled by diet. eat a bit less and youll weigh a bit less.

and as we get older sometimes we have to progressively watch our diet more and more  to stay thin

I agree with this, especially when it comes to tummy fat.

So you are asking about big stomach. 

Most likely it is the food.  

If I were you, I would put myself on a strict diet.  No artificial sugars, little to no artificial anything in fact.  Little sodium, little red meat.   Fill up on vegetables, fruit, chicken, and fish.  No desserts, nothing.  Obviously no liquor, fruit juices, etc.  Some tips I give:  dont do your own grocery shopping, get a family member or friend to do your shopping...will avoid buying junk...and if junk isnt in the house...it wont be eaten.  I also rarely eat out.  Its very tough to eat healthy while dining out. you can try really hard to say healthy, but lets face it...restaurants dont make money selling healthy food.. things that appear to be healthy have bad things in it and its just a bad experience. 

Few important things:

1) You never want to feel hungry. That is a bad thing.  If you feel hungry, get an apple, banana, sodium-free saltines, light sodium pretzels, etc.  Keep the metabolism up.  Starving yourself and then eating a ton will just add on the weight as your body stores the calories. 

2) Throw in some weights in your routine.  Weights help with increase the metabolism.  (you may actually gain a little weight because of more muscle, but your mass might actually decline...(if that makes sense)).  Dont need to be a gym rat, but just try some different routines. 

3) Increase cardio, i.e. running.  If knees are bad, do it on the bike or swim and I really mean increase it, you should be sweating sodium at the end of your workout.    

4) Dont be afraid to go for that hamburger and fries after that really intense workout.   Some days I feel so beat, I just eat a meal off the diet, and its great, and at the end of the day, it ends up helping me because my next workout is so much better because I feel better. 

5) Include a core excercise routine into your training. 3-4 times a week do a 15 minute ab and lower back workout. Go to youtube and just type in 15 minute pilate ab workout or something similar.  You will need to make sure you remove the fat that is in front of your abs to actually see gains, but even you have some fat, core exercises can really be great. 

6) if all else fails, just change it up.  eat differently, try different workouts, everyone is different and maybe you will see better results doing something different. 

1. Doing at least a little weight training can help tremendously.  Weight training, as a stimulus, encourages your body to add more weight as muscle instead of fat when you gain, and shed less muscle(and more fat) when you lose.

2. As others have mentioned, try to eat clean and not over-eat.  While I can't find the link, there have been studies that suggest that big blood sugar spikes(from either high-sugar processed foods, and/or single massive meals) trigger fat storage mechanisms in the body.  In general, the body can only add muscle at a certain rate, so short-term spikes of consumption are likely to be stored almost entirely as fat.

For me in particular, improving my diet has helped my overall weight control, while resistance training has definitely made a difference in my body composition.

Hey...

Came into work this morning and saw all the posts...thank you very much...

I think..

1. I probably over eat as an excuse for the amount of training I do...need to keep an eye on that

2. I have done a bit of weight training...but drop it when time is tight with a focus on getting more time in the pool or bike..maybe re-introduce that

3. Diet ... although I don't eat too much junk..I am a veggo with a traditional indian diet which has plenty of carbs..with low concentration of protein in the lentals..but I often take protein shakes..

I can get a change in body shape by doing the typical swim/bike/run training and excusing to eat a bit more!

Cheers gff