How to get rid of belly fat?

[RachelD]

As a child/teenager, I was never really overweight. Now, many years later and after having two kids, I find that I need to lose about 30 pounds. I understand how to lose weight and excersize, but is there anything I can do to get rid of the spare tire? I know that doing situps and crunches will just make muscle underneath the fat, so what is the secret to melting away that nasty layer of fat?

 

Please help me out!:o

[sharonella]

I don't know Rachel - I'm in the same boat you are. I've lost 43 lbs and my tummy is still the biggest part of me! It didn't used to be that way - I used to be "curvy" with a relatively "small" waist. No matter how much I weighed - there was always about a 9-10" difference between my waist & hip measurements - now it's barely a 6" difference! And I've never had children.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Sha

[love2vacation]

ERRRRR... I know exactly what you both mean. If it wasn't for my waist I would be down a pant size. I started e-diet fitness for life with Bob Greene. I excersize EVERY day and am on 1200-1300 caolories a day. I have extra excersizes for the tummy and waist. I am one week into it and can feel a slight difference. It will just take work to tone it all, I think. I am using weights.

 

I don't know if it is my age (49) but I used to be able to eat anything and not gain an ounce, now all of a sudden it all goes to my waist and tummy. :eek:

 

The most recent issue of Goodhouskeeping magazine had a section on tummy busters and I am also doing those.

 

I am just so frustrated.......

 

Judi

[SugarFreeSheila]

In addition to the fat-burning benefits of healthful eating (I'm an Atkins devotee) and cardio, provided you have physician's permission, all-over and abdominal toning is another very important aspect of getting firm abdominals. Have you heard of Callanetics? This is a 60-minute video, and quite an old-fashioned one at that! - but it really works for firming up the body. I've employed the tummy work from that video since 1996 (now just once a week), but my regular abdominal work is Pilates.

 

I began doing Pilates in 2003 with the 20-minute Intermediate level of Pilates For Dummies, and a few months later, graduated on to Winsor Pilates Ab Sculpting. It only takes 20 minutes, 3 mornings a week, and my stomach feels as if a sheet of metal has been placed underneath my skin, odd as that may sound. Pilates focuses on pulling the abs inward for a beautifully flat, smooth, feminine stomach, rather than outward as with crunches - which I have and will never do for abdominal work. In other words, Pilates will not build the rectus abdominis to give you a look as shown below, which I see pretty often at the gym:

 

Pilates just makes you appear as if you naturally have a smooth, toned, beautiful tummy. I swear by it. Just make sure to lower your body fat adequately via doctor-approved diet and exercise so that the beautifully feminine muscle tone will show!

[SugarFreeSheila]

In addition to the fat-burning benefits of healthful eating (I low-carb) and cardio provided you have physician's permission, toning is another very important aspect of getting firm abdominals. Have you heard of Callanetics? This is a 60-minute video, and quite an old-fashioned one at that! - but it really works for firming up the body. I've employed the tummy work from that video since 1996, but my regular abdominal work is Pilates.

 

I began doing Pilates in 2003 with the 20-minute Intermediate level of Pilates For Dummies, and a few months later, graduated on to Winsor Pilates Ab Sculpting. It only takes 20 minutes, 3 mornings a week, and my stomach feels as if a sheet of brick has been placed underneath my skin, odd as that may sound. Pilates focuses on pulling the abs inward for a beautifully flat, smooth, feminine stomach, rather than outward as with crunches - which I have and will never do for abdominal work. In other words, Pilates will not build the rectus abdominis to give you abdominals like the picture shown below, which I see pretty often at the gym:

 

Pilates just makes you look like you naturally have a smooth, toned, beautiful tummy! I swear by it.

[SugarFreeSheila]

Rats! Sorry about the double-post. :o

[BuilderMan]

I think age is a big factor in whether you can get a tiny waist or not. I, too, used to have a 9" to 10" difference between the waist and hips, but now it's about 6-7". I'm 49 (almost 50) and I've had 1 child 13+ years ago.

 

I'm the most toned I have been since high school and I do abdominal exercises too (not crunches) and it helps to firm the tummy, but I think the days of a tiny waist are long gone.

 

Lynn

[HazelSmrf]

It's impossible to spot reduce fat. Fat comes off in sheets, so in order to lose a bit of fat around the middle, you'll need to lose a bit of fat all over.

 

Q&A with Tom Venuto

 

Abdominal Fat: What is the best way to lose it?

 

Question: I'm pretty lean overall, but no matter what I do, I can't seem to get rid of this last little bit of fat on my lower abs. What are the best ab exercises to burn the fat off?

 

Answer: If I hear this question one more time, I'm gonna scream! Ok, let me clear this up once and for all: You can't "spot reduce" fat from one specific part of your body! You lose fat systemically. That means you can't control where it comes from. When fat is oxidized for energy, you will draw it from all areas of the body, and the first place you tend to put it on will be the last place it comes off. Everyone has certain "stubborn" areas where it seems "hard to get rid of" but the fat WILL go, it will just be the last place to go. The best way to burn fat off your abs is not to do more ab work, but to do more cardiovascular work: bike, Stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical machine or rower - they're all great fat burners. Work at about 70-85% of your age-predicted maximal heart rate (220-your age) and maintain it for 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week for optimal results. Train your abs about twice a week, just as you would any other body part. Doing your abs every day will do almost nothing to remove the layer of fat covering the muscles. In fact, it is possible to have a great set of abs that you can't even see because they are covered up with a layer of fat! And don't forget, nutrition is half the battle when it comes to fat loss! If you're drinking beer and eating pizza, it doesn't matter what you do in the gym, you'll never have a great set of abs.

 

Tom's formula for ripped abs:

Nutrition 50%

Cardio 49%

Ab exercises 1%

[Susa]

Sheila has it goin' on! But I can't do all that!

And for many, we misunderstand low-carb. I believe she means low Glycemic Impact carbs which are refined sugars such as "white stuff"

This is white potatoes, bread, sugar, rice, bananas (yes, they're white inside) as well as other high sugar foods with color SUCH AS CARROTS, CORN, PEAS. Fruits that are best TO eat are berries and grapefruit.

Best veggies are DARK GREEN ones :rolleyes:

Your legumes should be restricted to peanuts (which are really peas) once in a while.

Better are nuts (pecans, walnuts, macadamia, pinones and pepitas.)If you cut out the bread and cereal, starchy veggies and fruits, and sweets in general, as well as doing cardio and weights, you'll notice a difference quicker than a low-cal diet.

Also there's the hormone factor - we women over 40 have wacked out hormones that do as they please and keep the belly comfy.

Try to walk faster, do a little muscle building, and STAY AWAY FROM BREADS AND SUGARS!!! :eek: FAR FAR AWAY!!

[happysinglemom]

we women over 40 have wacked out hormones that do as they please and keep the belly comfy.

 

Pardon me - but I am WELL over 40, and my tummy is extremely flat. I work my buns off - running, and strength training, and MINIMAL calories. Is is worth it? You betcha. ANd I could care less about restricting my carbs. It's calories burned...burn more that you consume, and you WILL burn fat.

[smoothdancer]

Happy,

I have to tell you , you are one of the lucky ones!!. This past year my body absolutley did change and what once worked, no longer does. It can be extremely fustrating when you work your buns off, are very conscioius of what you eat, with no results.

 

I also have friends approaching the 50 mark, whoes body does not have this resistance. Once we reach this age, I dont think we can all be put in the same group. We all seem to be different...But really, what is the alternative. You cant stop trying. You just have to find ways not to let it fustrate you so..... I havent yet figured that out, but trying.

[HazelSmrf]

Well also as you get older, your body naturally starts to lose lean body mass. So unless you're strength training and working hard at maintaining muscle, every year you are going to burn less and less calories. If you don't adjust your eating and/or exercise levels, you'll gain weight.

[SugarFreeSheila]

Goodness, keeping my caloric intake at a low level (even with daily cardio) never worked for me. Once I eliminated the starchy & sugary carbs from my diet and doubled my caloric intake 4 years ago, I lost the excess 30 pounds I had been carrying around for years within 5 months, while maintaining the same walking-cardio I'd always done.

 

Then two years ago, I incorporated full-body resistance training along with that, which alone caused me to drop an additional two dress sizes (from a 2-4 to a 0; I wear a size 2 jeans, however), even while keeping my "typical menu" and exercising the same as before. It shrunk my waist from 26½ inches to 24. It's a big deal when you're barely 5'3"! lol

[love2vacation]

It seems to me that your genetic makup has much to do with where you gain weight. I shouldn't complain because my BMI and weight are within range for my age and heigth. I have just noticed in the last few years that things have "moved".:eek:

 

I have to agree with smoothdancer- what I was doing isn't working any more. I have just started this new excersize and food thing and in the last 2 weeks I have lost pounds and inches. It is a combo of strength training, functional, and cardio. I have an awesome treadmill so I can walk rain or shine, cold or heat. I love the variety and for me it works. The food plan has all the food groups in it and I am not hungry, and I am also not stuck on the higher fat diets that the low carb plans seem to have.

 

I think people just need to find what works for them and stick with it. Good luck to us all. :)

[sharonella]

Pardon me - but I am WELL over 40, and my tummy is extremely flat. I work my buns off - running, and strength training, and MINIMAL calories. Is is worth it? You betcha. ANd I could care less about restricting my carbs. It's calories burned...burn more that you consume, and you WILL burn fat.

 

Happy -

It has SOOO much to do with genetics! I bet if you & Sheila looked around at your family trees, you'll find relatives with the same body types.

 

And Sheila - there's a lot of truth to eliminating the white sugar, flour, etc, to help reduce that "mid-life" belly fat that creeps onto many of us. I'm just not sure I'm ready to go to that extreme yet, & TOTALLY eliminate EVERYTHING! I think I need to get as far as I can first - and I haven't hit THAT plateau yet! I think I have about 30 more lbs to go before I get there!

 

For some of us, tho, it really is just tougher than for others! I see pictures of my mom before she got married & had babies - she was a bit heavy, but she had an hourglass figure. I used to have that same figure. Now, at 70 (she did have 7 kids, so she has an excuse!), my mom is more of an apple shape, & my body at 47 (even tho I never had kids) is starting to do the same thing!

 

2 of my sisters "had" that hourglass shape, like me & my mom - & 3 sisters were always more of an "apple" shape. Now that "us kids" are all between 38 & 47 - that belly fat is just sticking to ALL of us. But I look at pictures of both my grandmothers - who were NEVER heavy. Maybe they did get a little extra "pooch" of a tummy in later years, but I'm thinking that since they were NEVER actually overweight to begin with, they nipped much of that belly fat problem before it ever started!

 

Hmmmm! So much to think about!:confused:

 

Sha

[caviargal]

Pilates and Yoga (the power version) are excellent for the core of the body. They are very effective for the stomach area.

 

They are also tough as hell, but worth it.

[LLindaC]

I've been all over the weight chart, been a distance runner/triathlete and still never had a perfectly flat stomach! grrr- I am swaybacked and that makes it appear rounder! Anyway, you are genetically programmed to store fat in certain areas and there's not much you can do about it. As stated above, your lean mass decreases with age which slows metabolism and enables fat storage. If tummy tucks are out, there are some things that might help. Studies have proven a few factors:

1. Exposure to cigarette smoke causes increase in metabolic syndrome in teenagers (new study) which causes accumulation of belly fat

2. People who ate refined grains and little fiber put on more weight around abdomen. On the other hand, those who ate high fiber diets with fruits, vegetables and whole grains carried less.

3. People who added yogurt and low fat dairy products to diet and consumed about 1000 mg calcium shed more fat around abdomen than control groups.

4. DHEA supplements in elderly decreased abdominal fat.

5. Cortisol and insulin resistance increase abdominal fat. (Cortislim has not been proven to help that!)

6. Alcohol tends to make people store more fat around abdomen

 

here's a page with a ton of links to studies on belly fat- some are good, some are dubious, but it's interesting! http://qualitycounts.com/fppotbellies.htm

[Fuzdaduck]

It's impossible to spot reduce fat. Fat comes off in sheets, so in order to lose a bit of fat around the middle, you'll need to lose a bit of fat all over.

 

funny to find this on this messageboard...but anyway I am living proof of the part about having great abs but still covered by a layer of fat...In 2001 I realized I was eating myself into an early grave (bolonie and velveeta sandwiches with salt and vinegar chips washed down by a coke was a typical snack) I had to hyperventilate in order to let air out of my lungs and stay down long enough to get my shoes tied...

point is I followed body for life program...and at the end was a heck of lot more fit, but realized that I had alot more body fat than I realized (217 originally)...I have changed my life style and exercised quite a bit, but unless you do something to have a negative calorie effect, you can most certainly get fit and still have a spare tire. A "six pack" appeared underneath the small keg i have left, but I am absolutely amazed how much weight I have lost and am not thin as rail.

The point I guess that I would like to make is that it became obvious after 50+ lbs of body fat have come off, I noticed that it was impossible for me to lose that much from around my midsection, under the muscle and over, and that it had to have come off from all over my body. You would be amazed at how much fat you can carry on your upper torso and hips and it not be noticeable like it is on your waist. So the only way to lose the size (you don't actually lose fat, you lose adipose tissue as I understand it) of your belly is when it goes slowly with the rest of the fat on your body...and the only realistic way is through negative calorie intake. That can be accomplished through more exercise, increased metabolism, reduce calories etc...what is funny is that I now hear people say that it is harder for them, as if it was a walk in the park for me. But I know of plenty of people who really had alot more going against them than I did, but still persevered. I can't image being able to keep up weight loss without trying to get into shape. I can take some time off of my general workouts, rest up, and start again feeling renewed..not really worried if i put on a bit of weight knowing that it will come back off...but if I took time off from a diet, put right back on the weight I had lost adhering to a regular diet, that would make me just cry over the wasted effort and move onto something new. Plus the added benefit is when other people in your family see what you have been able to accomplish and maintain over the years, it absolutely has an effect without you ever saying a word.

 

and yes age, gender and genetics make up a large part of what your body looks like, but only you can decide how in shape you keep what you have. My body is a spitting image type of my father and his father, looks like a frog standing up (thick waisted, no butt and skinny legs). I recently found out that hypertension ran in the family and that my grandfather had heart attack in his 40's, and my father is now insulin resistant diabetic. Me? I have blood pressure right under perfect now, a resting heart rate in the 50's, outrun my bootcamp time by 3.5 minutes for the 1.5 mile, and fit easily into size 32 pants (yup even with my spare tire).

sorry to ramble (I know it was wayyy more than your original question) but my two cents for what it is worth...

[HazelSmrf]

Wow congratulations Fuzdaduck, that's truly inspirational :) I am following the Body for Life plan as well, the exercise really does me good, but it IS very hard to get motivated on some days, I just make myself DO it.

[Fuzdaduck]

Wow congratulations Fuzdaduck, that's truly inspirational :) I am following the Body for Life plan as well, the exercise really does me good, but it IS very hard to get motivated on some days, I just make myself DO it.

 

Thanks hazelsmrf! Yea I very much know what you mean about motivation some days, and I have even lost motivation for weeks a few times, but I weigh myself often, and when I would see the scale start to creep back up it tended to scare me back into renewing myself to making it just a part of my life. What was nice was seeing that within a week or so after the initial soreness wore off, I was usually right back where I left off, so it seemed to me like all the effort was slowly building dividends that didn't just go away with the next dozen Krispy Kremes (yup, I used to eat a whole dozen on my Sundays, damn things are addictive). Once the weight got down far enough that I could see how much I was actually in shape I would get the giggles sometimes looking at myself in the gym mirror. Since you do have the ability and willpower to make yourself just go, just know that the long process makes it all more worthwhile when you look back. How far have you come so far?

[HazelSmrf]

I am only 3 weeks into my first BFL challenge, but I did lose 90 pounds before starting BFL. Still have 40 pounds to go but I'm incorporating weight training as I don't want to reach my goal weight and just be a flabby skinny person :) Since starting the challenge I did lose 1.5 inches on my waist though so I'm psyched :)

[Fuzdaduck]

Lol you are going to amaze people who haven't seen you in awhile, wish I could see their faces! I even sent in the photos and paperwork when I did my first challenge, but by the end of it, I didn't really care about the contest (don't let that dissuade you though). It was really working for me, and I had alot going on in my life. I imagine that with the weight you have lost already, you are already in fairly good cardiovascular shape for your start, so that wasn't such a rude awakening for all your muscles. I have not done the exact program since I finished the first one, but experimented with my own eating and exercising levels in the years since then. I have learned alot about my own body, but am right now doing it (mostly) according to how he wrote. Nothing magical in it, but the advice is sound, works, and keeps me consistent. My cruise coming up is my motivation to take the last few pounds off, so I am doubling up on some of the cardio, doing it twice a day on the days I do it. This is the last year of my life I will be overweight.

[HazelSmrf]

Yeah a cruise is superb motivation :) You'd think the cardio wouldn't be so bad but it's my first time with HIIT and it's kicking my butt :) I feel like I want to cough up a lung when I'm done. I've tweaked the cardio and add 15 mins of medium intensity after my 20 min HIIT. We'll see how it goes, I'm debating adding another 30 minute medium intensity session on my free day and reducing free day to a free meal.

[smoothdancer]

I dont even remember who started this conversation, but thanks!!

 

I still dont understand some of the buzz words here... Could anyone explain to me in more detail what resistance training is???... I do belong to Bally's and have exercise resources available to me but I need some help as to what exercises to do, and amount of weights... Hey you guys could help my pocketbook, by not hiring a personal trainer.

 

Right now I walk an hour or close to it during lunch, and in the PM have been doing a Denise Austin work out which is a 20 minute kind of areobic DVD.... What next??? I think I am ready to go to the next level, but dont know what to do....

 

I am certain that I can beat this almost 50 body change. It is just that right now is still confusing to me.

 

Thanks

[Fuzdaduck]

Lol you are going to amaze people who haven't seen you in awhile, wish I could see their faces! I even sent in the photos and paperwork when I did my first challenge, but by the end of it, I didn't really care about the contest (don't let that dissuade you though). It was really working for me, and I had alot going on in my life. I imagine that with the weight you have lost already, you are already in fairly good cardiovascular shape for your start, so that wasn't such a rude awakening for all your muscles. I have not done the exact program since I finished the first one, but experimented with my own eating and exercising levels in the years since then. I have learned alot about my own body, but am right now doing it (mostly) according to how he wrote. Nothing magical in it, but the advice is sound, works, and keeps me consistent. My cruise coming up is my motivation to take the last few pounds off, so I am doubling up on some of the cardio, doing it twice a day on the days I do it. This is the last year of my life I will be overweight.