Advice needed

thowell777

I recently completed a 45 lb weight loss journey and have maintained for 4 months at same weight. I am 5-5 female and my current weight is 140. I stick mostly to low carb lifestyle. Unfortunately due to back problems I am unable to do any weight lifting or heavy cardio. I do gentle yoga and stretching 3-4 times a week though. My question is how do I lose the belly fat? I am happy with my current weight but still have a lot of belly fat!!! Any tips???

janejellyroll

We can't choose where we will lose weight. Often the part of the body we want most to lose fat from will be the last to lose it. For me, my stomach was the last part of my body to get to where I really wanted it to be. It wasn't as flat as I thought it should be until the very end of my weight loss process.

PAV8888

First of all any fat may redistribute over time. Secondly muscle development is important and there may exist modified programs that might still work for you with appropriate advise that takes into consideration your limitations. Third we don't pick and choose where fat deposits go... don't we all wish we could!

AnnPT77

One thought: Given your back problems, is there any chance your doctor would give you a referral to a physical therapist? Those folks, if you can find a good one, can be kinda genius at recommending exercises that either remediate problem conditions safely (if that's possible), or coming up with exercise approaches that can work despite limitations.

I agree with Jane about the belly fat: For many of us, last to go. I'm your height, a bit lighter (132-point-something this morning), and even when I was some pounds lighter than this, I still had some, despite (I think) not being totally devoid of muscle. I have to be pretty thin - bony, even - on my upper half before that remaining lower part starts to shrink much. The good news, at least for me, is that once my upper half is pretty fat-depleted, I do start losing more from the lower body.

I'm not suggesting you should try to lose more weight, if you're happy where you are, just trying to empathize over what some of the tradeoffs are. :flowerforyou:

PAV8888

Hmmm, Ann, after a healthy weight has been achieved one has to continue evaluating aesthetic goals vs health goals. Is having a few grams of additional muscle mass as we age more important than losing an extra few grams of fat?

Within the normal weight range and absent significant efforts to retain lean mass which would include adequate stimulus, the ratio of fat to lean mass lost tends to deteriorate as compared to when one is overweight or obese. So that would be an additional trade-off to consider

AnnPT77

PAV8888 wrote: »

Hmmm, Ann, after a healthy weight has been achieved one has to continue evaluating aesthetic goals vs health goals. Is having a few grams of additional muscle mass as we age more important than losing an extra few grams of fat?

Within the normal weight range and absent significant efforts to retain lean mass which would include adequate stimulus, the ratio of fat to lean mass lost tends to deteriorate as compared to when one is overweight or obese. So that would be an additional trade-off to consider

Couldn't agree more. Staying strong is imporant. Of course, when you're talking grams (or pounds) vs. body fat percent, it's not "fat mass or muscle mass", it could be a bit more of both that's desired, for some. Normally, in a case like OP's, we'd suggest recomposition via heavy weight training, but that doesn't seem to be immediately feasible for her. If you have advice for her, I'd hope you'd mention it?

OP seems to have some reasons to stay where she is in the healthy weight range, and certainly I think has a a good reason to pursue such feasible exercise modalities as can provide some additional strength challenge. Yoga is not a "zero muscle challenge" practice, depending on the style and the postures practiced, plus the duration/frequency of such practice. If other exercise activities are possible (perhaps including more challenging forms of yoga eventually), it's conceivable that some degree of recomp is feasible for her, but it will be slower than it would be via weight training. (I'm quite certain that I experienced some recomp from rowing, staying at constant weight, while still obese and already pretty old . I don't think that fits her "no heavy cardio" constraint, though.)

Personally, I like to be a bit lower in the weight range for my/OP's height than she seems to prefer, but build matters, and my choice is in the context of being fairly active as a recreational athlete, and of being a survivor of a type of cancer for which as radical an organization as the American Cancer Society has suggested that it's good to be at the lightest weight one can maintain without being underweight . . . plus there's my near-complete lack of interest in my appearance, aesthetically. Personal and situational.

AnnPT77

P.S. If I've come across as suggesting you ought to lose more weight: Profoundly not my intention. You're at a healthy weight. Even being a bit into the "above normal" BMI range is not a meaningful health risk for most people (unless their doctor says otherwise!).

In the long run, IMO, health is more important than aesthetics. Still, aesthetics are important to many people. You're 100% the decision maker, as far as your personal balance. The decisions aren't always clear or easy: That's what I was trying to say. :flowerforyou:

Wishing you great success in maintenance!

rheddmobile

I would strongly challenge the idea that you can’t do any heavy cardio or weight lifting. Almost everyone can do some of both, with modifications. As suggested above, ask for a PT appointment to find out what strength exercises you can safely do. Recumbent bike ought to be possible for most with back problems, and if that’s not possible there’s always swimming. My brother-in-law is a partial quadriplegic with a broken neck and he does some weight lifting! The idea that doing nothing is best for back problems is not in line with recent research.