Does this work

TwiFan5

I was told by a few people that keeping your stomach sucked in at all times with a belt helps you lose weight but I didn't know if it really worked.

tashasbaby

I'm not sure hun, but i've heard if hold your tummy in or tense it during exercise that it helps!

NightOwl1

No. It doesn't.

All that's going to do is restrict your air flow and make it harder to breathe.

You lose weight by exercising and counting calories, any other method that people try to convince people of besides those two aren't effective.

NightOwl1

Also, I just looked at your profile, and based on your height, if you were to drop down to 35kg, you would be very underweight, which would not be healthy at all. Your current weight of 44kg is very healthy for your height. To see what I am talking about, go to tools, and use the BMI calculator and enter in your height and weight.

I'd recommend instead of trying to lose weight, you try to start doing strength training exercises to tone your muscles. This way your body will look more fit and you'll still be a healthy weight .

pikeygirl

Very sound advice listen to the man .........
btw HI :blushing:

morganadk2_deleted

Also, I just looked at your profile, and based on your height, if you were to drop down to 35kg, you would be very underweight, which would not be healthy at all. Your current weight of 44kg is very healthy for your height. To see what I am talking about, go to tools, and use the BMI calculator and enter in your height and weight.

I'd recommend instead of trying to lose weight, you try to start doing strength training exercises to tone your muscles. This way your body will look more fit and you'll still be a healthy weight .

he is right! i too looked at your profile and as a mother i'm very worried about you, please get some medical advice.

taletreader

OK, first of all your question :flowerforyou: : The concept of contracting your abs as if tightening a wide belt comes up in core strengthening classes that are inspired by Pilates or Yoga -- imagining a belt around your middle helps maintaining proper posture to execute the exercises correctly.

Now you won't lose any *weight* that way, but having looked at this thread, your profile and your previous posts, I think strengthening -- core, lower and upper body -- would be a good option for you to consider. Let me explain myself...

First of all, clearly, many people have told you (here and in that thread back in November) that weighing 45 kg (99 lbs) for 145 cm (4'9") is in the lower half of the weight range that's considered healthy. Why is this range important? Sure, BMI is flawed -- it's a tool for statistical assessment rather than individual. But one thing we do know is that at a BMI of 17 (your goal weight), statistically you'd be more likely to have adverse health effects than at a BMI of say 26.5 (55 kg!). For many groups the ideal BMI, health wise, lies somewhere between 24 and 27 .

Second, I also looked at your pictures, and yes, I'm glad to say that you *aren't* skin and bones at this weight (others of your height might be!). You're also an attractive and very cute young woman ... I hope you take this from someone who's nearly twice your age and just managed to get below twice your weight -- I've been 21, too, and I wish back then I'd have been able to accept the truth, which was that I was at the peak of my physical capacity and actually quite cute. But of course, back then I just felt insecure and miserable about my body and didn't do any sports or exercise to use it well. It's a phase most of us go through, and the faster you get it behind you, the better! Positive accomplishments and self-acceptance, and *not* beating our body into submission, help to become a wiser and more rounded (oops!) human being.

So the higher end of the healthy BMI range won't work for you, given your body type, so what to do now? My suggestion is -- forget about losing *weight*. The kgs are just a number on the scale. What you *really* care about is what your body looks like, how clothes fit and how healthy you are, right? So I'd say, eat at your maintenance level (probably 1700 - 1900 calories *including* exercise if you haven't shot your metabolism, in which case you want to wake it up again by slowly increasing calories) and *hit*the*gym* for *strength training*. No, you won't bulk up, but you'll get muscle definition, and you'll find that you lose fat while building up a *modest* amount of muscle. The little bit of pouch that currently seems to concern you so much will shrink. Also, you'll find you'll gain in energy, will become stronger, and can eat the occasional 2 (or even 4) Monte cookies (whatever those are ).