Belly Fat?

caseynjason

So I have had my fourth baby and I as usual have about 20 lbs to lose. I have been toning up pretty good, thighs going down, arms sliming...but my baby belly (that pooch over the top of the jeans) just isn't going anywhere. I have lost about 6 lbs before I started this site, and have been alternating cardio with weight training. I can see my muscles in my upper abs, and I am sure I have them in my lower, but my loose skin and layer of belly fat put in by 4 pregnancies in a row doesn't seem to be going anywhere! In fact, it looks flabbier since I have lost some weight (loosened up??)

I can see changes anywhere but there. What more can I do?

caseynjason

So I have had my fourth baby and I as usual have about 20 lbs to lose. I have been toning up pretty good, thighs going down, arms sliming...but my baby belly (that pooch over the top of the jeans) just isn't going anywhere. I have lost about 6 lbs before I started this site, and have been alternating cardio with weight training. I can see my muscles in my upper abs, and I am sure I have them in my lower, but my loose skin and layer of belly fat put in by 4 pregnancies in a row doesn't seem to be going anywhere! In fact, it looks flabbier since I have lost some weight (loosened up??)

I can see changes anywhere but there. What more can I do?

banks1850

I wish Mike could implement the sticky post idea. that would make this very legitemate, and oft repeated question, easilly answerable.

casey, sadly, there's no way to target an area for fat loss. You can tighten up the muscles under it, but the only way to lose the belly is to continue on your path. Fat is lost (generally) in the oder of how long it's been hanging around. Technically this isn't true, but for practical purposes that's how it happens. Essentially, 2 factors affect how a body grabs fat stores. 1) how far the fat is from the blood supply 2) how dense the fat cells are. basically as fat cells age, they compress, becomming more dense as additional layers of fat are filled behind them, compressed fat is harder to break up and transport to the liver and other organs where it can be broken up into sugars for energy consumption.

As fat cells have no need for blood supply other then as a means of transport, blood vessels tend to slowly migrate away from the outer layers of fat, thus making it harder to transport. see my newbies post for some good posts on the body and how the metabolism works in general.