"Spare Tyre" Help

Jazzmagic

Hi All,

Just wondering (from experience or otherwise) what is my best bet to try and target the horrible "spare tyre" I have sitting between my boobs and my main belly? I currently work out 5 nights a week doing a mixture of Zumba, Aqua aerobics, Boxit (which includes 15 mins abs in the warm down) and general cardio work in the gym with some resistance weights... I've got a long way to go on my weight loss journey (about 100lbs) so I'm not expecting it to disappear overnight without losing most of the bulk first! It would just be nice to feel like I'm at least targetting some of my workout on that area to help give it a boost?

Hope this makes sense : ) Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

tbresina

Well first of all if that is your pic you definately do not look like you need to lose 100! I feel your frustration, I work out so much and my lil belly just won't go away. From what I keep hearing is more cardio and drop the calories by 100 a day. I am going to give it a try, if you find something that works drop me a line.....

Jazzmagic

Well first of all if that is your pic you definately do not look like you need to lose 100! I feel your frustration, I work out so much and my lil belly just won't go away. From what I keep hearing is more cardio and drop the calories by 100 a day. I am going to give it a try, if you find something that works drop me a line.....

Aww that's so sweet but I do, picture is pretty deceptive (I don't carry as much of my weight around my face/neck shoulders, more from boobs down!) because I currently weigh 237lb! I'll just focus on losing as much bulk as poss then and hope it shrinks! I guess then It'll be tone tone tone! : )

Cat xx

porffor

I'm like that when it comes to weight in my face.

From experience of weight loss info and personal experience.. I know you can't 'target' area's. You can add weight training to tone muscles but ultimately getting your body fat % down is the only way to reduce areas.
Personally my 'top belly' is the first to go so take lots of measurements jot them into an excel document and keep doing that while you're losing that way you'll be able to spot where you're losing from! Just for inspiration.

Good luck and hope you're happy with the results soon - there are some real inspirations on here!

Jazzmagic

I'm like that when it comes to weight in my face.

From experience of weight loss info and personal experience.. I know you can't 'target' area's. You can add weight training to tone muscles but ultimately getting your body fat % down is the only way to reduce areas.
Personally my 'top belly' is the first to go so take lots of measurements jot them into an excel document and keep doing that while you're losing that way you'll be able to spot where you're losing from! Just for inspiration.

Good luck and hope you're happy with the results soon - there are some real inspirations on here!

Awesome, thank you for your help : ) Measuring is something I wish I did at the beginning because I can see and feel differences in some places but it's nice to see it written in black and white figures!

lacewitch

hi there
firstly good luck with your journey here are some tips i've picked up from science journals and articles in (sensible) magazines)
secondly the cut down on calories is good advice as you can't spot reduce. Hormones tell your body where to store fat. and Cortisol is one of the hormones that lead to belly fat this is the 'stress hormone' so try not to get in stressful situations ( not really realistic) so here's some other tips
get plenty of sleep
yoga, pilates and meditation can help
cut back no caffeine and lots of alcohol ( 1 glass cup of each a day can be beneficial because you are more likely to stick to diet if it' not dull and restrictive but both have cortisol responses)
stick to healthy fats - rice bran oil to cook with, avocados, nuts fish etc. but avoid trans fats like the plague snack foods labeled "0 grams trans fats can have up to 0.49 grams/100 bought cakes often have them in. and choose oils like rice bran or ground nut with high smoke points so cooking doesn't produce unhealthy fats in your diet
Serotonin producers like milk, bananas walnuts and pistachios can help the body deal with cortisol and relax ( serotonin is the happy hormone AND helps with sleep
stop smoking if you do
include dairy if you can calcium and nutrients in dairy such as yoghurt can help with belly loss
whole grain carbs only

learn to loove yourself ( people who are down on thier body and self criticise on their body are more likely to fall of the health wagon for calorie comfort.)

Cardio exercise esp short high intensity workouts or intervals ( for overall fat burn

hope this is helpful to you
good luck and enjoy life ( even that'll help)

Jazzmagic

hi there
firstly good luck with your journey here are some tips i've picked up from science journals and articles in (sensible) magazines)
secondly the cut down on calories is good advice as you can't spot reduce. Hormones tell your body where to store fat. and Cortisol is one of the hormones that lead to belly fat this is the 'stress hormone' so try not to get in stressful situations ( not really realistic) so here's some other tips
get plenty of sleep
yoga, pilates and meditation can help
cut back no caffeine and lots of alcohol ( 1 glass cup of each a day can be beneficial because you are more likely to stick to diet if it' not dull and restrictive but both have cortisol responses)
stick to healthy fats - rice bran oil to cook with, avocados, nuts fish etc. but avoid trans fats like the plague snack foods labeled "0 grams trans fats can have up to 0.49 grams/100 bought cakes often have them in. and choose oils like rice bran or ground nut with high smoke points so cooking doesn't produce unhealthy fats in your diet
Serotonin producers like milk, bananas walnuts and pistachios can help the body deal with cortisol and relax ( serotonin is the happy hormone AND helps with sleep
stop smoking if you do
include dairy if you can calcium and nutrients in dairy such as yoghurt can help with belly loss
whole grain carbs only

learn to loove yourself ( people who are down on thier body and self criticise on their body are more likely to fall of the health wagon for calorie comfort.)

Cardio exercise esp short high intensity workouts or intervals ( for overall fat burn

hope this is helpful to you
good luck and enjoy life ( even that'll help)

That's awesome help thank you!

I've recently changed from a very stressful job to a much calmer one so hopefully that might help with the stress levels....
I've cut out all main caffeine like coffee/tea etc... Just drink water, some fruit juice and the occasional fruit/green tea.
I make sure I drink at least 1 glass of skimmed milk a day along with natural low fat yogurt.
I don't smoke and I don't drink alcohol.

As for loving myself, I'm getting there! I guess we all have our good and bad days but generally nowadays the good out weigh the bad!

So I seem to be on an ok track really judging by your advice... so fingers crossed! : )

Thanks again

Cat xx