how to get rid of the tummy pooch
bartleby9
Posts: 30
I'm 5'3 and about 125lbs. I'm not overweight or fat but would prefer to be leaner so I'm trying to loose 10lbs through diet and biking. I have a tiny tummy pooch and REALLY want a flat tummy. I don't want to be ripped, just would prefer a streamlined look. Can anyone recommend some exercises that helped them personally loose the pooch? If you have a link to a website that shows you how to do them, even better. I heard a rumor that doing sit ups will build muscle over your fat and make you look fatter. It that a load of bollocks?
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I am in a similar situation. 5'7", 132lbs give or take a lb or two. I can see the new muscle definition I am gaining everywhere, but my cursed pooch. The favorite line fo one of the trainers in my gym is "Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym."
I never heard the rumor about crunches building muscle over the fat, but I have long felt that it was true. When I atually have time to consistently make it to the abs classes at my gym, I feel as if my belly gets bigger not flatter.
I am anxious to see the replys your thread receives as it will help me as well. :happy:0 -
I am in the same situation! Although, I wish I weighed what you gals weigh haha. I really like Jillian Michael's DVD Ripped in 30. I was sore for a few days after though haha. She does intervals of cardio, strength and abs. So, it's not really ab focused though. Denise Austin's Belly Fat Busters is great too.0
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Crunches are pretty much the only exercise I do aside from walking. The whole muscle over fat thing is ridiculous, muscle eats fat, it does not just ignore it and sit on top of it. I do five minutes of crunches, which is currently around the 140 mark, different ones though, regular crunches, bicycle crunches, reverse crunches etc Not only is my tummy shrinking down but it's firming up nicely. By my honeymoon I should have a wonderful flat stomach I'm happy to put in a bikini.
I'm 5'10", 25, around 140lbs and only interested in toning up rather than loosing weight, but I've put myself on the loose half a pound a week diet just because every little helps when getting ready for a wedding.1 -
Tae Bo insane abs is brilliant in fact all tae Bo is great for abs and most of the ab exercises are standing, which is good as I hate crunches!0
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I must agree with the last post - all types of martial arts are great for building that core and getting that lean, trimmed look. After my two pregnancies, I've done a lot of cardio (running) that helped me flatten out my post labour pooch, but am still myself looking for that magic formula to get it into my pre-children state!!!:sad:
I'm 5'6'' and a 1/2, weigh 135 at the moment, looking to get to around 125 again...0 -
I just started listening ot Cut The Fat podcast this morning on my drive into work. It has some great suggestions and things to think about regarding cutting fat.
One of the things I want to try is cutting carbs (except veggies), but cutting simple carbs 3 hours before a workout and 2 hours after a workout. It's going to be hard for me. I might start with 2 hours before and 1 hour afterwards.
Anyways, listen to the first episode and they'll explain more about why and all that. (I'm at work right now, so can't spend too much time here explaining).
Good Luck!0 -
I have had some results by doing planks. You have to reach the deep muscles. As for building muscles over fat...I had a trainer tell me that I have some great muscles UNDER the fat on my legs.0
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Okay here is what works for me. and I"ve lost 5 inches in my stomach pooch.
1- watch your fat gram intake. it effects it HUGELY. 50-55 grams tops per day
2- watch your sugars. this i struggle with seriously. but the more sugar in your diet the more fat builds on your stomach
2- drink plenty of water
3- cardio cardio cardio!!!
4- do some ab strengthening. because you want your abdomen wall to be tight, so once your cardio dusts all the fat off you have a nice flat masterpiece underneath.
so cardio and a little toning are a must. but 75% of it is your diet.
"abs are made in the kitchen"0 -
I definitely, agree with Kimber_av's advice. It's a lot about your food choices I'm beginning to realize. Also, excess protein intake can store as fat so I've began to eat my protein earlier in the day and go lighter at dinner. Makes sense because you can't pin point a certain area for weight loss, your body looses it as a whole.
My mom said that my family is just cursed with a stomach pooch but I fail to believe in that! lol I am determined to proof her wrong! I've done a lot of reading and research and have put in to place my current routine of a cardio warm up of about 15 mins to get the heart rate up, then resistance/strength training (it actually burns fat for around 30 hrs after you end your work out where cardio stops burning as soon as your heart rate returns to normal) , followed by interval cardio (which burns more calories because it keeps your body guessing) , and then end with ab workouts (the rest of your body will be exhausted which makes focusing and building up the stomach muscles easier)
If you looking for a butt kicking ab workout, I read on another post here on my fitness pal about Manny Pacquiao's ab workout. Now this is a hard work out. Check it out on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOHLPlLwTiM Good luck! 0 -
Kimber's advice sounds spot on, in addition to good exercise of course.
Abs appearance really are determined by diet. Ask any fitness or bodybuilding competitor. To really get defined, it does take getting pretty strict, especially if one tends to naturally store fat in the mid-section, which many of us do. However, there are many pear-shaped women who bemoan their hips and butt, but who have nice flat tummies with hardly doing a thing, and the slightest dietary change will bring out their abs, while the former body-type has to work harder and longer on her diet. However, it's possible, plus it's never healthy to have a lot of fat on the tummy anyway, appearance aside. The way I look at it, I feel like I'm not in shape until the tummy is(my trouble spot).0 -
This is an issue with me! thanks for the advice!0
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a gym trainer told me that only cardio could burn the fats in the tummy area.0
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that's interesting. I never really paid attention to fat intakes etc, rather i only bothered paying attention to the overall calorie intake.Okay here is what works for me. and I"ve lost 5 inches in my stomach pooch.
1- watch your fat gram intake. it effects it HUGELY. 50-55 grams tops per day
2- watch your sugars. this i struggle with seriously. but the more sugar in your diet the more fat builds on your stomach
2- drink plenty of water
3- cardio cardio cardio!!!
4- do some ab strengthening. because you want your abdomen wall to be tight, so once your cardio dusts all the fat off you have a nice flat masterpiece underneath.
so cardio and a little toning are a must. but 75% of it is your diet.
"abs are made in the kitchen"
thanks for the tips!0 -
Kimber gave some good suggestions. I know that for me it's all about the food. To get a flat tummy, I have to really watch my diet and avoid any any starches and grains. One piece of whole wheat bread, or one serving of oatmeal? Fughettaboutit, I'll be bloated for 2-3 days. Even if you have no issues with gluten, it just makes most people bloat.0
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I believe the saying "abs are made in the kitchen" is so true. My abs are made of McDonald's french fry's and Tim Horton's bagels....lol That's why I've started tracking my calories on myfitnesspal, limiting my fast food intake and just bought 3 of Jillian Michaels workout DVD's. No more trouble zones, 30 day shred and Banish fat, boost metabolism. So far I love them. They are hard because I've had a desk job for 8 yrs and let myself get lazy. She breaks her workouts into circuit and focuses on specific areas. She does some ab exercises I've never seen before. It's only been a couple of days and I am fully aware of some muscles I haven't been using....lol 0
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Definitely stay away from refined sugar--and white bread! But I really don't think there's anything you can do to reduce the fat on your stomach other than lose more fat all over. Exercises will build up your muscles, but it's not going to affect the fat lying over those muscles. It wasn't until I was officially "underweight" that I lost nearly all my stomach fat. Not everyone can easily maintain that level of thin and feel good, though, so it's ok to have a little pooch! It's part of being female!0
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So happy to see this because this is exactly my problem... I'm 5'5" and 122 lbs, and yet have a 32" waist (!). My waist is the exact size of my hips, not cool. I'm starting to the think that the only way for me to have somewhat normal proportions is for me to be model thin, which is a standard I never aspired to.0
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To some extent, to have a different shape, you have to select different parents.0
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Okay here is what works for me. and I"ve lost 5 inches in my stomach pooch.
1- watch your fat gram intake. it effects it HUGELY. 50-55 grams tops per day
2- watch your sugars. this i struggle with seriously. but the more sugar in your diet the more fat builds on your stomach
2- drink plenty of water
3- cardio cardio cardio!!!
4- do some ab strengthening. because you want your abdomen wall to be tight, so once your cardio dusts all the fat off you have a nice flat masterpiece underneath.
so cardio and a little toning are a must. but 75% of it is your diet.
"abs are made in the kitchen"
SN you gals sure are skinny! lol
Thanks for the info! I'm a healthy size 8, 5'5'' 147lbs and I would be fine with this if I wasn't so flabby (stomach), so my goal is to shed the fat and gain muscle. I'm glad to see those things u mentioned get rid of tummy fat cause that's what Im doing now :-))) I already see the difference. I'll be sure to keep it up! yay!0 -
So I am 5'3" 148 lbs and my tummy is my worst, actually my obliques. The Insanity Ab workout is nuts. It will have your pooch gone in like a month. I swear. The good part is = not even 1 crunch. The bad part is = it hurts!0
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Good advice, ladies! Thanks!0
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Also, stay away from carbonated drinks.. Or even try to just drink water! Who wants to consume calories from a drink anyways? If you eat clean, and drink lots of water, you should notice a difference in just one week! Take pictures every week to remind you of how far you are coming! Oh and lots of veggies and fruits! (Mostly veggies, though. Fruits are high in sugar.)0
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I thank all who posted on this topic. I think there are lots of great suggestions and tips. I am going to try several of them.0
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I completely agree with the posters above. Watching your fat/sugar intake, making sure the fats you do eat are good fats (olives, avocados, etc), and doing cardio/core workouts at least three times a week. Your diet makes all the difference when trying to ditch the belly. My best friend worked out like a maniac for months before her wedding - tons of kickboxing and hot yoga every day sometimes twice a day. She certainly shed some pounds and toned up, but her belly seems to be just as big as ever. I believe this is because she did nothing to change her diet. I do want to add something else in terms of advice. In addition to watching what you eat, watch when you eat it. 4 years ago I had this problem, so I made a lot of diet/exercise changes. Along with changing to healthy fats and doing core workouts, I changed from 1-2 big meals a day to 3 small meals and 2 snacks. This forced me to eat something every 3 hours or so and it helped prevent me from binging on food at night after work. A typical day would be Kefir and granola in the at 7 am, a banana at 10 am, a small sandwich (with pesto instead of mayo) at 1 pm, a 1/4 c of nuts with dark chocolate at 4 pm, and then a bowl of ground turkey cooked with olive oil and steamed veggies at 7 pm. I wasn't perfect at it, but I stuck with it most days and a month or so later I had the flattest tummy of my life. Trying to get back to those good habits now to lose the belly that I have gained back since then.0
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I'm working on this too!
I used to skate roller derby and one thing we learned is that a strong core and trim waist comes from a strong back. So working out to balance both your ab muscles and your lower back will change the shape of your waist. So you want to be aware of pulling your stomach muscles in (gently, don't strain) while you do other exercises.
To get the feeling, stand with your feet shoulder width apart, go into a plie, and then take that feeling and try to replicate that (without straining) and think about it as you do some lower back exercises. Be careful though! Don't want to strain or hurt anything, just become more aware of those muscles.
After I had my son I worked on my lower back and my abs to regain strength. I still have a long way to go to get where I was before, but this helped!
Also, really frankly, roller skating is a really fun way to build this core. Just bend your knees a little as you skate and tuck your tummy in. It really does help.0
