Need help with losing belly inches over age 50

You look very thin and everything you say suggests the problem isn't your weight.

Honestly stop trying to lose weight - you've said yourself, that isn't the issue and your BMI puts you at the low end of healthy.

Either it just is how you are built - we all have our issues - and you have to accept it.

OR you need to do exercises that fundamentally change the way your muscles structure your midrift. It's not fat - it's muscles and organs that it sounds like you're seeing.

Cardio won't do that.

Lifting will. Find a trainer. Tell him/her what you're trying to do. Go to the gym.

Or accept that this is, indeed, how you look. It's nice that we all look different. I read the other day that fewer than 18% of women have a natural hourglass figure.

I'm 54! I noticed I got a lot thicker in my mid section when I entered my 50's even though I was at a good weight and have worked out for eons. Damn hormones!! Anyway here's a few things that I did and have gotten good results with -

*Have a sensible calorie goal (I'm at 1500 and eat some of my exercise calories back)
*Make sure you are getting 80 to 100 grams of protein a day
*STRENGTH TRAIN/ LIFT WEIGHTS twice a week - compound moves (google) and use weights that challenge you. If you can do 12 reps easily it's too light!!
*Try HIITS (high intensity interval training) and calisthenic for cardio

I've lost inches, belly fluff and my clothes fit better!

Good luck!

I'm 53 and I know how hard it is after 50 to firm up. It is hard to not gain weight or inches especially in the midsection. My gyno told me it isn't unusual to gain 20 lbs or 20 inches or both at menopause. Hormones and lack of them cause your body to store fat much differently. As you said it has always been a problem area for you. Frankly the only thing that is going to help with that is weight training, planks, mountain climbers, and any type of core workout that requires you to work your mid section. I'm sure it is really difficult to find time for a gym with 2 active boys. Perhaps you can google "core work-outs", or borrow DVD's from a local library. I see a trainer and we do no sit-ups or crunches. According to him they are useless for toning the mid section. I can tell you mountain climbers and planks are working really well. Not sure what your diet consists of but you seem to be well within a healthy weight for your height. Wishing you success!

Your weight is already very low for your height and I know where you're coming from because I have the same body shape. As much as you don't want to hear it you probably have to accept it some extent. I look at pictures of myself when I was 8 in my ballet outfit and I look pregnant beside the other kids with my belly even though I was a scrawny kid. I'm shorter than you but my measurements are about the same. There's very little difference between my waist and hips, I describe it as having the figure of a popsicle stick!

Instead of dieting and starving to try to get rid of it (all you do is make yourself look worse because the rest of you gets too thin and drawn looking) try weight lifting and ab work to build some muscle. If I keep my core muscles really strong it helps to minimize my baby belly.

Wow, first of all NXD10 was trying to be helpful, she gave some good suggestions. I agree that you don't need to lose anymore weight and that lifting might help. But seriously sometimes you can't fight genetics and need to love yourself as you are. I'm 55 and can grab fat around my waist also. But I look around and am in good shape compared to many women my age, my health is good and I am not defined about some excess fat that's being stubborn. If it bothers you that much get surgery.

I'm sorry you're so discouraged I would second what the other posters suggest especially the one about seeing a doctor to confirm that it's actually body fat that's the problem. Also have your blood sugar (specifically your A1C) checked - because if you are pre-diabetic or diabetic believe me your belly stores that fat like crazy...
2 months in my humble opinion is not long enough to see a big difference if you are just now cutting back on refined sugar and carbs. Give it some more time on that one but kudos to you for making so many healthy changes and sticking with them!

Best of luck to you

It has NOTHING to do with your age! Consider the possibility (likelihood IMHO) that you have a food sensitivity!!!! Looks like you have tried 'every other logical' thing, and yet your tummy persists. I would bet the farm you have one, or more.
Food intolerances can cause our stomachs to fill with fluid from inflammation... when we look at it, we think we are seeing fat. You cut out the offending foods and the belly magically melts away.

Do a google search on 'belly fat and food intolerance' and see if you don't find yourself described in the information. What have you got to lose, EXCEPT your belly?!?!?!
You DO NOT have to have medical tests to find out. Simply cut out one of the top allergen foods for two weeks, then eat some. You will know within a day if you are intolerant by how you feel. You may have a headache, belly ache, be grouchy.... just pay attention to if you feel different. If you feel no different, that food is fine for you. Then cut out another food for two weeks.
If you find one (or more) that make you feel ill after your 'test', STAY AWAY FROM THAT FOOD~!!! .... forever!..... and watch your belly disappear!!!!!

I understand the hopeless feeling that it will never go away no matter what you do. I have had moments like that. Likely most of us on MFP have had those bottom of the barrel moments from time to time.
As hard as you have worked, and all you have done and you still don't see any results you were seeking. That would make a person frustrated and blue. I believe you are smart and devoted! You just haven't found THE KEY to your problem.
Try the elimination diet. I bet you find an intolerance, and when you cut it out of your life, you will find a flat tummy!
Hugs to you!

thanks for everybodies replies. i want to reiterate that i know i look thin in my picture but i actually do have a sloppy, fat, ugly gut. i would just never post a pic of that...i can hardly stand to look at it myself.

i would love the person who suggested surgery to pay for it for me lol

but mostly i would just love some results from diet and exercise. and i really don't care how much i weigh, as long as i lose inches around my waist and firm up everywhere.

i can relate to the person who said she looked prego in her ballet outfit as a child..i always had a protruding belly too. i am built like a daddy long legs spider....short, thick torso and rediculously long, thin, legs and arms. but even still, i am so damn squishy, and getting bigger in the middle as the years go by, but losing everywhere else...boobs, legs, butt, etc but can grab huge handfuls of belly fat.

i think i will look into the food sensitivity thing, as well as try some different strengh training. i have heard that cardio is the best to lose fat so i will stick with that but maybe try to step it up a bit.

again, thanks all for your suggestions.

yes, i do have a self esteem and depression issue. have all my life and i don't see that changing, but i would hope that i could still get some decent results out of my attempt to be healthy and fit.

"yes, i do have a self esteem and depression issue. have all my life and i don't see that changing, but i would hope that i could still get some decent results out of my attempt to be healthy and fit." ~ In all honesty, I am sorry for your depression and self-esteem issues but with an attitude like that...NO it will never change. And I would be more concerned with my emotional and mental state than some belly fat (there are people on here who have 100+++ pounds to lose with more upbeat attitudes). Seek help if you are not already doing so. Focus on your mental health, sensible healthy eating and exercise and being a positive person. Be thankful for what you have....there are others out there with more challenging obstacles then a layer of belly fat.