is there an exercise to lose belly fat, NO situps

13

Replies

  • Athena413
    Athena413 Posts: 1,709 Member
    You can't spot reduce - reduce overall body fat % and the problem spots will be reduced as well. Less cardio, more heavy lifting - no barbie weights.

    And regarding your diet - are you eating ENOUGH fat? Low-fat diets are notorious for making people fat. If your body isn't getting enough good, healthy fats, it will hold on to fat until it realizes it's not being deprived. Good fats include real butter, cheese, milk, avocado, nut butters, olive oil, things like that. Also, avoid processed foods as much as possible. Your body doesn't recognize all the crap that is put in processed foods today and sees it as toxins. Fat cells surround these toxins and store them away until they can figure out what exactly to do with them.
  • rydanip
    rydanip Posts: 62 Member
    Calories deficits. Do them every day.

    LMAO! i have no idea why this was so funny HA!
  • cut sugar and salt from your diet, nothing works better (for me anyway).
  • SloRunner25
    SloRunner25 Posts: 89 Member
    Running always works for me. I start it and two months later the fat just melts off everywhere. I don't go fast either...a 10 minute miles was my best (I use couch 2 5k to increase my endurance). Now I'm working on it again. Whatever you do, put your all into it and give it time. Our bodies are all different and change at different rates.

    Good luck! :drinker:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    I hate to say it, but if you have only lost 20 pounds since April, then you are not logging your food correctly. You should have lost around 50 pounds by now. Your belly fat will disappear whether or not you exercise. It's all about a calorie deficit. You know this - you've been here long enough.

    So put on your big girl pants and buy yourself a food scale, and start logging all your food. If you aren't losing more weight than 2.5 pounds per month, you're doing it wrong.

    I think you are NOT so serious.

    wooo way to tough love! :smile:

    I hate crunches and stuff and my belly gets in the way. But they do help to build core which will help your belly "appear" smaller once you remove the fat through calorie deficits.

    he heh. Thing is, she's worrying about the wrong thing.

    You can't out-exercise a bad diet.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    Thanks lora; 5 seconds would be something to shoot for. I think I can do 2.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    Cut out refined sugars and carbs. No bread, pasta pizza or sugar-- BELLY FOOD

    Hmm, so how do you explain all that weight I lost eating bread, pasta, pizza, sugar, etc?

    I eat all that shizz and I've still lost 46lbs and gone down 4 pants sizes. Whaaat?

    Seriously, carbs aren't the enemy. Just keep a calorie deficit.

    It's weird, but bodies are different. I recently gave up grains and lost 4-1/2 pounds overnight (from bloat, I assume).
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    Cut out refined sugars and carbs. No bread, pasta pizza or sugar-- BELLY FOOD

    Hmm, so how do you explain all that weight I lost eating bread, pasta, pizza, sugar, etc?

    I eat all that shizz and I've still lost 46lbs and gone down 4 pants sizes. Whaaat?

    Seriously, carbs aren't the enemy. Just keep a calorie deficit.

    It's weird, but bodies are different. I recently gave up grains and lost 4-1/2 pounds overnight (from bloat, I assume).

    Yep, it was just water weight.

    And we're not all that different. Unless you are insulin resistant/PCOS, diabetic, or have some other medical condition, carbs aren't bad. They're a good source of quick energy, especially for those who are doing a lot of exercise (such as the OP - 90 minutes of cardio per day will require a good amount of carbs). Carbs don't make you fat - excess calories do, no matter what macro they come from.
  • tmogs
    tmogs Posts: 287 Member
    There are TONs of exercises that work your tummy without doing crunches or sit-ups. Standing or planking mountain climbers, planks, just twisting from side to side, reptile push up (planking but going into a push up while bringing one knee towards your chest).

    Just remember to try to compress the stomach area while doing the exercises. I will take time (months) but it will slim down.

    P90X ab ripper (if i recall correctly) Don't really involve any sit up or crunches and work the belly hard. Insanity's ab dvd does the same. P90X ab ripper can be found in it's entirety on youtube. Hope this helps!
  • ChinniP
    ChinniP Posts: 166 Member
    I heard sex is good for the core.

    But not the kind you do by yourself. You need a a good "exercise" partner for that.
  • elfo
    elfo Posts: 353 Member
    Cut out refined sugars and carbs. No bread, pasta pizza or sugar-- BELLY FOOD

    Hmm, so how do you explain all that weight I lost eating bread, pasta, pizza, sugar, etc?

    I eat all that shizz and I've still lost 46lbs and gone down 4 pants sizes. Whaaat?

    Seriously, carbs aren't the enemy. Just keep a calorie deficit.

    It's weird, but bodies are different. I recently gave up grains and lost 4-1/2 pounds overnight (from bloat, I assume).

    Yep, it was just water weight.

    And we're not all that different. Unless you are insulin resistant/PCOS, diabetic, or have some other medical condition, carbs aren't bad. They're a good source of quick energy, especially for those who are doing a lot of exercise (such as the OP - 90 minutes of cardio per day will require a good amount of carbs). Carbs don't make you fat - excess calories do, no matter what macro they come from.

    It's a proven fact that refined grains get stored in your mid-section. Ever hear of the "beer belly"? Know what beer is made from?
    Obviously you can loose weight by eating these things but I'm talking about loosing belly fat.
  • NatalieWinning
    NatalieWinning Posts: 999 Member
    Patience. I didn't lose hip and belly fat until I had lost 20 pounds. The next seemed to come right off my hips though, and the next 5 pounds came together with losing two sizes.

    Zumba, then 30 day shred (sit ups and planks) toned my belly, but the fat didn't come off until the very last. It's the first to come back with just a pound or 2 up. When I run regularly it stays the smallest. That and skipping the grains, upping the vegetables and water.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    Cut out refined sugars and carbs. No bread, pasta pizza or sugar-- BELLY FOOD

    Hmm, so how do you explain all that weight I lost eating bread, pasta, pizza, sugar, etc?

    I eat all that shizz and I've still lost 46lbs and gone down 4 pants sizes. Whaaat?

    Seriously, carbs aren't the enemy. Just keep a calorie deficit.

    It's weird, but bodies are different. I recently gave up grains and lost 4-1/2 pounds overnight (from bloat, I assume).

    Yep, it was just water weight.

    And we're not all that different. Unless you are insulin resistant/PCOS, diabetic, or have some other medical condition, carbs aren't bad. They're a good source of quick energy, especially for those who are doing a lot of exercise (such as the OP - 90 minutes of cardio per day will require a good amount of carbs). Carbs don't make you fat - excess calories do, no matter what macro they come from.

    It's a proven fact that refined grains get stored in your mid-section. Ever hear of the "beer belly"? Know what beer is made from?
    Obviously you can loose weight by eating these things but I'm talking about loosing belly fat.

    correlation does not equal causation. please provide links to these proven facts. by that i mean scholarly journals and studies.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    It's a myth that refined grains get stored in your mid-section...
    Fixed that for you. Feel free to post the scientific studies proving it if you have them.
    ...Ever hear of the "beer belly"? Know what beer is made from?
    Mostly water, actually.

    A "beer belly" is due to the fact that if somebody drinks a lot of beer, in all likelihood they're also in a caloric surplus (not hard to do at 100+ calories per beer) - which leads to weight/fat gain.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    okay I was afraid of that. I don't have a problem pushing food away I am determined. There is not one piece of food out there that is worth me gaining weight again. I do 90 minutes of sweating cardio every single day. It sucks though that I have lost 20 lbs and still can't fit smaller pants. It doesn't show either. UGH. :mad:

    I am currently on a two-week fast from fructose and it is making a huge difference in terms of my body fat loss--I lost 3 lbs and an inch off my waist last week. Table sugar is 50% fructose and I cut it out six months ago along with wheat (I read a book called "Wheat Belly")--and I ate pretty much everything else I wanted (minus any kind of junk food). I lost 18 lbs and 4 inches in 36 weeks--just from doing that.

    But I recently read another book called, "The Fat Switch" by cardiologist Richard J. Johnson where he speaks of the dangers of fructose and its contribution to bio-chemical derangement in people who habitually eat a lot of sugar. This bio-chemical derangement is associated with a host of chronic illnesses, from heart disease, to Type II diabetes, to arthritis and maybe even cancer. The reason why I went on a fast from fructose (no fruit for a couple of weeks) is to bring my level of fructokinase down (fructokinase is an enzyme that one's body uses to assimilate fructose and seems to contribute to destructive processes). If we all only ate a couple of servings of fruit per day, our fructokinase levels would not go crazy like they are in a typical obese person. Just to give you an idea of proportions--ONE can of soda has about the same amount of fructose as TWELVE oranges. And the oranges have the benefit of having lots of fiber to slow the transmission of the fructose into one's system. Eating a candy bar and polishing it off with a can of soda pop is metabolic suicide over time. Children can handle more fructose than adults can but over time, a diet that is high in sugar will cause more and more disruption until eventually, one's actual DNA is damaged. They have measured the damage to the DNA of some teens and discovered just how much damage a poor diet does over time.

    The good news is that when we change our diet, add some exercise and add healthy foods, we can actually repair the DNA that has been damaged by sugar consumption (eating sugar provokes a very damaging process called "glycation"). Chocolate and green tea have a substance called epicatichin which appears to repair damaged DNA---although with chocolate, you are working at cross-purposes because of the sugar content. BUT, you can drink as much unsweetened green tea as you like and it will make you healthier. Chinese physicians have always prescribed drinking lots of green tea for any illness---especially chronic illness--and it seems to work. Now we know why. :smile:
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    okay I was afraid of that. I don't have a problem pushing food away I am determined. There is not one piece of food out there that is worth me gaining weight again. I do 90 minutes of sweating cardio every single day. It sucks though that I have lost 20 lbs and still can't fit smaller pants. It doesn't show either. UGH. :mad:

    I am currently on a two-week fast from fructose and it is making a huge difference in terms of my body fat loss--I lost 3 lbs and an inch off my waist last week. Table sugar is 50% fructose and I cut it out six months ago along with wheat (I read a book called "Wheat Belly")--and I ate pretty much everything else I wanted (minus any kind of junk food). I lost 18 lbs and 4 inches in 36 weeks--just from doing that.

    But I recently read another book called, "The Fat Switch" by cardiologist Richard J. Johnson where he speaks of the dangers of fructose and its contribution to bio-chemical derangement in people who habitually eat a lot of sugar. This bio-chemical derangement is associated with a host of chronic illnesses, from heart disease, to Type II diabetes, to arthritis and maybe even cancer. The reason why I went on a fast from fructose (no fruit for a couple of weeks) is to bring my level of fructokinase down (fructokinase is an enzyme that one's body uses to assimilate fructose and seems to contribute to destructive processes). If we all only ate a couple of servings of fruit per day, our fructokinase levels would not go crazy like they are in a typical obese person. Just to give you an idea of proportions--ONE can of soda has about the same amount of fructose as TWELVE oranges. And the oranges have the benefit of having lots of fiber to slow the transmission of the fructose into one's system. Eating a candy bar and polishing it off with a can of soda pop is metabolic suicide over time. Children can handle more fructose than adults can but over time, a diet that is high in sugar will cause more and more disruption until eventually, one's actual DNA is damaged. They have measured the damage to the DNA of some teens and discovered just how much damage a poor diet does over time.

    The good news is that when we change our diet, add some exercise and add healthy foods, we can actually repair the DNA that has been damaged by sugar consumption (eating sugar provokes a very damaging process called "glycation"). Chocolate and green tea have a substance called epicatichin which appears to repair damaged DNA---although with chocolate, you are working at cross-purposes because of the sugar content. BUT, you can drink as much unsweetened green tea as you like and it will make you healthier. Chinese physicians have always prescribed drinking lots of green tea for any illness---especially chronic illness--and it seems to work. Now we know why. smile

    P.S. Sorry for the double post---don't know why that happened??
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    Cut out refined sugars and carbs. No bread, pasta pizza or sugar-- BELLY FOOD

    Hmm, so how do you explain all that weight I lost eating bread, pasta, pizza, sugar, etc?

    I eat all that shizz and I've still lost 46lbs and gone down 4 pants sizes. Whaaat?

    Seriously, carbs aren't the enemy. Just keep a calorie deficit.

    It's weird, but bodies are different. I recently gave up grains and lost 4-1/2 pounds overnight (from bloat, I assume).

    Yep, it was just water weight.

    And we're not all that different. Unless you are insulin resistant/PCOS, diabetic, or have some other medical condition, carbs aren't bad. They're a good source of quick energy, especially for those who are doing a lot of exercise (such as the OP - 90 minutes of cardio per day will require a good amount of carbs). Carbs don't make you fat - excess calories do, no matter what macro they come from.

    It's a proven fact that refined grains get stored in your mid-section. Ever hear of the "beer belly"? Know what beer is made from?
    Obviously you can loose weight by eating these things but I'm talking about loosing belly fat.

    No, it's not a proven fact that grains get stored in your mid-section. Gary Taubes may assert that, but I'm not taking his book/article as fact. Any marco consumed in excess will result in fat gains. And (this is where we ARE different) we all carry our excess fat differently. You may carry your excess around your midsection. Some people carry in their thighs. It just depends on how you are genetically programmed.

    Here's some helpful reading on weight gain: www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    I hate to say it, but if you have only lost 20 pounds since April, then you are not logging your food correctly. You should have lost around 50 pounds by now. Your belly fat will disappear whether or not you exercise. It's all about a calorie deficit. You know this - you've been here long enough.

    So put on your big girl pants and buy yourself a food scale, and start logging all your food. If you aren't losing more weight than 2.5 pounds per month, you're doing it wrong.

    I think you are NOT so serious.

    ^^^^
    This.
  • I have issues with sit ups and back issues too. I bought the Shaun T ab workout dvds...they work great!! If you get them, start out slow...there is a section that he does crunches, don't do that part...His dance moves really work out your abs so with staying away from processed foods, too much sugar, etc, and doing his dance moves you should be seeing loss in your midsection...plus abs too :) Hope that helps.
  • iommi4
    iommi4 Posts: 20
    this is what i've been doing the past 7 months. i had a huge belly... i mean a huge belly. now it shrunk a lot. it is with the combo of eating properly and exercise. my diet consists of a lot of protein no carbs. i basically just stay away from white bread and all those type of carbs. eat a lot of greens and stuff like grilled chicken. no mayo based sauce, that is a killer and you'll just put back what you worked off and some more. i used to do about 60 minutes of cardio for a while before i just started running outside for about 3-4 miles. like someone said in a previous post, maybe you should combine it with strength training. full body workouts are amazing to do. my trainer got me to do stuff i never even thought of doing. if your back hurts, then strengthen that. there is no reason you shouldn't be able to unless your back is broken. i used to say i can't run or do this or that cuz of my knee. once i started to lose the weight and exercised more, the knee is a none issue. try putting in your routine stuff like good mornings, front squats, deadlifts, rows, renegade rows, back extensions. then do some planks, kettlebell windmills. the idea is to strengthen your core and in time, you will be able to do those sit ups or crunches, which in the end i dont even care to do since there are way better exercises to work your abs out.
  • niknokd
    niknokd Posts: 127 Member
    As others have said, you can't spot reduce fat but cardio to create a calorie defecit will get rid of fat all over the body. Core based exercises (like planks) will suck in the muscles to create a slimmer waistline. Go to blogilates.com, then the "workout videos" section, and the the live strong pilates bootcamp section. Try the plankathon and corset workouts! No crunches. They are tough but if you do them several times a week you will eventually get stronger and be able to do it much easier! Best of luck :)
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
    Its all about the diet.....
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    The posters who are suggesting that it is all just calories in/calories out are correct in some measure. However, it does not account for the amount of metabolic damage that some people have sustained from eating a poor diet, laden with sugar and wheat. While it is true that keeping the total calories down is important, the mix of calories is important too. I simply am not able to lose weight on 1,500 calories that is heavy on the carbs. When I follow the same number of calories on a lower carb plan, especially one that restricts fructose (and table sugar is 50% fructose) then I can lose weight easily (as long as I keep my exercise to about three hours a week or more). It is essential for some of us to cut high glycemic foods (like sugar and wheat) out of our diets. It makes the difference in terms of keeping the body fat off as well. Obesity research is starting to reveal some startling truths. One of the major culprits is sugar consumption---which has gone from 4 pounds per person per year (when it first became popular during the industrial revolution) to 150 pounds per person per year! The rise in obesity perfectly tracks the consumption of sugar in this country. Since about 1995, sugar consumption has leveled off and so has the number of people who are obese. As the word on the dangers of sugar consumption gets around, we will likely see the numbers of obese folks fall. Health authorities have always suspected that sugar consumption was a major health issue and now the actual obesity research shows why that is so.

    In addition to sugar as a problem, the wheat that is available for consumption today is nothing like the wheat that our ancestors ate---it is bio-chemically VERY different. The book, "Wheat Belly" explains it. Those of us who have struggled with obesity would not be obese if we had never eaten sugar or wheat. I am confident that I will eventually lose all the body fat that I want to lose by just restricting those two "foods".
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
    And start lifting heavy weights....you will see fat fall off much faster.....it did in my case anyways. I only lost like 14 lbs, but factor in the muscle weight gain....
    I went from a size 14 to a 2-4
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    And start lifting heavy weights....you will see fat fall off much faster.....it did in my case anyways. I only lost like 14 lbs, but factor in the muscle weight gain....
    I went from a size 14 to a 2-4

    I would love to try heavy lifting but, since I have arthritis, I'm afraid that it would put too much strain on my joints. Do you know if I am right in this thinking?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    And start lifting heavy weights....you will see fat fall off much faster.....it did in my case anyways. I only lost like 14 lbs, but factor in the muscle weight gain....
    I went from a size 14 to a 2-4

    I would love to try heavy lifting but, since I have arthritis, I'm afraid that it would put too much strain on my joints. Do you know if I am right in this thinking?

    ask your doctor
  • No one noticed that I was losing weight until I hit the 40 pound mark.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    And start lifting heavy weights....you will see fat fall off much faster.....it did in my case anyways. I only lost like 14 lbs, but factor in the muscle weight gain....
    I went from a size 14 to a 2-4

    I would love to try heavy lifting but, since I have arthritis, I'm afraid that it would put too much strain on my joints. Do you know if I am right in this thinking?

    ask your doctor

    ^ Yeah, ask your doctor. They might be able to recommend a physical therapist or/and exercises. I knew a woman who was about 15-18 years older than me who had severe arthritis but she managed to work in weight training in her exercise routine based on suggestions from a physical therapist.

    Edited to correct the age...
  • chickentunashake
    chickentunashake Posts: 164 Member
    abs are being made in the kitchen. To lose belly fat you need to get into cal deficit, since you cannot do spot reducing, do core strenghtening exercises, but if you want really flat belly with abs showing, you have to get on specific diet.