Petite with stubborn belly fat!!!

smoothiesusie1
smoothiesusie1 Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone! I saw how responsive everyone was on this website and thought it would be helpful to get people's input, especially if you are petite and have similar struggles.

I am 5'2"-5'3" petite, about 112 pounds, but I have always had a belly bulge. I'm dying to fit into my skinny jeans and still have a muffin top (just when I sit down). I am completing a P90x/Insanity Hybrid after completing P90x. Although I am still slowly SLOWLY leaning out in my stomach area, I feel like I must be doing something wrong to not have a flat stomach after 6 months of P90x.

Over the past six months, I have been eating cleaner and cleaner and just started going Paleo about a month ago.
I eat around 1700 calories daily, just farm produce and pasture fed meats, no refined sugars. So I don't think I could be eating any better.

Should I lift heavier or do more cardio?? Should I do more ab work or pilates? I was thinking I should do BodyBeast along with T25 but would love some suggestions as to why this belly fat isn't revealing SOME ab definition!!!

Thanks everyone. Appreciate all your help and looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Replies

  • KatiCoufal
    KatiCoufal Posts: 35 Member
    I would like to hear some thoughts on this as well. I am sorry Im not much help. I have a bad feeling that the most seen answer will be something like "it takes time" or be patient. However; those are not always the easier to accept.
  • Wooly_I_am
    Wooly_I_am Posts: 109
    Unfortunately it's the last thing to come off for men and women. You just have to stick with it! It's taken me around 4 months to get where I am and I've only just started to see the love handles go.

    Cardio doesn't do much other than burn calories. You could do some ab work to build that area but if you are eating at a deficit it's hard to build muscle.

    Good luck!
  • gigglesinthesun
    gigglesinthesun Posts: 860 Member
    have you considered that what you think is a huge pouch may actually not be all that big? It's just that I always loath my thighs, but short of plastic surgery or getting down to like 90lbs they always be the place where I carry my fat.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    My key takeaway from your post was "leaning out". As in it's a process that's still occurring.

    If it's still occurring, then keep doing what you're doing - it's working!

    You just need a bit of patience and to give it a bit of time. If things stall out for you, then yes, you can look to change things. If you're bored with your current routine, then yes, you can look to change things.

    But if you're happy with what you're doing and you're going in the right direction? Stick with it. Things take longer the leaner you get. Make sure you have a small calorie deficit, get plenty of protein and keep on trucking!
  • JJordon
    JJordon Posts: 857 Member
    Open your diary, miss.

    Show us your macros.

    If they aren't where they need to be up protein (set between 35-50% of daily intake), cut carbs, consume moderate dietary fats. That should do the trick.
  • ell_v131
    ell_v131 Posts: 349 Member
    I hope I'm not gonna get stoned for this, but 1700 sounds like a lot for your height while trying to lose BF. Cause you have to lose body fat to get rid of that belly. I suspect I will battle this one day, right now I'm at 26.1% but still got a lot of fat to get rid of. I'm 5'6 and eat 1500 net and losing SLOWLY. Did you mean 1700 including exercise calories?
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Sounds like you're impatient. So, at your point, weighing 112 pounds, a good plan for you might be to bulk for a month or two. Heavy weights, small surplus. That will allow you to gain a pound or two of muscle, which will improve your appearance and help you lean out a bit more. You're not dangerously low on weight or anything, but with a BMI of 20, cutting fat will be a very slow, frustrating process. So a good idea would be to try and gain a few pounds, training hard to make sure it's more muscle and less fat, then assess and either maintain or try to cut a little more fat. Yes, you've hit that area of success where it's better to do "bulk and cut cycles" rather than just diet.

    Have you actually checked your body fat percentage? At this point I feel tracking that would be far more beneficial than scale weight.
  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Sounds like you're impatient. So, at your point, weighing 112 pounds, a good plan for you might be to bulk for a month or two. Heavy weights, small surplus. That will allow you to gain a pound or two of muscle, which will improve your appearance and help you lean out a bit more. You're not dangerously low on weight or anything, but with a BMI of 20, cutting fat will be a very slow, frustrating process. So a good idea would be to try and gain a few pounds, training hard to make sure it's more muscle and less fat, then assess and either maintain or try to cut a little more fat. Yes, you've hit that area of success where it's better to do "bulk and cut cycles" rather than just diet.

    Have you actually checked your body fat percentage? At this point I feel tracking that would be far more beneficial than scale weight.

    The great cat gives great advice.
  • smoothiesusie1
    smoothiesusie1 Posts: 3 Member
    Thank you everyone! Everyone was so helpful. Thanks so much! After reading through these posts, It looks like all in all, I have to be more patient. I just see other petite girls get results in three months and I think there's something wrong.

    I'll be lifting heavier and 'bulking' now and do cardio just once a week, see how that goes. I'm hoping a BOWFLEX 552 adjustable dumbbell set and a pull up bar will do the trick along with a sturdy chair as substitutes for an ez curl bar and weight bench. Since I move so much, I can't get any other equipment until I settle down in March.

    I will also keep track of my body fat now. Not sure which equipment to use for that but will research online.

    Thanks again everyone! Wish me luck!
  • ell_v131
    ell_v131 Posts: 349 Member
    I use a measuring tape for tracking my body fat. If it's good enough for the army, it's goof enough for me :) Here are the 2 links which I use to determine my body fat by my measurements:
    http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blbodyfatfemale1.htm
    http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

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