How to lose stomach/tone tum?

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  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    I do an average of 100 crunches a day with the same goal as you. It seems to be working. I'm at my ideal weight (190) and want to tone what fat is left to muscle.

    Fat doesn't turn into muscle. You will have to lose the fat and gain some muscle. Having said that, all those crunches are just going to build the muscle under the fat, you will still have to lose the fat, via a calorie deficit, for the muscle underneath to be visible.
  • Redgal56
    Redgal56 Posts: 73 Member
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    Planks! I have lost 3 inches off my waist doing planks! I hate them but they work!
  • mcibty
    mcibty Posts: 1,252 Member
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    Is it 'fat' or just loose skin? Two very different things. Weights and patience.
  • Sheila_Ann
    Sheila_Ann Posts: 365 Member
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    Sounds like you still have some fat to lose. If it's loose skin as well as fat it will tighten up but you will have to lose the fat before you begin to see any abs. All the ab exercises in the world are not going to do anything for you unless your BF% is low enough to actually see the muscle underneath. Just keep losing fat and you will see them eventually.

    Good luck...

    What he said!
  • craftylobster
    craftylobster Posts: 1 Member
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    The plank is a great exercise to strengthen your abs, anything that keeps your muscles tense throughout the whole set is great but you won't really see any benefit until you lose excess fat from that area, only your diet can help with that. I've always been pretty slim but have a pudge of fat around my belly button, the only thing that got rid of it for me was cutting down on sugar and wheat. Don't cut it out completely (trust me on that one, doing that sent me really crazy for a while) and do make sure you replace some of the wheat with healthier carbs like brown rice and sweet potatoes but really look at how much sugar you're having, including fruit. I used to have two sugars in my coffee twice a day, what I thought was healthy granola which actually had tons of sugar in it, 4 pieces of fruit a day and that's not including the occasional chocolate bar, fizzy drink and alcohol. I also used to have wheat in most of my meals too - cereal breakfast, sandwich lunch and pasta or pastry for dinner. I now only have one or two pieces of fruit a day and use one in my porridge instead of sugar or honey, I cut down my fizzy drinks, I have only one coffee with one sugar a day and try not to have more than one portion of wheat a day but I often go days without any because I also found out it bloats me a lot. I check lables now, there's sugar in everything, especially low fat products! I didn't really reduce my calorie intake either, cutting down on sugar will always reduce your calories slightly but I didn't need to lose weight so I made sure I replaced sugar calories with protein, I eat so much cheese! Since doing all that my tummy fat has nearly disappeared. I can finally see the abs I've been working on for years! I hope this helps :)

    Sounds like you're doing really well! Great advice - sugar is loaded into everything!
  • positivesky
    positivesky Posts: 20 Member
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    Hi guys I'm a few pounds away from my goal weight nearly 4stone off, I'm still unhappy with my stomach I was wondering if anyone had any tips/diet info or exercise on how to help?thanks jo.

    crunches, planking... not that complicated but, personally, i find these two movements effective to get rid of the belly flab.
  • TLwineguzzler
    TLwineguzzler Posts: 289 Member
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    Planks! I have lost 3 inches off my waist doing planks! I hate them but they work!

    How long has it taken you to lose the 3 inches and how long do you "hold" the plank for? I keep trying to "get into the habit" of doing planks, do them for a couple of days or so then forget again! :ohwell:
  • blably
    blably Posts: 490 Member
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    do some cardio to shred the fat and make sure to suck that tummy in when you're doing ab work outs! or else you'll get very ugly abs

    just died a bit here
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    do some cardio to shred the fat and make sure to suck that tummy in when you're doing ab work outs! or else you'll get very ugly abs

    just died a bit here

    :huh: Ugly abs???
  • loupammac
    loupammac Posts: 194 Member
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    I read this post today: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161603-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach and I think it's just what you're after :)
  • PatsyFitzpatrick
    PatsyFitzpatrick Posts: 335 Member
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    Jillian videos. She is hard core and has the best abs.
  • 19TaraLynn84
    19TaraLynn84 Posts: 739 Member
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    I'm not trying to be snarky, but I just find this so funny....

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  • jacklo
    jacklo Posts: 17
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    It's interesting that you're getting such varied responses. I think part of it has to do with using the term term "toned". To this day, I still don't know what that really means, since I first heard it being tossed around during the early days of Jane Fonda videos. LOL

    Based on your photo, you look great in clothes, which brings to mind a different term, that of being "skinny fat". You may want to research it online. If that's what you're talking about (and I don't think you're talking about loose skin as a result of losing weight too fast), then there's a lot of information online about body recomposition, and not doing even a million crunches or some other variant, or planks for that matter, is going to accomplish that. Good luck!

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