stomach fat help

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quest67
quest67 Posts: 94
in Health and Weight Loss
Many say lift but honestly the only thing lifting does is help you keep lean muscle. So to get rid of stomach fat its more diet related, right?

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  • RomulanWarbird
    RomulanWarbird Posts: 230
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    You need diet and exercise and lifting. Lifting on a deficit won't give you a ton of muscle, but the muscle you will get will help burn calories. You need to have a good diet, too, and be on a deficit to lose weight and cardio can help with the strength of your heart and lungs, and it also burns calories necessary to burn off fat. I know a girl who lost 50 lbs by never exercising and only eating 1200 a day, and she looks chubby/flabby still because she has no muscle and she never works out.

    There's not just one thing you do to shrink your stomach, and you can't spot-treat your fat as I'm figuring out much to my despair. It all comes off when it comes off, but you need a combination of things in order to be healthy.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    yes, it is mostly diet related, getting rid of belly fat.

    but strength training (even on a slight deficit) has incredible benefits that will help you lower your body fat percentage.

    don't believe me? check out staci. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-92311-AM-1.jpg

    on the left she is about 131 lbs. on the right she weighs 142lbs!!
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    Lifting weights preserves muscle, so while you are losing fat due to a caloric deficit you will have a tighter, more toned looking tummy. Posture makes a big difference in the appearance of your stomach as well, which weight lifting can assist you with.
  • quest67
    quest67 Posts: 94
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    Does it need to be really heavy weights?
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    Does it need to be really heavy weights?

    nope. the tiny little pink weights will be fine.





    just kidding!! heavy is relative to you and your abilities. "heavy" is what you can lift 3-5 times in a row where the last repetition is more than a bit of an effort.

    i suggest you pick up the book "new rules of lifting for women."
  • dsb188
    dsb188 Posts: 121 Member
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    I read that in order to get rid of your stomach you need to exercise everything. They say one of the biggest mistakes people make is they try to do these ab workouts and what happens is the ab works give you abs under a layer or fat and can actually make your stomach look bigger. So its my understanding that you have to do full body workouts like cardio. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
  • LoveInnocent
    LoveInnocent Posts: 44 Member
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    I read that in order to get rid of your stomach you need to exercise everything. They say one of the biggest mistakes people make is they try to do these ab workouts and what happens is the ab works give you abs under a layer or fat and can actually make your stomach look bigger. So its my understanding that you have to do full body workouts like cardio. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

    its very true. I made that mistake myself, I used to be able to do all those ab work outs easy but I still had a big stomach I didn't get why. You need to get your whole body working and that's where you will see the best results and all those work out experts that sell the dvds (tried a few) always say to switch things up day to day too. They say strength training one day, cardio the next, strength training again with light cardio etc etc.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    I read that in order to get rid of your stomach you need to exercise everything. They say one of the biggest mistakes people make is they try to do these ab workouts and what happens is the ab works give you abs under a layer or fat and can actually make your stomach look bigger. So its my understanding that you have to do full body workouts like cardio. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

    the only place you are wrong is calling cardio a full body work out. i'm not saying it can't be (swimming, rowing) but unfortunatly people hear 'cardio' and think "running 8 miles."

    conditioning is a good part of any regular exercise routine, and you can get your conditioning by running, swimming, cycling, barbell complexes, or whatever.

    as far as it goes about building abs under a layer of fat... you're right. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/sexy_female_training;jsessionid=F9F4BFACC78FB37E9CCD3BBAD4701901-mcd01.hydra
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Spot reduction is a myth, there is no exercise that targets a specific area of the body. You can tone muscle in specific locations through weight lifting and that can change you aesthetically but the only way to lose fat is through diet and exercise where you are at a caloric deficit to the amount you burn. That will get rid of the fat...what you reveal underneath that fat is dependent on how much you lift.

    If you don't lift at all and you get rid of much of your fat you will still look soft so if your goal is an aesthetically pleasing toned/fit look then yes you pretty much have to lift.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    yes, it is mostly diet related, getting rid of belly fat.

    but strength training (even on a slight deficit) has incredible benefits that will help you lower your body fat percentage.

    don't believe me? check out staci. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-92311-AM-1.jpg

    on the left she is about 131 lbs. on the right she weighs 142lbs!!

    Can guarantee she wasn't eating at a deficit but yeah that does show what lifting can do for you. That also goes to show what a mistake it is to focus on scale weight. If you see pictures of a man or woman with a drool-worthy figure chances are they weigh more than you think because it takes muscle to have that firm toned look. Skinny doesn't look like that and skinny is what gives you low scale weight.
  • jennyiscool13
    jennyiscool13 Posts: 16 Member
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    Unfortunately, you can not choose where you lose weight. Calorie counting and exercise will help overall weight loss which then should work its way to your stomach

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