belly blubber/stomach fat

victoriansecret
victoriansecret Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there everyone,

Firstly, I apologise for asking something that's probably been asked a thousand times before. I need your help.
I've been on Myfitness pal for a few months now and have lost a little weight 5lbs.

I'm currently 8,9pounds (121 lbs) and am 5 foot 2. I'm trying to reach 110lbs which I think is do-able but i've started to become very aware of one thing.

My excess fat around my stomach. THIS is where I tend to store all my excess weight. I worked out that there's little point losing this weight is my stomach is still going to stick out, be flabby and just generally look rubbish. I'll just end up losing in all the wrong places.

So my big question is this. How do I lose this belly weight?! I eat pretty healthy, walk about an hour a day, try to avoid sugar and too much fat. But it's not shifting.

I'm clearly doing something stupid(or not doing something obvious) . I'd rather not resort to doing a thousand crunches a day but I get that if that's what you tell me to do, i'll do it.

My diet is

Breakfast Coffee with an apple
Lunch Soup (low fat, lots of beans etc under 200 cals)
Sometimes pumpkin seeds with it,

Dinner is usually, wholewheat ramen, salmon nicoise salad or cous cous stuffed peppers. Always with a lot of veg, slow burning carbs (or so i think) and fish or an egg for protein

I do drink, usually a glass of red wine in the evenings. I have the occasional biscuit (cookie) even though I know it's a bit naughty.

Excercise: Okay, so at the moment it's just walking. I tend to walk around 45 mins to an hour a day. I walk fast so about 3mph.

Okay guys, hit me. What am I doing wrong? What can I improve on? What's happening?


Thank you so much!

Replies

  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    so... you aren't going to target weight loss. In other words "spot reduce". Just lose fat and eventually you will lose it where you want to lose it.

    Don't complicate things:
    1) Eat at a deficit
    2) eat good nutrients (protein, healthy fats, and more protein!)
    3) exercise to keep the muscle mass active and reduce muscle loss.

    In that order of importance and you'll be fine.
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
    so... you aren't going to target weight loss. In other words "spot reduce". Just lose fat and eventually you will lose it where you want to lose it.

    Don't complicate things:
    1) Eat at a deficit
    2) eat good nutrients (protein, healthy fats, and more protein!)
    3) exercise to keep the muscle mass active and reduce muscle loss.

    In that order of importance and you'll be fine.
    ^ this / end thread
  • monicapatituccijones
    monicapatituccijones Posts: 68 Member
    Sounds you like you want to tone up. Weight-lifting is good for this purpose. You can't target weight loss through diet, but you can tone up your abs.
  • gweatherall1104
    gweatherall1104 Posts: 7 Member
    It's not possible to spot reduce fat, you can't specifically target your stomach to lose fat. What you will need to do is lower your overall body fat percentage. There are scales that can show your fat percentage, or you can buy calipers for a few dollars and figure it out pretty easily.

    If you want a flat stomach, you're going to need to get to sub 15% body fat at least, ideally around 10-12%. For real definition, you may need to go even lower than that. All you need to do is eat a calorie deficit, and stay away from too much fat and carbs. Lots of protein in your diet will help that fat burn faster. Exercise and building muscle will also give you more muscle mass, which takes more energy to maintain, which in turn burns fat faster.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1161603-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    It's not possible to spot reduce fat, you can't specifically target your stomach to lose fat. What you will need to do is lower your overall body fat percentage. There are scales that can show your fat percentage, or you can buy calipers for a few dollars and figure it out pretty easily.

    If you want a flat stomach, you're going to need to get to sub 15% body fat at least, ideally around 10-12%. For real definition, you may need to go even lower than that. All you need to do is eat a calorie deficit, and stay away from too much fat and carbs. Lots of protein in your diet will help that fat burn faster. Exercise and building muscle will also give you more muscle mass, which takes more energy to maintain, which in turn burns fat faster.

    that bolded paragraph is mostly bs... for one 15% for a female is shredded. Much lower than that and it is unhealthy.

    Eating protein makes you burn fat fast? Really?
  • redheadedyogi
    redheadedyogi Posts: 5 Member
    I would recommend changing your exercise regimen to include more high-intensity cardio. While walking is good exercise, you would shed more fat (everywhere) by adding intervals (running or jogging for a minute or two, then walking for a minute or two). It will get your heart rate up higher, which has all kinds of benefits. As others have said, spot-targeting fat loss isn't really do-able.

    Keep it up! :smile:
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    I would recommend changing your exercise regimen to include more high-intensity cardio. While walking is good exercise, you would shed more fat (everywhere) by adding intervals (running or jogging for a minute or two, then walking for a minute or two). It will get your heart rate up higher, which has all kinds of benefits. As others have said, spot-targeting fat loss isn't really do-able.

    Keep it up! :smile:

    Do you have anything to back that up? I haven't seen any conclusive studies that really support HIIT being more effective at fat loss. It does have its benefits, though.
  • victoriansecret
    victoriansecret Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks for all the advice guys,

    I think I;ll try to add more protein into my diet and change up my exercise regime.
  • sljohnson1207
    sljohnson1207 Posts: 818 Member
    I realize you are a tiny person, but if this is your typical day of food, I think you should eat more.

    Depending on what you put in your coffee, what is breakfast? Less than 120 cals
    Lunch soup under 200 cals...how many servings? 1 serving is 200 calories
    Pumpkin seeds are calorie dense, but how many are you eating? 1 oz is 126 calories
    Ramen noodles (1 serving = 200 cals), cous cous stuffed peppers (maybe 300 cals), and the like are carb heavy, but where is your protein? One egg (74 cals, 6 g protein)? How much fish? (salmon = 5 oz? 280 cals, 39 protein)

    I recommend you get a food scale and start logging everything you eat and drink for total calories and percentages of macros (protein, fat, carbohydrates). Log your exercise (MFP seems to way over estimate calorie burns, btw).

    Also, get your stress levels in check. If your life is full of stress, that can cause extra belly fat to accumulate due to cortisol. However, I think based on what you posted that you eat, you may be stressing your body out with too low calories.
    Also, I recommend strength training as well.
  • javacody
    javacody Posts: 2 Member
    Strength training. Just because you are female doesn't mean you shouldn't lift weights or do bodyweight training.

    You won't ever get "bulky" unless you start doing steroids.

    Also, eating too much protein and not enough fat or carbs can be detrimental. You want to get enough protein (around 1 gram to 1.2 grams per kg of lbm). FIll up the rest with carbs and fat. More fat than carbs unless you are sprinting or doing other similarly demanding work.

    For a good resource, checkout suppversity.com. The guy knows his stuff. And good luck!

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