Belly fat problem

blackcactus
blackcactus Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello guys,

I feel very unconfident with my belly fat right now. First of all, I'm Asian and I was in shape before I went to the US where I gained 18 pounds. Although I'm back to my home country for almost 3 years now, I lost 6 pounds. Other parts of my body are slightly smaller now but my belly is still pretty big and it looks kind of loose. I used to have flat and pretty muscular stomach but, sadly, now it seems to be covered with fat. I'm a pear shape so when I gain weight, it's my thighs and hips that always get bigger first, so yeah having belly fat seems pretty weird to me.

I eat bread for breakfast, about 1 cup of rice with pork/beef/chicken (depends) for lunch, and salad or fruits for dinner for a couple of months now, couldn't see any result though.

I also play tennis for an hour once every week.

Thanks in advance

PS. I'm 5' 8.5 and 132 lbs

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Hi there and welcome to MFP. Have you had a change to look through the stickied posts at the top of each forum, yet? This one in particular is a really great place to start for people looking to change the look of their midsection: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1391018-so-you-want-a-nice-stomach
  • atdeal94
    atdeal94 Posts: 13
    First of all how old are you? I am almost 21 and have noticed that pretty all of a sudden I started to gain weight in my midsection. The doctor said it could be 1 of 2 natural reasons. 1 as we age our bodies slow down the metabolism. So what we could eat when we were younger and not have to worry about- we now do. Therefore those same foods that you were eating while back home that you are now back eating could not be as good for you as you thought but the fact that that was 3 years ago could be a difference strictly because your metabolism is slower and doesn't break down the foods as fast and efficiently. 2. this kind of goes hand in hand but as we age especially the age I am now we start to develop our "shape". Not everyone is the same shape and sadly not everyone will have that "perfect bod". And no body is perfect but media tells us alot how our body should look and it can make us feel fat should because we look different than what media tells us we should look like. 132 pounds at your height is perfectly fine. What I have read and am now working on is that no matter how many calories you deplete or how many diets you take on stomach fat can be tricky. Everyone has natural fat there that is needed to protect your organs. The key is to get the fat to go away so that your muscles can be seen. This means focusing more on muscle increase and less on strict calorie deficit dieting. Also if you are going to go more towards the building muscle for the flatter stomach theres 2 things:
    1. STOP WEIGHING YOURSELF EVERY DAY. instead, start measuring a couple times a week. Measure your hips, waist, stomach area, thighs and arms. When you start losing inches you know you are closer to getting that flatter stomach. Every one knows that muscle weighs more than fat so don't depend too much on the scale numbers as you should the measurement numbers.
    2. Make sure you are eating healthy and right and putting cardio in to shed pounds but also putting strength training in to tighten those core muscles so that when you do start losing stomach fat you will also start getting a more toned stomach look.
  • blackcactus
    blackcactus Posts: 4
    I'm 24 right now and I was 21 when I went to the US, so I guess it's probably because of the slow-down metabolism like you said. Thank you so much, atdeal94.
  • blackcactus
    blackcactus Posts: 4
    whoops, sorry for the double post
  • blackcactus
    blackcactus Posts: 4
    Thank you, Dianne. I'll check that link out. :)

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