Help?

magdalenanikole
magdalenanikole Posts: 5
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been exercising and eating relatively healthy since I signed up for this. I want to look good for the summer, if not by summer then for the next school year.
I go to the gym 3x a week. There I usually go on the treadmill for 10 - 20 minutes at 3.5 speed then on the elliptical trainer for another 10 minutes. Afterward I do 3 - 4 reps of 20 different types of crunches. Sometimes instead of going to the gym, I'll go walk around the park for 1 - 2 hours at the same pace I walk on the treadmill or I'll go swimming for an hour at my college's pool.
Yet I only lost 6 LBs. And my problem area (my tummy) isn't really changing. I don't want to have a supermodel flat tummy, but a kind of tones tummy would be nice.

Oh, and I also take Vitamin B Complex every morning with my Special K cereal to help boost my metabolism.

Any suggestions of how to lose my tummy? :)

Replies

  • ybba12490
    ybba12490 Posts: 252
    Unfortunately, you can't target specific areas to get rid of fat. When you are losing weight, you cannot predict where the fat will come off of. Tummy fat is usually the hardest to lose. One thing you can try is taking green tea pills or drinking multiple cups a day. It actually helped me lose weight on top of diet and exercise. Crunches won't make you lose fat either, it just builds muscle so that when you lose fat, you will have nice abs :)
  • jarpan
    jarpan Posts: 12 Member
    There is no specific way to lose fat in a target zone. Your best bet is to continue to do the cardio to lose the overall body fat and tone your stomach. I know that making sure you workout all the areas of the abs are important. So several different ab targeting exercise will work the best. Good luck.

    -Jeni :heart:
  • chanstriste13
    chanstriste13 Posts: 3,277 Member
    hiya! bad news is, you can't spot train. drat!

    but, word around the campfire is that the best way to melt belly fat is cardio. 20 to 30 minutes of cardio 3 times per week may not be enough activity. i would up either the intensity or the time. if you're short on time, do interval training, where you walk/jog for a couple of minutes and alternate your 3.5 speed for a couple of minutes. that will help up your calorie burn.

    drink water. lots of it.

    and your crunches are going to help build up muscle in your abs, but it won't make your belly disappear. maybe you should half your ab routine and put that extra time towards cardio.

    and six pounds is nothing to shake a stick at! congratulations on losing that much! best of luck to you!
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    Firstly, congrats on 6 lbs lost!

    How long have you been at it? I would not be surprised at all if you're losing at a healthy pace but just impatient and wish it were faster. Believe me, we all wish we could drop all the fat as fast as possible. But 1-2 lbs of week is the healthy range. Any higher and there are too many risks involved and your body will fight back. The exception is morbidly obese people under doctor's supervision.
  • paperbagprincess
    paperbagprincess Posts: 76
    The posts above are right. You can't control where we lose, although we all wish that weren't true! I have the opposite problem, my stomach is ok, I want to work on my legs more.

    The best thing to do is increase ur activity. I challenge myself every time I set foot into the gym. I used to only run for 10 minutes and be completely outta breath. Now I run for 40 mins and I'm ready for the next cardio machine (usually the stairmaster). It adds up to about 60 mins of cardio and I'm dripping with sweat by the time I'm done. The way I look at it, the more active I am, the more healthy my body will become. I want to start running in marathons... and I've never seen a chubby runner... so that's my goal, haha.

    Work on the cardio. Try making a goal for yourself at the gym and stick to it. Then, after a while raise it.
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    Also, just to play devil's advocate here... The above posts are all great. But, if you're doing something which is currently working, there is no need to change anything. Oftentimes people will be on a roll, making progress, but all of a sudden they'll want to change things. It's our impatient, skeptical human nature. If something's working, keep at it :smile:
  • magdalenanikole
    magdalenanikole Posts: 5
    I've only been "dieting" if you'd like to call it that for about a month and a few days now. I'm just impatient. haha I know I don't drink as much water as I should. I should probably have 4 - 5 bottles of water daily, but I only drink about two.
    And would green tea really work? Because I LOVE tea. Sooo much. I've tried the Mega Tea supplement before, but didn't get any results from it. But then again, all I did was take the pill and not exercise of eat right.
    So I'll try guys. Thanks a lot!
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
    I've only been "dieting" if you'd like to call it that for about a month and a few days now. I'm just impatient. haha I know I don't drink as much water as I should. I should probably have 4 - 5 bottles of water daily, but I only drink about two.
    And would green tea really work? Because I LOVE tea. Sooo much. I've tried the Mega Tea supplement before, but didn't get any results from it. But then again, all I did was take the pill and not exercise of eat right.
    So I'll try guys. Thanks a lot!

    You're in the PERFECT weightloss range, girl! Great job!

    Green tea is great. Has antioxidants, gives you a slight metabolism boost. Drink up! :smile:
  • paperbagprincess
    paperbagprincess Posts: 76
    I've read that green tea is great for before a workout on Women's Health. I've tried it and found it works for me, but I don't know many ppl who have shared a similar experience. Try it :)
  • brneydgrlie
    brneydgrlie Posts: 464 Member
    1) Are you actually eating *enough*? Often when people start eating healthier foods, they also stick to really small portions. For example, a cup of french fries would have alot more calories than a cup of raw spinach. So, even though the spinach is high in nutrients, it may not be as satisfying to your hunger. Eating 2 cups of spinach in that instance would be fine. In other words, make sure you are not unintentionally slowing your metabolism down.

    2) Are you sure you are doing your ab crunches correctly? It is possible to do crunches wrong, which makes your belly stick out. It is possible you might not have as much flab there as you think.

    Good luck! :-)
  • magdalenanikole
    magdalenanikole Posts: 5
    1) Are you actually eating *enough*? Often when people start eating healthier foods, they also stick to really small portions. For example, a cup of french fries would have alot more calories than a cup of raw spinach. So, even though the spinach is high in nutrients, it may not be as satisfying to your hunger. Eating 2 cups of spinach in that instance would be fine. In other words, make sure you are not unintentionally slowing your metabolism down.

    2) Are you sure you are doing your ab crunches correctly? It is possible to do crunches wrong, which makes your belly stick out. It is possible you might not have as much flab there as you think.

    Good luck! :-)

    Haha, yeah I'm eating enough. One of my old managers from my old job once told me that in order to stay healthy, you have to eat like a baby every 2 - 3 hours. Just small things, like some carrots or a few crackers in between the big meals like breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

    I eat breakfast every morning because I know it gives me energy throughout the day. At lunch I usually start with a salad with lo-cal ranch dressing and the whatever the school has cooked for us. Which usually I eat some veggies with that and maybe a slice of roasted turkey with a glass of OJ. :) Dinner I'll also eat a salad with lo-cal dressing (since thats all my school carries) and rice or potatoes depending on what the cook makes that day with some sort of meat. And then I'll have a small dessert.
  • Thriftyone
    Thriftyone Posts: 12 Member
    I agree green tea is worth trying. I think it helped me. I also found that eating fewer carbs helps. Especially snacking at night, carbs should be limited.
  • melissaivie
    melissaivie Posts: 8
    I agree with taso... you're doing great and you need to be patient. I hovered at about 5 pounds lost for about 8 weeks until suddenly the rest of my goal just melted off in a flash.

    Of course, it helped that I really challenged my cardio. I usually do the elliptical as well. Try up'ing your time there to 30 minutes on a pre-set program that challenges your strength as well - but just once a week. I usually do 40 minutes on the elliptical (no treadmill), but on the weekend do 60.
  • brneydgrlie
    brneydgrlie Posts: 464 Member
    It sounds like you are making really good food choices. But you might not be eating enough protein. Protein helps build muscle, and should be part of every meal. The current rule of thumb says protein should be 30% of every meal.
  • magdalenanikole
    magdalenanikole Posts: 5
    It sounds like you are making really good food choices. But you might not be eating enough protein. Protein helps build muscle, and should be part of every meal. The current rule of thumb says protein should be 30% of every meal.

    A lot of protein comes from meat and my school doesn't make much of it. And when they do, it tastes really horrible. The only thing they make that is good is the turkey and they only have that once in a while :/

    I'll to eat more peanuts or maybe invest in some protein shakes.
  • cnflet2
    cnflet2 Posts: 42 Member
    I've only been "dieting" if you'd like to call it that for about a month and a few days now. I'm just impatient. haha I know I don't drink as much water as I should. I should probably have 4 - 5 bottles of water daily, but I only drink about two.
    And would green tea really work? Because I LOVE tea. Sooo much. I've tried the Mega Tea supplement before, but didn't get any results from it. But then again, all I did was take the pill and not exercise of eat right.
    So I'll try guys. Thanks a lot!



    It is healthiest to loose an average of two pounds a week. So for the amount of time you've been "dieting" you're right on track.
    anything most than that actually comes back more easily and faster. congratulations
  • brneydgrlie
    brneydgrlie Posts: 464 Member
    A lot of protein comes from meat and my school doesn't make much of it. And when they do, it tastes really horrible. The only thing they make that is good is the turkey and they only have that once in a while :/

    I'll to eat more peanuts or maybe invest in some protein shakes.
    [/quote]

    ********************************************************************************************************

    FYI - Beans also contain quite a bit of protein.
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