Not losing inches!

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DjBliss05
DjBliss05 Posts: 682
in Fitness and Exercise
It is so frustrating! I am closing in on the twenty pound mark and haven't seen any dramatic changes in my body yet. My face looks thinner and my legs are more toned, but my stomach really isn't shrinking! I checked all my measurements from a year ago and nothing else has shrunk, either. My grand total was a 1/2 inch, which was actually from my waist.

I'm wondering how I can step it up in the gym to start seeing a bigger difference on my body.

Right now, I am up to 35 minutes on the elliptical. That includes a 5 minutes cool down.

For strength training, depending on my mood, I will do the weight lifting machines for both arms and legs. I have recently decided to give a row machine a shot for my arms (after seeing that Ali from the BL does that in the gym) and I find it way more tolerable. I also do crunches most nights. I am up to about 50 of them.

Any ideas on how to start shedding inches? I am really shooting for a size 16 by december. Depending on the pants, I am in a comfortable or tight 18 right now. Some 18s are getting baggy in the legs, but still fit in the waist. I want to make sure I achieve this goal b/c it really means a lot to me. Just not sure how to get my body to respond better.

Replies

  • DjBliss05
    DjBliss05 Posts: 682
    Options
    It is so frustrating! I am closing in on the twenty pound mark and haven't seen any dramatic changes in my body yet. My face looks thinner and my legs are more toned, but my stomach really isn't shrinking! I checked all my measurements from a year ago and nothing else has shrunk, either. My grand total was a 1/2 inch, which was actually from my waist.

    I'm wondering how I can step it up in the gym to start seeing a bigger difference on my body.

    Right now, I am up to 35 minutes on the elliptical. That includes a 5 minutes cool down.

    For strength training, depending on my mood, I will do the weight lifting machines for both arms and legs. I have recently decided to give a row machine a shot for my arms (after seeing that Ali from the BL does that in the gym) and I find it way more tolerable. I also do crunches most nights. I am up to about 50 of them.

    Any ideas on how to start shedding inches? I am really shooting for a size 16 by december. Depending on the pants, I am in a comfortable or tight 18 right now. Some 18s are getting baggy in the legs, but still fit in the waist. I want to make sure I achieve this goal b/c it really means a lot to me. Just not sure how to get my body to respond better.
  • ShariStickler
    ShariStickler Posts: 17 Member
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    Are you able to take any clases or do a video? Sometimes you just need to change your routine to see results. If you do a cardio strength class they seem to work well for loosing inches. Also, I have a friend who did very well in loosing her stomach by doing Pilates. I am taking a class at the YMCA called muscle makeover. It is a cardio strength training combo. We use the large stability ball, the small medicine ball, the resistance bands & hand weights. It is a great class. I need to do my measurements though, I didn't do them 3 weeks ago when I started the class. Good Luck & Keep up your hard work. =)
  • Amylynn
    Amylynn Posts: 242 Member
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    I am like the same size as you right now. I would say that you need to be doing a lot more stomach exercises to start. You need to find other variations of a crunch, & do 2 sets of each type that you do. For example: the bicycle is a very good exercise. I do a minimum of 150 reps of stomach exercises each time which only takes 5-7 mins. If you need ideas for more stomach exercises just google it and a whole buch of stuff will come up. Also, try to increase your cardio time to 45 mins 3 days a week or more.
  • thisisamyo
    thisisamyo Posts: 11 Member
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    Hi!

    Interval training is the best thing to tone your body. You can do a million crunches and tons of time steadily going at the elliptical, but it's not the fasting way to BURN fat.

    You see, your body gets accustomed to the rate at which you push yourself and actually expects it and prepares for it. In order to tone your body and SEE the results of all the hard work you've put in thus far, you need to do intervals to burn fat. You need to trick your body and switch things up.

    Even if its only as much as 30 seconds as fast as you can on the elliptical and 90 seconds back at your normal pace (or 15 seconds to start, or even 8...whatever you can do without it being so hard that you get discouraged and give up). If you do this sort of training for 20-30 straight you should definitely see the changes you've been waiting for!

    Good luck to you!!!!!!



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  • mhildreth66
    mhildreth66 Posts: 24 Member
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    Hello! I agree with thisisamyo reply. I too am the same size as you and faithfully have been on the elipitcal 5x a week for 30 minutes and I actually just finished measuring myself before I saw your post and have lost 5.5 inches in a month. I put on my music, set my machine to interval and then bump it up a few notches for a really good workout. It gets up to a 14 incline with a restistance of 16 at one point. Its tough but its interval so it only last a few minutes. At the end of my workout, I am sweating bullets and I can feel it in by butt and legs.
  • DjBliss05
    DjBliss05 Posts: 682
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    Thanks everybody. I am gonna try setting the elliptical to interval for a while. I have been doing the same thing on the ellptical for so long and other "courses" will definitely be beneficial. The weight loss one actually resembles interval training and that kicked my butt the other day! :laugh:

    I also want to ramp up the crunches. I feel like I don't know enough about the different ab exercises out there and it would be good to try out some new ones.

    I'll be back to update when those darn inches finally start coming off! :flowerforyou:

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