Seeing no results at all.

Unfortunately, you don't get to tell your body where you're going to lose fat. Wouldn't life be grand if you could? - fat off the stomached first but, for the love of God, none off the boobs!

For a lot of us, stomach fat is the last to go. Keep doing what you're doing, and have patience. In the mean time, you're frankly already rocking that bikini. All you need is some confidence to go with it.

fitnessmel12 wrote: »

Dragn77 wrote: »

Wow..I didnt see her call herself ugly or fish for compliments...just a straight-forward asking what to do about her concerns.

I mean, maybe Im just giving benefit of a doubt here, but I remember when I was younger... I was trying to lose weight and felt like my stomach was too big, soft, not toned enough..always trying to do something about it.

Now I look back at those times...and WISH I had that body! On reflection, I looked amazing! But thats something I can only see now, having gained as much weight as I have. Perception counts for *a lot*.

Anyway, seems to me that its not a matter of weight, but a matter of needing to hit the weights and form some muscle definition so that your body becomes firmer and looks sleeker. I don't see fat as the issue, because you barely have any there...but muscle tone as what you need to work on.

Thank you. I really appreciate you going beyond the bikini photos and actually answering my question. Quite annoying how some people can take the time to hate and judge, meanwhile I'm just asking a question... Anyway I think you might be right. Perception does count a lot and I've heard from a couple of people to tighten my ab area by improving my muscle. :)so I will try that!

I didn't see anyone hating on you, just people who may be thinking you're being too harsh with yourself or concerned you have body image issues. That's not bad.

fitnessmel12 wrote: »

Dragn77 wrote: »

Wow..I didnt see her call herself ugly or fish for compliments...just a straight-forward asking what to do about her concerns.

I mean, maybe Im just giving benefit of a doubt here, but I remember when I was younger... I was trying to lose weight and felt like my stomach was too big, soft, not toned enough..always trying to do something about it.

Now I look back at those times...and WISH I had that body! On reflection, I looked amazing! But thats something I can only see now, having gained as much weight as I have. Perception counts for *a lot*.

Anyway, seems to me that its not a matter of weight, but a matter of needing to hit the weights and form some muscle definition so that your body becomes firmer and looks sleeker. I don't see fat as the issue, because you barely have any there...but muscle tone as what you need to work on.

Thank you. I really appreciate you going beyond the bikini photos and actually answering my question. Quite annoying how some people can take the time to hate and judge, meanwhile I'm just asking a question... Anyway I think you might be right. Perception does count a lot and I've heard from a couple of people to tighten my ab area by improving my muscle. :)so I will try that!

Yeah no prob...Ive been there so I know. When my stomach became a problem to me, is when I got soft, after I was out of the military. I had never used weights or weight machines before so was intimidated. So I got a personal trainer for 3 sessions, just enough to lay out a plan for me, and show me the correct way to use the machines. I did great with that for awhile, but then lost motivation and stopped going.

This time around, I will give it another go once I am closer to my goal weight..because I know, even when Im thin, I look wonky when my body is too soft. I just need to build up my muscle definition and it seems to me thats where youre at now.

Obviously she doesn't need to lose weight but she wants too.. do you do any kind of strength training because it looks like you could use some extra muscle lol. Do some core training for 15 mins 2 or 3 times a week and I bet your stomach will start to get toned. Also you have to be way more consistent.. stop doing cheat meals just eat healthy and when you want something unhealthy just have a small portion every once in a while. Stop going out to eat and prepare your own meals so you can actual track what your eating.. that's my advice up to you if you want to follow it.

Hi Mel, I think there may be a few things going on ... hopefully this helps! ;-)

First, if I'm understanding you correctly, you say you're body fat percentage has been declining. That's a great sign that what you're doing IS actually working. You may be seeing less than desirable results in your midsection, but that's likely because you just had more fat to get rid of in that area, that's all. Unfortunately, we're not able to choose the order in which our body chooses to siphon off fat - what a deal that would be! So, rest assured you ARE seeing results, just not those you want to see in the mirror (yet!).

I also think you should continue to internalize @Dragn77's advice - I think she's right on with body image ... we all have our own personal concerns and pre-occupations.

Also, I don't recall if you mentioned what kind of strength training you're doing, but I'm imagining it's rep-intensive instead of weight-intensive. Sometimes upping the weight can help with body composition - particularly for women. Check out Geo Antionette online and look into her workouts ... pretty serious weight bearing exercises, and she looks incredible. She's also super-tall, but the changes in her body from doing deadlifts and exercises like that are evident. Just be sure to find a plan that works for you based on what YOU are looking to achieve. All of this stuff is really individual in nature ... so you need to listen a lot, and chose what works for you. Heavier weights may help.

Also re: exercise, your HIIT is clearly helping you burn fat - and, it might also be getting in the way of your strength training gains. Again, read up on existing advice for women (and for women of your age and body type).

One final note ... your calories do seem a bit on the low side. For me, MFP has my calories almost exactly where I know they need to be from experience for me to lose weight based on a fairly sedentary lifestyle. You however are super-active, so I'm surprised you're calories are so low. Perhaps you're telling the system you're looking to lose weight, and that's why - not sure. If you live anywhere near a place where you could get a free evaluation from a registered dietician, I'd recommend doing so to see if you're on track. It may be that with your calories being so low, your activity so high, and (I'm guessing) a good, mainly vegetarian diet, you're just not ingesting the nutrients your body needs to actually gain muscle weight, so you start seeing the body composition changes you're looking to achieve. Good luck, and keep us posted!

atypicalsmith wrote: »

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