Belly Fat, exercise and non response

You can't spot reduce. Where fat comes off is out of your control. Assuming you are in a calorie deficit and losing fat elsewhere, you will eventually lose it in the belly area.

msmettalife9824 wrote: »

Thanks all for the comments! To be clear, I am focusing on both lateral and sagittal core exercises, switching daily between conventional core exercises and primal flow with cardio thrown in twice a week. My pelvis is not the issue as I did check it's not in anterior alignment. I have to be careful as I don't want to loose any more weight so must not go into carb deficient; I am currently with a goal of 40 % carbs, 20 fat, 40 % protein. I try to eat 130 G protein a day to meet that goal. Overall, my total calories are between 1200/ 1400 day. Any further thoughts? I would dearly like to shrink my waist from 133" to 130'. Sigh...

What units are you using there? At 5'5" and 133 pounds, you're not overweight, so neither inches nor centimeters make sense in "133" to 130'" (which in my usual units and notation would be 133 inches to 130 feet, and I'm certain that isn't right!). Did you mean 33 to 30 inches? That would be plausible.

Even if you don't have anterior pelvic tilt, there are other postural issues that can affect appearance of abdominal thickness (and even waist measurement), like a forward head/shoulders posture or a tendency to lock knees.

Since you're focused on the waist measurement more than appearance, though, it's somewhat less likely to be posture.

I hate to bring this up, though it is a thing, but again less likely since you're focused on waist measurement more than appearance: We do see women here, especially young women, with an unrealistic idea of normal female body shape, because of the pernicious nonsense from so-called "fitness influencers". Women have uteruses, and that affects abdominal shape. This may have zero to do with your situation, but it's common enough that I feel like I should say something about it. There's more about it here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10689837/does-this-uterus-make-my-stomach-look-fat/p1

I do think that thread includes some perspectives on how long it took women to reach certain body changes. That may be relevant to your plans and concerns, even if the overall message of the thread isn't.

One observation: "Over a month" is still a short time span for interventions that depend on muscle mass. Strength increases do happen that fast (from neuromuscular adaptation), and possibly some pumped/toned/tightened appearance. Still, in something over a month (but presumably less than 2), I'd expect relatively little change in muscle mass/structure, especially if you're in a calorie deficit.

The carbs really don't make much difference in fat loss at constant calories, but if your gross intake is a true 1200-1400 calories at your size and with that activity schedule, I'd expect you to be in a deficit and losing weight. (That might not show up on the scale yet, if the exercise is all or mostly new in that month or so.) If you're doing all that on that few calories, you'd have to be pretty old for calorie needs estimates to make that your maintenance calories.

Finally, I'll mention something about body structure, because the structure our genetics bring us can have implications. For me, my waist size is never going to be small enough to give me an hourglass-ish appearance. (I'm around your size, 132 pounds this morning, and 5'5".) If I were to drop 10 pounds, my waist might drop down below 30", but not by much (and that's with more than average overall muscle mass thus lower than average body fat for my demographic).

Why is that? Mostly because I have a body structure that brings my rib cage pretty close to the top of my pelvic bones. It's hard to measure, but there's maybe a 2.5 inch space between my lowest rib and the top of my pelvic bone, and my rib case isn't very tapered. No matter how little fat I have on my abdomen, no matter how much exercise I do, my waist size can't shrink much because the waist skin will just be stretched between rib cage and pelvis in a relatively short straight line. Unless I add lots of muscle mass to my chest/shoulders and hips/booty, I'm going to be rectangle-shaped. (That's OK with me, BTW: I'm happy with my body.)

If you felt comfortable posting photos, you might get more feedback about structure/posture and body composition kind of stuff. That's not a request, let alone a demand, just an observation. If you wanted to do that, a two-piece bathing suit, front and side would be ideal (including shoulders for posture reasons), or at least close-fitting but not compressing workout wear. Photos in undies are against the rules here.