Belly Fat

Cut out refined sugar and white carbs. I was toned everywhere except my abs, that diet change made the difference for me. Oh, and more strength work and less cardio!

Yep, lose weight. I wish there was a more mystical answer I could give you because if there was, I'd be all over that ish and would be at the beach THIS SECOND with my shirt off so all the tourists could take photos of my amazing abs. And they ARE amazing, if only they weren't covered by all this belly fat, I swear.

So hunker down and get to work on changing you diet and adding some exercise. Not a sexy answer, I know, but 60% of the time it works 100% of the time. If you'd like to see how well it works, take a peek at a couple of pages of posts on the Success Thread.

edited to add: it would be a good idea for *everyone* on this site to give the Search function a whirl or two. I understand that if you've been around for a while you'll see the same topic posted by someone that didn't see it posted yesterday and the day before and before and before, but a quick search is considered good form. Heck, don't search, just go back 2 or 3 pages and I bet the same topic is covered. Twice.

That's true. Yes belly fat, esp deep visceral fat, is typically associated with high levels of stress hormones like cortisol. Reducing stress, systemic inflammation, and increasing and improving sleep & sleep quality are important for reducing belly fat. But you're not really going to get anywhere without running a caloric deficit. More importantly most people want to target their belly fat specifically because they don't appreciate how fat they are in other places as well. Also as you loose fat you will naturally reduce systemic inflammation and hormonal imbalances and will often improve sleep quality (if your fat is affecting your breathing). Basically it starts and ends with a calorie deficit. Anything else is a minor tweak that might help you get over a plateau or make the loss a little more efficient.

Actually it really does become work if you have to wade through 99/100 questions to find one that is interesting or has depth of comes from someone who is actually interested in the topic and your response. It also absolutely becomes work if you frequently help lots of people that can't be bothered to spend 2-3 minutes searching for at least a starting point to the answer. You will often spend much more time than that composing a response. It's wasteful. The poster doesn't have to be an expert or have the complete answer. But it's always better if they can show they're starting to look into something and they ask a question about a real confusion or problem instead of just asking to be spoon fed.

You're completely wrong that there isn't a longstanding etiquette for group communications on the internet. It was beaten into me in many forums. Even a professor I had in college took a whole lecture to explain internet etiquette in one of my comp-sci classes. The thing is year by year there is an exponential growth of groups & users that don't really understand this decades old etiquette. So in a way you're right. If most people want to behave a certain way in a certain forum that's what the etiquette becomes. That's why I'm speaking generally and trying to not beat up the OP too much. I only caution that ignoring this longstanding internet etiquette dumbs down the discussion and tends to frustrate dedicated regulars who really want to contribute regularly to interesting and deep discussions. Personally I think those dedicated users are more important for the health of a group. But perhaps in a place like MFP you have to expect a revolving door of users and lots of frustrated people looking for a quick fix or someone to reach out to them and be supportive even if they're too overwhelmed to do their homework.

Indeed the forums here aren't authoritative so you're right a simple search can be confusing. Whenever I research something I simply never rely on a single source. Maybe I just take that for granted. I thank you for the compliment on my info. I'm glad it was helpful. Visceral fat is uber important and has significant health risks attached. If you search outside of MFP in good sources you should absolutely be stumbling on it. If you look up belly fat you should absolutely find the term "adipose tissue." If you even go to wikipedia for "adipose tissue" you will stumble on "visceral fat" in that entry. I don't think everybody does or should know these terms but FWIW you should/could find them in 2 keyword searches or less.

You can tell if you have a lot of fat around your organs by your belly's appearance when you lay on your side. A healthy fat belly will follow gravity, sag, and be soft. Caffeine spikes cortisol so it's another thing to think about. Alpha Lipoic Acid is a safe antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that can help aid loosing belly fat. But honestly 98% of it is just running a caloric deficit with healthy foods and exercising and getting your compliment of sleep. So really this has been a kinda weird, long tangent for a simple question/answer (not that I mind).

Wow I never thought this place would be some mean. We are here to support each other in weight loss. Support being the key word. Come guys settle down. If you have a problem with what the person posts then don't comment. We all should be on the weight loss band wagon. I hope you found the answer to your question. Smile you are on your way to healthy living!

You can tell if you have a lot of fat around your organs by your belly's appearance when you lay on your side. A healthy fat belly will follow gravity, sag, and be soft. Caffeine spikes cortisol so it's another thing to think about. Alpha Lipoic Acid is a safe antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that can help aid loosing belly fat. But honestly 98% of it is just running a caloric deficit with healthy foods and exercising and getting your compliment of sleep. So really this has been a kinda weird, long tangent for a simple question/answer (not that I mind).

Actually that is damn interesting, not to mention a tad worrying. I was only 14lbs overweight but it seemed all around my stomach and was very firm. I was fast approaching 'unhealthy' if not already there. I will save this and add it to my list of motivations.

I owe you an apology, and a debt of gratitude. Thank you

I was reading a article today that suggests cycling or bike riding can help with reducing visceral fat due to the fast movement of the legs boosting the body's number of fat-burning hormones catocholamines. This study was done at the University of New South wales Australia by Associate Professor Steve Boutcher. He states that if you sprint for 8 seconds and recover for 12 seconds and do this for 20 minutes three times a week with a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down. The article states it is has the same fat burning as jogging for seven hours a week. Worth a try...if it doesn't work all you have lost is time and gained a lot of fitness. As a bike rider I know this would be hard work.

Ignore all the "rude" answers and just focus on those that are here to help others and themselves...that's what being a part of a community should be about. Welcome to MFP and good luck with your journey!

Yup! That's how I see it. Obviously, the delicate flower disagrees. Oh well (shrug). I'll somehow have to learn to live with that.

Meh. Frankly it's a little of a culture shock for me here. Everybody's always asking the same questions and ignoring the FAQ. Newbs aren't supposed to be coddled. They're supposed to get slammed so they learn. It's not just better for the group. It forces the newb to take an interest, to learn, to explore, to dig deeper, to think, and to ask deeper questions. I don't really understand why so few get that here.

I didn't realize this forum was Marine Corps bootcamp and not a place for support and advice.

Try to imagine how much more effective this place could be for support and advice if people followed basic forum protocols.

As I type this, there are two threads titled "Fitbit? on page 1. Go back 6 more pages and "Fitbit" is the title of no less than 13 threads. What if all the great info and advice in those 13 recently started threads were all on the same thread?

Someone started a second thread about the BBC doc on sports supplements. The one started yesterday has some excellent info. What if instead of starting a new thread for the second day, the OP added info to an already informative thread?

Think of all the good info that gets missed because we won't cut and paste a well crafted response 20x in different threads on the same topic. How much deeper could the discussion get if instead of posting "Somebody pls recommend a good book for a new lifter" the newb did a quick search, read the first dozen posts, and then asked specific questions about NROLFL or SL5x5 or SS?

Just like there are simple rules of the road to keep us moving along and out each others way, there are simple rules for making internet forums more efficient.

Word DavPul! And you expressed it so much more diplomatically than I did. Nice going!