Losing weight

[madness30]

Hi, i go on holiday in a couple of months. I need to lose some weight, my main problem area is my apron stomach does anyone have any ideas. I read on the net sit ups dont work, i don't want to lose it too fast but not too slow either. It doesnt help because i work in the middle of the day so i am always busy before and after work. Also i have to watch what i eat because i'm diabetic. Let me know if you've done sit ups and it has flattened you're stomach...

[rubyslippers]

Sit ups will help but only if you do other stuff too. You need to do different types of sit ups - standard ones to work your upper abs, reverse crunches to work your lower abs, and bicycle crunches to work your obliques. Also try holding a plank position for as long as possible, and a side plank if you can:

There's tons of videos online that can help too - try typing abs into youtube or slimtree.com has some free five minute sample workouts.

You'll also need to watch what you eat and do cardio to burn fat - crunches alone won't burn many calories. At the moment I've been doing the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred workout (I've posted on here about it), which is hard but combines strength, cardio and abs moves and it does seem to work - my tummy is noticeably flatter. But if that's not for you there's tons of other stuff - I hear belly dancing is really good for a mix of cardio and abs work, although I've not tried it, and even just being aware of your posture and holding your tummy in helps a little!

Good luck!

[squadleader]

If you want a flat stomach take a look at your diet. Are you eating a lot of processed foods are you eating sugars and refined floor. Beside ab exercises you should focus on cardio and strength training. I hope this this helps.

[stroutman81]

Yea, I'm not sure about the first reply. The second reply I agree with.

A firm stomach is built in the kitchen. No amount of abdominal exercise is going to rid you of your belly fat. That's simply not how our bodies work.

I'd focus most of your attention on making sure your calories and macronutrients are in check. There are quite a few ways to do this... the most simplest being:

Set your calories.

We know we need to be eating less energy (calories) than the body needs in order to tap into fat stores. Obviously step one should be determining how many calories your body needs to maintain itself.

There are a bunch of calculators you can use online for this. A clean and simple way is simply taking your bodyweight and multiplying it by 14. Assuming you're exercising... that's a pretty good estimate. If you're carrying a lot of fat and/or are sedentary, you might drop that number down to 12 or so.

Once you calc your maintenance, you need to establish a calorie deficit. 25-30% off of maintenance is a good starting point, so assuming your maintenance is 2000, you'd simply set your daily calorie intake goal at 1500 or so.

Once calories are set, it's time to worry about the foods that comprise said calories. We'll cross that bridge once we're sure you understand what's been said in this post.

[rubyslippers]

Out of interest, what's wrong with my reply? That's not a defensive response, I'm just asking cos it seems to work for me, but obviously if there's health reasons I don't want to be doing those things I'd like to know.

As far as I can tell, sensible diet, cardio to burn calories, strength training to build muscle and specific abs-targeted exercises seems a reasonable way to flat abs. I'm no professional, but it's not all diet - a healthy balanced diet and monitoring calorie intake and expenditure does not get you a flat tummy on it's own.

[stroutman81]

Out of interest, what's wrong with my reply? That's not a defensive response, I'm just asking cos it seems to work for me, but obviously if there's health reasons I don't want to be doing those things I'd like to know.

Correlation is not causation.

You're doing a bunch of things to better your health and body on the exercise and nutrition fronts, likely. It's hard to say what is and isn't causing what particular improvements. This is actually quite a popular scenario here.

The typical example is a young woman who wants to tone up her midsection. She eats better/smarter, lifts some weights maybe, and starts doing cardio. On top of this, she does a lot of variations of abdominal work in an attempt to spot reduce the fat on her belly.

After a number of months, she's noticeably leaner and her belly is a bit flatter.

She claims it's the awesome ab exercises she's doing. She, however, is missing the huge boat here. It's much, much more likely the fact that she's now in a caloric deficit from the improved diet and increased exercise that's causing her to lean out.

The actual ab exercises have little role.

The first part of your reply seems suggestive of the idea specific exercises can influence where we lose fat from, which isn't the case. Spot reducing fat isn't biologically possible.

If you weren't suggesting this, my apologies.

As far as I can tell, sensible diet, cardio to burn calories, strength training to build muscle and specific abs-targeted exercises seems a reasonable way to flat abs.

For the most part, I'd concur.

However, you're not going to be building appreciable muscle while dieting. Hypertrophy (muscle growth) is a very intensive process, energetically speaking. Your body, while dieting, doesn't have enough energy to preserve the tissue it currently has (hence the fat loss). It's not going to make matters worse by adding appreciable amounts of such a metabolically active tissue (muscle).

I'm not suggesting you shouldn't do core exercises. A strong core is critical for optimal functioning and health.

I'm suggesting that core exercises have much less to do with leaning out your midsection than most people assume.

I'm no professional, but it's not all diet - a healthy balanced diet and monitoring calorie intake and expenditure does not get you a flat tummy on it's own.

It certainly can.

First, genetics plays a much larger role in a lean midsection than anything. Some people simply have the genetic proclivity to store much of their fat on their midsection, making it next to impossible to lean out in that area.

Secondly, even for those who do get lean enough to expose their abs... some simply don't look shredded like others due to genetic variations in rectus abdominus size, shape and positioning.

But the fact is, you can get a flat stomach with zero exercise. I'm not promoting this idea... but I'm speaking directly to your post.

[stroutman81]

Oh, and I know you're not being defensive.

It's nice to see someone who can detach themselves from their ideas and look at situations like this as a chance to learn. Thinking critically is lost on most... so it's refreshing.

[rubyslippers]

Thanks! I've found that simple low-cal/low-fat diets etc or simply increasing cardio has never worked on my stomach, whereas targeted ab exercises have, but then it could be the way my genetics work, I hadn't really factored that in!

Always good to hear an alternative opinion - the reason I joined this site was to get the benefit of others knowledge and tips, so it would be silly to ignore them just because they aren't the same as my own ideas!

[stroutman81]

Thanks! I've found that simple low-cal/low-fat diets etc or simply increasing cardio has never worked on my stomach,

A calorie deficit must ALWAYS work. It's physics. If you're taking in less energy than your body needs, your body has no choice but to use up it's existing stores of energy to make up the shortage. And that storage is fat.

We don't have a choice in the matter of where exactly fat leaves the body. It always leaves in a pattern that's genetically predetermined. Generally the first place on (trouble areas) is the last place off.

Your trouble area might be your belly.

Suffice it to say though, if you kept up with a caloric deficit long enough, your belly fat would go away. There are no ifs ands or buts about it.

It could simply be that around the time you added core work into the mix your belly fat was "next in line" to be used up so it coincidentally seemed to be correlated.

[despero]

Isn't it also true that one must be careful not to make a huge calorie deficit, because then the body will go into starvation mode? From my understanding of the subject, you have to elliminate calories a little at a time. Dropping a large amount can actually be counterproductive, causing the body to store more fat over time. I'm not an expert, by any means. It just seems like such a pain to get the darn calories right. Too much, you gain, too little, you loose at first, then gain again. Its a vicious circle. It can be very meticulous. I'm still working on counting my calories, and getting the right deficit for optimal burn!

I don't believe its just "one" thing that will achieve the results you want. Its a combination, and every body is different. What works for me, my not work for you, and vice versa. Keep trying different things until you find the right fit for you. You'll notice the differnce when you're doing what works.

Good luck!!