Belly Fat :/

[canzz2533]

Hi everyone

Sure i posted before about losing weight and i still need to lose weight.

I see a lot of posts about what you eat and eating 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. With the work i do i don't get the chance to eat 3 meals a day, I have a little bit of cereal in the mornings and depending on the time i finish work (i don't get a lunch break at work) the next meal i have is dinner. usually a home cooked meal with the occasional take away.

Gym wise, I go 3/4 times a week and focus on cardio. i cannot do high impact work due to a knee injury so i power walk on the treadmill and use the cross trainer, rowing machine and bikes. some gym sessions i do weights to help tone up everything.

it is pretty much just belly fat i need to lose, is there any suggestions on a way to target that area maybe? either certain foods to eat or cut out or a certain workout?

i appreciate any suggestions you might have

Thanks,

[tallmattuk]

Hi, I agree with the way you eat, I'm the same and only eat when hungry. I don't see why we need 3 meals a day, there is no rationale to it. However I've been told by many people that you cannot target fat in one area, regardless of the exercises you try and the best thing to do is just keep losing weight and your omentum will shrink accordingly. The usual mantra of energy out vs energy in

[Lidzz]

Same as me, keep going... Just have healthy meal. I know that bread bloats me up and too much rice. Just chek which foods do the same to u.

[Johnny-One Visitor]

I cannot answer your question directly since I am no expert, I can only answer from personal observation and experience. In my past I have carried out major cardiovascular exercise gaining a black belt in Judo and at that time I was in the Dojo three times a week for two hour sessions, running most mornings and also doing weights when I could. I even got the chance to do training sessions with the 2012 Olympic Judo squad.

Other than extreme athletes (male and female) I have not seen a single body which has had a totally flat stomach; you tend to lose that straight after your teenage years or even earlier for many individuals now a day, which is assuming you were ever lucky enough to have one. Like I say that is personal observation and we are all uniquely made. For females this tends to be even worse due to their natural ovulation cycle where the womb changes shape every “28 days”.

Even when I am at my thinnest, which is still around 12 pounds away, my mam still pats my belly and says, “You have got a podge on haven’t you.” Can I just stress my thinnest is the weight I was when I was seventeen and I am now approaching 50 and I only had a 34 inch chest whereas I now have a 44 in chest. Also note my mam is considerably heavier than I am. However she is my mam and I love her to bits so I let her get away with it.

On your question you did not mention your snacks or what you are drinking during the day; OK I will also mention the other as well. Many people have suggested over the years that tea, coffee and alcohol all causes bloating of the tummy, although as with many of these studies I am not convinced. I personally stick with fruit teas for breakfast and with my main meal, then water for the rest of the day. I have not drunk alcohol since I was a teenager neither, but these are all my personal choices and these are what work for me. “Not all of us are the same otherwise we would have married my grandma,” as my grandad used to say.

Good luck and I hope you get some better answers.

[Hairyman]

I go with the (there are no older people with 'flat bellies) comment, but for what it's worth, last year I was unable to get comfortably into 36 inch waist Craghopper trousers.

Last Thursday. I found their 32 inch waist trousers are now a very comfortable fit.

What I found on this forum last year was many posts about the damage that sugar / bread / potatoes do to us,------------------So I said "poison" every time I looked longingly at a cake. Cut my sweet consumption so much that I still have not finished what I was given for my 73rd birthday in march last year. Halved my potato consumption and eat about 4 slices of bread a week.

I found that I only lost weight in significant amounts by using my version of the 5:2 diet ie. Breakfast after midday on two non-consecutive under 1000 calorie days.

Go for reduced round the belly button rather than a flat abdomen and when (if?) you sit down to relax, read about the benefits of cutting your carbs.

Generaly non white vegetables are really the only acceptable carb intake with a limited amount of fruit.

Hope that is a help to you.

PS. I do not use the Gym, only some exercises for the over sixties that I found on the internet.

[Venusflytrap]

Hi Canzz,

Since you are going to the gym already how about switching to or adding a rowing machine to your work out. It is important that you get it right so maybe get one of the trainers to do a briefing for you and a check that you are doing it in the optimal way.

Food wise I think you might be doing what the guys in my family can fall into: very small breakfast of simple carbs with a little dairy followed by focusing on work and missing lunch, then perhaps leaving work via the gym and your body, by now screaming for intake, takes you for a large, possibly fatty and late dinner. You can eat pretty much what you want because you haven't eaten all day, so this is not a planned intake. You finally have enough to eat and you wake up not feeling hungry the next day.

I think you need to plan your intake to give you high protein, low fat and carb, fruit and veg through your day. I would suggest you have something like a wholemeal or brown sandwich thin with 100g of lean, visible fat free, ham, maybe some mustard and a tomato (either sliced in the sandwich or 80g of cherry toms to eat like sweets). No butter, but if you must, consider using a low fat cheese spread or quark instead. Or oats either overnight or porridge topped with 1 or 2 servings of fruit and a serving of skimmed milk, very low fat yog (plain) or 0% Greek yog, or quark.

You don't say why you don't eat lunch. Maybe you have a full day of surgery ahead of you? But if it is at all possible to eat at a desk, during a tea break or a bathroom break make sure you have something. It could be something that looks like biscuits such as cereal bars. But these aren't alternatives to anything healthy, if you look at the nutritional information on them they are a slightly healthier version of a chocolate bar. A low fat sandwich would be good especially if you can add some vege sticks, like carrot, cucumber and celery sticks and/or a chopped red pepper. Even a bought sandwich would work, but try and make it from one of the low kcal ranges. If you are able to have drinks at work, you can have a quick little munch!

If you are going to the gym after work, this would be the time to consider a smoothie or an equivalent snack. Perhaps a banana, another fruit and a yogurt. Or whoosh them all up as your smoothie.

Then you can have your dinner when you get in. Perhaps start with a homemade vege soup which could be made at the weekend and reheated every day. A large salad would be another starter option. Followed by a starch serving plus your protein and at least 3 vege. How about a sugarfree jelly and fruit as a pud?

If you combine a measured intake of low fat including dairy plus veges and fruit with some exercise that moves your middle, you should be able to take your waist measurement down. A lot of work and thinking, planning and organising which you might not be keen on. So, perhaps, gear up and try it for a week and see if you can do it. If it passes, try it for a month. Don't forget to do your measurements before so that you can see your progress.

I lost 2 dress sizes in a month doing this, including a gym session 6 times a week. But I was very overweight, unfit and podgy. Whereas you are clearly much fitter than I was, so might have less to lose in that area. Best wishes and good luck if you decide to make this your project.

Venus

[amz786]

yes i totally agree so hard to lose weight around that area. if anyone has any tips on losing belly fat and toning the belly please let us know. i have 3 tyres or 3 layers of belly. i want to come down to at least 2 layers man!!!😓😕