Need Advice On How To Lose Belly Fat ? Please Help

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Amy06

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Hi my name is Amy. I am from Florida. I just joined this site and was wondering How To Lose Belly Fat. I have been walking, but when I do sometimes it hurts in the upper leg....I don't know what that part is called. :confused:

I am eating better as well. I have started eating breakfast for one and I eat Apples, fresh veggies, yogurts, chicken, salads and some red meat and also a baked potatoe. When I go out to eat I try and eat healthy, but mostly my boyfriend and I prepare meals at home.

The only excercise I do is walk and sometimes to sit ups. So I was wondering what else to do ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

Amy
 
Hello Amy06 & welcome!

Research shows that the best way to burn body fat is doing resistance training i.e. using weights or resistance machines. Why? Simple: Resistance training stimulates the tissue that burns the most fat i.e. the muscle. Besides that, the production of fat-burning hormones (e.g. testosterone) increases.

Doing cardio like walking is not as effective as weight training in losing body fat. If you so like doing cardio, keep it low-intensity, light jogging, walking, biking, swimming. You may ask 'why low-intensity cardiovascular exercise'? The reason is this: With fat-loss as your goal, your heart rate during cardio exercise should be between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate. If you do high-intensity cardio exercise, your heart rate would likely exceed 70%, and then gradually you start relying on glucose metabolism as your source of energy instead of body fat. And then you would start eating up your muscles while burning very little fat! Do you now understand why most famous bodybuilders and athletes hardly do cardio? I bet you do. Truth is, to make cardio efficient at burning body fat, it MUST be low-intensity, unless you are very well conditioned physically and athletically.

You said you do sit-ups. Everywhere you turn today, everyone encourages sit-ups. But expert research has shown that sit-ups can cause very serious injuries. A strained lower back, lumbar injuries, tension on your hip flexors instead of your abdominal section are just a few of the problems associated with sit-ups. However, you might do sit-ups only if you are a super athlete with a well-developed midsection. Otherwise, you would be causing more harm than good.

Please discontinue any exercise that cause you pain. You would achieve very little with pains, and besides you could easily lose your motivation if you continue with a program that causes pain.

Hope all that helps. :)
 
Hi There Base007,

ThankYou very much for the insight on losing Belly Fat and doing sit ups...I did have lower back pain when I was doing them, So I suppose I won't be doing them anymore. As for weight Training, I will be going to the gym 2 days a week which will be a good thing for me. I don't want to sound weird, but my doctor says I have a lot of gas in my belly as well. I weigh about 133 and am 5 feet 1 inch. In your opinion is that a good weight for a person my size ? Just Curious.

I am really obssessing about this a lot aren't I ? And it sometimes drives me crazy. I should just let it be and go on with my life. But some jeans and shorts feel tight and that is when I think I am Fat....I know this sounds crazy, but I should just let it go right ? Anyways Thanks Again and talk with you soon.

Amy :)



base007 said:
Hello Amy06 & welcome!

Research shows that the best way to burn body fat is doing resistance training i.e. using weights or resistance machines. Why? Simple: Resistance training stimulates the tissue that burns the most fat i.e. the muscle. Besides that, the production of fat-burning hormones (e.g. testosterone) increases.

Doing cardio like walking is not as effective as weight training in losing body fat. If you so like doing cardio, keep it low-intensity, light jogging, walking, biking, swimming. You may ask 'why low-intensity cardiovascular exercise'? The reason is this: With fat-loss as your goal, your heart rate during cardio exercise should be between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate. If you do high-intensity cardio exercise, your heart rate would likely exceed 70%, and then gradually you start relying on glucose metabolism as your source of energy instead of body fat. And then you would start eating up your muscles while burning very little fat! Do you now understand why most famous bodybuilders and athletes hardly do cardio? I bet you do. Truth is, to make cardio efficient at burning body fat, it MUST be low-intensity, unless you are very well conditioned physically and athletically.

You said you do sit-ups. Everywhere you turn today, everyone encourages sit-ups. But expert research has shown that sit-ups can cause very serious injuries. A strained lower back, lumbar injuries, tension on your hip flexors instead of your abdominal section are just a few of the problems associated with sit-ups. However, you might do sit-ups only if you are a super athlete with a well-developed midsection. Otherwise, you would be causing more harm than good.

Please discontinue any exercise that cause you pain. You would achieve very little with pains, and besides you could easily lose your motivation if you continue with a program that causes pain.

Hope all that helps. :)
Click to expand...
 
base007 said:
Hello Amy06 & welcome!

You said you do sit-ups. Everywhere you turn today, everyone encourages sit-ups. But expert research has shown that sit-ups can cause very serious injuries. A strained lower back, lumbar injuries, tension on your hip flexors instead of your abdominal section are just a few of the problems associated with sit-ups. However, you might do sit-ups only if you are a super athlete with a well-developed midsection. Otherwise, you would be causing more harm than good.

Please discontinue any exercise that cause you pain. You would achieve very little with pains, and besides you could easily lose your motivation if you continue with a program that causes pain.
Click to expand...
so wat do u think wat we should b doing 4 flat abs i mean which exercise beside frm situps?:confused:
 
jelly belly said:
so wat do u think wat we should b doing 4 flat abs i mean which exercise beside frm situps?:confused:
Click to expand...

Improve your diet!! Flat abs don't come from any exercise. They come from a healthy diet! For some reason the myth of spot reduction just won't go away!! I am an aerobics instructor and all of my students want to do tons of abs after class. I always have to remind them that you can't spot reduce.

Cardio and weight training are vital but diet is even more important.
 
He's an affiliate for it. But I do not agree with some of his posts. I asked him about it in another thread.

To lose belly fat... you must reduce overall body fat. Here are 5 tips to do that.

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss. A gassy stomach probably means you need to focus on improving diet.
 
As the posters before me said, low body fat is the key to getting your abs showing (ever heard of that saying abs are made in the kitchen?)

As trainer lynn said, it is best to eat smaller, well balanced meals throughout the day. Make sure they are healthy and clean (avoid junk food, over processed food, dining out frequently). I recommend lots of veggies and fibre rich foods and lots of water. I also think it is a good idea to have a serving of protein with each meal (especially breakfast).

As for exercise, an entire body resistance/strength training three times a week and cardio on the off days (and a day or two of rest) is what I recommend.
(Example. Mon - weight train Tue - cardio Wed- weight train Thurs - cardio Fri - weight tran Sat - cardio Sun - rest)

Check out the weight training section of the forum for some ideas on a weight training plan.

Good luck with whatever you decide!
 
Lynn, you are right. I'm a affiliate for it, but that's not what matters. My info concerning choice of cardio (whether low- or high-intensity) is not even gotten from the book. I've replied your other posts asking me about it but I would post it here too so everyone can see.

base007 said:
Lynn, thanks for showing interest. It is quite understandable that you don't agree with me 100%. While I'm not a trainer myself, I would say I have done quite a lot of research on these issues. I don't know the half that you are not sure about but I guess it's the one that has to do with the advantages of low-intensity cardio over high-intensity cardio. I did not get all of that info from Tom's book, but I got it from various researches I made among which is someone Tom has a lot of regards for - David Grisaffi. You can confirm Tom's high regards for him in this interview:

(it's really an interest read -- so by all means, enjoy it!:) )

I'm not here to promote David Grisaffi, but I dare say I have a lot of respect for him too. When you subscribe to his newsletter, you would get a report that I guess would be enough proof about the issues I raised here (you can unsubscribe immediately after if you so wish). If you are still unsatisfied (and I really think you won't be considering that we are talking about David Grisaffi), I would be glad to provide further proof.

Hope I've cleared myself. :) If anyone is still not satisfied, please post it here and let's talk some more.
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As humans we keep learning. That's what makes life fun. I hope you guys would learn a few things from David Grisaffi.

Cheers!
 
jelly belly said:
so wat do u think wat we should b doing 4 flat abs i mean which exercise beside frm situps?:confused:
Click to expand...

Doing crunches on a swiss ball have proved to be very helpful for me. And I got that helpful tip from David Grisaffi. You can visit the link in my post above. (Please note that I do not have any connection with that link. I just find that page very informative, and I'm sharing it:) )
 
Posted my reply in the original thread. No hard feelings, base007. I've just seen many people on these boards promoting info that is not entirely true. So that is why I asked for your resources.
 
I see your point, Lynn. I really would not recommend a tip if I have not tried it out myself and found it useful.
 
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