That's a great question; one that I have been wondering about for ages myself. I was just doing research on the net last night about this very subject becuz that runs in our family too. I have a belly that makes me look like I'm pregnant; we try to joke about it, but I'm tired of telling people, "No, I'm not ... it's just fat!"
I have lost several inches off my stomach, but I have lost all over my body more. I do dozens of female crunchies each day (like I learned at a fitness center years ago); but one site said we only need to do 3 sets of 12 daily.
The AB sites claim it the high fat and refined wheat & sugary foods that are causing the belly fat in many people today. We don't eat a lot of baked goods, only low-fat Bran muffins; whole grains breads & cereals, etc. I'm still gonna tweek my eating plan from their ideas though, to see if it helps.
I was surprised that they recommended to eat pizza often; they must mean a thin whole wheat crust; and about one slice with salad (with no high-fat processed meats which were on their occasional list).
I read somewhere that some researchers think belly fat is a different kind of fat that some people produce becuz it runs in their families. We have cut down our meat portions to very lean lately, and we measure the amounts now; I hope this might help; but the ab sites say to increase the lean protein portions (eat them six times a day).
Sometimes all this info gets very confusing to me. I really would like to know the answer to this problem. I find it odd that my DH eats the same KINDS of foods as me (only more of them) and he doesn't have a ponch, and he's only 130 lbs. I know that his metabolism is faster than mine being a man, and he does a lot of walking and more physical stuff than me.
Maybe there's a clue there; maybe we all need to up our physical activities overall; and increase our muscle mass at the same time ??? I do hand weights every other day, and I'm looking into some other ideas (like getting an ERGOMETER, cuz I have bad legs) that I can use in between my walks.
Just some thoughts ....
ROSEBUD