[treowth]

Hi,

I'm just at the beginning of my weight loss journey. I'm eating much healthier and going tothe gym 3-4 times a week, doing between 25-30mins cardio and a the same length of time on low weights (high-ish reps).

My arms and legs have noticeably toned up over the last month, but my stomach just looks huge in comparison. I know it's not possible to 'spot reduce' weight but I wondered if anyone had any ideas of what I could do to strengthen and start to tone the muscle underneath my wobble

I have to be careful as I had back surgery earlier this year and can't put huge strain on my lower back. Is there a particuklar type of cardio that may start tackling this area more than another.

Hx

[jayohwhy]

I can say that if there was an exercise that would definitely give people a flatter belly, we would all be doing it. You already said it yourself that you can't spot reduce.

I would recommend swimming as a high calorie burning lower impact exercise for you to look into. My aunt had back surgery for a bulging disk but was able to work out via swimming soon after.

[treowth]

It's less to do with an exercise to flatten stomach and more to do with what are the best cardio and/or exercises will work the muscles underneath.

Hx

[ValRock]

6 packs are made in the kitchen and revealed in the gym .

[sensualappeal]

I think you just have to watch what you eat more and continue with the exercising. If you do ab exercises without cardio of proper intensity, you're building muscle under the flab, which in turn can make your midsection actually appear larger than it was originally. More toned, sure, but still larger and wider. I know the main thing is to do cardio to the point of breaking a sweat. The best form is interval training. I worked for me last year.
Make sure you don't eat too much dairy, I heard from one of my boxing instructors, she cut it out and dropped a LOT of the flab from her midsection. She said "if we're not supposed to have dairy when we're sick, because of inflammation and whatnot, why on EARTH would I eat it when I'm not sick!?" It's clearly not that good for you if eaten in too large of amounts. I have a terribly hard time living along with that advice as I love yogurt Also, cut down on salt and added sugars. That could help.

Originally Posted by jayohwhy

I would recommend swimming as a high calorie burning lower impact exercise for you to look into. My aunt had back surgery for a bulging disk but was able to work out via swimming soon after.

I heard that although swimming is a fantastic exercise, it will not help you achieve your goal if your goal is a flatter belly because swimming in cold water usually makes the swimmers hungrier, and in turn they consume more calories than they normally would following a different form of exercise.

[yoyoma]

It sounds like you might have three separate concerns, each of which might be addressed differently: abdominal girth, core strength, and jiggliness.

If you are concerned about abdominal girth, your problem may be visceral fat. While people say you can't spot reduce, visceral fat (located around your organs) is different from subcutaneous fat. It is more metabolically active and responds differently to diet and exercise. Rather than trying to do stomach exercises, visceral fat may respond better to blood sugar controlling diets (lower carb/paleo/mediterranian) and cardio, especially HIIT. I'd suggest reading about healthy waist-to-hip ratios and researching ways to reduce abdominal fat. In my case, eating lower carb and exercising more seemed to improve my waist-to-hip ratio.

If you are concerned about core strength, then by all means do core strengthening exercises. Core strength is important for balance, stamina, life in general. Proper crunches, and push ups if you can do them (or take steps towards being able to do them) are ways to increase core strength.

If you are concerned about jiggliness, this is probably a side effect of weight loss. You may have loose skin. Over time, it will tighten some. There is a sticky thread devoted to the issue of loose skin if you are interested. The jiggliness could also be due to a phenomenon that many 3FC'ers have noticed. Many of them swear that their fat gets jigglier just before they shed pounds or inches. Almost like the fat is being replaced with fluid then the fluid is drained.

Here's one of the threads about it:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/gene...ng-jiggly.html

[treowth]

Thank you for all you replies.

I barely eat dairy anyway (soya milk, soya yogurts etc) only cheese very occasionally.

I have hypothyroidism & pcos and am aware the weight around the stomach is a common factor with this disorder.

I am doing moderate cardio (sweating but can still hold a conversation) 4 times a week, teamed with low weights. I just want to optomize what I do to tackle this problem area.

Hx

[joltyness]

Some folks lose weight slower in their stomach area. If you can't do crunches, then just keep up the cardio and healthy eating. You'll slim down eventually. Unfortunately, there's really not much you can do beyond that.

The suggestion about varying your cardio is a good one. You may benefit greatly from lower-impact exercises. Something to consider.