I took it with my webcam. I don't know where the cord for my camera is. There was no other way to take it.

I never said there was nothing she could do.

You do make a good point though, I could be wrong. I'm basing my opinion on the size of her belly in proportion to the rest of her. It appears, for whatever reason, she carrys a good amount of fat around her middle. Like I said, she can lose more weight and it will get smaller.

We'll have to agree to disagree about sugar coating things. I see it more as a medical condition. No reason to dance around the issue. She is asking for opinions, I'm gave mine.

Just for the record, I appreciate both opinions. However, I will never have surgury even if it is a medical condition. If I get skinnier and still have a fat belly, I will just have to get used to it. I'd be happy to have a flat belly, but if it's never going to happen unless it's surgury then I guess I will keep my belly, lol.

For the record I am not suggesting you have surgury I just wanted you to be aware of what you are up against. The main thing you have going for is your youth so your skin can recover a lot better than someone 20 years older.

Goodluck!

I have to say, I find your posts refreshing whether I agree or disagree with them, the honesty is great.

That aside, "Toning" is a myth. I see that a lot on here and it always bothers me the fantasies we create. Lose fat, and you'll get the look you're aiming for, do strength training as well as lose fat, and you'll be in even better overall health and fitness.

I have friends that say to me "I don't want to lose any weight, I just need to tone" I'm always like, DO STRENGTH TRAINING AND CARDIO, LOSE FAT and you'll get this "TONED" look you're going for.

Moving on, as to surgery, a recent study (yes I love my medical studies!!!) said that with lipo, within a year the women gain the "FAT" back, only it's not in the same area they had it removed. Say you have fat removed from your belly, well the highest concentrated places it's coming back are all the places we ladies hate. Our thighs, up mid torso, the sides of our breasts...my goal is to just create the best body I can possibly create. Lose as much FAT (not weight) as I possibly can and create muscle where I had little and strengthen the muscles I currently have.

That said, I am a size 6 in certain jeans as well and I KNOW I have a lot more to work on. Especially in the stomach area. It is the last place my body loses fat in, so these last 20lbs of fat, will hopefully (fingers crossed) be coming off from the midsection.

Well Kirzstyling it seems we agree on most everything.

When I said "toning" I put it in quotes because as you say there is really no such thing. I use it as an easy way for people to get my point rather than explain what you just did. When you increase the muscle strength/size under the subcutaneous fat that underlying muscle often gives a better appearance to the area but ultimately one needs to lose fat and gain muscle to appear "toned".

Regarding the article on surgery ... which of course I read ... I suspect the underlying reason is that the majority of people who have lipo do not have their diets / exercise in check thus they continue to gain weight and without the fat cells in the lipo suctioned area another part of the body grows. The NYT article doesn't make sense in a couple ways.

The body prefers to fill up existing fat cells before creating new ones and this is the first time I've heard that the number of fat cells in the body is static. The article suggests that the participants grew new fat cells. I'm not sure how the researchers would have determined this. Furthermore the idea that the fat must come back is really stupid in my opinion. If the person is in a deficit or eating maintinence how would the fat come back? You don't need to read the entire study only the abstract to see how the NYT article got it wrong. "Participants agreed not to make lifestyle changes while enrolled"

Still I'd like to read the whole study at some point but from what I'm reading it is hardly surprising that the weight would come back in different areas if no lifestyle changes are made by participants.

Yeah, that's something I actually got into an argument with the one lady at my gym. She is trying to convince me to be her client, because she's a personal trainer. She was telling me I need to do core exercises alone to tone by belly, and I was like "No, I need to do cardio exercises as well. You can't spot check, you have to lose weight all over." Then she was arguing that she went to school for this, and she has helped a lot of people lose weight. She said just running on a treadmill is only working out my legs. That's why my legs are nice and shaped and my stomach isn't. I told her, no cardio is working out my whole body and that I am not only doing cardio, I do core exercises as well as lifting weights with my arms and legs. I work out all my muscles and do cardio. Apparently what I am doing isn't right, and that she would do better with me. I'm like yeah ok. I used to be overweight, and I am thin now besides my belly, and I did that all by myself.

I think there is truth to both sides. After all, rarely is anything black and white. When I was 155, I was "skinny fat" meaning all my weight was in fat, and almost none in muscle since I didn't work out except for walking (although I did walk a lot). So while the cardio certainly helped me lose weight and my legs were "toned", everything else was flabby. But now that I'm doing strength training all over, I feel a lot stronger, and I think I look better. In my opinion (and this is JUST my opinion) I don't think losing weight alone will make someone "healthy" if they neglect, for instance, their heart (cardio) or bones (which weight lifting helps). Weight loss isn't the only piece of the pie.

Obviously she was selling something to you, but maybe her experience is also based on the fact that a lot of people do intense cardio (five mile jogs) and then overestimate the amount of calories burned, and go have a huge bowl of ice cream. I've seen that before (heck, I used to DO that).

As for the original topic of this thread, I think working out your abs will help (though not all exercises are equal), because it's helped me. It won't get RID of the fat, but I always feel less....jiggly...when I have some muscle underneath. I like to think my six pack is hidden by a protective layer of fat.

I RANDOMLY wondered over to here. I'm also probably the only personal fitness trainer, with qualifications and an understanding into human body and how it works on here too (quite clear by all the comments). Would you like to hear this BS all the people are feeding you, or actually listen to the real truth?

If you had just gone down to size 6 from wherever you were, most likely while your clothes fit, you still have a large outstanding amount of fat weight - the overhang over the pants, underarms, around the back and thy area. Just because one can FIT into certain clothing, that really doesn't mean much, without further insight into your ACTUAL BODY FAT PERCENTAGE.

Also, keep in mind that GAP officially call "size 6", size 8s and so on: "size 4" at GAP is actually size 6, etc. etc. since 2006. Many of USA stores do the same, with calling their apparel "large", when it's actually XL, and this was due to the growing pandemic of obesity in this country.

It's quite simple to tell if you are fat or not. Can you see a six pack, or a any definition of muscle/flat tummy WITHOUT flexing? If yes, then you are size 6 with big hips, not fat and extremely sexy (I am sure). If no, and you see loose skin, then obviously you still have ways to go.

It's very simple people!!!! STOP EATING FAT FOOD, thank you =)

Change your mentality and the thought about everything around you. People are saying "good for you" because well "good for you" you decided to do something about a weight problem you had. I personally don't focus on the size of my jeans, I focus on how I feel about myself because I think that is far more important and just as successful on being in a size 6 pair of jeans. Also please remember you're not some 15 year old in high school so a size 6 may fit you a little more differently now than back then.

No one is looking at you going, eww you're a size 6 omg so gross...people probably don't even know you're size just by looking at you. (You're the only only looking at yourself saying "does everyone consider a size 6 still fat?" because that's your issue.) Cardio and core will help you with your belly fat issue...but I think there are other things you may also need to work on, on the inside and not just belly fat. Good luck, I hope you reach a goal where you can finally be happy with yourself!

I think a lot of the skinny girls we compare ourselves to hover under their healthy weight range. That's why I'm aiming low.

This is an old thread guys, FYI

No. There's really no reason to bring up an old thread to send out a bad message. Don't eat this, don't eat that...it's better to help people incorporate the food they like into a healthy diet than tell them what NOT to eat.


No, not really. We just have no perception of what a healthy weight really is.

I'm smack dab in the middle of a healthy BMI for my height yet I can wear a size 2 and wear jeans from the girl's section. I'm actually planning on trying on some 0s soon because my size 2s are getting big. I'm considered "skinny" by a lot of people but I'm far from underweight

LOL guess I should learn to look at the dates.

Sorry, I meant girls in magazines and for me personally, the VS models. Not girls I see irl who I rarely think are skinny.

im 5'7.5 and hope for a 4-6. im a dancer so im hopeing and actually need my stomach to be flat, you dont wanna be a dancer with a belly, even belly dancers like to have nice bellies not flabby beer guts you know. i want/need to be able to dance in a bra (im not a stripper lmao) so i want my stomach flat. hopeing core exercises and dancing will tone me up once i get back down to my dancer body. i really. really. hope so. theres always surgury! yep. im that determined sadly. it really depends on your height and structure. a size 4/6 on me is going to be a lot smaller than on someone 5'4 with a light bone structure where as i have 7 inch wrists lolll... but i could still end up with a pouch id say size 4 and tone up even at sized 6 tone up is the key but thats just imo. but yea its not just what you weigh its what that weight is made up of. body fat percentage is important , i also just noticed this is an ancient thread lol sorry