[heather_dw]

i carry most of my weight around my middle. what are the best exercises/methods of attack for this?

[lessofsarahtolove]

Heather, unfortunately it's not possible to "spot reduce" -- so you can't "target" weight loss in your belly specifically. (God I wish you could, my apple sister!) The only thing to do is to continue to lose fat and eventually it will come off the middle. Doing exercises that increase strength in the core (your trunk) will help in the longterm, but they won't make your stomach smaller. Simply stated, the fat's gotta go, and your body will dictate how it comes off. I've heard -- and it has held true for me -- that it comes off in the order in which it went on....but I'm not sure if that's true for everyone.

So just keep on looking for ways to continue to improve your behaviors and add to your new good habits, and keep your head and spirits up....you'll get there. Keep the faith girlfriend.

[Sheila53]

I swear mine just appeared overnight so I have no idea of the order in which the fat went on. Face it, the boobs are the first to go when you're losing weight, and wherever you really want it off, well, that's the last to go. Am I right?

Heather, I just want to say how excited I am to see how much you've progressed. When you first started posting, you could only do a few minutes of the WATP tape, and now you're doing the whole darn thing, and are ready for more. You should be so darn proud of yourself!

[ElisaB]

Hi Heather

While I agree with lessofsarahtolove that you cannot spot reduce, you can train morre efficiently so you create more balance in your body. There is a great book on the subject, called "Shape Training" by Robert Kennedy, who is a reknown fitness authority.

He divides women in more body types than just apples and pears, because truly, there are more combinations. He uses letters of the alphabet to distinguish them:
A-frame: wide hips relative to shoulder width, full thighs
H-frame: broad shoulders, thick waist, full thighs and hips
I-frame: lean limbs and trunk
O-frame: wide hips, broad shoulders, full thighs, hips and breasts
T-frame: shoulder width even with hips, wide shoulders, full breasts
X-frame: shoulder width even with hips, small waist, full breasts

He recommends a specific routine and specific training methods for each body shape. For instance, I'm an A-frame, so he recommends using heavier weights, lower reps on the upper body to build muscle, especially on the shoulders, to offset the wide hips; and lighter weight and more reps on the lower body to tone without adding volume. He also recommends cardio after weights, so you burn more fat.

These are just bits and pieces, the book contains much more than that, I just wanted to give you an idea of what it entails.

It's a good book, I definitely recommend it.

[nelie]

Most of my weight is around the middle as well, with heavy emphasis on the stomach/butt area.

What I have done is all over weight training. I do heavy weights for all over my body and my reasoning is that I am not concerned about shaping my body right now as I am concerned about losing weight. Since muscle burns fat, building muscle, which you can do without building bulk because you are a woman, is a good way to build up your metabolism. If I didn't have fat covering my body, then I might be more concerned about trying to emphasize certain body parts, but I'll get there eventually.

So basically heather, i would say do all that you can. Keep walking, keep working on the weights that you started and keep trying to do the yoga You'll get there.

[heather_dw]

Thanks for the tips guys. Ik new you couldnt spot reduce,.. but I was hoping there was something that could be done. I just think that if I could lose more in that area,. even just a little, people would really be able to tell, not only that, but I could wear smaller clothing sizes. blah,... I am just getting to the point where I can feel my hip bone when i lay down (sounds weird, but I have never remembered be able to do that before)

:-) Im going to try that yoga today and of course my WATP, plus my arm/weight work:-) So im still going to keep plugging away, it has got to show sooner or later (hopefully sooner, im running out of time before family christmas)

[nelie]

Heather, I understand, its frustrating, you'll often lose weight in places that you don't expect. Things I didn't expect to happen were: losing a shoe size, neck lost an inch, wrists lost an inch, ankles lost an inch, fingers got slimmer, hands got smaller, etc. The reason I didn't expect those things to happen is I didn't think there was much fat in those areas. I now have bony wrists, bony! Imagine that. But I have also lost inches everywhere else as well, so its ok. Just keep plugging away.