Hello,

I know I am not overweight by any means. However, I carry a lot of excess fat on my stomach, and it makes me look weird/disproportionate. I am too embarrassed to ask any one I know personally for help, and plus, when I do start to ask for help, I get the response that I am already skinny and don't need to do anything.

Does anyone else have this type of fat on their stomach? Or any ideas on what exercises/diets may help me??

I am certainly no expert, but I'd try some planks, you can google for proper technique, any exercises that work the core would probably tone you right up, best of luck

I would look into your diet. Some people have given up wheat and have had great success. Others focus on high protein diets and that does the trick. I'd also do more ab workouts and heavy strength training as that really helps with the skinny fat issue.

I do heavy weight training that addresses the whole body including abs and core....I also try to keep carbs lower-ish (was under 150 per day and now aiming for under 100 per day).....

I have the same look to my stomach area although I am heavier than you...it's proportionately like that for me too but I always thought it was because I've had two pregnancies

I think you look fine!

However, it's a matter of personal perspective.

Given that I'm 54, my weight has been up and down, and I had twins that were over 6 pounds each, mine is a bit worse than yours, but not to bad given life.

So, of course my perspective is different.

Barring a tummy tuck and liposuction, I agree with Alaskandaughter on strength training.

The program, "The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged" is a good comprehensive program, for everyone, very adaptable. There are, if I remember right 5 books/programs by these folks. I've got all the books. Done 3, working on supercharged.

The thing I like, is they give you the program, very sensible, if you can't do A, they give alternatives, and if some things you can't do, then don't.

It's all about getting the best out of the workouts, that your body can do.

I'd recommend a combo of a moderate to lower carb/grain diet and heavy weight training doing compound lifts that use lots of muscles at once - like squats, pullups, bench presses, dips, deadlifts, rows, etc. Ab and core work has no impact on belly fat but a strong core is essential to be able to safely perform pretty much any heavy lift.

Core strength training. The current issue of Fitness magazine has a spread on an abs workout but you can also search YouTube, Livestrong, SparkPeople, and lots of other sites on the web for ab-focused workouts. Frankly, you're tummy isn't disproportionate. You look completely healthy in the photos. But, doing some all over strength training will be healthy for your muscles and bones so go for it.

You demonstrate a typical distorted view of yourself common amongst young people. You expect yourself to be perfect but it aint going to happen. All you will achieve by trying to get rid of the little bit of tummy fat that you have is to bugger up your whole figure and end up fatter than you are now all over.

Really i am serious. I am 50 and i know about these things. When i was your age and for a long long time i hated my bum because it was disproportionalitey large and thought i had to keep losing weight until it my bum was the right size. To get my bum the right size meant i had to be very skinny everywhere else. And of course there was always a rebound and i end ed up fatter than ever. and the bum got bigger.

This will happen to you if you refuse to accept that your tummy has a little bit more fat on it in proportion to the rest of your body.

The thing is you have a lovely figure now. The boys would love you. In clothes you look great and even without your clothes you look hot. You have absolutely nothing to do.

No amount of exercise will change your physique. Oh of course you will lose the fat if you keep losing weight but it will come back again as soon as you put on weight. And you will.

The fact is that we all have our own unique ratio of fat deposited around all the different parts of our body. And it never changes. The fat cells shrink or grow fatter but they do not reduce in number or grow in number according to our weight. Even if you were to get liposcution and have some removed, they would all be back in five years time because your body is genetically programmed to have so many fat cells.

So be smart and let it go. Learn to love that tiny little bit of extra fat you have on your tummy. Eat well and stay healthy. But forget about getting rid of that tummy. Its yours to stay forever.

Well said Pattience, although your advice has fallen on deaf ears. It doesn't look like the OP is returning. But I do agree with you, self acceptance is vitally important in long term success. Why is it so difficult to love oneself in the present moment? When I look back at pictures of myself even from last year I can love that person fully, but never did at the time.

I agree with what Patience posted. My waist/tummy is my problem area too, and even though I am not overweight, I do not wear clingy dresses because of my middle. However, that's what they make SPANX for . I can't ever stick to a routine of CORE exercise, and I finally gave up trying. Most women have a part of their body that bothers them; very few of us have the so-called perfect body, and that's why most women work around that by choosing clothes that flatter our figures. I've accepted that my body is not perfect, but it's not too bad either, and it's healthy; for that, I'm grateful. You look great as you are.

Without seeing the entire body it's hard to make any conclusions but based on what I am seeing I agree this is just where you carry fat.

You can certainly lose what is around your middle but as already pointed out to get the belly you want will most likely require dieting down to below 20% body fat and that is an area that most women will find difficult to maintain.

Hmmm hard to say OP! Those aren't complete pics of the body, so I can't really conclude what the body type is like nor what exactly your dream proportions are. Its a little too hard for me to make a prediction of just how much fat loss/muscle gain will result in whatever your idea of proportionate is. Personally, I have multiple "ideals" of proportions, and my personal proportion is one of my ideals - just not the weight LOL. Everyone is different with different goals and ideas of what looks great, and maybe a combination of fat loss and weight training will result in a body that you personally find "proportionate" or maybe not. Either way, the feeling of healthy eating and weight training (which you already may do) is pretty awesome, no matter what the results are.

Do you actually believe this?

You can have a firm figure when you're young and athletic without starvation diets and extreme unsustainable choices. There's nothing wrong, disordered or unrealistic about OP's goals.

I agree.

So um, I'm going to respectively disagree with posters that have suggested core training. Your abdominal/oblique muscles are exactly the same as any other muscle in your body - if you focus your workout on them, they get bigger. If you do a lot of core work, your core muscles can/will grow, which could actually end up causing your waist to widen.

I know it makes sense in our heads that if we 'work' at an area, it should lose fat first, but this doesn't really happen on a physiological basis.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa72.htm
http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-c...-kill-the-myth
http://www.niashanks.com/2013/09/spot-reduction/

There have been some interesting hypotheses that a combination of increased blood flow/targeted muscle focus and immediate following with an aerobic component MAY help 'mobilize' the more stubborn fat deposits.
https://www.t-nation.com/free_online...s_how_to_do_it

However, in general, if I had to judge only on the pics you've offered us, I'd suggest that your tummy may just have a bit of extra padding because that's where your body likes to store it's excess energy! In that case, you would in fact have to lose a bit of body fat to 'get rid' of the softer bits. It will have to be a values/judgement call for yourself, as to how much it really bothers you vs. the effort you're willing to put in to POTENTIALLY change it. No guarantees

Best of luck!