[AndreaWeaver]

I've been trying to exercise more often to lose my 2 inches of belly fat and i don't know how long it will take. If i just eat my normal meals, which isn't that much, go walking for an hour in the morning before breakfast and then either walking again or playing tennis for an hour after dinner, how long should it take to lose the 2 inches?

[AnneNewton]

It will take as long as you allow. It really depends on how determined you are and what you do!
Walking before breakfast is great, just make sure you're pushing yourself harder each day. Eating late in the day is really bad though.
A big breakfast is fine so long as it's healthy, ie. cereal with low fat milk, 2 slices of wholegrain toast, banana, low fat yogurt and an apple is perfect.

Here's a few tips to help speed things up:

Have a no sugar caffeine drink (ideally tea or coffee) before your walk to kick start your metabolism.

Tense your tummy muscles whenever you can and make a special effort to 'hold in' your tummy while walking.

Try to do sit ups or stomach crunches every morning and evening, do one more every day.

Do NOT eat after 8pm.

Drink plenty of water.

Take it easy on carbohydrates and try to go wholegrain where possible.

Later meals should be lighter. Also, check out these recipes when you can http://tiny.cc/qwhmjy

Good luck!!!

[Esofia]

I agree with some of that, but not about making breakfast a big meal. If you are naturally suited to a larger breakfast, you'll already know that. If you're a small breakfaster and you try to eat a larger breakfast, research has shown you'll end up eating more through the day.

[Princessroja]

I have to say I disagree with the eating late being bad. It really depends on your internal schedule and what works for you. My family eats dinner between 8 and 9, but then we go to bed at 12 or 1am. It works very well for us, and that's a normal dinnertime in many parts of Europe too. If it works for you, it works, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Find your own internal rhythm.

But that aside, it's pretty much impossible to answer your question. It's not terribly difficult to calculate an expected pound loss, although that doesn't always go as planned, but inches could be any number of pounds, depending on where you carry fat, how muscular you are, and a host of other things. Something like Pilates might serve you better for exercise if toning is what you're after, since cardio is great overall but doesn't necessarily build muscle. Best of luck to you!

[mjf]

Originally Posted by AndreaWeaver

I've been trying to exercise more often to lose my 2 inches of belly fat and i don't know how long it will take. If i just eat my normal meals, which isn't that much, go walking for an hour in the morning before breakfast and then either walking again or playing tennis for an hour after dinner, how long should it take to lose the 2 inches?

The amount of fat you need to lose to take an inch off your waist differs from person to person, so it's impossible to give an accurate answer.

I don't know what your normal meals are, but what you eat is just as important as how much you eat, so be sure to eat healthy. Playing tennis will help, but if you want to make faster progress, you should be doing a little bit of weightlifting in addition to the tennis.

[knoxie]

Is your tummy the only place you hold your weight? I ask because usually we don't get to decide where we put it on or take it off (unfortunately!).

[yoyoma]

I can't answer your question, but here's some things to think about.

Our waistlines are affected by both normal subcutaneous fat and unhealthy visceral fat. In cases of someone who is insulin resistance, a fatty liver could also contribute to an enlarged waistline. If you are interested in finding out if you might have excess visceral fat, measure your waist-hip ratio (WHR) which is the circumference about an inch about your belly button divided by the circumference at your hip bones. Numbers above 0.8 indicate a higher risk. A waist measurement of greater than 35 is also considered an increased risk.

When it comes to normal subcutaneous fat, knoxie is right that we can't spot reduce to choose where we will lose the fat (except through interventions like liposuction as well as some non-surgical methods).

However, visceral fat can be targeted by diet and exercise. Walking is great! I do a lot of walking and years ago I was able to bring an unhealthy WHR into the healthy range (which is still is) partly by walking. Eating low levels of added sugars, refined carbohydrates, and alcohol should also help, as will weight loss in general.

In my case, I also adopted a low(ish) carb diet in general and ate *less often*. I know there's still a lot of controversy over eating/not eating breakfast, but a lot of people find an eating window very helpful and I find eating just once a day (which I got to by shrinking my eating window slowly) very sustainable. Eating windows and intermittent fasting (IF) in general are also tools that can be used to combat fatty liver and visceral fat.

In terms of how long it takes... well I could only guess but I expect it would take months at least. However, this can be an important health concern as well as an aesthetic issue and adopting lifestyle changes that will reduce visceral fat over time will reap benefits over the long run.

Good luck, I hope your program works well for you!

[ZhivkoIvanov]

Eating a high protein breakfast is one of the most effective ways to lose weight and sustain long-term progress. You won't get hungry and will feel full though out the day. A few good ideas for breakfast are scrambled eggs with veggies, an omelet with cottage cheese, greek yogurt with seeds and berries.