I have seen ads that say "Lose belly fat first" for South Beach. I have the book. I have been dieting and walking and have been losing weight - but did my measurements today...I have lost 2 inches in each thigh, 2 inches in my hips, 2 inches in my waist - ZERO in my belly.

Does South Beach really help with belly fat?

Thanks!

I've seen this "claim" but in my opinion no diet can "target" where you loose . For me, my belly always went first regardless of the diet I was on--- my hips last.(and of course it's the hips where I have to realllly loose it) ..
I wouldn't get discouraged Icmethinner--you've made so much progress.. IT will come off!!!

Thanks Schatzi -

I'm not sure I was clear - I have been dieting, but not South Beach, so was thinking of starting Southbeach if it helps with belly fat.

well I know that I for one have lost belly fat on the SB diet

Schatzi is right. There is no such thing as spot reduction. Everyone's body is different. No diet or exercise can help direct where the fat is going to come off.

Thanks everyone for your answers.

Alisha - how much have you lost? If 12 is your total and you know a lot of it came from belly fat, I find that encouraging!

Good question. I was wondering about that too. I was wondering if water weight tends to be in the belly. I think you lose a lot of water weight when you cut out carbs as we are on phase 1.

In any event, I assume it is an individual thing. Wherever it goes, good riddance

Yes, Doodess, it IS a very, very individual thing!

I was busting my chops every day at the gym, sticking to SBD faithfully and I lost a whopping 8 pounds and about 4" TOTAL over about 4 months.

Finally something registered in my teensy little brain..."something's wrong here!"

The doc did some bloodwork and discovered I have a nice case of PCOS and Insulin Resistance. It was only when he put me on some specific meds for the problem that the weight finally started coming off--s-l-o-w-l-y.

The belly fat has to do with estrogen. And the estrogen and insulin are somehow mysteriously linked.

Apparently, when we get shed of the bad carbs in our diet and gradually replace them with good carbs, our body stops pumping out so much insulin and the insulin we have does its job more efficiently. We then start burning the belly fat as fuel for our new fat-burning machine bodies. (At least that's the theory).

For those of us with insulin resistance, we have fewer insulin receptors. I guess some of the ones we had shut down or died off or something. Anyhow, we have all this insulin surging thru our bodies and no matter how much we diet or exercise, every time we eat, our body pumps more insulin into our bloodstream and there are fewer receptors to process that insulin and the food turns to fat--mostly on our bellies.

I hope that explains things a little...but wait...you didn't ask for an explanation!

Oh, well, I'll leave it there for someone who might be interested.