"The Big Tummy"

[no more fatso]

I am starting week 4, still on Induction. I need advise from all of you success story people as to how to best work at toning, eliminating, etc., the stomach I will be losing. What has your experiences been, and what is the best way to work on the stomach problem as I am losing?

[Perry]

Exercise! Specifically, cardio. Treadmill or one of the video workouts.

I don't think you can target one area of your body. Also, I'm told that doing crunches/situps makes your tummy look bigger!

I'm finding that my stomach was the last place I started to lose.

Hope this helped.

[Kibs]

Pilates Abs videos. they rock.

[Sweet Southern Rain]

I have a bo flex and I quit using it because I was getting bigger everywhere. I was starting to get a muscle, but I looked bigger everywhere wlse! So I am going to get a tradmill next. I just want to loose, not bulk up! My hubby uses it now, faithful and loves it!

[rissa]

i found that the treadmill worked well for me. hehe perry thats a cool game. lets just say i would not be a very good helicpoter driver :yikes :nono

[MidnightJulliett]

Judging from a lot of recent research and articles, and posts like Perry's, I think its safe to confirm that you really can't "target" one area of your body, you will lose fat from all over regardless of what area you are attempting to tone.

I've also read that you will lose weight in the reverse order of which you put it on. So if you got your big tummy first you will lose it last.

Another poster on here mentioned that you can form muscle underneath fat, pushing the fat outward and making it look "larger". I'm not sure of the amount of truth to this, but just some food for thought (low carb food!)

:hug

[Langrrr]

1) I lost my girth overall, over the course of my weightloss, not in specific areas at a time;

2) When working out, remember to stagger your exercise intensity levels. In other words, don't just get on the treadmill and go one speed for a set amount of time. I'm not sure what the proper term is, but I did what I used to do when I ran track. I'd walk, warm up, and then alternate running and jogging. It simulated what we used to call "ins-and-outs", when you'd run the straightaways on the track and jog the curves. On the treadmill, I'd start jogging at 4mph, do that for two minutes, and then run at 6mph for 2 minutes, then drop back down, repeat, etc.

Your body gets used to certain exercise intensities, and needs to be challenged.

3) For specific abs exercises, my father-in-law swears by lift-crunches. I'm not sure what the machine/equiptment is, but you go, stand in it, put your arms on braces at 90 degree angles from your body (elbows bent), and then lift your legs at the hips and bring your knees up towards your chest. This also works your gluts.

Hope this helps!

- Andrew

[RedKoolAid]

You have to be losing weight for your stomach fat to go away, crunches alone won't do it, but it sounds like you are losing weight, doing any kind of activity for crunches will bring out the muscles in your stomach so you can actually see them

[Mikaela209]

I use theFIRM2 abs video every Tuesday and Thursday for my abs. But I also do cardio, aerobics, and weight training monday, wednsday, and friday. Before I started see inches fall off my stomache, it did get larger because of the muscles building under the fat. But that was because as the muscle grew, it started to burn the fat. So basically I inflated and deflated. :joy

[RedKoolAid]

Hey Mikaela209! You look kinda around my age.. I'm 16, lol anyways I doubt you wanted to hear that but I just wanted to say good luck on your weight loss! I see you just started. Hope to talk to you later :wave