Can't lose belly fat! :(

fifomania

Hi!
I'm in my late 20's and I've always had a slim figure but over the last five years I've suddenly developed fat on my stomach. From the front I look skinny but when I turn sideways there's this big blob.
I've always been active and healthy as far as I can.
I don't eat takeaways, fizzy drinks, crisps etc and I don't drink alcohol.
Every day (and I mean EVERY DAY) I wake up eat a small breakfast, then go for an hours cycle. I have my dinner and in the evening I will go for another hour long speedy walk or jog. I always work up a sweat. Then when I come home I do pilates.
I don't understand how I am not losing this stomach weight. I thought cycling and jogging were cardio workouts and would help me lose my fat.
I'm on the pill so it's the only reason I can think of that I'm not losing weight? Any suggestions?? Thanks

connollys

You need the Ab King Pro!!!

No seriously, best thing is to post up a typical full days diet of everything you eat/drink. Loadsa people here know far more about this than me and will advise on where you can improve.

Do you do any weights at all or all just cardio work?

sealgaire

Teh problem with cycling is that it doesn't work your mid region, just your legs

dopes

Do you eat a lot of bread? I'd have a similar lifestyle to you and find that when I cut out bread I see an immediate difference in my belly area,

Big Ears

sealgaire wrote: »

Teh problem with cycling is that it doesn't work your mid region, just your legs

Considering you can't spot reduce fat, that isn't the problem at all.
Infact why the **** would you come onto a forum trying to give advice when you don't have a clue what you're talking about.
Now if this person was talking about toning their stomach rather than losing fat from the area you would have a point.

OP it would make things easier if you posted up your typical daily diet, and doing some resistance/strength workouts would help increase your resting metabolic rate and reduce fat over time.

Transform

fifomania wrote: »

Hi!
I'm in my late 20's and I've always had a slim figure but over the last five years I've suddenly developed fat on my stomach. From the front I look skinny but when I turn sideways there's this big blob.
I've always been active and healthy as far as I can.
I don't eat takeaways, fizzy drinks, crisps etc and I don't drink alcohol.
Every day (and I mean EVERY DAY) I wake up eat a small breakfast, then go for an hours cycle. I have my dinner and in the evening I will go for another hour long speedy walk or jog. I always work up a sweat. Then when I come home I do pilates.
I don't understand how I am not losing this stomach weight. I thought cycling and jogging were cardio workouts and would help me lose my fat.
I'm on the pill so it's the only reason I can think of that I'm not losing weight? Any suggestions?? Thanks

Yes read this as it has it all answered in the article - Banish your belly flab now -

http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/banish-your-belly-fat-now/

For the record its not that cycling does not target the area you want and has way more to do with an incorrect program and diet

dartstothesea

I know rying to reduce fat in one spot only doesn't work, but, would you be able to say what in the first place causes people to gain fat in one area moreso than others?

Big Ears

dartstothesea wrote: »

I know rying to reduce fat in one spot only doesn't work, but, would you be able to say what in the first place causes people to gain fat in one area moreso than others?

Gender, in Males this tends to be the stomach region, and the upper thighs and hips in Woman(probably for some reproductive reason). Outside of that people having more fat in certain areas than others is just down to their physiological make up. Part of what makes every human unique from the next.

sunny505

I'm a similar age to you. Got married recently so my motivation was high. What worked for me was a combination of three things diet, cardio and some specific exercises. I find cutting out carbs helps, the cardio burns the fat and stuff like ab curls, crunches and the plank tone the area. Those exercises alone won't help though - they just tone the area and then the fat is on top of the toned stomach . Wonder do you need to up your cardio?

edellc

i know your not pregnant but seriously try this work out for your belly you'll have the old britney abs in a few months also cut out bread its evil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMjeeqUWLo

Esse85

fifomania wrote: »

Hi!
I'm in my late 20's and I've always had a slim figure but over the last five years I've suddenly developed fat on my stomach. From the front I look skinny but when I turn sideways there's this big blob.

What are you saying here?

g'em

Big Ears wrote: »

Considering you can't spot reduce fat, that isn't the problem at all.
Infact why the **** would you come onto a forum trying to give advice when you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Tone it down please, there's no need for that kind of aggressive posting on a forum where people are trying to offer each other advice.

Big Ears wrote:

Now if this person was talking about toning their stomach rather than losing fat from the area you would have a point.

'Toning' is a misnomer - muscle either get bigger or smaller, there's no verb 'to tone'. Losing fat will effectively get the result that most people want when they say they want "tone" - they wants visible musculature.

Big Ears wrote: »

Gender, in Males this tends to be the stomach region, and the upper thighs and hips in Woman(probably for some reproductive reason).

Yup, oestrogen in women promotes the storage of fat on the hips, bum and thighs - after menopause the decline in oestrogen releases this fat storage and women become more prone to storing fat on the belly.

Just like with men, the fat that apple-shaped women tend to store on their belly is visceral fat, the deep-down more dangerous stuff; bum, thigh and hip fat is usually subcutaenous fat, the less serious kind, hence the pear shape is deemed to be healthier than the apple.

OP you'll find as you get older (especially noticeable when you hit your late 20s) that you'll become more and more prone to gaining weight. This is because your lean mass will start to reduce, and therefore your metabolism will slow down. The walking and jogging and cycling are great cardiovascular exercise but you might also want to look into doing some resistance training - this will help keep your lean mass high, it won't make you big and bulky, and helps your metabolism stay in tip-top condition. It'll also help with everyday tasks by keeping your strength up and helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis in the long-term.

dartstothesea

What would your take be on pear shaped males then, g'em? I think you'd see nearly just as many of them as you would see the "apple" variety with fat bellies but slim legs/thighs.
Are you saying a male who stores fat in a pear shaped way has some kind of estrogen problem going on? Or testosterone issue instead, or both?

g'em

dartstothesea wrote: »

What would your take be on pear shaped males then, g'em? I think you'd see nearly just as many of them as you would see the "apple" variety with fat bellies but slim legs/thighs.
Are you saying a male who stores fat in a pear shaped way has some kind of estrogen problem going on? Or testosterone issue instead, or both?

Personally I wouldn't entirely agree that pear-shaped males are common - the natural narrowness of men's hips compared to women's makes it hard for them to have it I'm saying they don't exist, just that I personally don't think the true pear shape is common in men - it's generally a case that the weight is creeping up all over the body.

But yes, those men who are prone to storing fat on the bum, thighs, and hips would have higher oestrogen levels than is desirable - the same reason why men get moobs. This is the fault of their diet, by and large, and not a genetic predisposition like you'd find in women. Although women are generally born pears - bad diets and a lack of exercise lead them to become more apple-shaped over time.

Men are naturally apples in that they're more prone to putting on weight on the belly. Pear-shaped men look that way for the same reasons women become apples (if that makes sense?! In other words gender shapes reverse from the norm though bad diet and lack of exercise!). The bad shapes perpetuate themselves though - high oestrgoen in men is generally from increased fat storage, that fat will promote increase oestrogen, the oestrogen promotes fat deposits and so the cycle continues.

Soy has been linked to increased oestrogen in men (although this is still disputed) but a good diet with plenty of cruciferous vegetables and plenty of fibre should help sort it (always comes back to the good diet ).

G86

g'em wrote: »

Although women are generally born pears - bad diets and a lack of exercise lead them to become more apple-shaped over time.

.

The 'generally' part does offer exception to the rule though. I've never carried weight on my lower body, and even now that I work out/eat healthily any extra weight still goes on my stomach, it's the last place I shift it too.

g'em

G86 wrote: »

The 'generally' part does offer exception to the rule though. I've never carried weight on my lower body, and even now that I work out/eat healthily any extra weight still goes on my stomach, it's the last place I shift it too.

Aye, I should qualify that further - women are by and large born with wide(r) hips and narrow waists, if you were to wake up and find yourself with a washboard tummy you would still be a pear shape - you would have a predominance of fat deposits on your bum and thighs and hips (it's thought to be an evolutionary mechanism to allow for energy release during breast-feeding, this is one time that a lot of women see the fat on those problem areas reducing greatly).

Big Ears

g'em wrote: »

Tone it down please, there's no need for that kind of aggressive posting on a forum where people are trying to offer each other advice.

Sorry about that, was uncalled for really and I apologise to the poster.

g'em wrote: »

'Toning' is a misnomer - muscle either get bigger or smaller, there's no verb 'to tone'. Losing fat will effectively get the result that most people want when they say they want "tone" - they wants visible musculature.

I'm not a big fan of the word tone myself really, it's just a lot of the time when you mention adding muscle to women they think of female body-builders. of course you're right that in many woman, losing some fat will leave muscle more visble and give them this 'toned' look they desire.

g'em wrote: »

Yup, oestrogen in women promotes the storage of fat on the hips, bum and thighs - after menopause the decline in oestrogen releases this fat storage and women become more prone to storing fat on the belly.

Just like with men, the fat that apple-shaped women tend to store on their belly is visceral fat, the deep-down more dangerous stuff; bum, thigh and hip fat is usually subcutaenous fat, the less serious kind, hence the pear shape is deemed to be healthier than the apple.

OP you'll find as you get older (especially noticeable when you hit your late 20s) that you'll become more and more prone to gaining weight. This is because your lean mass will start to reduce, and therefore your metabolism will slow down. The walking and jogging and cycling are great cardiovascular exercise but you might also want to look into doing some resistance training - this will help keep your lean mass high, it won't make you big and bulky, and helps your metabolism stay in tip-top condition. It'll also help with everyday tasks by keeping your strength up and helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis in the long-term.

Thank you for explaining the rest.

G86

g'em wrote: »

Aye, I should qualify that further - women are by and large born with wide(r) hips and narrow waists, if you were to wake up and find yourself with a washboard tummy you would still be a pear shape - you would have a predominance of fat deposits on your bum and thighs and hips (it's thought to be an evolutionary mechanism to allow for energy release during breast-feeding, this is one time that a lot of women see the fat on those problem areas reducing greatly).

You mean that woke up with a flat stomach that my hips/thighs would be bigger? I know they'd look bigger if my waist was smaller but it wouldn't change the fact that I'm predisposed to putting weight on my stomach and not my lower body, so if I put the weight back on it would still go back on my stomach. And also as my hips are quite narrow, my waist would have to be reaaaally small to make them look wider. Ach I'm confusing myself now!

g'em

G86 wrote: »

You mean that woke up with a flat stomach that my hips/thighs would be bigger?

No

What I mean is that a woman will generally (mostly) have a hip:waist ratio that indicates a pear shape. Women are born with wide hips (relative to wait size) and have a layer of subcutaenous fat on their hips, bums and thighs that oestrogen pre-disposes them to. This is your natural pear-shape, the shape that women are born with to allow them to give birth. I'm probably being quite confusing using the term pear-shape here becuase I don't necessarily mean it in relation to pre-disposition to fat dispersal.

Even if you have narrow hips, they're still wider than a comparative pair of hips in a man the same height/ weight as you. This is the natural female pear shape.

I'm not disputing where you put on your weight - I'm being confusing in the context that I'm using pear and apple shape, my fault I'm tired

Transform

g'em wrote: »

Tone it down please, there's no need for that kind of aggressive posting on a forum where people are trying to offer each other advice.

'Toning' is a misnomer - muscle either get bigger or smaller, there's no verb 'to tone'. Losing fat will effectively get the result that most people want when they say they want "tone" - they wants visible musculature.


Yup, oestrogen in women promotes the storage of fat on the hips, bum and thighs - after menopause the decline in oestrogen releases this fat storage and women become more prone to storing fat on the belly.

Just like with men, the fat that apple-shaped women tend to store on their belly is visceral fat, the deep-down more dangerous stuff; bum, thigh and hip fat is usually subcutaenous fat, the less serious kind, hence the pear shape is deemed to be healthier than the apple.

OP you'll find as you get older (especially noticeable when you hit your late 20s) that you'll become more and more prone to gaining weight. This is because your lean mass will start to reduce, and therefore your metabolism will slow down. The walking and jogging and cycling are great cardiovascular exercise but you might also want to look into doing some resistance training - this will help keep your lean mass high, it won't make you big and bulky, and helps your metabolism stay in tip-top condition. It'll also help with everyday tasks by keeping your strength up and helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis in the long-term.

i have to disagree and say that i find its less of a estrogen issue and more of an insulin issue when it comes to body fat stored in the belly area.

A good example of this is clients i deal with that have a flat stomach but their arms are still not great i.e. holding too much fat on the back of the arms relative to the rest of their body eg. a 12mm skinfold measurement on the triceps yet a 7mm skinfold on the stomach and 12mm on thighs (thigh measurements tend to change very slowly IMO). In many of these cases they are on birthcontrol pill or HRT drugs and have quite elevated estrogen levels. When they switch, reduce etc methods i see quite a significant change in about a month e.g. going from 12mm to 8-9mm is not uncommon in the arms yet no major changes in the stomach.

This is not to say that if you have flabby arms this is your answer. Its quite likely NOT the answer for you as what i refer to are clients with an already low body fat but certain areas seem a little out of whack compared to others. All these people would do cardio and hit the weights hard 3-5times per week also. So if you are doing all of this, not using wendy weights and your diet is really dialed in then it shows for me that when estrogen levels drop or normalise its the arms that benefit NOT the stomach.

For the stomach without exception for me its always the elevated insulin levels due to excessive (for that person) carb intake, junk foods, alcohol etc

However, as gem mentioned the single most important change you could make is doing a proper weights program.

Transform

G86 wrote: »

You mean that woke up with a flat stomach that my hips/thighs would be bigger? I know they'd look bigger if my waist was smaller but it wouldn't change the fact that I'm predisposed to putting weight on my stomach and not my lower body, so if I put the weight back on it would still go back on my stomach. And also as my hips are quite narrow, my waist would have to be reaaaally small to make them look wider. Ach I'm confusing myself now!

might have more to do with the fact that you are a vegetarian which does make it harder to keep carb levels below say even 40% of intake which would in turn lower insulin levels when its done.

The fat on hips is another topic as the OP was discussing fat on the stomach which i make reference to in post above

g'em

Transform wrote: »

i have to disagree and say that i find its less of a estrogen issue and more of an insulin issue when it comes to body fat stored in the belly area.

You're right - oestrogen is just one factor - I purposely didn't even start going down the insulin route

G86

Thanks for that Gem, I get ya now! And Transform, with regards to the veggie thing and carbs, I've reduced my carbs to 100-150g daily (from 300g+) to test that theory...no results as yet but it's only been 2 weeks so I'll see how it goes. It's definitely more difficult to keep them down as options are more limited, but I've found there are some brilliant net resources on low carb veggie recipes - it just means being a bit more inventive!

OP, I'll stop hijacking your thread now! And I'd +1 on the weights program, my stomach is still a tad squishy, but there was a hell of alot more of it before I started weight training!

Transform

G86 wrote: »

Thanks for that Gem, I get ya now! And Transform, with regards to the veggie thing and carbs, I've reduced my carbs to 100-150g daily (from 300g+) to test that theory...no results as yet but it's only been 2 weeks so I'll see how it goes. It's definitely more difficult to keep them down as options are more limited, but I've found there are some brilliant net resources on low carb veggie recipes - it just means being a bit more inventive!

OP, I'll stop hijacking your thread now! And I'd +1 on the weights program, my stomach is still a tad squishy, but there was a hell of alot more of it before I started weight training!

exactly, the benefits of weights are just brilliant when done correctly

dartstothesea

Transform, aside from weight training alone could you say what the best strategy would be for people with insulin related belly fat? Do you agree with g'em on estrogen causing disproportionate fat storage in the other areas (thighs, bum, moobs)?

cc87

dartstothesea wrote: »

Transform, aside from weight training alone could you say what the best strategy would be for people with insulin related belly fat? Do you agree with g'em on estrogen causing disproportionate fat storage in the other areas (thighs, bum, moobs)?

Estrogen would be a factor for women, not men so it wouldnt cause moobs anyway

dartstothesea

So you don't agree with what g'em said about estrogen causing fat being stored around hips/thighs and non-belly areas in some men?

Sorry if my questions seem a bit obtuse or even impolite, I'm just really trying to find out something definite about this.

So far I've gathered that something related to insulin is a big factor in storing fat on belly and that estrogen is a big factor in storing fat on upper arms and possibly thighs/hips.

It's been said in the thread also that weight training can improve the belly fat problem. It would sort of go without saying that you can burn calories (and lose fat) by lifting weights, so is there some other reason or what exactly is it about the weight training that would help lose belly fat?

Transform

dartstothesea wrote: »

So you don't agree with what g'em said about estrogen causing fat being stored around hips/thighs and non-belly areas in some men?

Sorry if my questions seem a bit obtuse or even impolite, I'm just really trying to find out something definite about this.

So far I've gathered that something related to insulin is a big factor in storing fat on belly and that estrogen is a big factor in storing fat on upper arms and possibly thighs/hips.

It's been said in the thread also that weight training can improve the belly fat problem. It would sort of go without saying that you can burn calories (and lose fat) by lifting weights, so is there some other reason or what exactly is it about the weight training that would help lose belly fat?

Easiest thing is post up your current diet in detail first.

Remember in detail so no a bit of this and that. be as specific as you can for 2-3 of the last typical days

Brian?

dartstothesea wrote: »

It's been said in the thread also that weight training can improve the belly fat problem. It would sort of go without saying that you can burn calories (and lose fat) by lifting weights, so is there some other reason or what exactly is it about the weight training that would help lose belly fat?

The more lean mass you have, the more calories you burn just sitting still.

cc87

dartstothesea wrote: »

So you don't agree with what g'em said about estrogen causing fat being stored around hips/thighs and non-belly areas in some men?

Sorry if my questions seem a bit obtuse or even impolite, I'm just really trying to find out something definite about this.

So far I've gathered that something related to insulin is a big factor in storing fat on belly and that estrogen is a big factor in storing fat on upper arms and possibly thighs/hips.

It's been said in the thread also that weight training can improve the belly fat problem. It would sort of go without saying that you can burn calories (and lose fat) by lifting weights, so is there some other reason or what exactly is it about the weight training that would help lose belly fat?

Im not disagreeing with g'em at all. But for a man to say that he is fat/overweight or whatever due to raised estrogen levels is just a cop out. Like g'em said if a man puts on weight its due to diet rather than a genetic disposition like in women

g'em

cc87 wrote: »

Like g'em said if a man puts on weight its due to diet rather than a genetic disposition like in women

99% of the time if either sex puts on weight it's down to diet men and women don't have big bums and thighs and bellies because of oestrogen, they have them because they eat too much of te wrong things and don't exercise enough. It really isn't much more complicated than that.

Get your diet in order and your hormones will sort themselves out of their own accord