How to burn belly fat

iguana

Cill94 wrote: »

There’s actually not much support for the idea that you can meaningfully change posture with exercise, or that there is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ posture to begin with. Exception being if one specific posture is more efficient for completing a given task.

Also correlation between ‘core strength’ and mitigating back pain is weak as well.

Really? Can you back that up because it's contrary to both common sense, my own experience, the experience of many people and absolutely everything I'm finding when I look up up those claims. The internet is full of not just articles but studies and advice from health services like the NHS showing how to improve posture and back pain with core strengthening.

As for posture being good or bad, we were specifically talking about the appearance of the belly area, which while appearance is subjective to what looks good or bad, we can all make our belly area look better or worse with posture. And we can certainly make our bodies feel better or worse depending on posture.

Cill94

iguana wrote: »

Really? Can you back that up because it's contrary to both common sense, my own experience, the experience of many people and absolutely everything I'm finding when I look up up those claims. The internet is full of not just articles but studies and advice from health services like the NHS showing how to improve posture and back pain with core strengthening.

As for posture being good or bad, we were specifically talking about the appearance of the belly area, which while appearance is subjective to what looks good or bad, we can all make our belly area look better or worse with posture. And we can certainly make our bodies feel better or worse depending on posture.

Here's a review on the posture topic:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11710670/

And some studies looking at core strength/stability and pain:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22270245/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0052082

In general there is not a lot of research on core strength and low back pain, but what we do have suggests that core focused exercise is no more effective than general exercise (or just strengthening the back with squats, deadlifts, etc.). If someone has told you different, then they simply aren't speaking in line with the research, as all the leading experts in the spine will be pretty upfront about how little we really understand about most of this stuff.

I don't disagree that adopting a certain posture can make your belly look bigger or smaller, and that some postures may make you feel better. I'm simply correcting the other stuff you said about posture and core stability which just isn't supported.

iguana

Cill94 wrote: »

In general there is not a lot of research on core strength and low back pain, but what we do have suggests that core focused exercise is no more effective than general exercise (or just strengthening the back with squats, deadlifts, etc.). If someone has told you different, then they simply aren't speaking in line with the research, as all the leading experts in the spine will be pretty upfront about how little we really understand about most of this stuff.

Ah ok, I see where we are each coming from. I completely agree that core focussed isn't better than general exercise that also builds your core. But that general exercise brings about certain physical improvements because there are benefits to having a stronger core. (Or more accurately; drawbacks to having too weak a core.) I had back pain for nearly 20 years following an injury when I was 20. It was always there at some level. Mostly just low level pain but intermittently painful enough to drastically limit my life for months at a time. A few months after I started skating regularly the pain was almost gone. I had no more constant pain and only a nagging pain toward the end of several hours of skating. Another few months on and the pain went away completely. Which then allowed me to tentatively increase the range of motion in my back. Even when injured I had very good forward back flexibility but any sort of 'cobra' stretch would cause immediate sharp pain and days/weeks of issues. Now I can get into a gymnastic bridge and just feel good, not a great one, it needs a lot of work but I would not have achieved that kind of mobility again without having built a really decent core.

I didn't start out doing any sort of specific core exercises. Initially the only exercise I did was skating, I rarely even thought about my core. The first time I even realised I was affecting it was when I went to show my son how to use monkey bars and felt my core engage and I flew right across them. I hadn't been able to do a monkey bars in years and they had just become almost effortless. Gaining a stronger core gave me back a huge range of abilities that I had thought were lost to me through my back injury and age.

Cill94

iguana wrote: »

Ah ok, I see where we are each coming from. I completely agree that core focussed isn't better than general exercise that also builds your core. But that general exercise brings about certain physical improvements because there are benefits to having a stronger core. (Or more accurately; drawbacks to having too weak a core.) I had back pain for nearly 20 years following an injury when I was 20. It was always there at some level. Mostly just low level pain but intermittently painful enough to drastically limit my life for months at a time. A few months after I started skating regularly the pain was almost gone. I had no more constant pain and only a nagging pain toward the end of several hours of skating. Another few months on and the pain went away completely. Which then allowed me to tentatively increase the range of motion in my back. Even when injured I had very good forward back flexibility but any sort of 'cobra' stretch would cause immediate sharp pain and days/weeks of issues. Now I can get into a gymnastic bridge and just feel good, not a great one, it needs a lot of work but I would not have achieved that kind of mobility again without having built a really decent core.

I didn't start out doing any sort of specific core exercises. Initially the only exercise I did was skating, I rarely even thought about my core. The first time I even realised I was affecting it was when I went to show my son how to use monkey bars and felt my core engage and I flew right across them. I hadn't been able to do a monkey bars in years and they had just become almost effortless. Gaining a stronger core gave me back a huge range of abilities that I had thought were lost to me through my back injury and age.

That's great to hear but I do think you're still misattributing the success to your core getting stronger, when that's actually unclear.

Simply it just sounds like you began doing a type of exercise you enjoy, which encouraged movement and strengthening of your back. That is totally in line with what research has shown to work.

Your 'core' is used in just about any type of movement where you don't allow your spine to flop over - so it's extremely difficult to attribute improvements to core engagement, as it's already a necessary part of all movement, whether you focus on it or not.

Anyway, I'm glad that your back is feeling better now and by all means keep doing what has worked for you.

iguana

Cill94 wrote: »

That's great to hear but I do think you're still misattributing the success to your core getting stronger, when that's actually unclear.

Possibly but I did an awful lot of physio, especially in my 20s, all of which focussed on my back. I did a physically active job and I did quite a bit of martial arts. None of which ever made my back better (my job tended to make it worse at times). Skating on the other hand requires a lot of core engagement even though you may not be conscious of it. Initially I had no idea but over time I started feeling my core engaging in a way I hadn't ever felt at all before. I also developed visible abs after about 6 months, something that actually freaked me out initially when I noticed them in the mirror.

So yeah, it could be me taking the wrong thing from a complete coincidence. But years and years of back focussed exercises did nothing whereas the development of a strong core that I could feel and see coincided completely with the pain disappearing. I also do a number of activities where core engagement become increasingly important the more complex the movement. If you don't have a really strong full core engagement you aren't going to maintain a headstand or handstand. I feel it all the time when I let my core go just a little bit and I lose it and fall out it if I can't re-engage fast enough. There are other muscles involved too obviously, but in a headstand, in particular, the whole movement starts and ends in the core.

bladespin

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117619534#Comment_117619534

No amount of waist training will reduce fat, please don’t fall for gimmicks like that.

bladespin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117676997#Comment_117676997

You're completely wasting your time, those exercises are very ineffective compared to any properly physical activity - planks to burn fat? Joke right???

You can train your abs all day long but that won't trim your waist or burn much fat, you'll just have a great six pack covered up by layers of fat.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117677993#Comment_117677993

I don't know why you're bothering, they're clearly a shill.

bladespin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117683280#Comment_117683280

I know but can't resist! Chasing shills is my new ab routine - works too!

Francie Barrett

It can be done and it's not particularly hard if you stick with a routine.

5ft 11 male here, went from 92kg to 74kg after starting the 1st of January and have been the same weight since July. Have a little excess pudge/fat/skin that's not very noticeable that won't go, but I am in my 50s and can live with it.

I eat three meals a day and snack only very rarely. I would do intermittent fasting about 1-2 times a week (usually skip breakfast). My meals are a lot healthier than previously (most of my plate is veg rather than carbs). I cut sugar and sugary foods out of by diet 90% (no sugar in tea ever, maybe a small kit kat once a week as a treat). My takeways have went from 1-2 a week to once a month (even then I don't go mad with portions). Beer and bread almost entirely out of my diet as well (gin and slimline tonic to replace the beer), maybe a bit of bread every 2 weeks. I increased my exercise a little by walking, but it's maybe only 1/2 an hour every few days or so.

Not saying this will work for everyone, but the weight will come off slowly. It was difficult for the first few weeks, but gets a lot easier. By the end of the first month, my stomach shrank and I was rarely hungry between meals. If I ate a big meal (that I could have done easily before), it would now feel uncomfortable. One thing I was conscious of was not cheating often, and if I did cheat, it was maybe just one meal, and not a weekend of losing control.