Best exercises to reduce belly fat

simongurnick · 13-10-2020 2:17pm #1

Hi folks
Hoping for some advice here.

Quick background: been on a weight loss journey the last few years. Tipped the scale at 280 (6ft man) and then lost about 30 lbs on weight watchers. Over the next 18 mths put back about 10 lbs. Then at the start of lockdown i put on a few more and clocked in at 260.
Started using Noom and have lost 15 lbs in 4 months, pretty much a pound a week. It's decent enough but not as much as I hoped.
Through all this I keep fairly active and was a regular soccer and basketball player, did a spin class and the odd yoga session.
Personally I have found my weight loss to be 90% diet (reduced calories) and 10% exercise.
With that being said, would anyone recommend specific exercise to attack my belly fat? I basically have a beer belly, with no fat elsewhere and have a decent bit of stamina, despite the weight.

thanks in advance.

Mr. CooL ICE · 13-10-2020 3:19pm

Unfortunately, nope. It's not possible to target areas for fat loss, unless you go down the surgical route. You'll just have to keep doing what you're doing and the belly fat will eventually go, but will probably be the last.

What you could do is look at building some muscle definition so that the belly is less prominent, but that's not what you're specifically looking for.

Regardless, well done on the weight loss so far

simongurnick · 14-10-2020 12:34am

Mr. CooL ICE wrote: »

Unfortunately, nope. It's not possible to target areas for fat loss, unless you go down the surgical route. You'll just have to keep doing what you're doing and the belly fat will eventually go, but will probably be the last.

What you could do is look at building some muscle definition so that the belly is less prominent, but that's not what you're specifically looking for.

Regardless, well done on the weight loss so far

Thanks mate. Yeah, need to drop some fat for now but another 20 lbs and I could switch the focus to muscle.

Padre_Pio · 14-10-2020 12:37am

simongurnick wrote: »

Thanks mate. Yeah, need to drop some fat for now but another 20 lbs and I could switch the focus to muscle.

Just keep on doing what you're doing.
Unfortunately the belly is probably the last thing to go.

AllForIt · 14-10-2020 1:59am

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Just keep on doing what you're doing.
Unfortunately the belly is probably the last thing to go.

Yeah been through a few cycles myself over the years and that's the way it goes. Belly always the last to go. Legs first I find, face, belly last. It's a pity it works that way because so many starting off don't see it going from the one place they wan't it to go the most and get disheartening when in fact they are doing fine and just need to keep going with it.

simongurnick · 14-10-2020 2:26pm

AllForIt wrote: »

Yeah been through a few cycles myself over the years and that's the way it goes. Belly always the last to go. Legs first I find, face, belly last. It's a pity it works that way because so many starting off don't see it going from the one place they wan't it to go the most and get disheartening when in fact they are doing fine and just need to keep going with it.

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm looking at this as a year long campaign. drop 52 lbs and I'll be pretty close to where I need to be. Also, along the way I'm learning a few tips and tricks that will always stick with me.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this challenge.

Kevhog1988 · 14-10-2020 2:29pm

Its a long slog im afraid and like others have said the belly is probably last to go.
My new thing is to do 30 situps during each of these stupid work calls im on every day when others are talking ****e lol. Best of luck on everything

bladespin · 14-10-2020 3:11pm

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Its a long slog im afraid and like others have said the belly is probably last to go.
My new thing is to do 30 situps during each of these stupid work calls im on every day when others are talking ****e lol. Best of luck on everything

You'd be far better off running on the spot or doing a HIIT routine, situps don't really do much unless you're already low bf.

Cill94 · 15-10-2020 11:30am

Unfortunately it's a daily set of plate push-aways.

PooPooPooPoo · 15-10-2020 11:32am

Unfotunately no exercises target specific fat regions. The only advice is to consume less than required and you will start losing fat around the midsection.

It may not help lose the weight, but the waist and ab sets will help tighten the muscles in those regions and give the effect of weight loss.

scilover · 16-10-2020 5:15am

YOu can try losing your belly fat by doing planks. While burning fat on the stomach, it also helps increase your packs.

Dtp1979 · 16-10-2020 7:27am

scilover wrote: »

YOu can try losing your belly fat by doing planks. While burning fat on the stomach, it also helps increase your packs.

1986 called. It wants it’s sports science back

Patsy167 · 16-10-2020 9:49am

Cill94 wrote: »

Unfortunately it's a daily set of plate push-aways.

This. Plus, 20 reps of Fork Put-downs every other day.

Cill94 · 16-10-2020 10:13am

scilover wrote: »

YOu can try losing your belly fat by doing planks. While burning fat on the stomach, it also helps increase your packs.

Might be time to reconsider your username.

bladespin · 16-10-2020 1:03pm

scilover wrote: »

YOu can try losing your belly fat by doing planks. While burning fat on the stomach, it also helps increase your packs.

Absolutely the least effective way of burning any sort of fat.

FA12345 · 19-10-2020 12:32pm

While I agree with the PPs above (except for sit ups and planks!), you wont be able to target the fat as such.

However slow steady state cardio (such as walking at a good pace for an hour a day) will help to burn fat instead of gylcogen (glucose stored in muscle). Also removing as many toxins from your lifestyle might help too - smoking, alcohol, sugar.

Other than that - keep doing what you're doing! You may not be 100% happy with losing 1lb per week however, in the long term - the slower the weight loss, the longer the results. Losing weight very quickly is not good for your metabolism and anyway is not sustainable or enjoyable!

simongurnick · 20-10-2020 9:54pm

FA12345 wrote: »

While I agree with the PPs above (except for sit ups and planks!), you wont be able to target the fat as such.

However slow steady state cardio (such as walking at a good pace for an hour a day) will help to burn fat instead of gylcogen (glucose stored in muscle). Also removing as many toxins from your lifestyle might help too - smoking, alcohol, sugar.

Other than that - keep doing what you're doing! You may not be 100% happy with losing 1lb per week however, in the long term - the slower the weight loss, the longer the results. Losing weight very quickly is not good for your metabolism and anyway is not sustainable or enjoyable!

Thanks mate. Sound advice. Don't smoke or like sweet things, but I am fond of a beer, so need to keep that in check for sure. Onwards and upwards!

bladespin · 21-10-2020 12:59pm

simongurnick wrote: »

Thanks mate. Sound advice. Don't smoke or like sweet things, but I am fond of a beer, so need to keep that in check for sure. Onwards and upwards!

As an aside - try not to weigh yourself the day after a few, your body will retain water etc and will put weight up - should settle to normal after a couple of days.

simongurnick · 21-10-2020 10:02pm

bladespin wrote: »

As an aside - try not to weigh yourself the day after a few, your body will retain water etc and will put weight up - should settle to normal after a couple of days.

Cheers. My program has me weighing in every morning, but then it charts it out to show the trends over weeks and months.
After a few months I can almost tell what I'll be up after a few beers the night before.
Thanks for the tip.

johnnyskeleton · 22-10-2020 7:55pm

simongurnick wrote: »

Thanks mate. Yeah, need to drop some fat for now but another 20 lbs and I could switch the focus to muscle.

I find this position unusual for a number of reasons:

1) it makes sense that cardio is harder if youre carrying a lot of excess fat, but resistance training can be done no matter your body fat

2) it is recommended to mix cardio and resistance training sessions, so theres a benefit to mixing up your workouts

3) lifting weights doesnt consume many calories in itself, but building and maintaining muscle does.

4) resistance training can boost athletic perfomance so you get more bang from your buck when you do run.

My advice is to mix in some squats and back/chest weight training. These are the bigger more useful muscles and are the best way to reduce your bodyfat. You dont have to do a tonne of them, maybe do 20 mins on the days when you arent doing neither other training nor on a deliberate rest day

simongurnick · 23-10-2020 8:15pm

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

I find this position unusual for a number of reasons:

1) it makes sense that cardio is harder if youre carrying a lot of excess fat, but resistance training can be done no matter your body fat

2) it is recommended to mix cardio and resistance training sessions, so theres a benefit to mixing up your workouts

3) lifting weights doesnt consume many calories in itself, but building and maintaining muscle does.

4) resistance training can boost athletic perfomance so you get more bang from your buck when you do run.

My advice is to mix in some squats and back/chest weight training. These are the bigger more useful muscles and are the best way to reduce your bodyfat. You dont have to do a tonne of them, maybe do 20 mins on the days when you arent doing neither other training nor on a deliberate rest day

Thanks man. This is the sort of direction I need. I love team sports but thats all out the window now with covid. So have to train solo and would prefer not to be pissing into the wind and doing the "wrong" thing, as such...although all exercise has benefits too.
Cheers

Hector.Mann · 28-10-2020 5:11am

Keep up the good work

JustAThought · 28-10-2020 5:18am

Have you tried looking inline for free home cardio or weight training classes? The internet is awash with them! Might help?

Thespoofer · 28-10-2020 5:22am

Rowing. Will strip it off.

Alf Veedersane · 28-10-2020 8:22am

Thespoofer wrote: »

Rowing. Will strip it off.

As good an exercise as rowing is, it won't strip anything off unless the diet is in check as has been said already here.

Thespoofer · 28-10-2020 10:00pm

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

As good an exercise as rowing is, it won't strip anything off unless the diet is in check as has been said already here.

Title asked for best exercise, I gave my opinion.

Alf Veedersane · 28-10-2020 11:48pm

Thespoofer wrote: »

Title asked for best exercise, I gave my opinion.

And I gave a fact.

Nothing to fall out over.

Rowing is a great exercise and once upon a time, I'd have said the one thing I'd buy for lockdown is a C2.

But the premise of the OP is flawed. The belly fat will largely be reduced through diet with exercise aiding that and fundamentally the exercise they enjoy enough to do regularly will be the best to support their endeavours.

ciara17 · 31-10-2020 1:58pm

Here are some easy exercises to reduce belly Fats.

1. Running or walking
2. Bicycling
3. Exercise ball crunch
4. Planks
5. Reverse crunch

Dtp1979 · 31-10-2020 1:59pm

ciara17 wrote: »

Here are some easy exercises to reduce belly Fats.

1. Running or walking
2. Bicycling
3. Exercise ball crunch
4. Planks
5. Reverse crunch

No. No.

ThewhiteJesus · 31-10-2020 2:01pm

It’s the old adage, you can’t outrun a bad diet, I fail on this but keep trying,
Less processed more fresh

yabadabado · 31-10-2020 2:07pm

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

My new thing is to do 30 situps during each of these stupid work calls im on every day when others are talking ****e lol. Best of luck on everything

I was recently thinking about this,while stuck inside WFH .
What is a good exercise do do with the 10 or so minute's of spare time in a small home office?

Best exercises to reduce belly fat

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