Belly fat

Unfortunately, where you store fat is mainly down to genetics. It’s almost impossible to get around this. What can be done is to try and build up your legs and shoulders to create the illusion of a smaller waist. Also, carrying more muscle will increase you metabolism to burn off fat.
Is there any weight bearing exercises you can do? What is the back issue?

Also, should you be using a rower with a bad back?

Have this same problem OP, I'm 5'6 and I dropped from 155 pounds to 125 pounds and I still had belly fat covering my abdomen but very little fat elsewhere.

harr wrote: »

Specialist Said swimmming was probably the one thing that wouldn’t cause issue and he was happy enough me using the cross trainer and bike.
Just frustrating wanting to get stuck into a weight training program and the body not able ..
Head wants one thing body wants another.
I am a stubborn ****er and don’t like been told I can’t do something

If you can do any weight bearing exercises at all, preferably on machines it could help. Could you do something like a seated leg press, machine chest butterfly, dumbbell curls, calf raises etc?

Rope jumping is good for tightening stomachs up as you have to engage your stomach muscles all the time when jumping. Try doing 20 or 30 mins of rope jumping two or three times a week. It takes time to develop very good form but you get better all the time, and it's good for your stomach from the start.


Also, you may be eating too much sugar. It's in everything and is basically the cause of the obesity crisis in my view.

We always hear that eating sugar leads to insulin spikes in the blood. But how does an insulin spike reduce our sugar levels?

Well, it's bad news. Insulin signals the body to convert the sugar to fat and to store it. This fat is often a different type of fat, called visceral fat, and it's stored around our stomachs. It's very common now to see middle aged men with bloated stomachs even though they're fit men in general. That distinctive appearance is caused by too much sugar leading to insulin spikes which cause visceral fat to be stored around the stomach.


I was eating about five times as much sugar as I should have been, without really realising it. When I stopping eating sugar I had major cravings for a few days but they passed quite quickly. I lost about 13Kg in about 3 to 4 months. My activity level was quite high before the diet and it remained the same, doing 40 mins rope jumping three times a week. When I got the diet under control, especially the sugar, I lost loads of weight and my rope jumping performance went up by 10% to 15%.

10% to 15% increase in athletic performance! Weight drop from 79Kg to 65Kg. Age, mid 40's. Jeans falling off me. Stomach like Peter Andre. I'm wearing 32" jeans with no belt in my mid 40's.
I was keeping detailed records for my rope jumping times for years and the increase in athletic performance is very real. Huge increase in performance when I got the diet and sugar under control.

I was eating too many calories before but it was mainly the sugar that was causing my body to be the shape it was.

You can try :

Do More Cardio.
Exercise Your Abdominal Muscles.
Increase Your Protein Intake.
Stay Hydrated.
Stop Eating Processed Food.