Changing body shape and trying to get a flat stomach

[wishingiwaslucky47]

Hi there, I had posted a thread about this on the weight loss chat, but now I’ve found this one, I thought I would post here too.

I’m 47 have so far lost 2 stone, and would love to lose just over another 2 stone.
I’ve recently joined a gym and I’m just wondering if anyone round about my age has toned up, built up muscle in places they didn’t have muscle before, and got a flat/flattish stomach.

I hate my stomach it’s disgusting but it something I’ve never had before, not even before I had my kids or when I was a little girl, I’ve always had a bloated stomach. I would love to get a personal trainer, but I just can’t afford it at the moment as we’ve just booked a holiday.

Having a flat stomach isn't always possible for everyone. Or, if achieved, may not be sustainable (visible, "ripped" abs on women are rare and usually associated with loss of menstrual cycle). You can be very low fat and still have to "suck it in" a bit to be flat in profile. A variety of things affect our body shape.

That said, the only thing you can do is lose body fat. And that's primarily down to diet. Strengthening the abdominal muscles will help with the shape of the muscles underneath the fat, but you can't do anything (outside of surgery) to spot reduce fat.

Some women hold fat in their bellies. I'm one of them. In order for me to lose all the fat necessary to clearly see my abs, I would first have to lose my breasts and my cheeks would be sunken.

Thanks for replying justgettingstarted I’m not too bothered about having a 6 pack, just a nice flat stomach would be lovely. I personally can’t see a difference in my shape or even notice a change with regards to the weight loss but there must be some difference as I am down a dress size lol. I would love to be toned and have more muscle but sometimes I feel a bit deflated and think I’m too old?? I think a PT is the way to go to help me, it’s just so expensive!

My face is the first place I lose weight, and I haven’t lost anything at all of my boobs (I wish I could lose my weight there, as I feel they make me look bigger).

I've got more muscly thighs and a flatter stomach doing body pump and spin classes. I try to low carb but not v successfully or my stomach would prob be flatter - even so it's flatter than it's been for years. I'm a bit older than you.

Thanks for replying undeecided, that’s given me a bit of hope that I can hopefully try to achieve a better body shape and a flatter stomach xx

You may have a bit of bloating (my stomach is much flatter in the morning before I eat) and muscle tone can make a bit of difference.

I lost fat in specific parts of my body through shed loads of exercise (strength-based) and this: fit-net.org.uk/what-is-bioprint/

Pilates is great for your core muscles.

I used to do lots of ab fitness vids on YouTube which was very dull. Then I started doing pilates with an excellent teacher, and 1 hour a week of that has given me better results than days upon days of sit ups/ab work.

I'm 45 and recently lost a bit of weight (around 12-13 pounds) through diet, running & pilates/yoga.

I've basically lost my love handles and now have some stomach definition - which is thrilling - but I still have found it impossible to lose a bit of fat along my belly button. I'm sure I could do it with diet, but I guess I'm not willing to go as far as it takes at 45.

I've had great luck with my arms - they were getting toned within around 2 months of Pilates. Now they're pretty indistinguishable from my pilate's instructor's arms, they're properly thin/muscular.

My butt is rounder and very muscular, but I'm not terribly keen on this (I'd like it to be smaller) so I don't use weights when I'm doing glute work.

Now, for the bad part -

1. I've had no great luck improving my legs. They've gotten smaller, but I can't tone them, despite probably 200 pilates classes and thousands of miles on the treadmill.
2. You'll have to get to grips with an unpleasantly low-calorie diet to lose the stomach.

My personal trainer has me do lots of squats. Squats as warm ups, then squats with weights. Then we do chin ups on a machine which “assists” with added weight. To get my chin up, I have to activate my core as well as my lays and biceps.

The other way to tone your core is to apply the Pilates principle of “zipping up” almost all the time. Think about your core muscles as supporting the centre of your torso like a corset. Not just your tummy at the front ButI all the way around from under your breasts to the hip crests.

My ballet teacher says “Navel to backbone”. If you do that, you get quite strong.

Or take up ballet. As they say, if ballet were easy, they’d call it football.

Thanks everyone for replying. I think I will need to look into Pilates and a PT might be the way to go too x