Lower Belly Fat

[Bethhhh]

Hi!!

Could anyone please give me any tips on how to lose and focus on lower belly fat..it's the only part of me which will not budge and I think I might be doing the wrong things to shift it.

Thanks

[Bethhhh]

Great advice, thank you so much! I am going to try a spin class and include more weights in my routine..and also lay off the pasta

[takingflight2018]

Such great advice!

Lifting heavy is literally empowering, honestly give it a go. I despise cardio and if someone told me that was the only way to be lean I think I'd stay larger and not bother 😂😂

[waterlego6064]

Also meant to say re interval training: the reason I favour it is that it is shown to be more effective for fat loss than ‘steady-state’ CV exercise. (‘Steady state’ is more beneficial for building endurance rather than fat loss).

[waterlego6064]

Sorry for such a long post!

Just to add: BodyPump is an excellent introduction to weight training if you’ve never done any before.

[waterlego6064]

Good advice from takingflight.

I am a PT, though I do not do any PT work as I prefer teaching group exercise (BodyPump and Boxercise currently). Taking is spot-on in saying that you can’t ‘spot reduce’ fat in specific areas. Nor can developing muscle in that area make the fat go. The belly is a problematic bit, especially for women who’ve been pregnant (not sure if you have) as the skin stretches too so many of us end up with a bit of an ‘apron’ that just won’t go. So the bad news is that losing fat all over is the only way to do it. There’s not much you can do for the boobs- I’ve had to accept my deflated balloons as pay-off for my low body fat % 😄 There has to be an element of acceptance that, while you may be able to make some really effective changes to your body shape, there WILL be things that you can’t change.

As taking says, resistance training is great for fat loss, because the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you burn just in going about your day-to-day life (which is why men lose fat more easily than women). There is also an ‘afterburn’ effect where your muscles are repairing etc after a weights session, all of which needs to use calories, so your metabolic rate can remain elevated for up to 48 hours afterwards! Don’t be afraid to life heavy- you won’t end up looking like Arnie, which I know is something a lot of women fear. You can’t beat deadlifting with a really heavy weight (take advice on this and build up gradually, of course!) for endorphin rush and an all-over muscle workout. I credit that kind of lifting for helping me reduce body fat, and giving me better waist definition.

In addition to that, for cardio I always recommend interval training, so sets of very intense bursts of activity, with short rest periods thrown in. Classes like Spin and HIIT are based around this principal, but you can do it yourself in any cardio activity. Eg, if you went for a run, instead of running at a steady pace for half an hour, you might sprint for 30 seconds, jog for 15. Do a set of 4 of these, for example, and then have a rest/recovery period before repeating up to 8 times. Obviously the lengths of the intervals and rests, and the number of repetitions are all flexible variables, which would depend on the fitness of the participant. There is loads of stuff online about interval training to help you plan a session. If you have a Stopwatch or Fit tracker, it’s a big help.

Good luck Op 🙂

[Bethhhh]

Thank you.

Yes, I think the problem might also be that I don't actually enjoy exercising and I do need to find something I love to keep me going like you said. I'm afraid that if I do cardio to lose the stomach fat I'll lose my boobs and bum too, which happened to my sister who runs for nationals, so maybe I do need to weight train more to keep my shape in those areas

[takingflight2018]

I'm sure someone with way more knowledge will be along soon, but I train with weights and strength focus.

I started 4 years ago thinking I could shift my stubborn belly fat, until my lovely PT kindly pointed out you can't actually target fat loss to one area at all!

So the focus is on loosing body fat all over, calorie deficit, enjoy training.. once you've lost the fat and got down to a leaner area for you, you will reveal the muscles underneath..

Then you can start working on specific areas with exercises to target abs, core etc.

But I'd always say find exercise you love and enjoy and keeps you interested then you won't mind the belly, because at least you are keeping fit and active and having fun.