Some advice please

[doyounothavegoogle]

I have never been one for exercise, but at the beginning of the year I started C25K. I never got to the 5k, but I still go for a run 3 times a week (probably about 3k) and I have lost quite a lot of the weight I put on as a result of stopping smoking so I definitely feel healthier.

However, I still appear to have a very squishy pillow attached to my front. Can anyone give me some pointers towards the right sort of exercise that I can do at home to try and get rid of this/tone up a bit? I thought maybe Pilates, but I really don't know.

Thanks in advance.

I've recently started with a very tailored Personal training programme that's been focused on my diastasis recti so has lots of ab work and although I haven't lost any weight, my profile / shape is much better.

There is lots of transverse abdominal work so you could look that up on YouTube but essentially it's quite controlled movements that involve really really concentrating on sucking your belly button towards your back before you do any of the movement.

I've done 2 Pilates lessons and yes that's the same kind of principal so definitely worth looking at.

Yoga is also amazing for core strength and will stretch out the running muscles too.

Thank you - I'll do some googling.

Some thoughts:
Congrats on the running!

• You can't spot reduce.
• You need to do some core work probably - Pilates, yoga, but also squats, deadlifts, basic core exercises (sit ups, planks, V-sits, leg scissors, leg lifts).
• You can't out-train a bad diet. If you want to lose more weight you need to control calories in.

point 3 by @CatandtheFiddle is really the key one here! You need to burn fat and the easiest way to do that is with a calorie deficit. The amount of running you're doing with have negligible impact on your weight, i burn less than 100 calories per mile and you need to burn around 3500 to shift a lb of fat. Also try HIIT as that should raise your metabolic rate for some hours after exercise.

Bloody well done! I aspire to this. How old are you if you don’t mind me asking? It’s harder to shift that cute little tum (and that’s how you should think of it- be kind to yourself). It may be fluid retention, so cutting sugar and carbs for a month will make a difference

I found (pre-lockdown) that using my FItBit set at 15,000 steps per day, plus entering my daily eating on the FItBit app, made me really accountable to myself for what I ate. For the first few months, I was pretty careful about weighing everything, and entering it accurately (I generally underestimate portions/how much I eat).

I aimed for 250 cals per day deficit, and didn't worry about one day on the weekend.

Then you start to make better choices about what you want to eat, and you start to get a new way of eating which is healthy & fuels your running properly.

I lost 13kg - and 2 dress sizes - this way, and didn't really ever feel particularly hungry. I cut out "white carbs" - so pasta, bread, rice, and eat a lot of green vegetables and fish and eggs and chicken breasts. These give me great protein and taste delicious.

@mumchkin I am almost 60.

I have never embraced a particularly healthy lifestyle, but been lucky not to struggle too much with my weight. Giving up smoking turned that "cute little tum" into more of a duvet due to me eating everything in sight! Lockdown hasn't helped with that, but I consider myself lucky that I have not missed a single one of my three days a week.

Thanks everyone for the advice. At least I have some useful keywords as a start now.

I lost weight in the year I turned 60, and also started lifting heavy weights. Weight lifting is brilliant for toning you up all over, ad especially your core. And you start to realise how strong you can get, which is wonderful.

More running will do it. You could keep your 3 runs a week but make every session "count" - for example one long steady run, one speed or hills session and one tempo run (fairly hard effort, medium distance).

If you're currently only doing 3k a time, then youre running a total of less than six miles a week - which is probably around 600 calories, depending on your height and weight. That will help you lose weight at first, but not for long.

After losing a lot of weight through running, I've now reached the point where I can eat what I like and stay slim, but it takes around 40 miles a week of targeted running.