Stomach fat

You read a lot about stomach fat being a big problem area for many people, but what's the best way to burn your spare tyre?

Don't think of it as stomach fat - think of it as fat! You wanna burn off a spare tyre - you need to burn fat. A balanced mixture of effective cardio and whole body resistance training will yield much better results than targeted stomach exercises alone will ever achieve.

Yeah, I used to be a bit tubby but from playing footie practically everyday I managed to burn fat across my whole body, including my belly

Is there not any specific exercises that can help with that area?

No, because you can't spot-reduce fat. You can only begin to lose the fat and persist until it begins to come off where you want it to. You can do exercises to target your stomach muscles, this will just strengthen the muscles and potentially affect your posture and the way you carry yourself if done correctly (which can make you look slimmer). The addition of muscle will also help to increase your base metabolic rate = more efficient fat burning.

Body shape plays a part, as can age. Men and menopausal women are more likely to carry weight on the middle, as are those who are insulin resistant or apple shaped. Reducing carbohyrdrate intake can be effective for this kind of weight loss (especially if it's insulin resistance), but it's still not guaranteed to reduce fat from the stomach first.

Plenty of exercises you can do to create the appearance of a slimmer waist, not necessarily what you would immediately think of though (for example broadening the shoulders). Strong postural exercises such as Pilates where much of the focus is on keeping the transverse abdominal muscle drawn in (a wide band of muscle that sits like a weight lifting belt across the abdomen deep beneath the visible obliques and more obvious 6-pack muscle, the rectus abdomis) are arguably the most effective.

However, in terms of burning fat from a specific area it is as has already been said, impossible to strip fat from an area of your choice. That said though, your body will have a preference, encoded in your DNA, for where it likes to deposit fat first, and where it likes to burn it off from first, so it may turn out that way for some people, for the rest of us though, it really is just a case of keeping on burning the calories and / or building lean tissue (muscle) mass.

The only way you can get rid of fat from a particular area is liposuction or surgery - I'm afraid it's plenty of cardio, a good diet and a matter of letting your body decide where it goes from!

Unfortunately the belly fat is usually the first that goes on and one of the last that comes off for most people... :(

Surely that's not right - what about exercising that particular part of your body i.e. your abs?

Yes, it's right. You can't spot-reduce fat from certain areas. Just exercising 1 area of the body won't reduce fat in that area, it may help strengthen or tone the muscle being used, but it won't make it less fatty. If you lose weight off your stomach first, it's because your body naturally loses weight that way. You can't force it.

Try looking on YouTube.com and type in 'stomach exercises' to get some new ideas and to make sure you're doing them properly. Keep a food diary for a week to keep and eye on what your consuming and then evaluate at the end - and make the necessary changes. A lot of us actually eat a lot more than we think so a food diary is a good way to find this out. nose right

I can vouch for that. I feel as if I've eaten breakfast, lunch, tea and a few pieces of fruit. Then I think back in detail about what i've consumed over the day, and suddenly realise I've had about 10 biscuits, a chocolate bar, and some crisps . Definitely not good for a toned stomach!

Experts say you will find two fundamental groups of meals that may be considered “keeping the weight off superfoods” simply because they fill your tummy without piling around the calories: fruits and veggies. And also the nutrient that provides fruits and veggies that ‘staying energy?’ Fiber. So, if fruits and veggies would be the “keeping-it-off nutritionally packed berry groups,” fiber may be the “keeping-it-off super-nutrient.”  Protein is yet another super-nutrient. It’s increasingly scientifically recognized that protein might help to curb appetite. Protein also provides endurance, and may slightly improve your metabolic process along the way.  But it’s vital that you choose your proteins sensibly, because as with other meals, if you are consuming more than your system needs, it’ll show on the size like a gain, rather than a loss of revenue.

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Why is it that stomach fat represents body fat as a whole? What I mean by this is, flat stomachs always seem to be the optimum goal of being slim, and the first part of the body to be classed as overweight. Basically, you probably wouldn't call someone slim if they had slender legs but a big belly! Whereas someone with a nice flat stomach, but with more shapely legs/bottom, would be considered slim.

It doesn't really represent bodyfat as a whole, but fat around the stomach is considered to be more dangerous fat. It's fat that has a tendency to cause heart attacks, diabetes and is a sign of metabolic issues.

Slim stomachs and shapely legs/bottom are somewhat more desirable, the fat stored in these areas is less dangerous, a different type of fat. Not that too much of it is healthy either!

Many would categorise the latter person as 'curvy' rather than slim.

Hmm, I'm not saying curvy peole can't be slim (because re-reading it does look like I said that!) so I will add to this later when I have a bit more time. Slim/Curvy/Fat is so difficult to categorise as it's often a matter of opionion and the official parameters can be SO unrealistic.

There really are 2 types of fat storage going on inside us. Subcutaneous fat is what we all know about and recognise, that is the fat which is stored beneath the skin. Although we all seem to worry about it, health wise, its actually not such a great problem.

Visceral fat is the worrying one. This is where excessive amounts of fat store around the organs such as the liver, kidneys etc. Under the strain of the fat stored around them organ function can be impaired and it can lead to other changes going on in the body. Health risks are massively increased with excessive amounts of visceral fat.

In women at least, a large stomach in comparison with the rest of the body may be an indicator of visceral fat, since that is where the organs are located. In men, it is more difficult to tell, as men tend to store subcutaneous fat around the stomach, whereas women usually store this type of fat around the hips and thighs.

If anyone is concerned about visceral fat, the only thing you can really do is talk to your GP as without proper scans being done, based on outward appearance you're really only guessing. So long as you're a healthy weight, reasonably well proportioned, there's unlikely to be anything to worry about.

Make sure you get enough sleep at least 7 hours if possible. Go to bed the same time each night and rise at the same time too. If you're having trouble getting to sleep, try valerian or camomile tea with a little honey.

As a general rule; eat better - move more.

Cut down on alcohol too. 3 glasses of wine = 300+ calories which you do not even realise you are taking on board!

Alcohol is the worst. That's the first thing I cut out if I want to lose belly fat.

I'm pretty sure there's no calories in cider