Cardio....not working for me!! NEED HELP *0*

I need to lose m belly fat but my weight is already in a underweight or so (my BMI is 19.6-20.3). I have been eating healthy in general...I don't eat any deep fried stuff and I HATE butter and I HATE cream cheese. I don't eat those high in fat snacks and I don't eat cheese (well, I eat cheese once in a while), I havn't have pizza or ice cream for so long already. I HATE HATE HATE HATE soda. Oh, and I don't eat beef. I run almost everyday for 35-45 minutes and I'm a light activities person in general. I just need to lose my beely fat.....what should I do????

do you do any form of situps? try workouts that will target your abs.

Well, I have herd people say that doing crunches will not help lose belly fat but only strenghten the muscle so... is doing situps really help or it will just increase the muscle?

it worked for me... I was taking a lower body and abs class, and once I paired that with eating better, I could see my abs a lot more. I'm pretty sure that once you build muscle, it starts to burn the fat away.

charming_imy -- unfortunately, you're right, doing situps won't do much to reduce belly fat.

Muscle does "burn fat away" (in that it costs your body more energy to keep muscle around, so the more you have, the more calories you burn at rest), but you're better off building your bigger muscles like your legs, back, chest. This will have the added effect of burning more calories DURING the workout as well, especially if you do compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, pullups, pushups. It'll get your heart rate up as well as working lots of big muscles.

Have you had your body fat tested? You can be at a low BMI but still have a relatively high percentage of body fat. If that's the case, you'd probably benefit from muscle building exercises to reduce your body fat %.

Well, if I have a high percentage of fat then....where are these fat came from? I barely eat anything that have bad fat. I avoid tran fat as much as possible and also avoid saturate fat. I'm just curious because I really want to lose belly fat and I'm wondering what kind of food cause these fat..

Body fat doesn't come from dietary fat (meaning, the fat you eat). Your body can make fat from any food you eat, and will if it doesn't need that food for immediate energy.

Well, that's not strictly true: your body has a short-term energy reserve (in the form of glycogen), and a long-term in the form of fat. When you eat, your body uses the food to fill up your glycogen stores as well as for energy to digest the food. Whatever's left gets stored as fat.

When your body needs energy (which is ALL THE TIME, not just when you exercise; it just needs more when you exercise) it draws on glycogen as well as fat, in different proportions depending on what you're doing.

So, long story short, your fat came from all the food you eat.

Charming_imy27, I'm a little concerned with your most recent post.  In posts over the last few weeks, you've admitted that you have disordered eating, and are seeking help with a school counselor and nutritionist.  I know recovering from an ED is extremely difficult (trust me, I've been there...) but you need to try and stay strong.  Instead of being concerned with this "belly fat" of yours, focus on what's most important...your health and wellbeing.  I'm pulling for you!

 

The advice you are getting here is generally right on.  No exercise will result in "spot reducing".  However, strength training, whether it's calisthenics, free weights, resistance bands, or whatever, will build muscle mass that has two direct benefits.  First, it tones your body, makes it firmer.  Secondly, muscle requires more calories to maintain, so you get a residual weight loss just from having more muscle.  You should probably cut back on the cardio from every day to every other day and spend that time doing some strength training. Whie doing ab work won't burn just belly fat, it will make your midsection look slimmer because the muscles are tighter.

Maybe it is not the excercise, but your diet.  You say you are eating right, but only reference foods you are not eating.  How many cals are you taking in vs. how many are you burning?  What are your current stats?

Original Post by charming_imy27:

Well, if I have a high percentage of fat then....where are these fat came from? I barely eat anything that have bad fat. I avoid tran fat as much as possible and also avoid saturate fat. I'm just curious because I really want to lose belly fat and I'm wondering what kind of food cause these fat..

If you don't already, avoid all unnatural sweetners like aspartame, Nutrasweet etc.  Ya know diet drinks, and other things that claim to be low fat, low sugar.  The body is not sure what to do with them so it just sticks to you, supposedly in the belly area.

Try to eat only natural foods, but be sure to include some good fat which your body needs.  Omegas are good fat, guacamole, peanuts to name a couple.  Keep in mind the fat you consume won't make you fat, eating too many calories do.

You might also consider a Bosu/Bosu video to make your core muscles stronger.

Let us know what track you are taking and how you are doing.

Take care :+)

Hello you none cheese liker you,

I'm a cheesehead, I'm allowed.

I hate giving advise, because most of the time, people don't want it.  IF you read my bio and are still interested.  I'll give you the scoop.  It has been working great for me.  Eat lots, often, maintain, cardio, etc.

Talk to you soon,

bob

Try interval training.  You may need to push yourself and get the extra burn.  Alos there are some really good ab workouts out there to help with the mid section.  I am currently working that area too.

Gl,

Bob

wow lot's of great advice! HIIT training is good etc... flower_bud, your are pretty knowledgeable! Your advice was spot on!

Are you sure its belly fat and not just the natural "womanly" shape - I think the perception of most young women of having this "flat belly" is unrealistic.  I have 2 daughters that are far from fat and one has been underweight her entire life but she still has that nice womanly figure.