flab question

ok i know i just made a question post earlier today but this is a little more clarified. (ie. not just about tummy!)

to all of you gals who weigh around 125-130 and have really flat tummies and awesome bodies... the question is.. why don't I?

I am 5"6 and around 130 now, and I still have lots of fat on tummy, thighs, butt etc. I know I have muscles underneath but I need to get rid of more fat. I may try to lose a few more pounds but not much. So how do you look so good at the same weight as me? My body is normally proportioned! I want to lose more fat!

so i don't know how much strenght training will do because i've already done some and like i said i have muscle UNDER the flab. i'm also hesitant to do tons more cardio, because like i said, i don't think i need to lose more than 5-10 more pounds, just more FAT.

right now to work out i'm mostly relying on my bakery job which is like 8 hour shifts of constant moving and box lifting. so yes, it is not HIGH intensity cardio, but it's constant high heart rate. and i jog and do strenght training a bit too.

anyway.. just wondering how to lose all this fat.. i see little/no difference in myself even after losing 12 pounds already... thanks

(and yes, i am eating right)

TONE TONE TONE. 

Put away the scale for a few weeks and prepare for some MUSCLE.  This doesn't make you bulky, it makes you LEAN.   Fat takes up more room than muscle so even if you gain, you'll look better! 

Cardio is always good but if you don't want to lose anymore, i'd say it's ok to forego (since you're job sounds like WORK). 

I'd say up the protien and work on the weights. 

hope this helps.

take care 

thanks!

but like i said i already have muscle and abs and stuff UNDER the fat. so if i tone MORE, will I get even more muscle and the fat will just dissapear?

I think if you have lost most of the weight that you want to through cardio, then the best thing would be to up your weight training & toning.

Of course, a combination of the two would be best. I think do less cardio than you usually do (but keep at it - to maintain) and seriously up your crunches / situps / whatever ab exercises you are doing. The muscles under fat rule really only applies if you have an unnecessary TUBE of extra fat around your tummy (like some of us do - he he).

Well done on shedding the weight, and don't forget that the toning is probably going to be just as challenging if not more!

You're at the bottom end of your BMI range, so I very much doubt if it's much fat.  I don't know what to tell you, except to continue to eat healthy and exercise, and learn to love yourself and not be obsessed with how your body looks.

guys I think you are misunderstanding me. I'm not an image-obsessed teen, I have a very healthy eye, and I am not underwieght in the least.

I don't have pics of my tummy etc., but I am completely serious when I say there is lots of FLAB there! And I can feel abs under it. I just still have lots of flab all over my body, but because I haven't noticed it go away much yet, it makes me think if I lose more weight why would it? Just not sure what to do..

(and no, I highly doubt I'm at the bottom of the BMI range)

I think keep doing cardio - but not as much as you usually would (let's say, 30-40 minutes 3 times a week) just to maintain your weight (running is the best way to a smaller waist - it burns serious fat from the boobs down) - and then up your weight resistance exercises. If you're super serious about this, you should spend the equivalent time on muscle building as you do on cardio (if not more). You won't become bulky - just much leaner and more toned.

Here is a really good exercise routine you can do for your tummy (without the gym - no weights or anything, you can just do this at home) which will seriously sculpt your stomach if you do it properly and frequently. Here is the ab section at Shape.com

Check out the ab exercises at Self.com - you can choose which you like best, but they are all pretty challenging and don't require you to use gym equipment (only a swiss ball in some cases). This one is good if you don't want to use anything but your own body's resistance.

The only thing that's going to get rid of that flab and tone your muscles is by doing a combination of cardio & resistance training - there really isn't much else to it! You just have to work f***ing hard to get those abs into shape, especially that pesky abdominal section right under the bellybutton.

my question is...is it loose skin or fat? You cannot exercise away loose skin.

Louise.

Yep, if you've lost a considerable amount of weight, your skin might still just be working on catching up.  Keep doing strength training and toning!  It can take 8-12 months for skin to catch up with weight loss, so be patient!

I read a post here recently by someone with the same issue.  They figured out that they were retaining water and that's where the water weight was going.  Once they cut back on their sodium intake and started drinking more water the water weight went away and the muscle became visible.

This may be a long shot, but see if you're consuming too much sodium?  Either way, I agree with the other posters that you should keep doing what you're doing as far as exercise, it will all work itself out, it might just take some time.

Hi

Maybe you can tray a detox product, or the fat flush diet, read about it, it says something like people actually lost more inches then pounds, because of all the "mess and garbage" we have in our bodies (saying that it is not always fat that make us look fat) . I think this can help you wonders.

Good Luck!


P.S. By the way, I am having the same problem and I just found out about this detox, so I will be doing the same.

Just want to comment on your focus on weight.  You may weigh the same as the other girls but they have better abs, the reason may be because they have more muscle and less fat.

Muscle weighs more than fat, so they may weight the same but if you look at the muscle to fat ratio.  It's totally different.

This is the reason people nowadays don't focus on weight, what we use now is a Body Fat % to understand how much fat we need to lose and how much muscle we need to gain.  You gain more muscle and lose more fat, you may even weigh more than you are now but have flatter abs.  Just a thought and something to think about.

By the way, I believe the unofficial definition of 'flab' is the 'absence of muscle.'

Because you say its not fat, it's not skin...so that's what it's got to be. The absence of muscle mass.

PUMP IT UP!

No more comments here except to say HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOUR DREADS. I've always wanted dreads but I'm scared of what my brother and my dad would say... and I just don't have the courage to do something that drastic to my hair. I adore them though!

I understand EXACTLY what you are talking about. I am still in the process of losing my baby weight. I have only 3 pounds to go to get to pre-preg weight. Even though I am at a healthy weight for my height (5' 1") I have belly flab big time. I've lost 20 pounds so far! But I'm not in the shape I used to be. I exercise/weight train/eat healthy...it's working for weight loss, but not flab.

I just want you to know that I understand what you are asking. And when I figure out what works (and I will bc I am determined to fit in all my pre-preg clothes) I will let you know.

Here's what I plan on doing when I reach my goal weight (112) in a couple weeks:

1. I'm cutting my daily cardio from 60 mins (for weight loss) to 30 (for weight maintenance).

2. I'm doubling the amount of strength training I do 3 days a week (from 15 mins to 30 mins each day).

3. I'm doubling the number of times I do each of my toning exercises (plank, crunches, drop kicks, squats, etc) Go to Realage.com for some great workout videos.

4. Continue drinking loads of water/portion control/healthy foods...of course.

If this works for me, I'll let you know. Trust me you are NOT alone! I thought I was the only person with this problem until I found your post!