Major weight loss but still have a huge belly!
So, I started my weight loss journey at the beginning of March 2012 and my weight then was 155 pounds at 5'2'' 
As of today (8/18/2012), I weight 117 pounds!! Really happy with the results. I notice that a lot of my body is looking better, except for my waist/belly area. My initial measurements around the smallest part of my waist was 29 inches. Right now I'm measuring 25.5-26 inches around the same part. However, when I look in the mirror, I still see the same exact belly. What gives?! I thought that losing almost 40 pounds would give me a flat stomach, or one that had barely any fat, just needed some toning. The one I have right now is horrifically and disappointingly huge.
I'm also kind of confused as to why I only lost like 3 inches max around my waist when I dropped 40 pounds...
I know I eat at least 1500 calories a day, I work out 5 or 6 times a week for about 1.5 hours. My workout routine has no strength training or specific ab workouts because I read that if you do ab stuff before losing the fat first, it only makes the fat look fatter.
When I workout, I do 40 minutes on the elliptical burning 450 calories approx. Then I take a short break and get on the treadmill, where I do 30 minutes of HIIT training burning an additional 215 calories usually (give or take).
What am I doing wrong exactly? I really wanted a much flatter stomach before school started :/
I have this exact same ´trouble I dropped 30lb but still have a big waist I cant understand it, I mean its disappointing to look in the mirror and still see that, don't get me wrong I feel great for loseing weight just wish and thought more would of come of from around the stomach.
It's a little discouraging, to be completely honest. My goal weight is 100-105 pounds, but I'm scared that even if I reach it, my waist line will still be on the bigger side. 
Women's belly in their natural state aren't flat ;) You'll see that very clearly in paintings from centuries past, or even if you look at photographs of Marylin. It's normal to have a bit of a belly, especially for all of us who've had a larger belly at one point : our skin in that area is looser and doesn't do good job of holding everything in. ;)
There's hope though. Today's trend of flat bellies can be achieved by working on your abdominal muscles so they "hold" your innards into place. I'm sure you can achieve the results you're hoping for if you change your workout regimen. Best of luck !
for me this has not worked I work on my abs and still no change, I was reading that belly fat is the hardest to shift, but I feel the same im worried that I will shift the weight but I will look worse with everywhere else being smaller and having a huge stomach.
Same here. I'm going to actually hire a personal trainer and see if he can help get rid of this stubborn fat area since for some reason I can't do it myself. If that doesn't work and he says its just natural, I will mostly likely resort to liposuction!
I think a bit of everything helps : working on your abs, keep the weight off, weigh training to transform fat into muscle, time, learning to know yourself (fruits make me bloat but help me cut back on my calories), walking with a straight back (strengthening back and shoulder muscles helps), stretching twice a day to get long lean muscles instead of hard compact ones, and lipo if that's what it takes :D
In any case, good luck ;)
Original Post by petite_chicago:
I think a bit of everything helps : working on your abs, keep the weight off, weigh training to transform fat into muscle, time, learning to know yourself (fruits make me bloat but help me cut back on my calories), walking with a straight back (strengthening back and shoulder muscles helps), stretching twice a day to get long lean muscles instead of hard compact ones, and lipo if that's what it takes :D
In any case, good luck ;)
Working out your abs, doesn't rid you of belly fat, you can't transform fat into muscle, and you can't stretch to change the shape of your muscles unless you use a torture device.
I see you've decided to misread what I wrote. I will just shut up then. Way to welcome people around here ;)
You can't really control where your body carries weight, you can only try to lower your bodyfat%. Switch some of your cardio workouts to strength training to put on muscle and burn fat more efficiently.
If you put on muscle while you still have fat, it can make the fat appear larger because the muscle under the fat pushes it out more (more true for women than men), but you're going to lose the fat anyway so it doesn't really matter in the long run. Sooner started, sooner finished.
I have lost quite a bit of weight too I was about at 5'8" BMI 29 where you were at BMI 28 at your start weight. Now I am about BMI 22 (you 21). What I found and I am a classic apple or ex apple shaped girl that the core (waist/stomach/love handles) seems to be the last to go. I have about 5-7lbs of fat to go (not just weight (weight wise it may be 7-10lbs), basically I want body fat % loss). So I am strength/weight training (doing one or the other from what I have available) and trying not to have no bigger than a 500 deficit.
In the past 2 months and a half I have had what seems like little to no change like 1-2lbs lost 0.5inch off the waist and stomach but shocking like my stomach is flattening (before that when doing weight lifting I lost 1 inch off the waist and 2 off the stomach so in about the past 3 and a half months 1.5inch off waist and 2.5inch off stomach).
It is not defined but I would say my stomach is relatively flat (like the point of my lower belly that sticks out the most (disregarding bloating) is minimally past my hip bones and my upper abs/waist dips in compared to my rib cage). Actual measurement wise 31 under bust, 28.5/28.75 waist, 31.5 stomach at belly button, about 35.5 upper/mid hips and 36 lower hips/butt.
I figure my body is doing that re-composition thing. So even with minimal weight/inch loss change I am changing. I do not really target my abs besides doing a plank/side plank and mostly do full body exercises with body weight or a barbell. I hope this helps :)
Something to note: Many people approach losing weight thinking they will come out of it looking very different when the truth is that other than being smaller, they will actually still look very much like they always did. However your built. Whatever your body type is.. that is what your going to be. Big or small.
This can mess with the head. We look in the mirror every day. We know the areas we are looking at very well. So while we watch them anticipating all these changes sometimes it's hard to see that while it's the same shape.. it has indeed gotten much smaller.
Your belly is probably nowhere near as huge as you think it is. Your just stuck with a particular image of yourself that your used to seeing and judging it the same way you always did.
Good news though, there is something you can do that will help. It's that strength training your avoiding because of fearing looking fatter. Not sure where you read that but it's completely counter productive. The only way to firm anything up is with muscle. Even thin people carry a certain percentage of fat and without the right foundation under it, fat will just lay there. If you read these forums than you have seen many posts regarding the dreaded skinny fat look. It's a real thing and once you can see it, you'll see it everywhere. Stop worrying about size. You have already lost that. Spend some time in the fitness forum and really observe what people say. There are so many who are bigger than you who are so happy with the changes they have seen because of what they do. Many who weigh more than they did previously, but are smaller than they were. Strength training really is the key for attacking these areas we want to change.
Your weight loss goal of 100 pounds would make you under-weight. That is an unhealthy goal. You are now in the middle of the normal BMI range. If your goal is to look better or be healthier, losing more weight probably isn't the way to meet those goals. Focus on fitness and body composition, and not on weight.
Like others said, the way to improve your body composition is by adding muscle. Muscle is more dense than fat, so if you take two people at the same weight, the one with more muscle will be thinner. Muscle also distributes differently on the body than fat, so it improves your shape.
As far as I'm concerned, a 26 inch belly is pretty small. You should be very proud of yourself for accomplishing the weight loss that you have. If you are healthy and active, you shouldn't have any worries about what you look like. I know it is really difficult to love your body the way it is, and I can tell you that I, like many women, have trouble accepting the way my body looks, especially when magazines and advertisements tell me I should look like somebody else. If you are eating right and getting exercise, then the way your body looks now is probably the way it is happy. If you are concerned that a health issue might be causing bloating, consult a doctor. But honestly, I think the issue is probably one of body image. Maybe what's "wrong" isn't something you've done or not done in your diet and exercise, but something in your understanding of what a body "should" look like.
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