Need to loose belly flab!!

Hi guys,

So glad I found this site.

I have my child back in 2004 and went from a slim (maybe skinny is some eyes) up to 16 stone.

I lost 2 stone around 2 years ago and never really thought about loosing anymore.

My life changed drastically in the past 2 weeks - Lost my partner of 4 years and Lost my job a week later

Im doing this for myself, but also to bring my confidence back up to being slim and hoping my partner of 4 years will find me attractive again

I am currently 13 stone, 5'11 - I wouldnt class myself as 'big' but my belly is not getting smaller.

Since the above happened my loss of apitite has taken a huge toll on me - Yet Ive shread nothing.

I now using the cal counter and set to 1200 a day...

I dont eat breakfast (I just cannot eat in the morning)

I will have around 8 cups of coffee/tea a day - Tin of tuna for lunch, and tonight oven cooked chicken breast with veg.

I lift weights, not alot and only do a few reps - 50 - 100 sit ups a day.

I will start to do gental jogging - but I am a smoker (no excuse) but will take some time to get up to a decent pace.

Any idea how to loose tummy flab? Im not interested in a six pack - just a nice flat tummy again, if this is possible. So I can go back to my size 12 jeans without any belly over hanging.

Any help would be great - 2nd day on this site and still much more to read up on.

Cheers

Louise

It sounds like you are at point in life when you are craving big changes, which probably explains your decision to consume only 1200 kcal, but I would urge you to reconsider. With a BMI of 25.4 you are only just slightly overweight. Also, you are quite tall. I think, based on posts by others here, that 1600-1800 kcal would probably be a better idea. 1200 might set you to fail, 1600-1800 would be easier for you and therefore you'd be less likely to give up, or overeat when feeling particularly hungry.

Ditto what skp_here82 said.

I agree with the above posts. Up your caloric intake, make sure you are getting a well-rounded diet that gives you all your vitamins and minerals for the day. If you quickly cut your calories too much, you can shock your body into greatly slowing the metabolism. Your body is saying "Uh oh! I'm not getting that much fuel. I better hold on to whatever I get just in case!"

It sounds like the foods you are choosing to eat are good and you are on the right track with that.

One thing I would strongly urge you to do is eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast will slow down your metabolism for the rest of the day. This is well documented. Your body may be going into starvation mode (you go to sleep and all the hours you asleep you don't eat, and to wake up then continue to not eat is a very long time to go without eating), and so your body is hording what you eat, only burning exactly what it needs.

There is no way to lose fat in one spot. It is known that spot-reduction is a myth. You will have to reduce your body fat percentage to lose tummy fat, and abdominal strength exercise can help expose a nice tummy - your crunches will help the appearance of your tummy.

So up your calorie intake a little bit, and eat breakfast. Breakfast can even be the biggest meal of your day. Try spreading your food intake across the course of your day. That will also help your metabolism. Coffee and tea is known to increase your metabolism a little bit for about 1-1.5 hours after you have a cup. I don't know if drinking 8 cups of coffee or tea is as beneficial as you think, though. Which reminds me, make sure you get a good night's sleep. This is just as important as eating breakfast.

It's great you are here! The info you gave about yourself indicates to me that you do not have a strong knowledge of how to lose weight healthfully and realistically. This site can be a great tool for that! I would start by reading Welcome to the Weight Loss Forum under the Weight Loss heading.  Another valuable post is The Guide to a Fad-Free 2009, which I can't seem to find, but can easily be googled.

Good luck!

I quit smoking 31 weeks ago and gained 25 pounds which is one of the reasons im here.  I also have a large problem with belly fat.  I recently found a pilates dvd by Denise Austin at Walmart called belly fat busters.  Its great!  there are several diferent exercises on it and you can customize it and lots of other options, I have been doing this for 3 weeks now,  I was a 38 in the abs when I started on 1/1/09 and now i am 33.5.  It targets the abs.  the dvd cost me 9.99 and has been worth every penny so for.,  they are very short (15 minute )workouts  they are tough but get easier as you do them.  check it out. maybe it will help you too,  I am only 5 ft and I started at 155 pounds today im at 140.5 i am using a1250 cal diet. 

Good Luck!

Tammy from De Soto

Cheers guys.

Ive only been doing this for 4 days - I know Im not ment to expect much - i went down to 12 stone 5 now today back up to 13

Really should get out and do some running.

Had Breakfast today - didnt seem to bad. Will keep this up.

Will have to look online for that video as I am in England