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Can't Seem To Lose Any Belly Fat?
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An_245417 posted:
I do an hour to an hour and a half of cardio every single day, pilates or yoga, and I eat healthy if nothing at all. The only thing is I dont eat many vegetables because I find them repulsive and dont know many ways to make them more delicious. Otherwise, I drink water like there's no tomorrow, eat lots of protein rich foods, some carbs, and occassionally I treat myself to sweets.

I think this is causing my stomach to stay the way it is. I'm toned everywhere else on my body except my stomach and its getting really frustrating especially with the way I work out.

Is it really the eating or should I be doing something else that I'm not aware of.

*Also - I'm 20 years old and 130 pounds. Is it possible to get to 110 pounds and STILL have a fat stomach?
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Rich Weil, MEd, CDE responded:
I'm not sure I understand when you ask what you think is keeping your stomach the way it is, but if you have diet and nutrition questions (and need ideas for making vegetables more palatable), go ahead and post your questions to the Diet Community:
http://exchanges.webmd.com/diet-exchange

As for losing weight, the thing about it is that to lose you must burn fewer calories than you consume no matter how much exercise you do. Even if you run a marathon every day you will not lose weight if you consume more calories than you burn. So if you're not losing then you are consuming more calories than you burn, even if you think you're not. In fact, research shows that people can under estimate their calorie intake by as much as 40% to 50%.

Now, I don't know if it's possible for you to get to 110 lbs. You didn't post your height so I don't know if you are in a healthy weight range. You can determine that by checking your BMI here http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ If you are at or near 25 than it may not be realistic to lose weight, and if so, then you might want to shift your focus from body weight to body composition (the amount of fat and muscle you have). You can monitor your body fat by using a bioelectric impedance (BIA) scale. You can buy a BIA scale for around $45. Check www.omron.com and www.tanita.com/ for more information. And also shift your focus to shaping your physique. You could do that by decreasing cardio to 45 minutes and spend more time on resistance exercise. You could stretch cardio to 60 minutes if you want, but spending at least equal amount of time between cardio and resistance exercise in a 90-minute workout would serve you well. Make sure to do large muscle group exercises like squats and deadlifts and side bends and spinal twists, and of course, abs, in addition to all the other exercises you do.

I also suggest measuring circumferences for more objective information. The standard circumference measurements are arms (flexed and relaxed), chest (after a normal exhale), shoulders (the widest part), waist (the narrowest part below the ribs and above the belly button), abdomen (across the belly button), buttocks (at the maximum extension of the buttocks), gluteal/thigh (high on the thigh at the groove where the buttocks end), mid-thigh (halfway between the crease in the groin and the top of the knee cap), and calf (at the maximum circumference, either with leg hanging freely off a table or with legs 8 inches apart and weight distributed evenly). Keep the tape horizontal during measurements and pull the tape lightly so it indents the skin only slightly.
I hope that's helpful. Feel free to post back if you have more questions. And if you do, include your height.

Take care,
Rich


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