Will my plan get me a flat/toned stomach (skinnyfat)?

I'm 17, female, 5'0ish and around 98 pounds (omg, first time I'm nearly approaching 100! Haha).

This is me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77637635@N05/

Soo, I have a bit of stomach fat that I really want to get rid of. I know the second picture doesn't look like i have much but it's REALLY noticeable when I slouch, there's a fair bit of fat there. I am perfectly happy with the rest of my body though. But I know you can't lose fat in just one area.

So, if I just do only cardio workouts, I will lose fat all over my body, leaving me underweight/very skinny in all areas. I don't want that. My plan is to replace the fat that I lose with muscle via strength workouts, thus staying at approx the same weight, or slightly above, and leaving me with arms/legs of the same size as they are now.

If I do:

-1 hour cardio workouts (treadmill, bike) to lose the fat.

And

-Dumbbell curls (4kg each hand, 3 sets of 10 reps and slowly increase weight when it gets easy).

- Sit ups

- Push ups

- That leg machine where you push weights with your legs (don't know what it's called lol)

- and rowing machine (does this build arm muscles?)

Does my plan sound logical? I don't want to bulk up and from what I've read it's pretty much impossible for women to bulk up like men, especially when working out at a low level of intensity.

To sum up, I want to get a flat/toned stomach but I don't want to be anorexic. So will strength training, as listed above, mixed with cardio help me achieve a flat stomach whilst being at a healthy weight?

PS: I've gathered that my stomach is because of a poor diet, which I will change and I will eat healthier.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

Teenage Pirate

13

rowing is more for your legs than your arms

and the only thing that you're actually doing for your stomach muscles is the situps?

Reply 2

Aussie-Pom

OP

1

Original post by Teenage Pirate

rowing is more for your legs than your arms

and the only thing that you're actually doing for your stomach muscles is the situps?

Yeah I know but all that cardio will leave my arms/legs looking skinny as hell. So I want to build muscle in my arms/legs so they stay the same size. Also, theres not much else I can do for my stomach, not until the fat has gone anyway (since the fat is covering my abs).

Reply 3

duharvalgt

7

That sounds good , I suggest that you count/track calories so you can estimate how much weight you're going to lose.

Reply 4

Old School

1

Original post by Aussie-Pom

I'm 17, female, 5'0ish and around 98 pounds (omg, first time I'm nearly approaching 100! Haha).

This is me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77637635@N05/

Soo, I have a bit of stomach fat that I really want to get rid of. I know the second picture doesn't look like i have much but it's REALLY noticeable when I slouch, there's a fair bit of fat there. I am perfectly happy with the rest of my body though. But I know you can't lose fat in just one area.

So, if I just do only cardio workouts, I will lose fat all over my body, leaving me underweight/very skinny in all areas. I don't want that. My plan is to replace the fat that I lose with muscle via strength workouts, thus staying at approx the same weight, or slightly above, and leaving me with arms/legs of the same size as they are now.

If I do:

-1 hour cardio workouts (treadmill, bike) to lose the fat.

And

-Dumbbell curls (4kg each hand, 3 sets of 10 reps and slowly increase weight when it gets easy).

- Sit ups

- Push ups

- That leg machine where you push weights with your legs (don't know what it's called lol)

- and rowing machine (does this build arm muscles?)

Does my plan sound logical? No. I don't want to bulk up and from what I've read it's pretty much impossible for women to bulk up like men, especially when working out at a low level of intensity Low intensity achieves nothing. Training hard will not make you 'big'. .

To sum up, I want to get a flat/toned stomach but I don't want to be anorexic. So will strength training What you posted isn't strength training., as listed above, mixed with cardio help me achieve a flat stomach whilst being at a healthy weight? No.

PS: I've gathered that my stomach is because of a poor diet, which I will change and I will eat healthier.

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=887324

Read this thread.

Then go google starting strength or stronglifts 5x5. Follow the programs as written, eat properly and you will get 'toned'.

You don't need to lose fat- you weigh 98lbs. You just need to build some muscle. Then you will look how you want.

Chances are you won't do this though. Because it's hard.

Reply 5

Aussie-Pom

OP

1

Original post by Old School

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=887324

Read this thread.

Then go google starting strength or stronglifts 5x5. Follow the programs as written, eat properly and you will get 'toned'.

You don't need to lose fat- you weigh 98lbs. You just need to build some muscle. Then you will look how you want.

Chances are you won't do this though. Because it's hard.

I'm no fitness expert or anything but I do disagree with your post :/ Firstly, I meant low intensity as in it's hardly anything compared to female bodybuilders who spend hours in gym and lift 30+ pounds or whatever. Those workouts will still push my body, it's not as if it's gonna be easy for me.

Secondly, if it's not strength training, what is it? Crunches, press ups, curls - it builds muscle/strength, doesn't it?...

Thirdly, I do need to lose fat, specifically stomach fat. I'm skinnyfat, as are many others. Skinnyfat people look thin and even have a normal body weight. But due to bad eating habits, store unnecessary fat (usually stomach). This is why it's somewhat harder for skinnyfat people to get back to a good body than overweight people, because too much cardio will cause them to lose too much weight/look so much thinner. If I just built up pure muscle, I still wouldn't have a flat stomach since I wouldn't have done enough cardio to burn the stomach fat. Fat can't just disappear and fat can't turn into muscle, so some cardio has to be done.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

SEHughes

11

Lift weights following a proper program, run hills, eat well. Do that consistently for 6 months. You'll be fine.

Reply 7

Harrifer

15

Original post by Aussie-Pom

-Dumbbell curls (4kg each hand, 3 sets of 10 reps and slowly increase weight when it gets easy).

Are you aware curls are an isolation exercise? That means they only target one muscle, in this case the bicep. There's nothing inherently wrong with curls, but your progress will be slow and limited if you are relying on this as a main exercise.

If you're interested in building some basic upper body strength, you would do much better with bench press, shoulder press and bent over rows. For your lower body you could do deadlifts and squats. These will help with your abs as well.

There's lots of other stuff you can do, I'm just trying to give you an idea of some basic compound lifts.

The rowing machine is definitely for cardio. You should ditch the leg press and just do squats.

Good luck.

Reply 8

mikestraws

11

Original post by Aussie-Pom

I'm no fitness expert or anything but I do disagree with your post :/ Firstly, I meant low intensity as if in hardly anything compared to felane bodybuilders who spend hours in gym and lift 30+ pounds or whatever. Those workouts will still push my body, it's not as if it's gonna be easy for me.

Secondly, if it's not strength training, what is it? Crunches, press ups, curls - it builds muscle/strength, doesn't it?...

Thirdly, I do need to lose fat, specifically stomach fat. I'm skinnyfat, as are many others. Skinnyfat people look thin and even have a normal body weight. But due to bad eating habits, store unnecessary fat (usually stomach). This is why it's somewhat harder for skinnyfat people to get back to a good body than overweight people, because too much cardio will cause them to lose too much weight/look so much thinner.

No, no no and no.

1.) You don't need to do so much cardio. By all means, do some cardio. But doing an hour a day or an hour a workout is counter to your goal of getting toned. Plus that's a friggin hour BEFORE you start weight training, you will end up spending so much time working out you will stop enjoying it.

2.)The program you described really is not strength training. At best it's resistance or endurance work and will have little to no effect on your physical appearence. You need to be using some proper weights, and do not follow this social protocol of "girls should not be lifting weights because they will look like a bodybuilder" it is BS. Check out http://crissfit.tumblr.com/ she is a blogger who lost a lot of fat using strength training and now she looks hot as. Girls who lift, look hot. Not big.

3.) You really do not need to focus on fat loss, being skinnyfat doesn't mean you have too much fat, it means you have not enough muscle. I'm kind of there myself right now. The first few months of strength training will burn a bit of fat and as you get a little bit more muscle on your body it will all even out.

4.) Starting Strength / Stronglifts 5x5 are your friends. Easy workouts with minimal exercises that work your whole body. One hour, three times a week. You load the bar with the smallest incriment (1.25kg) each workout, or even smaller incriments if you have access to smaller plates untill you stall, then you deload and try again. It's fun, challenging and as everyone on here will confirm, effective.

5.) Your comment about the intensity of your training. Here is Zoe Smith, 17 years old. You may see her at the Olympics this year. You probably wont find a 17 year old girl in England who trains weights more intensely than she does. As you can see, not big. At all.

6.)Ultimately all of thise is garbage unless you are willing to have a really really good diet. Not sub 1000 calorie typical girl diet, but a healthy, nutritious protein carb and fat rich diet designed to fuel your body.

There is a sticky on this forum here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=887324 which should give you all of the info you need to get started.

And finally, one of my favourites:

Reply 9

Old School

1

Original post by Aussie-Pom

I'm no fitness expert or anything but I do disagree with your post :/ Firstly, I meant low intensity as in it's hardly anything compared to female bodybuilders who spend hours in gym and lift 30+ pounds or whatever. Those workouts will still push my body, it's not as if it's gonna be easy for me.

Those workouts won't push your body for more than a couple of sessions. Also being stong does not equal being huge. Female BBers have been training and eating with those physiques in mind since their mid-late teens. All of the really freaky looking ones also take anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, insulin and pharmaceutical diuretics. Please don't insult the effort that they put in by implying that putting in a little effort in the gym with weights will make you look like them overnight.

Secondly, if it's not strength training, what is it? Crunches, press ups, curls - it builds muscle/strength, doesn't it?...

It's messing about with random exercises that serve no coherent purpose. Please don't insult the time and effort strength trainees put into designing their plans by calling a random assortment of bodyweight and resistance exercises 'strength training'.

Thirdly, I do need to lose fat, specifically stomach fat. I'm skinnyfat, as are many others. Skinnyfat people look thin and even have a normal body weight. But due to bad eating habits, store unnecessary fat (usually stomach). This is why it's somewhat harder for skinnyfat people to get back to a good body than overweight people, because too much cardio will cause them to lose too much weight/look so much thinner. If I just built up pure muscle, I still wouldn't have a flat stomach since I wouldn't have done enough cardio to burn the stomach fat. Fat can't just disappear and fat can't turn into muscle, so some cardio has to be done.

I know what skinnyfat is. I also know that people look like that because, funnily enough, they follow pointless, poorly thought out and easy plans like the one you posted. You are skinnyfat because your bodyfat percentage is high. This is because you have little in the way of muscle. Your diet ultimately determines your leanness but weight training burns calories and builds muscle which gives you the 'toned' look that you're after. Combine this with moderate amounts of high intensity cardio work (sprints, hill sprints etc.) 1-4x per week with sessions lasting no more than 15 mins and your body composition will improve.

All low intensity cardio does is make your body more efficient at utilising fat stores for energy, and because your body is a clever machine it hordes fat in order to fuel your jogging/stepper/eliptical workouts meaning you have to do more cardio in order to burn more fat, which in turn causes your body to store more fat. The end result is the skinnyfat look that you don't want.

Want to argue? Compare the physiques of a sprinter and a marathon runner. Who looks better? If you think female sprinters are too muscly and then back off on your training a little bit or eat more. These changes do not happen overnight, nor are you an elite athlete so the chances are you will never attain that level of muscularity and definition.

Tl;Dr:
Train hard and lift heavy weights, then you won't be skinnyfat.

So basically what you wanted was for all of us to say how awesome your plan is and how it's totez going to make you look hawt.

Look, your plan is garbage. Some of the people on here actually know what they're talking about. You don't (you said so yourself). It's obvious you haven't read the thread that me and mikestraws posted which explains everything about working out for girls in basic terms.

The fact that you think intense weightlifting involves marathon gyms sessions shows that you didn't google either of the routines that I posted. Both take no longer than 45 mins to complete and you only train 3x per week.

Reply 10

Chrisateen

14

Original post by Aussie-Pom

I'm no fitness expert or anything but I do disagree with your post :/ Firstly, I meant low intensity as in it's hardly anything compared to female bodybuilders who spend hours in gym and lift 30+ pounds or whatever. Those workouts will still push my body, it's not as if it's gonna be easy for me.

Secondly, if it's not strength training, what is it? Crunches, press ups, curls - it builds muscle/strength, doesn't it?...

Thirdly, I do need to lose fat, specifically stomach fat. I'm skinnyfat, as are many others. Skinnyfat people look thin and even have a normal body weight. But due to bad eating habits, store unnecessary fat (usually stomach). This is why it's somewhat harder for skinnyfat people to get back to a good body than overweight people, because too much cardio will cause them to lose too much weight/look so much thinner. If I just built up pure muscle, I still wouldn't have a flat stomach since I wouldn't have done enough cardio to burn the stomach fat. Fat can't just disappear and fat can't turn into muscle, so some cardio has to be done.

I think the point that some of the guys make here is correct and it would help to solve your problem if you listen to them.

I use to be overweight and therefore lost lots of weight however now that my body is within a healthy range my body is not 100% where I want it to be. What really helped is lifting heavy weights. This means doing things like bench press, deadlifts, squats, pull ups, dips e.t.c. This helped to build my muscles reduce bodyfat overall. As a result I now look a little toned and can see some definition in my abs.

My advice is to spend some time lifting weights and building some muscle. The only way to do this is to lift heavy and even gain a few pounds (around 10lbs). Then once you gained quite a few pounds you cut back down to your current weight and then you will have the body you want.

The only way you are going to get a better body is by lifting heavy weights.

Just to ask what sort of body are you aiming for?

Reply 11

BKS

19

Most of what I'd say has already been said so listen to people who know better that you- if you knew it all already you wouldn't have asked for advice, asking for advice was wise, not listening would be pointless.

I'd also add in you need a realistic grasp of bodies and what they look like. BMI is 19 (BMI isn't a perfect system but since you don't have much muscle it's useful here). That's the bottom end of healthy, if you loose weight you will look like a bag of bones- really not a good look. Everyone who isn't proper ripped has some squish on their belly when they bend over a bit, it's totally normal.

Reply 12

Beardbrah

11

You get out what you put in. If you train like ****, you'll look like ****, end of.

OP, all the advice you could EVER NEED has already been posted in this thread. Ignore it at your peril. I'll reiterate - you're skinnyfat because you have a high bodyfat %. You could lose bodyfat, but you won't have any muscle to show for it. The alternative and superior way is to gain muscle, which will mean you have proportionally more muscle and therefore less bodyfat%. You're not going to do that doing bodyweight exercises. Bodyweight exercises you named might build strength but won't build muscle - and don't think the two are equatable. You don't need more muscle to be stronger. Strength is also a function of nervous system efficiency.