Losing body fat

I am aware that I can't target fat loss, but my main problem area is my stomach. I eat reasonably healthy, walk to and from school, but I still have about 4cm thick fat on my stomach. How do I reduce my overall body fat and lose weight so I look more toned? Any tips? Summer soon...

Hi,

These are the most effective strategies:

1. I disagree with 999Tigger on diet - yes do eat less but you need to reduce food intake by only 15% - it does matter what you eat - fats possess 9.1 kCal/gm, so cut down - carbs and proteins both contain 4.1 kCal/gm - difference is that protein uses up energy simply for it to be metabolised, so higher protein portion of diet helps, too.
2. Do exercises that use multiple large muscle groups i.e. legs, trunk and arms e.g. deadlift, pull-ups Larger and greater number of muscles activated of course burns more calories.
3. Use interval training: do some medium pace cycling or jogging for 10 min then jack up the speed to your max (130+ revs/min with bike) for a minute [should make you quite out of breath][try and push your heart rate to 150+ [depending on your age] for this spurt]. Repeat this alternation 3 times.
4. Drink 4 litres of water a day (hopefully there are several loos in your student hall haha!)

BEST OF LUCK!
M

You say you disagree with 999Tiger but you did not say anything contrary to what he said. What matters at the end of the day is calories in vs calories out, what you said is simply breaking down how to calculate calories.

Also exercise is more about health and maintaining muscle, it isn't really necessary to lose weight.

1. Where I did not concur with 999Tiger was his/her quote that "it is not about healthy diet", which I have clearly refuted in my response, and fully explained the reasons.

2. Exercise is NOT just about "health and maintaining muscle" - it also encompasses:-
a) release of enkephalins and endorphins which act on opiate receptors to naturally promote a feeling of wellbeing.
b) exercises that increase cardiac output (therefore both a positive chronotropic effect as well as a positive inotropic effect) on a regular basis increases cardio-pulmonary reserve, thereby permitting greater in increases of strenuous activity.
c) Through the action of beta-2 adrenergic receptors that bring about dilatation of muscular intermediate arterioles, exercise modulates and enhances muscle physiological efficiency.
d) regular exercise increases the BMR, so that calories are burnt even on rest days [in the absence of training].
e) with regular correct exercise, the haemoglobin A [HbA] oxygen dissociation curve tends to shift the sigmoid curve so that at low pO2 (tissues, here muscle) more oxygen is released, and at high pO2 (lungs) more oxygen forms oxyhaemoglobin. This enhances efficiency of muscle action.
f) regular high intensity exercise and interval training reduce the resting heart rate (ideally measured with the subject asleep), so that there is greater scope for an increase in this parameter.
g) (could fall under your "health" section) - the metabolism of proteins, fats and carbohydrates tends towards lipolysis, gluconeogenesis and a drop in the Total Cholesterol: HDL Cholesterol ratio.

3. Although you are correct that exercise "is not essential" for losing weight, it makes it much easier and quicker than diet alone, by the very fact that, in your own words "calories out minus calories in".

4. Check the title of this thread - self-explanatory.

I hope this brief response addresses your dilemma - if you require more detail, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks,
M

Thank you everyone I've been trying to count my calories, and so far... not much change...
I've been trying to eat 800 calories daily, at most 1000. I keep walking to and from school, and I run about every other day. When I don't run, I do a workout of some form at home. I'm expecting to have made progress by week 4

I am aware that I can't target fat loss, but my main problem area is my stomach. I eat reasonably healthy, walk to and from school, but I still have about 4cm thick fat on my stomach. How do I reduce my overall body fat and lose weight so I look more toned? Any tips? Summer soon...

Hi,

These are the most effective strategies:

1. I disagree with 999Tigger on diet - yes do eat less but you need to reduce food intake by only 15% - it does matter what you eat - fats possess 9.1 kCal/gm, so cut down - carbs and proteins both contain 4.1 kCal/gm - difference is that protein uses up energy simply for it to be metabolised, so higher protein portion of diet helps, too.
2. Do exercises that use multiple large muscle groups i.e. legs, trunk and arms e.g. deadlift, pull-ups Larger and greater number of muscles activated of course burns more calories.
3. Use interval training: do some medium pace cycling or jogging for 10 min then jack up the speed to your max (130+ revs/min with bike) for a minute [should make you quite out of breath][try and push your heart rate to 150+ [depending on your age] for this spurt]. Repeat this alternation 3 times.
4. Drink 4 litres of water a day (hopefully there are several loos in your student hall haha!)

BEST OF LUCK!
M

1) Eat like the skinniest, longest living people on earth do without starving...east asians. Low fat, high carb.

2) Make exercise a HABIT not a chore. So do something you love because when you make something fun you take care of motivation.

3) be aware of fad diets all over the internet (e.g keto, atkins). The reasons why these are SO popular is because people love to hear good things about their bad habits. So if an author says bacon and fatty stuff makes you skinny, MANY MANY people will listen to this and buy the books because as I said people like to hear good things about their bad habits.

4) starving is never a long term solution, most people put the weight back on. It ****s your metobolism, and people rely on coffee just to give them the energy.

OMG! Finally someone with sense and does not say "fat does not make you fat"

East asians eat low fat high carb because they're poor, not because it's a good idea.

Low carb and high carb can both work in a fat loss program, but most people find low carb to be easier to sustain. Don't go zero carb, especially as a woman as it will affect your hormones and cause you to be bleeding all over the place all the time.

Fat does not make you fat. Eating too much makes you fat.

I'm talking about the asians who are not starving like japan, parts of china and thailand. I've been to these places and its incredible as you barely see fat people and they eat so much food.

Yeah but you wouldn't ever reccomend a high fat diet for someone who is trying to lose weight as its so dense in calories.

Do you follow them around 24/7 and track how much they eat?



No it's not dense in calories. It's actually very very hard to eat a high amount of calories on a high fat low carb diet. That's why you can tell people to "eat as much as you like, just don't eat any carbs" and they usually end up losing weight without tracking calories at all.

Yeah i followed them around 24/7 as i have friends that live there. They consume HUGE amounts of rice, noodles, etc.
& LOL. Ever thought about heart diesease, type 2 diabetes....that's what these high fat diets cause.

Ok, can you tell me how many calories per day they consume and how many of those calories are from carbs?

Type 2 diabetes is primarily caused by high sugar diets. Heart disease is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. A high fat diet does not equate to a poor diet if you eat the right fats.

Your information is very sketchy and nonscientific..