Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe this hasn’t been mentioned — start running and work up to 15 miles a week. Ideally outside.

People who run that much or more do not have bellies, period. No need to eat restrictively by eliminating entire food groups or by squeezing all your meals into a few hours a day

Stand at the finish line of a marathon sometime.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No sugar
No flour.

Good luck

NP here.

No lentils, peas, beans, no rice. Just chicken broth, water, spinach, dancing, swimming, and pursuing a hobby. Love and feel loved. Breath fresh air every morning.

That's practically my entire diet!

I do not have any extra belly fat, so we really are all soooo different. I'm 52.

But this is the best advice I've ever seen on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Intermittent fasting is just one way to do calorie restriction.

It does way more than that.

If you can stand to lose weight, do it, but while maintaining heavy weight lifting so to not lose muscle mass from your extremities.

If you don't need to lose weight, I'm don't think there is much you can do. That is how your shape is.

I have the opposite issue. My legs and bottom are more full that what would be my ideal. But my weight is in a good place. If I lose more weight to get my legs and bottom "perfect" my face gets gaunt and literally every rib shows and my shoulder blades jut out.

OP: Talk to your Doctor and see a registered dietician or nutritionist. My Doctor's office has a nutritionist, I might have the degree or job title wrong but you get the idea. You can discuss your lifestyle and diet with that person and they should be able to help you make adjustments that will help your lose some weight and tone. In the long run, that will help the belly fat issue.

The short of it: Talk to a professional that is recommended by your Doctor to get a plan that works for you. Try and find a way to move a bit more. There are far too many opinions on the internet that might be fads or work for one person and not another.

My personal anecdote:

I use MyFitnessPal to track what I am eating and make myself be honest with what I am eating. It gives me a little bit of extra accountability that helps me remind myself that I don't need that bowl of ice cream or I have the calories for one scoop of ice cream instead of a full bowl. I am not a big fan of "diets" because the few times I have done those have been failures. I see a good amount of loss while I follow the plan but once I have lost the weight and I stop "the plan" I regain the weight because "the plan" was too specific to weight loss and did nothing to teach me how to eat properly.

I am not a super fit person, although I am getting better. I have about 10 pounds to lose to be at the top of my weight range. But I know that making changes that will cut out all carbs or sugar or whatever is not a long term solution for me. So I am trying to make better decisions, cook more at home, eat more fruits and veg and not graze on the candy bowl at the office. I also increased my activity level. I had been focused on steps, getting 12,000 a day, which helped me maintain my weight but did not do much to lose the last 10 pounds. We bought a Peloton bike around Christmas time and I have gone from only walking too between 60-90 minutes of exercise a day. That is a combination of spin classes, strength training, cardio classes, and a bit of yoga. My weight is slowly dropping, I have MyFitnessPal set for half a pound loss a week and that is about what I am losing. I am also seeing small muscle weight gains and a 2% drop in belly fat.

The Peloton is working for me because I did not like taking my 7 yo DS to the gym with me to work out. I was not happy with the child watch options and I would hurry through a 30 minute elliptical and a quick weight routine so that I would be done in under an hour. The bike at home allows me to be more comfortable getting in a good deal more exercise. DS can do his home work or read or play with his toys or find a way to entertain himself. He is happier and I am more comfortable with exercising because he can come to me if he needs something. It is not the bike, but the freedom for me to exercise longer and more completely. I happen to really like all the classes offered through Peloton and have found a couple of great groups on Facebook that I work with.

As for the belly fat, hopefully it will diminish over time. I am more worried about the inner thigh right now. But it will hopefully diminish.

^^

My knees are shot -- but not til i turned 58 last year. So no more running for me, which i have been doing since college. Don't want to gain any weight -- what will be as effective as running?

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe this hasn’t been mentioned — start running and work up to 15 miles a week. Ideally outside.

People who run that much or more do not have bellies, period. No need to eat restrictively by eliminating entire food groups or by squeezing all your meals into a few hours a day

Dp. But you will have to keep running or it will come back.

Stop eating so many calories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:crossfit
No sugar

I have a 6 pack and I am 46 year old woman.

I do drink alcohol

Alcohol is pure sugar!

Np I would rather have my one or two teapoons of sugar than drink any alcohol

I am overall thin and reasonably fit (38 yo, 5”5, 115 pounds, exercise 3-4 times a week, mostly Pilates/weight/jogging).

But despite my low weight I have a belly, chubby rolls of fat on my mid section and hips. Clear apple shape with a gut whenever I gain weight, and my legs stay thin. Only times in my life when the overall balance of my body was different was when I was on pill with more estrogen, I started gaining cellulite on my thighs and comparatively having a more defined waist.

Point above is to say that I think body shape is extremely defined by hormonal profile/genetics and diet and exercise affect the margins.

Now, I do see some results with one thing only, for me what works is being super vigilant about GI of the food I eat and limiting flour, sugar and very carb heavy meals.. protein and salad keep my belly flatter.. I am not big on cardio but i find that jogging also helps with the intestinal bloating which makes my belly looks flatter (bloating is different from belly fat, it is an additional issue). On that note, even if legumes and pulses seem ok for the belly fat, it makes me bloat a bit too much so I don’t eat too much of it either.

With low GI diet to lose the fat and cutting out foods that makes me bloat, I manage to keep an almost flat stomach. But not miracle, 6 pack not achievable Without looking sickly thin, and I already need to be on the thin side to get the almost flat belly, as it is the last thing I lose.

Anonymous wrote:No flour sounds like that hardest suggestion on this thread.

Only if you eat a lot of bread or baked goods. I don't, so cutting flour is easy for me. I rarely eat bread, nor cereal or pasta for that matter. Cutting sugar, on the other hand -- very very hard for me.

I need to Double the protein and veggies, and halve the sugar (ie., half the desserts and carbs. ). It is the only thing that works for me . I still eat 3-4 pieces of fruit per day, though. I won't give that up.

Protein is tough for me as I have been vegetarian for 30 years. It forces you to get creative.

Anonymous wrote:I cut out alcohol for 6 months and not a thing changed weight-wise.

I cut out dairy and not a thing changed weight-wise.

i cut way back on sugar and lost 5 pounds in about 2 months. I added more aerobic-y exercise 3x per week and lost another 5 pounds in about 2 months. Most of this is belly-related, as that is basically the only place I have fat.

I'm mid-50s and now know my problem is sugar and lack of enough exercise. So there you go. Find out what yours is.

This is helpful, thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No sugar
No flour.

Good luck

NP here.

No lentils, peas, beans, no rice. Just chicken broth, water, spinach, dancing, swimming, and pursuing a hobby. Love and feel loved. Breath fresh air every morning.

That's practically my entire diet!

I do not have any extra belly fat, so we really are all soooo different. I'm 52.

One of my besties is a 10K and 13.1 runner. She works out running/weights/swimming 6x per week. She is not slender. She is normal-looking, just more muscular than most women. No one would ever call her "thin". She's "healthy-looking." She is 51.