Need advice on losing my belly fat

[jaredt82]

I am 5ft 10 weigh 148 im thin everywhere but my belly. I am 31 so my metabolism has gone down quite a bit. I jog on the treadmill 5 days a week around 3.4 miles. I eat healthy no sweets no junk food no sodas. I drink water and unsweetened tea. I am trying to get rid of this belly fat before end of March I have a trip overseas. I am also taking Garcinia combogia to try it out so far it doesnt work for me. I just got my fitbit one yesterday and like it so far. Can I get some tips or advice on what I can do to accomplish this goal?

[lazy]

crunches. sit ups. etc. move belly!!!!! *bad images of homer simpson* teehee look at that flubber fly

[Jabrat]

Do the leslie sansone tapes - working on core - noticed big difference in 7 days

[Dominique]

Zlatan Ibrahimović is 32 and he doesn't strike me as someone with a slow metabolism <lol>.

You can't target fat loss, but if your belly is the only place where you have it, then your body won't have to spend too much time deciding where to take it from.

You want to spend long enough periods of time in your fat burning zone. Jogging may put you in the aerobic zone, where you burn less fat and more carbs.

Here you can see a 9.7 km run (60 minutes, average heart rate:135 bpm):

and here the same distance, but walking (80 minutes, average heart rate: 117 bpm):

As you can see, same distance, but I spent 58 minutes in the fat burning zone when walking, against only 10 minutes when running. So from a fat burning point of view, (brisk) walking is more efficient than running.

A heart rate monitor can be useful if you're not sure about the HR zones you're exercising in. The above graphs and data are from the Runtastic app, which I use on my Nexus 4 phone and in connection with my Mio Alpha HRM.

[Jabrat]

do you have a gym membership - the personal trainers will guide you to the right machines

[steff]

Weight resistance.  Building muscle increases metabolism.  Weight resistance doesn't burn many calories while you are doing it, but it continues to burn calories for several hours after completing it.  Cardio is great for ...yup the cardio vascular system, but weights buuild muscle and muscle burns more calories .  Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat, because a pound is a pound.  But a pound of muscle does occupy less space than a pound of fat and burns calories non stop.

[sklausman33]

I agree!! I absoloutely LOVE the Leslie Sansone walks! They are very easy to do and they really do work your core a lot more than you would think!

[258trainer]

Your body has gotten used to your jogs...you need to change it up a bit.  Try adding some High Intensity Intervals to a couple of your jogs and/or replace one of your jogs w/ a 20 minute Tabata.  (you can google these 2  for lots of ideas.)  Weight training definately needs to be added to your routine.  You should train every major muscle group at LEAST 2x/week.  That, along w/ the higher intensity cardio, will rev up your metabolism.  You're wasting your time w/ the same old treadmill routine.  The rule for exercise now is INTENSITY  over  DURATION.

[jaredt82]

Thank you for your reply its very informative. Today I tried walking on the treadmill instead of jogging. I was walking about 4 mph instead of my usual 6.5 jogging. My heart rate was around 116-146 when treadmill went into incline mode. I walked for 10 minutes stretched then continued for another 47 minutes. I then did upper body workout bench press and free weights. Then headed over to do some leg excercises. Maybe I should walk slower and keep the same distance it seemed like I was walking too fast. I dont havea  HRM but the treadmill has one.

[jaredt82]

Thanks for the reply today I mixed it up some I walked longer and did some strength training.

[jaredt82]

I mixed it up today with walking longer on treadmill instead of jogging and did upper body and leg workouts. What do you mean by higher intensity cardio?

[jaredt82]

---

@Dominique wrote:

Zlatan Ibrahimović is 32 and he doesn't strike me as someone with a slow metabolism <lol>.

You can't target fat loss, but if your belly is the only place where you have it, then your body won't have to spend too much time deciding where to take it from.

You want to spend long enough periods of time in your fat burning zone. Jogging may put you in the aerobic zone, where you burn less fat and more carbs.

Here you can see a 9.7 km run (60 minutes, average heart rate:135 bpm):

and here the same distance, but walking (80 minutes, average heart rate: 117 bpm):

As you can see, same distance, but I spent 58 minutes in the fat burning zone when walking, against only 10 minutes when running. So from a fat burning point of view, (brisk) walking is more efficient than running.

A heart rate monitor can be useful if you're not sure about the HR zones you're exercising in. The above graphs and data are from the Runtastic app, which I use on my Nexus 4 phone and in connection with my Mio Alpha HRM.

---

Thank you for your reply its very informative. Today I tried walking on the treadmill instead of jogging. I was walking about 4 mph instead of my usual 6.5 jogging. My heart rate was around 116-146 when treadmill went into incline mode. I walked for 10 minutes stretched then continued for another 47 minutes. I then did upper body workout bench press and free weights. Then headed over to do some leg excercises. Maybe I should walk slower and keep the same distance it seemed like I was walking too fast. I dont havea  HRM but the treadmill has one.

[jaredt82]

Thank you for your reply its very informative. Today I tried walking on the treadmill instead of jogging. I was walking about 4 mph instead of my usual 6.5 jogging. My heart rate was around 116-146 when treadmill went into incline mode. I walked for 10 minutes stretched then continued for another 47 minutes. I then did upper body workout bench press and free weights. Then headed over to do some leg excercises. Maybe I should walk slower and keep the same distance it seemed like I was walking too fast. I dont havea  HRM but the treadmill has one.

[jaredt82]

---

@steff wrote:

Weight resistance.  Building muscle increases metabolism.  Weight resistance doesn't burn many calories while you are doing it, but it continues to burn calories for several hours after completing it.  Cardio is great for ...yup the cardio vascular system, but weights buuild muscle and muscle burns more calories .  Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat, because a pound is a pound.  But a pound of muscle does occupy less space than a pound of fat and burns calories non stop.

---

Thanks for the reply today I mixed it up some I walked longer and did some strength training.

[jaredt82]

Thanks for the reply today I mixed it up some I walked longer and did some strength training.

[jaredt82]

---

@258trainer wrote:

Your body has gotten used to your jogs...you need to change it up a bit.  Try adding some High Intensity Intervals to a couple of your jogs and/or replace one of your jogs w/ a 20 minute Tabata.  (you can google these 2  for lots of ideas.)  Weight training definately needs to be added to your routine.  You should train every major muscle group at LEAST 2x/week.  That, along w/ the higher intensity cardio, will rev up your metabolism.  You're wasting your time w/ the same old treadmill routine.  The rule for exercise now is INTENSITY  over  DURATION.

---

I mixed it up today with walking longer on treadmill instead of jogging and did upper body and leg workouts. What do you mean by higher intensity cardio?

[jaredt82]

I mixed it up today with walking longer on treadmill instead of jogging and did upper body and leg workouts. What do you mean by higher intensity cardio?

[258trainer]

Why did you stop and stretch after 10 minutes?

[jaredt82]

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@258trainer wrote:

Why did you stop and stretch after 10 minutes?

---

I walked for 10 minutes to get my body in burning mode then stopped stretched for 5 minutes then continued.

[abb123]

The fat burning zone has a little bit of a misconception.  At higher intensities you WILL burn more fat, but the percentage of fat burned for energy changes. You can read more about it here: http://www.active.com/triathlon/articles/the-myth-of-the-fat-burning-zone

To sum it up though... at lower intensity your body burns 50% fat for energy...  the remaining 50 from simple carbs, sugars, etc...  So if you burned 1000 total calories, 500 would be from fat and 500 from other sources.

At a higher intensity your body would burn about 35% from fat.  But the difference being that you are burning far more calories, so the 35% ends up being a higher overall number.   if you go from 4 MPH walking to about 6.5 jogging/running you will increase your calorie burn by 70-75%.  So this is how it breaks down...

1000 Calories walking with 50% fat burn = 500 calories of fat burned
1700 Calories jogging with 35% fat burn = 595 calories of fat burned

So you may think it isn't worth it, but there is an added benefit of the high intensity workout.  even though you have only initially burned an extra 95 calories of fat, you have also depleted a large portion of your bodies carbs, sugars, etc that the body uses for energy through the day.  That means that for the rest of the day (assuming you don't eat a ton of sugar and carbs) you are going to start using fat reserves for energy.  So high intensity is definitely better for burning fat, period.

It is true though, that nothing is better for fat burn than developing muscle, which aerobics won't do much of.  For every 1 pound of muscle, you need 50 calories per day to maintain.  So imagine if you can put on 5 pounds of muscle. You will burn 250 extra calories per day just sitting around doing nothing.  Not taking into account the energy  you expend to develop those muscles!

Good luck!

[jaredt82]

---

@abb123 wrote:

The fat burning zone has a little bit of a misconception.  At higher intensities you WILL burn more fat, but the percentage of fat burned for energy changes. You can read more about it here: http://www.active.com/triathlon/articles/the-myth-of-the-fat-burning-zone

To sum it up though... at lower intensity your body burns 50% fat for energy...  the remaining 50 from simple carbs, sugars, etc...  So if you burned 1000 total calories, 500 would be from fat and 500 from other sources.

At a higher intensity your body would burn about 35% from fat.  But the difference being that you are burning far more calories, so the 35% ends up being a higher overall number.   if you go from 4 MPH walking to about 6.5 jogging/running you will increase your calorie burn by 70-75%.  So this is how it breaks down...

1000 Calories walking with 50% fat burn = 500 calories of fat burned
1700 Calories jogging with 35% fat burn = 595 calories of fat burned

So you may think it isn't worth it, but there is an added benefit of the high intensity workout.  even though you have only initially burned an extra 95 calories of fat, you have also depleted a large portion of your bodies carbs, sugars, etc that the body uses for energy through the day.  That means that for the rest of the day (assuming you don't eat a ton of sugar and carbs) you are going to start using fat reserves for energy.  So high intensity is definitely better for burning fat, period.

It is true though, that nothing is better for fat burn than developing muscle, which aerobics won't do much of.  For every 1 pound of muscle, you need 50 calories per day to maintain.  So imagine if you can put on 5 pounds of muscle. You will burn 250 extra calories per day just sitting around doing nothing.  Not taking into account the energy  you expend to develop those muscles!

Good luck!

---

So your saying what I have been already doing is better then taking it slow? I am getting different answers about the same thing sorry a little confused. Maybe ill stick to slow and steady on the treadmill leaving me energy to do the strength training to build that muscle.

[258trainer]

There's no need to stretch for a walk, and static stretching (holding stretches for a period of time) shouldn't be done until AFTER you work out.  Prior to doing strength training, you should do a couple of ballistic stretches (moving arms and legs back and forth  for warming up) but walking IS a warm-up.  If you're going to jog/run, just walk for 5 mins or so first.  

[Naomi94]

Hi Jared,

First, you appear to be healthy and in shape to me. At the age of 31, your metabolism has not gone down THAT  much. After 30 is when your metabolism will go down, this is due in part to muscle loss. In this response, I will be linking you to a few YouTube videos that will better explain my response. 

How to have a 6-pack. Rule #1: Abs are made in the kitchen. Rule #2: you can do crunches and situps for years, develop great abs but never see them if they are covered by fat. 

SOLUTION

1. Make a weekly diet for yourself.

Eat 1500 - 1600 calories per day, spread out over 5 meals per day. Print it out, and post it on your fridge. Your BMR is 1666.24 calories every day. By the end of March you need to loose about 5 pounds of body fat. 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. You must creat a calorie deficit of 17,500. That number looks like a lot on paper, but really it isn't. 

2. When you are jogging, do not look at the distance you jog anymore. In fact - ignore the distance jogged. From now on, you are looking at time and speed only. You will start interval training. Run 9 mph for 60 seconds, or until you cannot continue running at that speed anymore. Then stop, and walk until you catch your breath. Repeat this interval a minimum of 5 times during your cardio workout. If 9mph is too fast, then do less, but you must run more than 6mph. Get your heart rate past 150 BPM. This is ESSENTIAL to losing the belly fat. It will also trigger the afterburn effect. 

I did read your response above that you will continue with the slow and steady approach on the treadmill. This is a mistake. I recommend that you do not continue slow walking. 

WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT INTERVAL TRAINING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAgT-zrszo

3. You did not mention your weight training at the gym. Three days a week, BEFORE your cardio workout, hit the weights. Trust me: hit the weights before your cardio. WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT CARDIO AFTER WEIGHTS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm8s2NW1rH4    

The more muscle you build, the more you will increase your metabolism. This means that your body will burn more calories at a resting state. Put on that muscle. 

4. Watch some good tutorial videos about belly fat. You will find that building up over all muscle tone, interval training, and eating within your calorie range will do the trick for you. 

Here are three additional videos I recommend about belly fat and diet: 

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxU1w51GQVo

2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APHDrYEHQaY

3.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfY_4m3RVRc

Remember that you cannot loose fat in one area in the gym. The only thing that can do that is liposuction. Have a goal of loosing overall body fat. Build up those muscles because once you loose the fat, we will see the muscles hiding underneith. Good luck, feel free to send me a private message if you need further help. My facebook is linked to my profile

Naomi