Strategies to reduce tummy

[writergal28]

I don't need to lose weight - I just want to lose an inch or so off my waist (it's mostly for superficial reasons - my waist to hip ratio is good enough).  Any tips?  I eat fairly healthy.  Breakfast is typically berries, kefir and some carbs, lunch is usually a salad without dressing and dinner is usually a protein+carbs+something green.  I graze in between sometimes (I think I have an addiction to frozen blackberries and will eat three or four at a time) and drink a good amount of fluids.  Coffee with a bit of milk (either dairy or almond) and plain green tea daily.  

[Dominique]

Unfortunately, we can’t "spot reduce" (except via liposuction, which you probably don’t want to consider). So you’ll need to lower your overall weight and hope most of the loss will be from fat and will come off the "right" areas. There are strategies (eating, exercising) to ensure you lose as much fat and as little lean mass as possible. You may want to check this topic on eating for health vs. body composition.

[writergal28]

Ahhh, but I've barely gained any weight - it's more or less the same as it's been for the past 10 years (save for a year or so when I was under).  Age?  Stress?  I'm slightly under 5'2" and my weight is always between 94-97 lb.  My BMI marks me as underweight, but the women in my family are mostly very slight for their height.  I don't want to go below 94 lb.  My waist is now around 25". I'd like to see it at 24".  

[Dominique]

25" is pretty thin, in line with your weight/height. I don’t think anyone except you would notice a 1 inch smaller waist. Age: you don’t look that old to me. Stress: maybe. If you want to improve body composition, I would focus on building muscle overall, instead of just further shrinking that waistline from an already small level. 

[SunsetRunner]

What you are describing is body recomposition.  Don’t change your calories. Only change macros at first. Keep protein at a minimum 1 gram per pound of body weight, fat 0.5 grams per pound of bodyweight and carbs are what’s left over from the calories you currently eat. Do this along with a weight training program and I guarantee you will see changes happening. How your body recomps is determined by your genetics. When I first did this I only lost 3 pounds but I lost 3 pant sizes in 3 months. 3 was the magic number for me lol. I’m not nearly as small as you so your results will likely be less dramatic. You’ll get people that say those numbers are too high. Well, those people haven’t tried it. When you stop seeing results is when you need to determine if you need to lose more body fat (reduce calories from carbs) or gain muscle (increase calories from carbs – healthy carbs). A small waist size doesn’t mean a darn thing. That’s all genetic. There’s a woman in my bodybuilding group that has a super tiny waist. It’s almost unbelievable but that’s just her genetics.

[emili]

@writergal28.. I think you are built as you should be for your height and weight. I get superficial reasons, I lost weight based on superficial reasons (mostly), but I think you may want to shift your focus as Dominique suggests. Don't worry about your waist.. get into weight training to tighten everything up and tone your current physique. You may actually lose that inch... 

[bikerhiker]

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@writergal28 wrote:

I don't need to lose weight - I just want to lose an inch or so off my waist (it's mostly for superficial reasons - my waist to hip ratio is good enough).  Any tips?  I eat fairly healthy.  Breakfast is typically berries, kefir and some carbs, lunch is usually a salad without dressing and dinner is usually a protein+carbs+something green.  I graze in between sometimes (I think I have an addiction to frozen blackberries and will eat three or four at a time) and drink a good amount of fluids.  Coffee with a bit of milk (either dairy or almond) and plain green tea daily.  

A woman tends to carry more body fat than men does, basically around the waist line and along your hip areas, and that is for reproductive and hormonal functions.  At your height and waist line, you are already at the optimal range of body composition.  There are 2 ways to reduce the waist line further.  One is to work out and do resistance training (weights or HIIT) to tone your body, but doesn't necessarily reduce your waist line further.  The other more common way I see is to go into malnutrition ( I do not recommend it but I often see people going into ER because they did); reducing your food intake nutritional value further.  I see that in you already as you graze in between and you have an addiction to Blackberries, which is a source fibre, high in manganese, potassium, high in Vitamin C etc..  Our human body is a very fascinating machine and that is, we crave for food where it's high in minerals and nutrients as well as the 3 macros.  If you don't satisfy these requirements, usually through dieting, you will crave certain kind of foods to achieve satiety (feeling of being full).  That usually tells us (I work in the medical field) what you are perhaps deficient of.  When people diet; you will start to be deficient of certain minerals and nutrients, UNLESS you address your malnutrition with food that are very high on the minerals and nutrients that you took away from the diet.  Most female body builders who have a thin waist line are doing so only for competition.  You can't maintain this body fat composition for eternity as it is not only unhealthy but dangerously harmful to your internal organs.  Once you damage your internal organs due to underweighting for a long time, you can not reverse the damage.  You have to live with those issues for the rest of your lives.

[writergal28]

I actually don't carry much around my hips - most of the women in my family are apple shaped or straight up and down.  I've actually lost some around the hips and for some reason, some of it migrated to my waist!  My weight has always been lower than what's considered "appropriate" BMI (which is why I don't believe in it), since women in my family are mostly tiny-tiny.  Just FYI.