Advice Seeking: Looking for the best possible method.

[Slim]

What is the best possible method to lose the extra skin, the flabby flesh left over after I lose half of my body weight? There is no way I am going under the knife (surgery), it is also impossible for me to attempt to do a single sit-up because of a bad back problem. If pregnant women can shrink their bellies down after delivering a baby, what do I have to do to achieve the same result of getting rid of my belly? I am a male who like other men carry their weight around their belly or midsection. I currently power walk as my form of exercise and looking to add to my regimen. I am not looking for six-pack abs, but something to work with as I continue losing weight.

[Diana Young, RD, LD/N, CDE]

My advice to avoid extra skin is to lose weight slowly and maintain your muscle tone. When I say lose weight slowly, I mean 1-2 pounds per week. You can join our 2 pounds per week club. Good Luck!

[Fake Food Free]

The most effective way to lose belly fat is to do cardio. While it is important to tone the muscles, you probably won't see results until the fat is burned from there and cardio is the big calorie burner. It sounds like you are doing a great job with your power walking. Do you use a gym? An elliptical machine can be good for high calorie burn and is easy on the joints.

There are many abdominal exercises you can do instead of sit-ups, many of them standing. Things like bring your knees to your elbow as you simulate a cross over crunch, only standing. If you have a serious injury though it is best to seek medical advice so you don't injure yourself further.

As already mentioned, aim to lose the weight slowly. Also, keep up the strength training to maintain muscle mass as you lose.

[Andrew Scott]

When men add lean muscle mass to their bodies they burn calories. If you add just one pound of muscle then you'll burn off about 50 calories!

For fat loss then make sure that you are engaging in a TOTAL BODY resistance training workout at least 3 times per week, with a days rest in between; Mon, Wed & Fri or Tue, Thu & Sat.

At this time workout the whole body, don't just focus on your stomach! If you SPOT REDUCE and focus on a body part you'll not see the results that you are looking for as our body does not remove fat like that. I.E. If you do 50 sit-ups every day then you'll reduce the fat in your stomach, WRONG! If you do the sit ups daily you could feel some muscle gains but they will still be buried under fat. Work the whole body and your body will start removing fat from the place that it was last deposited.

Also to maximize your fat burning potential do 3 cardiovascular workouts a week as well; choosing the days that you are not doing your strength training workouts. While doing your cardio workouts alternate your pace from slow to fast (20 sec fast, 20 sec slow, 30 sec fast, 20 sec slow, etc) and you will also add to your fat burning potential.

Eating will also assist your fat burning by stoking your metabolism. This mixed with your Resistance and Cardio Training will really start up your bodies natural fat burners.

If you have more than 20lbs to lose then lower your carbohydrate intake. When you eat carbs they will be stored in your muscles as glycogen (a natural form of sugar) then when you do a good resistance training workout your body will use the glycogen supply in your muscles as energy and leave your fat as storage. But if you are on a low carb diet then your glycogen levels in your muscles will be low, and when they are used up your body will look for another source of energy, yep you got it, YOUR STORED FAT!

If you are consistent in your resistance training 3 times a week, and your cardio 3 times a week and watch your carb intake then you'll burn off fat and that belly will go completely, no saggy baggy stuff!

Now don't go following the Atkins Diet, a low carb diet is not going OTT on big fried meals but limit your carb intake early in the day (your breakfast) then have a big lunch of fiber and proteins. Then a small portioned dinner. In between meals have a protein based snack (3 of these snacks per day).

I hope this helps, take care and train safe!
Andrew

[SpinDiva]

First to answer your question on why pregnant women shrink back, you are too funny :-). Assuming we don't gain too much body fat during pregnancy, we stretch out slowly and we are only stretched like that for a short period of time (not the whole 9 months.) Believe me, we feel the stretch by the end of the ninth month. But if there's no more fat then when we started, the belly will shrink back and if we follow a healthy exercise and eating lifestyle we might even see some muscle. Otherwise, we can have flabby excess skin that doesn't seem to shrink quickly enough. A lot depends on age, lifestyle, # of pregnancies, # of babies, etc.

Like Fake Food said, check with your doctor, a back specialist or physical therapist first and be aware of your range in motion with your back problem. Not all ab exercises have anything to do with sit ups. In fact, Almost everything you do standing up requires the use of your abs, you just have to know how or when to engage them.

Are you able to do any type of push ups? Depending on the severity of your back problem, I would recommend doing some exercises that stregthen your back (with light weights at first) since this is also part of your core. The stronger the muscles around your spine the more likely you are to support your back and perform other core exercises such as push ups, plank, bicycle, etc.

Definitely try to stay away from refined carbs for belly fat loss and like ATD said, loose your weight slowly so that your body has a chance to shrink slowly.

Good luck with everything!

[Slim]

Thanks for all the advice and input. I will take it to heart and begin to work.

Slim~