What’s an effective way to lose fat around my stomach and love handles, while building muscle?
Ok, I’m 16 years old, 6’0” and weigh about 165 pounds. I know that that’s in the average weight range, but I’ve always been upset about having fat around my stomach and love handles area.
Anyway, I was curious about effective ways to lose weight around that area. I’m not much of a cardio person, since I have low endurance and I have hyperhidrosis, causing me to sweat very excessively and easily.
Is it bad to do sit ups, or some kind of abdominal exercise in my current state? Wouldn’t it just make me appear as if I have a bigger stomach?
But then I question that, because I always thought muscles used fat as energy, so if I gained muscle underneath the fat, wouldn’t the fat eventually disappear?
Getting back to the cardio idea, if I attempted something like daily jogs, would it be a good idea to jog in the morning on an empty stomach, right when I wake up? Because in that sense, wouldn’t your body use your current fats as energy, instead of any food that’s currently digesting?
November 24th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Loosing those love handles, I would suggest cutting out all white foods (sugar, rice, bread & fried foods). I would eat organic when you can from all food groups & drink @ least 6-8 glasses of water per day, more if you exercise.
Doing spot reducing & jogging is a good idea, do something that you know, you will con’t doing. I wouldn’t run without having something in your stomach, you need nourishment to exercise (eat something small like a banana).
Your stomach won’t appear bigger, getting muscles will trim your stomach, remember muscles weighs more than fat.
As your fat is replaced with lean muscles, you might weigh more but look thinner.
Your fat will diminish through exercise, it takes a while for your body to absorb the stored up fat. If you don’t eat, your body will go into starvation mode & you won’t lose the weight. Remember you need to eat to lose weight. 🙂
November 24th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
I don’t think there is any such exercise that only makes you lose weight in one area of your body.
Exercise and eating less is the only way to do it. Try something simple like walking for exercise.
I don’t know if the timing will help lose more weight or not. I know eating sugar and fat together will make you hold onto more fat. Sugar tells your body to store fat. And, gosh, the fat is right there to be stored!
November 24th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I think a great method for you that would address all your problems would be to take up swimming … great cardio, great core/whole body workout, you can combine it with weight training to build muscle mass and you don’t have to worry about sweating.
November 24th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Cardio is the best way to lose fats. Try going to a gym on a free trial and see if you can have an assessment done; a personal trainer can suggest activities for you based on your goals and body type. Or if you’d like, you can re-post this question later and I’ll get back to you – I can’t do it off the top of my head.
As for your last question, no, not at all. It makes no difference when you eat, it burns it all the same. And besides, the energy you use has been there for a while; digesting food is not even close to being fully broken down into usable parts, so it would not affect you at all. Not to mention, if you’re starving, you may make yourself nauseous by overworking.
November 24th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
You don’t need to run on an empty stomache to get results. Eat foods low in fat and high in protein. Run, bike or swim. Get into a routine and stick to it! Swimming is low impact and will do wonders for burning fat all over the body. Bottom line, there is no easy way. If you want to burn fat YOU MUST do Cardio. Once you get into a routine you will probably enjoy it.
November 24th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
the best thing for you would be swimming, if you have issues with sweating then youll have no issue submerged in water, swimming works out all parts of your body very well, the area around your waist will dissapear first just as it appeared first, its just an area that the body tends to store fat in. so no you will not get a bigger stomach as you build muscle ,the fat will burn as the muscles are built. bar non swimming is one the the BEST workouts for toning and weight loss, plain ole sit ups and push ups will help build some more mass.
November 24th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
try one of those body cleansing systems i heard they work well you can get them from health food stores good luck
November 24th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
The fat will eventually disappear of you exclude it from your food.( But that makes food not taste as good. ) And keep doing the exercise thing.
The best exercise is usually to do the steps with high inclinations on the step-machine. But I dont know how well you’d be able to handle that.
Another thing that really works is when you exercise on the weight pushing machine (I don;t know how it;s called). It’s where you lie down on your back and push heavy weights with your feet. That really works. Try to do it after all your other exercising when all your muscles are really warmed up.
November 24th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Alright,
You already have muscle on your stomach. Hell, you got a six-pack believe it or not, and sit-ups would build up that six pack, but wouldn’t make the layer of fat covering them to necessarily disapear.
Running is very good cardio and burns alot of fat. What i would suggest is (I know it’s hard as a teenager) go to sleep at 10 PM (9 PM would be best, but, I know that’s pushing it), then wake up at 6 PM (or 7 PM if you don’t have to work or go to school) and first thing, don’t even get dressed, but stretch for approx. 5 minutes. Get your jogging stuff on, pop your vitamin pill, then go run for a minimum of 20 mins.
At night, 2-3 hours before you go to sleep, and about 1 – 2 hours after you eat, do simple exercises like push-ups and sit-ups. This keeps your body in a good shape.
Also invest into a multi-vitamin (taken in the morning) and garlic pills. Why? Because garlic helps your immune system and metabolism. When you work out, your immune system becomes weaker, and becoming sick while trying to train and lose wait, is not what’s ideal. Word of advice, take the pill before you go to sleep. No odor the next morning, and you won’t kill people with your breath.
Explanation : The sleep provides 8-9 hours of rest, which is ideal for a teenager. Also, the more hours before midnight, the better sleep and rest you get. The jog on an empty stomach gets your system in motion and thus when you eat breakfast, your metabolism is already moving and your breakfast won’t sit in your stomach. the nightly exersice keeps a well balance on your body, while building endurance.
The pills: Health. Multivitams help your immune system, metabolism, and body overal. And the garlic does as previously mentioned.
Hope this helps mate.