280 lbs. problem: Stomach. Help?

shaycali

shaycali

New member
So I just began my weight loss journey....2 time around (losing 50 pds the last time) but am determined to stick with it this time.

I weight 280, 5'6 and I was wondering ...I am doing crunches, walking, light jogging, and misc other exercising, however I am scared that I will lose more weight in my legs than in my stomach by walking or does the weight loss even out everything throughtout my body as I lose more and more?

Or if do I focus more on my stomach? My overall goal is to have my legs and stomach proportionate to each other. Any tips, advice?

Thanks!
 
shaycali said:
So I just began my weight loss journey....2 time around (losing 50 pds the last time) but am determined to stick with it this time.
Click to expand...

Have you identified the major reason or reasons it didn't stick the last time?

I weight 280, 5'6 and I was wondering ...I am doing crunches, walking, light jogging, and misc other exercising, however I am scared that I will lose more weight in my legs than in my stomach by walking or does the weight loss even out everything throughtout my body as I lose more and more?
Click to expand...

You don't really have the choice to influence where fat is lost via exercise. In what order fat comes off your body is genetically predetermined unfortunately.

A good rule of thumb it your 'problem spots' will be the hardest to get rid of.

As a side, I wouldn't go nuts with the crunches.
 
Steve said:
Have you identified the major reason or reasons it didn't stick the last time?
Click to expand...


Yes, I was totally trying to lose weight the unhealthy, unrealistic way. I was on a NO-carb diet. I was good with exercise but as soon as I started to eat carbs again weight came with it and I became discouraged, giving up.

So I have realized as everyone says its a "lifestyle change." I'm going cut down my portions and eat certain things at a minimum but not completely cut them out.

Well I guess I will hope for the best...I did have quite a nice shape before I had my daughter so I am hoping my genetics allow me to get mt shape back lol

Thanks so much for the advice! & I'll take the advice on the crunches! I love walking more actually
 
You want to view things from the standpoint of "what's going to give me the most bang for my buck? And what exact bang am I going for?"

For starters, at this stage in the game you primary concern (your bang if you will) is caloric expenditure. You want to partake in the activities/exercises that are most expensive, calorically speaking, within your physical ability.

Crunches are about the lowest you can go in terms of caloric costs. Plus, there's no point in spending a bunch of time on them. You're not going to magically spot reduce the fat on your belly by doing crunches.

Walking.

Now that's a lot better. It gets the heart going so you're going to improve your cardiorespiratory health while expending a lot more energy than you would doing something like crunches.

If you'd like, you could throw some calisthenics into the mix a couple of times per week as well. Calisthenics are simply resistance training exercises using only your body weight. Things like squats, glute bridges, romanian deadlifts, modified pushups, rows using milk jugs, etc. If you aren't familiar with these exercises, just youtube them... there's a bunch of vids highlighting them.

Resistance training carries a bunch of benefits including improved strength and maintenance of muscle and metabolic rate while dieting. If you're not down with starting that yet though, it's not going to make or break you.

Baby steps is what it's all about.

Improved nutritional decisions coupled with consistent walking if a fine start.
 
Steve said:
A good rule of thumb it your 'problem spots' will be the hardest to get rid of.
Click to expand...

But..for someone like me who is pretty proportionally fat on every part of the body, how do I know what my "problem spot" is? I am a walking problem spot.
 
You'll know as you start losing more from some places and not so much from others.

And there's nothing special about knowing your problem spots. It's not like you can do anything about them.
 
I'm not well versed in the exercise and diet literature, but from what I "have" read, you will lose the most weight proportional to where you gained the most weight. In other words, if you have an enormous gut, with a lot less fat on your legs, you'll lose more weight off your gut proportionally. If your weight "goes to your thighs", it will "come off your thighs" in a linear sort of fashion.

Losing all the weight off your legs first and having an enormous gut to get rid of later, that may or may not topple you over while walking, is unrealistic.

I can find a citation if you're interested.

Plonki:hat:
 
There's really no science to it. Whatever citation you find is going to be an opinion. In general first on is last off. For women, hips and thighs are generally the problem spots.

For men it's more often the belly and love handles.

That said, these are concretes rules.

But more often than not it's the case for a number of reasons based on evolution, fat cell metabolism, hormone receptor disbursement, etc.
 
Well, if you have 70 lbs of fat stored in your gut, and 10 lbs of fat stored everywhere else, you're saying you'll lose 10 lbs off everywhere else and only 10 off the gut if you exercise? Or even the other 10 before any in your gut. That just doesn't make much sense.
 
Haha, I did not say that.

I spoke in generalities. I've worked with enough people to have my opinions and read enough of the science to understand how and why stubborn fat is stubborn.

Genetics rule all and there is no clear cut delineation of where fat will come off regardless of how it's currently distributed.
 
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