Lower Belly Pooch

[usc2009]

How do you get rid of it? I have lost some weight since becoming vegetarian, but no matter what I still cannot get rid of the pooch.

I work out four to six times a week, lifting weights and doing cardio. I've tried doing intervals with no results. I am in my mid 20's, never been pregnant and eat pretty healthy. I've tried crunches and other ab exercises. Please give me some advice. Thank you!

[rabid_child]

My friends and I always called that the "power pack" -- a nice little cushion to protect all the important woman bits. It's insanely hard to get rid of (because your body likes a little extra fat in case you get pregnant) and requires crazy amounts of abdominal exercises.

[Nickle00]

Pilates

http://exercise.about.com/cs/abs/l/blyogapilates.htm

http://exercise.about.com/library/bltotalcore.htm

[slicknickns]

focus more on running. run longer and farther. What do you regularly eat?

[KellyBon]

To get rid of that pooch you have to give up alcohol and sugar. Along with cardio and ab workouts.

[FitChick99]

Unfortunately, you cannot spot reduce!! You can do as many crunches and pilates as you want, and while you may have a "6 pack" underneath, you will not see it until that layer of "insulation" comes off.
When losing weight, it comes off that last place it went on first. Cardio is going to burn the calories/fat, but doing strength exercises 2-3 times per week will help build your lean muscle mass and therefore you will be burning more calories even at rest (1 lb. of muscle burns approx. 50 cal per day; 1 lb. of fat burns 2 cal per day).
On a scale of 1-10 (1=at rest, sitting down; 10=the hardest physical activity you have ever done in your life), you should be doing your cardio between 5 and 8. Don't give up on the intervals--you will burn more calories and train your heart and lungs to recover and start up again quickly. Be sure to PUSH yourself and increase your time/intensity of the intervals gradually. Find some activities that you enjoy, whether it be a Kickboxing class, using an elliptical, whatever. Keep your body guessing by switching it up.
Make sure you are lifting enough weight. Try doing 2 sets of 12-15 reps, or 3 sets of 8-10. Either way, the last few repetitions should be a struggle. If you could have done 16 reps, your weight is too light.

Good luck! :)

ETA: Oh, and you know proper diet is a HUGE part of weight loss... A great site to keep track of your intake is Sparkpeople.com. They also have a TON of exercises and many other resources on that site.

[Mr. Sun]

^^^ I looked up some sites to see if they could say exactly what you were saying there. The best one I found mentioned eating chicken so I didn't bother posting it.

The main thing is getting a lower body fat percentage (even though a lot of those ways of measuring body fat are bogus - the principle is correct, afaik). When your body fat lowers the muscles start to show. For women this is harder than for men because women, in general, have higher body fat percentages than men.

Targetting the area of interest (in this case: lower abs) is fine to make sure the muscles there are toned but the main factor in making the abs (for instance) look 'good' is losing fat and that comes from correct exercises overall and diet.

It should also be noted that genetics also plays a factor in how someone looks. Some people will just have more fatty areas or skinny calves or whatever. I saw one guy on tv who went in for calf implants because he didn't like how his calves looked - the surgery didn't go well and he suffered as a result.

Eat right, do the correct exercises and see the results. But happiness comes from within.

Good luck. :)

[yoginisarah]

Running is the only thing that will lower my body fat enough to have a flat stomach.

[jAded]

It's probably mostly in your diet. Apparently if your diet is high in carbohydrates/sugars you tend to store more fat around your abdomen, or so I read somewhere.

I honestly think genetics play one of the biggest roles though.

[usc2009]

Come to think of it (and I guess I just didn't before), but I do eat a lot of carbs. I am not a huge sweet fan, but I guess I never really thought that carbs break down into sugar. I am not a big drinker, maybe a glass of wine every few weeks. I guess I need to cut down on the carbs and accept my "power pack." I love that because at least it's a cute name! I am definitely going to try Pilates again.

I guess since I am new to the whole vegetarian thing I am really using carbs as my crutch. It's my go-to food instead of meat. I usually have a carb for dinner when my husband has a meat. I really need to watch that. Thank you so much for all of your help! You guys are amazing!

[slicknickns]

carbs are not bad. problem is that you sound like you don't actually really need them as you are not strenuously exercising yourself, i.e. you don't deserve them.

don't forego the carbs, but don't make them such a big piece of your diet. go nuts with nuts!

[Gibberish]

Just to echo what other posters have said, the only thing that will ever EVER get rid of fat is lowering your overall bodyfat, there's no such thing as toning, tightening, or spot-reducing. That's all made up nonsense. An overabundance of carbs and calories are what keeps you covered in fat, and properly balancing protein, carbs and fats along with exercise is what will remove the "pooch" as you call it.

[slicknickns]

An overabundance of carbs and calories are what keeps you covered in fat, and properly balancing protein, carbs and fats along with exercise is what will remove the "pooch" as you call it.


Exactly. Half of your body is what you eat, the other half, exercise.

If your serious about that 'belly' on the bottom of your stomach; What is it that you're eating everyday?

[Isabella]

My friends and I always called that the "power pack" -- a nice little cushion to protect all the important woman bits.

I don't have any women bits left to protect but I still have protection. If there is any way you can reduce your "power pack" do it now because it's there for life after you hit your late 40s and 50s. Won't budge without taking a knife to it.

Good luck!

[31770]

i agree w/ the need to lower body fat to get ride of the "pooch".
but don't buy into all this carb mumbo jumbo... carbs are good (:bobo::nana::vebo::pibo:, whole grains, brown rice, etc are GOOD FOR YOU AND WILL HELP YOU LOSE FAT)-
processed carbs like,sugar, HFCS, white bread, pasta, etc should be avoided... i find that sugar is the biggest thing that needs to be avoided and is hard to avoid... they put that cr@p in EVERYTHING...

diet and exercise are very important, and a balance is important as well... if you over work yourself and don't eat enough, your body will know you are starving yourself and will go into a starvation mode, slowing your metabolism down to a halt, making all your efforts worthless... you should target 15% less or 500 cal under your total daily energy expenditure (feel free to ask)...

[Elanor]

I run and I do workouts for my belly, too. Overall, my tummy is flat and a nice shape, but I have a bit of a "power pack," too. I like it, though.

I live in a place where having a hard as steel, lean body is key, and I see so many women who have these rock hard abs-- I mean, it looks like ALL THEY DO IS WORKOUT! To me, their bodies are boring because they all look the same. They look like they all jumped off the same spaceship that was passing by Earth.

Being a strong, physical woman is wonderful, but women are beautiful because we're soft, too.

[jAded]

^^I agree. I think I'm one of the few people left in the world who doesn't really want a rock-hard torso (or just isn't willing to work so hard for it!) and thinks a little bit of fat on a female is nice. I remember a Spanish guy once told me a lot of men in Spain see women who have a little belly as someone who enjoys life.
I think that's partly why I'm not into really muscular, chiselled men either.

[SobeVegChick]

:lol: Power pack! :lol: It is just so pesky...

[EmmeV]

Just read something very interesting on a site that recommends liver detoxing:

I quote: "The liver clears stress hormones like cortisol (...) from the blood. If this isnt occurring adequately, emotional imbalances like depression or anger as well as stress related illnesses could result. The latest research has shown that a high level of blood cortisol is linked to persistent weight gain, especially around the abdomen and buttocks. Therefore, detoxyfying your liver will assist with weight loss."

My personal opinion is, that a liver detox is great, but the best thing is a colon detox, because a healthy colon produces less toxins and thus reduces the toxins that the liver has to deal with. BUt well, decide for yourself.
I am currently doing a detox-program and I am also "suffering" (but this is not the cause for my detox) from belligerent belly fat. I will report if anything changes. I am also blogging about my detoxification results, but the blog is in German.

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http://detox-against-depression.blogspot.com/

[SobeVegChick]

I would love to read about your detox, but I do not read German. :(