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Condemnable stomach fat...

It seems that all of my body with the exception of my stomach is capable of shrinking noticeably. There’s certain places on my body that are just more prone to gather cellulite. I do pretty well with aerobic exercise, I love to run, it’s just the strength-training that I neglect. I would like my body to be more toned and defined… much more. I should probably start incorporating strength-training into my weekly exercise routine… actually, lose the “probably,” I SHOULD “definitively” start incorporating strength-training into my weekly exercise routine.

Are there any toning exercises any of you could recommend, DVDs or specific types of exercise… that will guarantee me more tone and definition and less stubborn flab? I’d like tone all over… legs, arms, butt, back, where ever else: if there’s muscle there, I’d like it to be toned. One thing I find sort of puzzling, with the amount of running I do, I would have thought that my legs would become toned just by that… and even though the muscles in my legs are now as hard as stone, I still have this wiggly fat on my legs… what’s up with that? Really, is that there because of the lack of toning exercises?

And does any one know of a good way to get rid of this stubborn, stubborn, stubborn belly fat? Like, any exercises that will perhaps target that area? Seeing as it’s fat, obviously I’d need some sort of aerobic exercise. In the past, I’ve tried to target my stomach by doing bunches and bunches of abdominal exercises… but with no results… well, no visible results… I’m sure I was building some nice muscle… underneath all the belly fat; doesn’t really keep me motivated, who wants to do crunches until they’re blue in the face week after week with no results? I certainly don’t.

Also, I’ve heard of dry brushing, and that it can possibly promote cellulite reduction… has any one found this to be true? I’ve heard of all sorts of different benefits from dry brushing, so I think I may have to start doing this…

Comments

  • geniusrawmodel23geniusrawmodel23 Raw Newbie

    Ok, well let me start by saying that I loooooove running too! I find that when I do it consistently it solves all of my problems, but other things that have helped are Pilates, you can’t beat that to pull in and completely tone your entire midsection. I find that crunches on an exercise ball are great too. Oh and for the butt and thighs pilates works great too. Also squats and lunges of all variations are great. I think that with the raw diet it should help with losing fat. Just keep doing the aerobics, and I think you should probably try to get some toning in. I know what you mean about neglecting it…lol. Oh and try Tae Bo. It’s an awesome workout. It tones and cardios at the same time. I have a little wiggly fat on my legs too. I think it’s from there not being much muscle there. I’m thin, but there’s just not much tone going on. Running has made my legs alot stronger though, it just doesn’t get the muscle very toned, I guess. It really gets rid of the fat though. How long do you run for? Oh and i’ve also heard that interval running burns more fat than a steady pace.

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    Yesterday I saw Mario Lopez on the Ellen Degeneres Show and he was showing a total butt, belly, leg and arm exercise using a large exercise ball… He was prone (face down) on his hands with arms straight and his feet on the ball… His body was parallel with the floor but up in the air… He pulled his knees up under his chest and then straightened his legs back to start and repeated it over and over… Let me say, all his muscles were tight and toned… Yes, I’m still drooling!!! HaHa Hope you can picture my words, if not ask me to clearify… Oh by the way, I have a neighbor who runs daily 3-25 miles at a time and has run in many marathons… Her legs are jigglie and her stomach is flabby but she eats to carbo load and thinks she can eat anything and then run it off… She also has no idea about nutrition or raw… I am sure if you continue raw and add some strengthening exercises you will reach your goal and will be looking great for the rest of your life!!! Good Luck and START!!! :}

  • I am quite the opposite and would rather do any strength training over cardio any day lol. I don’t know if your interested in spending money or not but p90x is really a great workout program and great for toning but if you already go to a gym regularly this may not be for you because its a home work out on dvds. you’ve probably heard of it but I find most dvd’s are not hard enough but this definitley is. It is a whole plan for nintey days and really effective

  • carrie6292carrie6292 Raw Newbie

    Well, i have the same problem, but i have a layer of fat overtop my muscles that i just can’t seem to get rid of. I have about 20 pounds left to lose and i’m getting stronger and stronger, but the fat just isn’t going anywhere! I can’t seem to figure that one out since i work out at the gym atleast twice a week (when my son is in preschool). I try to add in the 3rd day, but it’s hard with my husbands schedule. When i go to the gym, i do 50 minutes of weight training and then atleast 45 minutes of cardio and if i have time, i get ab work in. I also do calf raises with a 10lb. medicine ball. I sweat like a pig and i eat 98% raw (i occasionally cheat with fruit leather – all natural and organic but i’ve heard it’s actually cooked). On the days when i don’t go to the gym, i try to do a combination of Yoga and Pilates. I like the Sara Ivanhoe 20 Minute Yoga DVD’s and I use Mari Windsor’s Sculpting Pilates DVD (1 hour). I know the exercise that waterbaby is talking about and it does work your ab’s a lot. I also saw Jorge Cruz’s 12 second sequence book and it looks like it would work, but i’m just not one to sit down and workout from a book. Once he comes out with a workout DVD, I’d buy it! I just changed up my workout a little and instead of doing cardio first and then weights, i’m trying to do weights first. I’ve never done this before, so i figured it’s worth a shot. I also switched around my eating habits. Fruit for breakfast. Snack. Then green juice for lunch and dinner. No evening snacks. no solids after noon. I just started that yesterday. We’ll see how it goes! Good luck to you – you can do it!!!

  • stylistchickstylistchick Raw Newbie

    celery juice is supposed to reduce cellulite.

    i don’t know about the effectiveness of the dry brush for this reason, but it is a great thing to incorporate into your daily routine, it helps remove toxins through the skin.

    good luck to you, i have the same problem, if i stumble onto something that works i will post it!!

  • superkat92- Thanks for the tips. I’ve heard a ton of great things about Pilates, I just don’t know too much about the kind of exercise that’s involved. It’s a wonder that it has taken me so long to give it a try. I will definitely have to look for a good instructional Pilates dvd. Any you would recommend? Yes, I am hoping that the raw diet will in fact help me shed some of the excess flab, not to mention, give me the energy to do it. I’m not really overweight, at this point, I just have some extra fat that I could certainly do with out, and I’d like to be lean and defined! Well… about 2 months ago, I was running at a speed of 7.5 mph and increasing it every day, running for perhaps an hour on average 6 days a week. But then, my energy levels just inexplicably plummeted (my constant enervation is the main reason I’ve turned to raw), and I felt as if I barely had the strength to get out of bed for about 2 weeks. I was a wreck, I felt feeble, and I spent most of the 2 weeks laying around and crying. It seems that those measly 2 weeks were enough to set me back considerably- fitness wise; which is really unfair. Since then, I’ve been struggling to get myself back to the same place. Right now, I’m only able to run at a speed of about 4.6 mph, and on average I do this for about 45 minutes, a 3 mile distance. And I’ve set my treadmill at an incline… the furthest it can go. I plan to start running twice daily now. Opting for two of these 45 minute sessions, where I will be attempting to challenge my body and increase the speed each time. I decided to do this not only for my physical fitness goals, but also because I need the endorphins. I’ve been feeling more depressed than usual lately, and running certainly helps with this. Not to mention, the more physical exercise the better, as I’ve been struggling to maintain by eating habits: gives me something to do besides think about food, makes me feel good in my body, and reduces my cravings for food… so it’s perfect.

    waterbaby12347- Thanks for the encouragement! I saw that episode of the Ellen Degeneres Show as well. I know what you mean, Mario Lopez’s skin just seemed to cling to his muscles, he’s in superb shape.

    mallorymoore707- I haven’t heard of p90x, what is that exactly? What kind of exercises are involved? I may have to check that out…

    carrie6292- I know, it’s so frustrating. Some times, it almost seems futile to keep working so hard when there seems to be no visible results. I keep telling myself to stick with it though, reasoning that “sitting on the couch and moping is going to do less for my goals than working productively for them, even if it seems pointless, continuing to exert the energy is going to do more for me in the long run.” I’ve heard that the body some times stores fat as a way of protecting itself, like if you lose a whole bunch of weight, your body will just go “Hold it, that’s way too different, some thing’s wrong here.” It goes into “crisis mode” and wants to keep things as storage in case it’s needed. Also, some people lose weight more gradually than others. My weight loss was pretty gradual at first, I didn’t even notice it, people would say that I looked thinner, but I didn’t see it. Then, I seemed to slim down quite quickly. The more physical I became, the more weight I lost. Obviously, I still have more I’d like to lose, and it’s the difficult stuff that doesn’t want to go any where. Hopefully the both of us will be able to find what works for our bodies… I guess it just takes some experimenting. Thanks for the encouragement! You can do it too!

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I find that for me, walking is the best way to shed belly flab. Everyone is different, and different exercises work differently for each person. Some people seem to hold onto extra weight if they are doing exercises that are not the best for them (too hard or too easy, etc.). I have also read that if cellulite is an issue, eating fresh grapefruit or drinking its juice is supposed to flush cellulite – you don’t eat anything else for maybe 1 to 3 days, except fresh grapefruit & fresh grapefruit juice. I haven’t tried it. I am thin now, but still have cellulite and “stubborn spots” of fat – but I’m diabetic and grapefruit only would cause me more problems than cellulite :)

  • geniusrawmodel23geniusrawmodel23 Raw Newbie

    I would recommend the Mari Windsor DVD set. I have them and I really like them. That’s a pretty good running pace. I do about 6 mph. Trying to get a little faster. Hey, don’t give up! You will see results if you are consistent!

  • you can’t spot reduce. if you have fat on your stomach, no amount of crunches will make it go away – you have to lose overall body fat first.

  • evergreenevergreen Raw Master

    hi everyone!...there was a recent diet called “the flat belly diet”...it suggests eating foods containing MUFA’s also known as monounsaturated fats. the 5 foods they reccomend eating are:

    1) nuts and seeds(macadamia has the most)

    2) olive and safflower oil

    3)avocado,hass variety

    4) chocolate, and

    5) olives!....www.flatbellydiet.com

  • heartshapedskyheartshapedsky Raw Newbie

    that’s an appetizing list, evergreen!

  • I too have had a hard time shedding the belly..But twice in my life I have lost weight, once I lost almost 50lbs, by walking for an hour and 15 minutes 4 times a week, it took almost a year but it totally works. The second time I lost my baby weight by doing Tae Bo 4 times a week. Right now I need to lose 20 lbs, I am a size 10 but would love to be a size 6(my goal). I’ve been eating mainly raw and am running a few times a week, and walking a few times a week. I can’t wait until it’s gone. I try to be really positive with myself, so that I don’t feel bad about myself. But it does hurt my feelings when my husband comments on my pooch. I try to rise above it and say it’s only a matter of time, and I love myself, and I am beautiful on the inside..Which is the most important beauty to have!

  • rawbeginner—dry brushing is actually excellent for reducing cellulite, as long as you do it long and consistently enough. I tried it a while back and got good results.

    It works on cellulite by stimulating the lymphatic system. The cellulite is accumulated waste that hasn’t been pushed out because of a sluggish lymphatic system.

    I usually use a loofah or a boar bristle hairbrush, starting with circular strokes on the bottom of the feet (feels sooo good) and working my way up. Take extra time on the stomach, rear, and thighs where cellulite is usually the most accumulated. Avoid the breasts, and go lightly over your chest (sometime I do my neck too). Then, start with your hands (sometimes it feels good to do the palms as well) and make sweeping strokes towards your elbows and shoulders.

    I can really tell the difference between before and after dry brushing; I feel energized and light and ready to go!

    Hope that helps :p

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    I look at my stomach and see fat too so I decided to start measuring it too see if it actually shrinks. I know it has some, but often I am a little “full” after eating and it bulges a bit which is deceiving. it seems to be “thinnest” in the morning.

    i walk/hike up a hill from work and do yoga for the most part right now. i think hiking is a good exercise for tummies.

  • weight training definitely helps, i think, but for me, like some people say here, overall weight should be lost to lose weight in a specific area. for me, that always means cutting back on fruit for awhile and eating more greens, and also trying not to eat heavily at least a few hours before bed. meaning not eating a few hours before bed and eating your heaviest meal in the morning.

    raw itself should help shed pounds, but if you add these tricks as well, i can almost assure you the weight should start to shift, even in your tummy.

    i love fruit as much as the next person, but i find when i eat more greens instead of fruit my tummy is less bloaty and much flatter. :) hope that helps!!

  • Raw_ChocoholicRaw_Chocoholic Raw Newbie

    I also heard that excess stomach fat could be due to high stress levels causing too much cortisol in your body. Also, it might not be fat but improper food combining or detoxing causing the release of excess gases in your intestines (i.e., bloating). Here’s an interesting site explaining detox & gases: http://www.rawspirit.org/bloodgas.html

    And I agree with superkat about interval training being much more effective in burning fat.

    Evergreen, excellent, now I have an excuse to eat more chocolate. lol.

  • i couldn’t agree more with proper food combining. that’s SO vital.

    i know a lot of the recipes here don’t follow that, but once in awhile slip up is ok. eating all the time with bad food combining can be very bad on the digestion though.

    you’re so right raw_chocoholic

  • chriscarltonchriscarlton Raw Newbie

    Fat is toxin storage. Adding layers of fat is our bodies way of potecting us from the toxins we ingest. This is why we all gain and hold on to fat in the same areas. Our bellys and buts are the safest place to create fat since these spots are the farthest from our vital organs. Our bodies are trying to protect our heart, lungs, etc from these toxins.

    Lovebows, Chris

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