toning the baby belly

I had a baby five years ago and although I have lost all other weight and am back to my pre-pregnancy size, I still am unable to get rid of that last stretch of pregnancy belly. What specific exercises would help me?

[Lee J B]

Cardio, Diet, Ab workouts

[casanova88]

first off, if u want to rid yourself of that little extra belly, you're goin to have to focus mostly on diet and cardio - ab workouts are fine, but not your priority by any means

you need to have a good diet, and cardio program

i would suggset 4 days a week of 30-40 minutes of cardio

whats ur diet now? if u post that we can work w/ u and try to help u out

is it extra skin that's the problem? elasticity decreases w/ age - but u can still fix that. there things (vitamins and such) that u can take to help w/ this - i cant recall them at the moment but will look into it

so tell us what u cn bout what ur doin now and we'll do our best to help

o and welcom to DF.com!

[Bird]

Please do let us know about those "vitamins and such", my little one is almost two and I'm in the best shape of my life but the skin on my lower abdomen is still pretty streched out Sometimes when I sit down I feel a little like a shar pei puppy .

s*x and lots of it

[ebon00]

I have some definite ideas when it coes to losing fat, especially for women.

Do whole-body weight workouts 2-3 days a week.

Do cardio (and walking qualifies) 4-5 days a week for about 30-40 min.

Regularly overtrain your lower body by using body-resistance leg movements in a circuit on 2-3 days when you're not weight training.

Keep a sane diet and try to limit carbs after 6 PM.

[cursor]

Your input is interestying, ebon00. Thanks. According to your perscription, what might a week's workout (days 1 through 7) look like for a woman whi is trying to lose fat?

[ebon00]

Originally posted by cursor
Your input is interestying, ebon00. Thanks. According to your perscription, what might a week's workout (days 1 through 7) look like for a woman whi is trying to lose fat?

I think I expanded on this in another thread but here goes.

Try to get to the gym 2-3 days a week and do full body weight workouts. Since most women trying to lose weight aren't avid fans of free weights (at least not the ones I've met) they can use machines. Do one exercise for these muscle groups: chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats, traps, lumbars, quads, hamstrings and calves. This shouldn't take more than 40 min. Rest comparatively little, maybe even doing circuit training.

The cardio portion can ideally be performed after the weight workout if there is time. Stay away from the hihg-intensity aerobic fads, we're trying to burn fat here. Yes, I know, the total amount of fat burned is less with high-intensity aerobics but the general increase in metabolic rate is higher and therefore expends more calories. However, the weight workout has already taken care of that. 20-30 min on the stationary bike or threadmill is enough to get a good effect after a weight workout.

The lower body circuit is based around squat and lunge variations perfromed in a circuit. The exercises are as follows: lunges, squats, ballet squats, hamstring curl, swingbacks, calf raise, abductor raise, crunches. Do these, choosing one of the squat variations, and do a continuous circuit going through the entire sequence 2-3 times. It doesn't take long, approx. 8-12 min, but utilizes large muscle masses and burns appreciable amounts of calories. It also leads to slight overtraining of the leg/hip region which most women complain about. What happens when we overtrain? The bodypart tends to take on a flatter appearence due to low glycogen stores.

Diet should be of small meals about 2-3 hours apart. Eat the majority of carbs early in the day and try to limit carbs, almost to the point of eliminating, after 6 PM. This is very hard mentally though so it's always best to have a cheat available. The cheat is something that allows you to satisfy your craving but within reason. I've done some of the best dieting in my life when I knew that I could have a peanut bytter and jelly sandwich at night should the urge get too strong.

The weekly plan then looks something like this:

Monday - Weight workout w/ cardio if possible
Tuesday - Lower bidy circuit, cardio (walking)
Wednesday - Weight workout w/ cardio
Thursday - Cardio (walking/biking/whatever, move for 30 min)
Friday - Weight workout w/ cardio
Saturday - Lower body circuit, cardio (walking)
Sunday - Lower body circuit (optional)

This looks like a lot of work but considering the small amount of time spent on the lower body circuit it can easily be done whne waiting for something to be done, watching TV, etc. Try to do the weight workouts early in the day, morning preferably, to make full use of the elevated metabolic rate throughout the day. Do the lower body circuits in mid-afternoon and try to do the walking late in the afternoon. That way you spread the exercise out throughout the day and then it doesn't seem so bad.