Inches.....

[Brad's Bride in 08]

Alright... I would like to lose about 2-3 inches around my waist and stomach area. Any suggestions??

[Dani]

I am in the same boat. I have my yoga ball out....well it stares at me before I go to bed, I try and do sit ups on it. It's easy to turn the bedroom light off and forget about it!

[TangoWedding]

The best way to lose inches is to drink TONS of water. (And, if you can, ONLY water).

I started watching what I ate (not a HUGE change in diet), and stopped drinking iced tea and soda (which WAS a change for me)....and I lost 2 inches on my waist....within ONE WEEK.

Drinking lots of water helps flush out the salt (which makes you hold water weight, oddly enough) and it'll take the inches off pretty quickly.

I think I was drinking almost a gallon a day. (Which isn't as much as it seems...it's only about 6 bottles. I always had one near me.)


That reminds me...I need to start drinking my water again. I've gained my inches back. (I love sweeeet iced tea!)

[twu]

When you work out, there is no way to selectively lose weight around your waist. Depending on how your body stores fat, which is genetic and can't be changed, you may lose more fat from your breasts and arms. Even if you do 100 sit ups, the fat that you're burning when you do those may not necessarily come from your stomach area.

I've heard that you can also try exercising without eating immediately beforehand, forcing your body to rely on its long term energy stores to power your exercise.



Here is what I posted in another thread:
I agree with what the other ladies here are saying. You need a healthy, lifestyle diet. You need to enjoy that diet so that you are less likely to break it. On top of that, I have some other suggestions:


EXERCISE! Your exercise routine should include both cardio and strength training. Luckily, you get an endorphin surge after exercise, so once you start it's easy to want to keep doing it. The hard part is starting.

Cardio, every day if you can. Work this up gradually. At first you may only be able to do 15 min, but try to get to the point where you can do 40min at least of cardio. You want to be slightly breathless, still able to talk, but not sweating like a pig during cardio. This way, you will be more comfortable, able to do it longer, and therefore burn more calories and be more likely to enjoy it.
Low impact exercise, such as on the elliptical. Although I'm not 100% sure of the veracity of this, my friend (a body builder/trainer) told me that high impact exercise for women pushes fat cells in-between muscle fibers, resulting in cellulite.
Strength training-- ideally about 2x per week, to the point where your muscles will feel sore the next day. This burns lots of calories while you are doing it, and it burns calories while your body is trying to recover from doing it. Once your muscles recover in a few days, do it again.
If you can, get an exercise buddy! That can help you keep your schedule. Maybe your FH or a friend can go with you, or just try advertising for a workout buddy on craigslist!DIET tips:

If you have a sweet tooth, try to get rid of it gradually or satisfy it in a healthy way. Fruits, for example, instead of soda. I managed to ween myself off of soda by drinking fruit juice and cutting it slowly with sparkling water to reduce the sugar concentration. Now, soda is sickeningly sweet for me, and I barely ever crave it.
Drink lots of water. It makes you feel full, and it's healthy for you.
Take smaller portions of everything. Try to just put 1/2 of what you normally would on your plate, finish it, and see if you're still hungry. If not, then don't go back for seconds. We usually want to finish everything on our plate when it's there, so you can cut back on what you eat just by doing this.

[keri_rae]

Yup. Water! I think it's about 70% of the time when we think we're hungry we're acrtually dehydrated and are craving water . . .

Soda is the devil.

Also, learn what fills you up. Lean proteins and veggies. For instance - my plate on average is HALF veggies (pref. green) then 1/4 protein and 1/4 fruit or starch.

Use smaller plates. I've figured out that I'm very visual. If I use a appetizer plate and fill it I feel stuffed. If I put the same amount of food on a large dinner plate (which looks so empty!) I think I'm stilll hungry. If I want dessert - I split it with at least 1 other person.

Cardio! My ex-bf's uncle is a personal trainer and when I asked he always told me to fit cardio in EVERY day. He said it could be a walk at lunch, running up and down the stairs at home. Whatever.

Right after my mom died I ballooned up to 130lbs (I'm 5'3" and that weight does NOT sit pretty on me.) Just in the last month I've started back on the gym. I try to walk (it's a fast walk, but a walk none the less) 5 miles a day at least 5x a week. What motivates me is I get a good book I can only read when I'm on the treadmill. I love reading and it's my non-stress time. I also strength train 2-3x a week and do abs (sometimes 20 min, sometimes 5) EVERY day. All that sounds like more work than it actually is.

Since August I'm down from 130lb-115lb and I actually have a 4 pack in the making!

Haha I think I may have hijacked your thread... But, anyway . . . that's what has worked for me.