Hi All,
Yes, I'm a newbie here........but for the past six weeks, I have been trying hard to lose weight and tone up.
I've not done too badly, to date, I have come down from 9 stone 7, to 8 stone 11. I'm only 5'1", so ideally, I would like to be @ 8 stone 3.
I eat cereal for breakfast, steamed veg and fish/chicken for lunch and ryvita x 4 for evening meal.
I work out everyday on the cross trainer for half an hour, which burns @ 300 cals, followed by half hour of sit ups and crunches.
I have two questions, if anyone can advise, I'd be grateful:
1) Why am I losing weight primarily from my top half - boobs are disappearing rapidly, but still have a jelly belly?
2) I read somewhere that after 30 mins of cardio training, the calories really start to burn - so do I need to increase the cross trainer to 45 minutes?

Typically the first place you shed weight from is the last place you gained it. A lot of really heavy people show weight loss in their faces first, since that was the last place they accumulated fat. It can get discouraging...men typically try to lose their gut first, but this is typically the last place they lose it from since it was the first place they added fat.

If you really want to burn calories, you absolutely need to do strength training. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn, even while you are sleeping.

Good luck with your progress.

Oh, and you can't spot reduce. So the hours of crunches and situps aren't going to make you shed fat on your belly any faster, your body will follow it's own course.