Heres the thing: I am not overweight, but I have some fat around my abdomen area. What kind of diet/exercise should I do to get rid of it?

I am 5'5 and 140 Lbs.

Some Basic information that can lead you to fat tissue loss. One cannot spot reduce, to lose body fat it will be lost all over the body.

Calorie calculation is an approximation science, remember this. Through your journey WATCH, LOOK, and LISTEN, to your body..........it will TELL YOU if your doing the correct things or combination of things!


○ Change your eating habits (below are some suggestion examples)

○ Substitute an artificial sweetener of your choice in the replace of refined white sugar (Refrain from Refined Sugar like you would a disease)

○ Try eating 5 to 6 smaller meals during the day

○ Balance your meals out during the day so in one day you have a mix of protein, carbohydrate and good fats

○ Drink lots of water during the day and before, during and after exercise

○ Simple Carb Examples: Grapefruit, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Oranges, Apples, Pineapple, etc

○ Complex Carb Examples: Whole Wheat Pita Bread, Oatmeal, Long Grain Brown Rice, Brown Pasta, etc

○ Good Protein Examples: White or Dark Tuna, Chicken Breast, Lean Turkey, Lean Ham, Very lean Beef, Quality Whey Protein Powder, Malto-Meal (Plain, whole wheat), etc

○ Good Fats Examples: Natural Peanut Butter, Various Nuts, Flax Seed, Fish Oils.

This is what you need to do:

This an approximation science, but you can narrow it down very close, if your meticulous in your vision when looking at the data.

Tweak your desire and passion by educating yourself on the basic requirements of losing fat tissue. With your age, sex, height, and weight, in mind, find your approximated base calorie needs (this is organ function, breathing, or bodily function needs). One can use the Benedict Formula.

Calculate your BMR:

The Harris Benedict equation determines calorie needs for men or woman as follows:

• It calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calorie requirements, based on your height, weight, age and gender.
• It increases your BMR calorie needs by taking into account the number of calories you burn through activities such as exercise.

This gives you your total calorie requirement or approximated Maintenance Line (I call it the MT Line).

Step One : Calculate your BMR with the following formula:
•Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
•Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

Step Two : In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:
•If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active: BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (You exercise daily.): BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 1.9

Create a Calorie Deficit:

In order to lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit. It is easier and healthier to cut back your calorie intake a little bit at a time.

Every 3,500 calories is equivalent to 1 pound.
If you cut back 500 calories a day, you will lose 1 pound per week.
If you exercise to burn off 500 calories a day you will also lose 1 pound per week.

Apply this knowledge by backing off the approximated MT Line (approximated Maintenance line), say for example, a -500c per day, for about 1 week. Before the week begins, weigh yourself in the AM when you FIRST get up (do not eat yet) (remember your clothing, preferably with just underwear and t-shirt or like clothes). Note the time, and the approximated wgt.

Each day spread your caloric content out throughout the day (keep the body fed, with calories in the 300 to 500c approximated calories each meal), or a like division which mirrors your end caloric deficit limit (meaning MT-500c).

This way you have your entire day and body encircled with nutrition (I assume you already know to eat clean), which if your eating right, will give an approximated good energy (not optimal because your in deficit) to fuel your training and exercising schedule.

At the end of the week, on the same day, the same time, with the same like clothes, weigh yourself again. Note whether you lost or gained tissue (or weight I mean). To further assist you, I want to tell you that for every approximated caloric deficit of (-3500c), one could lose 1lb of fat tissue. (though some may not all be fat tissue, this information is for another question, and isn't presently suited here).

Now, in this example you were calculating a -500c per day deficit. There needs to be -3500c to lose approximated 1lbs of fat. Now lets do some basic math. -500cX7=-3500c. With all things considered equal, and you were meticulous and faithful on the diet, you should have been CLOSE to losing at least one pound of tissue in the week.

If this didn't happen, this means you need to make finer adjustments, and the MT line is not accurate, and you need to adjust this on your own.

Based upon the FEEDBACK your body is giving you, ask yourself how faithful you were on the diet, AND how faithful in training (whether you kept the training schedule (if you didn't, this would effect the caloric equation, no?!), AND how accurate you figured in your activities caloric wise.........but, you have the base information to begin making adjustments.

One can not spot reduce. Losing fat is like draining a pool. The shallow end seems to drain before the larger deeper end. One can't choose where to lose fat; it will be lost all over the body.

The Nutrients are an essential factor in the diet; however, the law of energy balance within the DIET, is the ultimate KING while the Nutrients can play in some decisions made within the body.

Do yourself a favor, figure out your MT line, adjust off of this, eat well balanced spaced out meals (DONT EVER starve YOURSELF), AND listen to your body for the results.

While you are trying to figure out your body, IT WILL PAY YOU BACK, I promise. You have to learn to MASTER yourself to become the master of weight loss for YOURSELF.

Best Regards as always,

Chillen

Full Body Work Out

For example: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Rest Saturday and Sunday, and then repeat. (just an example)

For example (for simplicity's sake), schedule a full body workout on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then rest on the weekend. The program should be complimenting the sort of diet you have and the goals you seek. Plan in a Pre and Post work out meal.

I recommend a writing down the exercises, weight being used, and then keeping track of the reps completed---to track progession, and if need be enable FORCE progression techniques. The KEY to training, is PROGRESSION. Trying with FULL THROTTLE to progress from one workout to the next (whether its an increase in reps or weight or both).

For example: you used 40lbs on Standing curl and did 8 reps. The next workout with the bi's you want to get 9 reps, and so on and so forth. If the target cut off rep range is 12 (for example), then you would increase about 5 lbs. This is progression in its simple basic form.

I believe you have to track progress because its CRITICAL to ones success and to strength and/or muscle gains.

You also can schedule in ab/torso work 3 to 4 times a week. I do not reccomend doing them everyday. I suggest treating them like any other muscle. One wil not get abs to show by doing countless ab exercises. Its a function of low body fat.

In the first post I made, this is basic information to lead one to learning the approximated MT Line and get an idea of how many calories to consume, and it can give an idea on deficit dieting and provide a idea range for a surplus for bulking.

The second one is just an example, not very detailed or specific.

But, I noticed you are 5 5 and 140. Would you happen to have a pic? Im 5 7 153 to 155. What is your upper body composition like? Your legs?

You say you have lower Torso fat accumulation. How much? How old are you? Are we talking like an inch pinch or something like this?
Be a tad more specific and if you can provide a pic. Be more specific your goal attainment. Im reluctant to give specific advice because there are too many unknowns.

Best wishes,



Chillen

Hi buddy, if you not satisfy with those fats around your abdomen then there is a ways to remove that. Sit-ups are the most direct way to reduce subcutaneous belly fat. Most of the energy derived from fat gets to the muscle through the bloodstream and reduces stored fat in the entire body, from the last place where fat was deposited.

This simply is not true. A deficit in the caloric content inconjunction to the need of the body reduces tissue. One can do 1,000,000 situps and if they eat more then they need, fat WILL accumulate, and all those situps to try to get the abs to show, is totally frutile not to mention a waste of time.

Most of your post is in complete error, with respect to you. Read more of the posts in this thread, there is good information here.

If this was true, then every fat guy you see would have super abs to die for. Heck, even I would have it by now because I do situps everyday... I don't do it for abs, I just do it for situps knowing that I am not doing it for abs.

Pay attention kids; this is what happens when you get all your knowledge from spam

Actually, coming to think of it, the larger you are, the more you use your hips and abs muscles, I think. I base this on no scientific study... I'm simply making an observation. But looking at rather large people, I notice that they don't actually walk with their legs, instead they pull from the hips for each step. With this in mind, wouldn't it be working their stomach and lower body more often than someone who didn't? With that said, a large person probably has very tight abs and thigh muscles, but it's not showing because there's more fat covering the stomach areas.

*EDIT: BTW, I'm not joking or making fun of anyone (so please don't be offended). I'm just saying that if something as simple as doing situps can build muscles and reduce fat, then the same should be extended to doing something as simple as walking using various strength should provide the same benefits. But it won't.