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2008/03/07, 09:10 PM
Is it possible to be ripped, I'm mean totally awesomely cut looking in your arms/shoulders/back but still have a little belly fat clinging around middle? I've been training hard and monitoring my body fat % every other week, which is currently 18 percent (I feel confident in the accuracy of that number.) My arms and shoulders and back look FABULOUS. All cellulite has disappeared from my hips. I've got decent definition starting to emerge in my legs and but. Yet my stomach still looks flabby (I can easily feel a six pack underneath). I had a baby almost two years ago, and I'm starting to wonder if the flabby stuff is loose skin rather than fat. Can I really have 18% body fat and still have that much belly fat?!
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\"We must be the change we wish to see in the world\" - Ghandi
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2008/03/08, 11:06 AM
You may have a combo of excess skin a nd fat - keep training hard, tweak your diet a little tighter and get down to 15% and see if it doesn't look better - it may just be your last holdout..everyone is different - some women will get cut abs and still have saddlebag fat.
You are looking good in your pics!
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Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they\'re yours.
Richard Bach
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2008/03/08, 01:26 PM
I can definitely work on my diet. Right now it's not quite clean. I drink too much coffee, too much beer (which I blame on my husband for bringing into the house and tempting me with) and I need to break the evening pretzel snack habit. Other than that, I do pretty darn good. Oddly enough, I'm hoping that the stuff on my tummy is fat and not loose skin. At least with fat, I can get rid of it in the gym. Loose skin requires a scalpel and anesthesia. HA!
I just want to add for any other women who read this that I do a minimum of cardio. I simply don't enjoy it. I push the weights and train hard and on the off days I do HIIT routines or 1/2 hour at very moderate intensities on the TM while reading exercise science texts. I'm posting this to reiterate that FAT loss happens in the weight room, endurance happens in the cardio room. If you train smart, you can use cardio to speed the fat loss that strength training generates, but unless you lift like you mean it, you're just not going to see a significant difference in how you look. And check out my photo's, which are three months old and need updating. I now press 220 lbs, row 85 lbs, do push-up's with added weight, etc. (3 sets, 10 rep's for all) and I'm not huge or bulky. In fact, my waist and hips have shrunk so much since December that I can get my jeans on and off without unbuttoning/unzipping them. I get so frustrated when women worry about getting bulky if they lift but also say that they want to lose weight and "tone" up.
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\"We must be the change we wish to see in the world\" - Ghandi
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2008/03/11, 08:56 AM
Definitelt cut out the beer and pretzels - within 3-4 weeks you should see an improvement.
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Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they\'re yours.
Richard Bach
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