Does anyone have any successful experience with getting rid of stomach fat?

[Raineyrocks]

I've read tons of reviews about herbs that are supposed to get rid of it but I doubt they really work.  Since going gluten free I've lost weight, not all of it yet  , but my stomach is proving to be the most difficult thing to get rid of.

I've know that it has gotten smaller but not to the point where it is proportionate with the weight loss in other areas and I'm afraid that when I lose all the weight I will look pregnant.

I can't do regular sit ups or even reverse sit ups because I had hernia surgery after I moved here and I feel 2 more little hernias popping out and can't afford to have another surgery.

Any ideas?   I already walk on my treadmill so cardio isn't the answer unless it's just going to take more time but gosh it's been over a year!

[WithoutAPaddle]

When I was in the eighth grade and did a hundred situps a night for a year and ran a mile a day, I got my weight down to 110 pounds (at 5'4") but still had a flabby midsection.  A decade later, when I had a grueling physical job in a tannery and lost 35 pounds over nine months while eating regularly, I was down to the weight range that the actuary charts say is consistent with the longest life expectancy for someone my age but still had a "spare tire". And three years ago, by which time my weight had crept up to nearly 250 pounds (no, I'm NOT 5'4" anymore!), I checked the actuarial charts and they said the optimal longevity weight for a person my height, 6'2", was 174 pounds, so I committed to the "eat less" diet for the next couple of years and got down to 180 pounds but still had a 38" waist.  So over my lifetime, sit-ups and running didn't do it, grueling work didn't do it,  and eating less didn't do it.

Earlier this year, I went to a plastic surgeon to see about a little cosmetic repair work around my eyes, and since the consultation was free, I also asked him about vacuuming my spare tire (my weight might have crept back to 190 pounds), and he said that just because of the kind of skin I have, vacuuming it wouldn't get me a taut waistline, and that I probably would be disappointed with the results.  He said that in order for me to ever have a svelte torso, I'd also have to have some skin surgically removed, which is a major operation and costs big money.  Keep in mind that I was never a blimp.  Even when my weight peaked at nearly 250 pounds, I didn't look like a beached whale, because I have a deep ribcage and so my gut didn't show as much as it might on most other people of similar height and weight.  When the charts said I was 75 pounds overweight, most people might have guessed I was 30 to 40 pounds overweight, and my waistline had maxed at only about 46", so it isn't like I ever stretched my skin out like a tent.  I just have a little too much skin and flab in my midsection to ever be able to replace Jim Palmer in the underwear ads.  I look more like Pete Rose.

[Raineyrocks]

Nice pictures, thanks!  Especially the first one even though Pete seems to be 'ahem'  more "manly" in the groin area, ha, ha! 

I used to lose my stomach fat quickly whenever I lost weight but nope not anymore, damn it!   I have read up on something called diasistis recti, (sp?), and it's where your ab muscles actually tear down the middle and no matter how thin you are you still have the "gut".   I bought the dvd but basically it's holding your stomach in at 3 or 4 different core levels a couple hundred times a day, I've tried it but honestly a couple hundred times a day, nope, never made it that far.  I might just have to become more dedicated to doing more of those I guess and see if it works.   

There is so much talk of herbs burning stomach fat but I just don't know; it sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? 

As far as plastic surgery I would love that but who the heck can afford it.  I've read if you have diasistis recti you have to be careful the rest of your life because it can re-open but they are definitely against sit ups and I believe I read you can't assume the top position in sex.  I guess they were only referring to women even though it seems that it would have to apply to men too so I don't know how that one works out for couples. 

I haven't weighed myself in months, I'm just going by my clothing size and how I feel and I've dropped 3 pants sizes and 2 shirt sizes so I guess that's good but not nearly enough for me.

The Paleo diet page talks about losing flabby skin and they swear it just takes time but happens, I don't know.  That one would be hard for me because I don't eat meat but maybe something that you could look into if you wanted and if you eat meat.

Thanks!

[KBCraig]

There's no such thing as "belly fat". There's just fat, and where your body stores it. In some people it might be in the thighs, buttocks, breasts, or upper arms. In others, it's the midsection.

The only way to reduce it, is to reduce your overall body fat. And even then, you might be left with loose skin.

[Raineyrocks]

There's no such thing as "belly fat". There's just fat, and where your body stores it. In some people it might be in the thighs, buttocks, breasts, or upper arms. In others, it's the midsection.

The only way to reduce it, is to reduce your overall body fat. And even then, you might be left with loose skin.

I used to be able to flatten my stomach no problem when I lost weight but since my umbilical hernia surgery it seems impossible.  The center of my stomach is very hard, where the mesh was put during the surgery, it's not flabby.  I did just talk to somebody I know, he's a fitness trainer, and he said it's more difficult to get it back to flat but to do reverse sit ups.