best exercises.

[Guest andrea86]

hi, I'm skinny except for a little bit of fat on my belly... a very manly style of fat (thanks to the in-laws!). wanting to get rid of it before I start hormones.

I'm into cycling but it doesn't tend to do much for the abdominals.

Would you recommend swimming? or would this make me put on too much muscle all over?

Just wondering the best way to get rid of this without excess obvious muscle build up... probably will have to cut down my diet a bit too i imagine?

thanks

Andrea

[Guest IsabelleStPierre]

Greetings,

Actually swimming isn't a bad option as it tends to work the entire body. As for putting on muscle, it really depends on the intensity of the workout you do. Generally I tend to do exercises to stay toned and not build muscle mass. Cycling is actually a very good exercise to help get rid of body fat. It is a myth that you can only work one particular area to get rid of the fat in that area. The key to loosing that body fat is going to be exercise combined with dieting; only through consuming less calories than you burn will you get rid of body fat.

It's not a bad idea to try to get rid of the fat before starting HRT because once you start it does become harder to loss weight in general.

Good luck!

Peace, love, and contentment,

Isabelle

[Guest andrea86]

Yeah, I've read a lot that you should lose weight first... so am trying that. Need to chew more gum instead of filling my stomach with delicious carbs.

I think i'll keep to the bike for the moment and see how I go.

thanks for the advice

Andrea

[Guest J-London]

Hey Andrea,

First off, great of you to get into better shape! But, if you want to rid yourself of that stomach fat, I must warn you: The stomach is always the last area to lose fat, for men and women. There is no "quick fix" or "shortcut" like some things advertise. You never see bodybuilders with a cut abdomen and "thunder thighs" do you?

But, if you are committed to your workouts, of course you can lose it, but it takes fortitude to remain encouraged when it doesn't disappear the first week. On the bright side, when it does start to slim down, you know you're around 90% done with the fat loss routines!

Since you are concerned about keeping slim and without much muscle, I would recommend a nutritional diet with very little/ no sweets and fructose corn syrups [soda pop, chocolate bars, etc], frequent aerobic [cardio] activities, and minimal weight training [i.E. Working the entire body, but using lighter weights]. A beginner's workout week might look like: 2/3 days of Cardio, 1 day Weights. Even if you are under a deadline like losing 20 pounds by next Friday, never workout more than 6 days a week. You are more prone to injury and your muscles will not be able to rebuild themselves. I find Interval Training to be the most effective aerobic style.

Here is a short list of aerobics by order of what I feel to be the least "Muscle Building" to the most:

• 
  Jumping rope [Doesn't sound too hard, but it works!]
  
• 
  Jogging / Running
  
• 
  Most sports [Ones that you are active for long periods of time. Never seen an obese soccer/football player.]
  
• 
  Bicycling
  
• 
  Swimming [Although I'm not a fan of swimming, I find it to be an -excellent- way to stay active without feeling overly sore or sweaty.]
  
• 
  Kick boxing
  

And Isabelle is right, the only way you can force your body to use up that stored fat is to force it. Your body never does anything unless it has to [Lazy]. In short you must take your Base Metabolic Rate [bMR. How many calories your body needs to use per day] and find your Daily Caloric Intake. Links Below. Once you have your DCI, subtract 500 from that number. For example, by DCI is 2220, minus 500 = 1720. Basically a pound of fat is 3,500 calories. So to lose at least 1 pound of fat per week, cut 500 calories from your diet per day. [500 x 7 = 3500].

This, coupled with proper exercise is a healthy way to become slim and fit.

This may seem like an overload of information if you are unfamiliar with any of this, but I assure you with proper care this can all work and make sense. Please make sure to do your own research as I am not a nutritionist or physician, this is all from my personal experiences.

BMR = http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

DCI = http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

Best of Luck,

London

[Reagen]

Yoga Yoga Yoga!

Yoga has done wonders for me. It builds long lean muscle. Does great for your core. It's cheap you can find some really good routines online for weight loss. I've lost a considerable amount of weight. I do Yoga 3 to 4 times a week for about an hour and walk 2 miles 3 times a week. I only eat 800 to 1200 calories a day. Choose them carefully. No red meat, processed foods, or junk food. I've gone from a 40" waist to a 32"waist in two months.

[Guest Krisina]

I'm not sure about swimming for the tummy. I don't know if that would burn enough calories. You could build muscle yet not burn off enough fat. Having a lower carb and calorie intake along with higher calorie burning exercises might do the trick. Swimming and cycling work best on the legs. Walking jogging or running come to mind as more intense than swimming.

See if you can't google some sort of list for the best exercises for calorie burning.

The main point is, you want to be burning more calories than you are taking in with food. Keeping the carb intake under control too. Lean meats chicken, deep sea fish, vegetables (low in starch), fruits, limit processed foods, eliminate pops or juice drinks.

The more you burn, the more your body will have to go into the fat reserves for energy.

Going off food for a while won't work though, fasting, as you would set your body up for having things go off kilter and you might gain back more weight later.

Good luck

Krisina

[JJ]

From what I have read swimming depends a great deal on what you do and how you do it. The fitness and calorie burn exercise charts all show many kinds of swimming as the highest calorie burning exercise there is. More than running with less impact. And you can chose a stroke to target building a certain muscle group. Just look at the bodies of swimmers. All have abs that look like they had spent their lives on a bowflex without the bulky muscles of body builders.The muscles you get from swimming-except for the shoulders and back-tend to be long muscles similar to runners muscles. One reason is the lack of weight and impact involved.

I swim a modified commando stroke for an hour to an hour and a half every day for about 5 months a year. i use long fins to increase the aerobic workout but I have been using them for many, many years and built up to them. Shorter fins are a much better option for starting out.

For exercise and calories burned info I use Livestrong.com a lot. It's free too.

But some strokes can also be potentially harmful is done improperly-like the butterfly. If you want to tackle those then I'd suggest getting some coaching. Others like the breaststroke can damage knees under some circumstances. Because I swim with fins and have bad knees I can't do it at all. There is a lot of information about it on the net. I've read some of the strokes where you turn from one side to the other with each stroke are especially good for the waist and stomach because those muscles are exercised most.

Another great thing for the tummy is a hula hoop. For the same reason. You are primarily targeting the area where you need to lose.

Kind of an area I have strong feelings about because it is swimming that allowed me to regain my mobility and lose a lot of the 170 lbs I've lost. I'm a bit of a fanatic about swimming

Johnny

[Guest Krisina]

Johnny is speaking from experience. His experience over rules my ignorance on swimming . Good advice Johnny. Thanks for adding that post.

Krisina

[Guest Katie Anne]

Greetings.

I am not a very normamal MtF if one does exist. As a teenager and young adult I played Rugby, soccer, wrestled, boxed and competed in Judo. I even kicked for my high school football team. I loved it, but alway felt like I should be a girl competing agsinst other girls. Now as I trnsition I want to keep a substantional amount of the muscles I lifted tons of weights to build. To my great joy I found kttlebells. I lift for nearly 45 minutes continously and burn large amounts of fat, strengthen every muscle in my body and push my cardio to its limit. I would enjoy looking like Chris Tina Bruce MtF competive bodybuilder. I abouther height, 6'1 and about 30 pounds heavier, i.e. she weights in at about 175 and I weigh about 205. I have always been the meanest, biggest, badest, roughest, toughest, S.O B.in the valley. Fortunately I was too busy with sports and school work to get into trouble. Now I do kettlebells 3 days a week and practice Judo and Jujitsu 3 alternating days. I also teach martial arts to women 2 nights a week. I am not the granite statue of Athena that I want to be, but headed there.

All The Best,

Katie-Anne

[Guest LizMarie]

Another option for body core workouts that can be fun is http://www.bettyhoops.com/ - check out her hula hoops and exercise videos! These are custom weighted hula hoops intended to be easier to keep up around the body but weighted to force the core muscles into continuous work over a 30 minute workout. This is one technique I am applying to losing my tummy fat, in addition to crunches, and swimming as the weather improves here. I'm sort of hoping this will be my last summer swimming as a male.

[Cyndee]

Another option for body core workouts that can be fun is http://www.bettyhoops.com/ - check out her hula hoops and exercise videos! These are custom weighted hula hoops intended to be easier to keep up around the body but weighted to force the core muscles into continuous work over a 30 minute workout. This is one technique I am applying to losing my tummy fat, in addition to crunches, and swimming as the weather improves here. I'm sort of hoping this will be my last summer swimming as a male.

Now that's cool, I love hula hoops !

Thanks

C -