I am losing weight all over, expect the stomach.

A low fat raw vegan diet, plus sufficient time (say like 2 years), will see the excess fat disappear.

Time definitely helps...how long have you been working at this?

Are you exercising?

Kristen Suzanne
--
www.KristensRaw.com
www.KristensRaw.blogspot.com

Hi birdy

When you exercise (and make sure you don't just rely on diet!), hold your stomach in tight so that you utilise the muscles - look in the mirror to make sure you're doing it right (your belly will look a lot flatter)- and as you exercise, feel the 'burn' there. If it hurts, you're not doing it right and remember to breathe properly as you do it.

Also if you are doing exercises, don't waste time doing tonnes of crunches etc. Until you've lost the weight, the definition wont show anyway. Try doing long, comfortable workouts (jogging, for example) instead.

Hi everyone, thanks for the suggestions.

I have been working on losing fat for about a month.

for me, the following has helped:

- increasing muscle mass with daily intensive full body workout (mountain biking+pushups+mountain climbing)

- reducing my omega 6 fat intake, to balance my omega 6/3 ratio.

- eating more raw foods rich in saturated fat.

- reducing stress

also, you may benefit from some herbs such as rhodiola, eleuthero, and cordyceps which help regulate metabolism and lower stress.

biking does seem to put light strain on your abs and is more joyful/easeful then running IMO.

probably a good place to start if you have a large excess. then slowly evolving into more intentional ab stuff.

Some machines at most gyms are getting very specific for targeting certain areas of the abdominals. Probably the only machines that will yield results in muscle tissue better then traditional approaches.

Well I love fat bellies on men, so I hope it's at least POSSIBLE to retain the stomach fat on raw.

in the week I have been raw, my pants (which were getting kinda tight) have loosened up.

sunshine says:


<<Well I love fat bellies on men, so I hope it's at least POSSIBLE to retain the stomach fat on raw.>>>

interresting

Exercise, yes. And you can (and IMO you should) still eat raw whole foods containing their natural oils.

Walking and especially running are great for developing muscle on (and in) your stomach, and will also help with digestion. I've found weights/aerobics to be great too.

A good yoga position for firming up the abs is Ardha Navasana. I couldn't find a good picture on the internet. Here's how Iyengar says to do it:

1. Sit on the floor. Stretch the legs out in front and keep them straight.

2. Interlock the fingers and place them on the back of the head just above the neck.

3. Exhale, recline the trunk back and simultaneously raise the legs from the floor, keeping the knees tight and the toes pointed. the balance of the body rests on the buttocks and no part of the spine should be allowed to touch the floor. One feels the grip on the muscles of the abdomen and the lower back.

4. Keep the legs at an angle of about 30 to 35 degrees from the floor and the crown of the head in line with the toes.

5. Hold this pose for 20 to 30 seconds with normal breathing. A stay for one minute in this posture indicates strong abdominal muscles.

6. Do not hold the breath during this asana, though the tendency is always to do it with suspension of breath after inhalation...Deep inhalation in this asana would loosen the grip on the abdominal muscles. In order to maintain this grip, inhale, exhale and hold the breath and go on repeating this process but without breathing deeply. This willl exercise not only the abdominal muscles but the organs also.

Belly fat can be a symptom of several issues that require special help beyond exercise and diet. Here's a copy of the answer I give when I'm answering on Yahoo!Answers:

Besides having a higher overall bodyfat percentage, there are several things that can cause a big gut, particularly for women.

1. Ovarian cysts.

2. Enlarged organs (particularly the liver, which can be caused by substance abuse - even OTC medications like Tylenol).

3. Hormonal imbalance. Studies have shown that an imbalance of sex hormones can cause the accumulation of belly fat.

4. Insulin resistance. Again, studies have shown a correlation between insulin resistance (pre-diabetic state) and the accumulation of belly fat.

5. Sleep deprivation/disturbance. Again, studies have shown a correlation between the accumulation of belly fat in people with ongoing sleep deprivation or poor rest.

Good luck!

Source(s):
[media.www.theticker.org]
[ezinearticles.com]
[www.scienceblog.com]

Edited to add: Of course raw vegan diet and exercise can positively impact ALL these issues, but they may not completely solve them without extra care and effort.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2007 03:05AM by Seabucktho.

The unfortunate thing is that you "spot reduction" is a myth. You cannot do exercises to lose weight in your stomach, your thights, or any specific place in the body. When we lose weight, it comes off proportionately, from the whole body.

Excess fat tends to come off in the reverse order it was put on. So if you gained weight most recently in the arms and chest, those areas will see the strongest reduction at first. If your excess fat came first in the stomach, this will be the last area to fully thin out.

You can do excercises to tone up and strengthen the muscles in certain parts of the body, but not to lose fat from them.

This is the problem with magazines, work out programs, etc. that claim to help you " target" your weight loss to areas like the stomach. This is not accurate because Spot reduction does not occur.

I guess you have to be patient, it may seem like it's not coming off, but I can assure you if your excercise is consistent and your outake (calories burned) is exceeding your intake (calories consumed) you will lose weight in the whole body, including the stomach. It takes time.

I have heard that CLA, which is a fatty acid supplement, tends to result in people losing more weight in the abdomen when taken over time. I'm not sure if fatty acid supplements are a part of a raw diet though, i kind of doubt it, but you may want to run a search on CLA and see what comes up.

CrazyFingers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Excess fat tends to come off in the reverse order
> it was put on.
>
boy is that ever true lol !

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

birdy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am losing weight all over, expect the stomach.

Hi.

I think you meant "except the stomach"

I don't know what do you eat and how, but in my case, I lost weight especially from areas where I had "extra": stomach, "love handels", waist area and not to much from the rest.

In 5 months of raw, I lost 42 pounds without any exercises and I'm back to a weight and shape I used to have about 10 years ago. To be more specific, at this time I am only 2-3 pounds over the Normal limit of my BMI.

After I realized that eating only what I like made me eat much more than I really need, I challenged myself to eat every kind of fruit or vegetable I can find in stores, having the main rule VARIETY, and I also made a

"NO MORE" list, containing:
=========
refined sugar, sweeteners or anything containing them,
Sodium,
any kind of cooking oil,
cooked food,
In my transition, I replaced any kind of meat w. seafood (shrimp and fish - wild cought), then after about 4 months I stopped eating seafood and I seen that I feel good without it,
cofee.


I puree everything I eat (about 97% of my food),
In my first 3-4 monthes I ate about 4 avocados/week - I believe I read somewhere that Mr. Tom WU Nutritionist Dr. said that avocado is helping to remove the extra fat - I don't know if it helped me or not, but I lost weight easier and without any discomfort and without to starv myself.

Sure, if I would have time for exercises, I would have even better results, but I work to many hours (50 to over 60hrs/week)

Maybe this will work for you too.

Pls. excuse my English - foreigner.

=============================================================
Medicine, Food Industry and Commerce are businesses.
Is their goal to make/keep me healthy or to make more profit?
=============================================================

You have to exercise!!!!

And that's the answer!!!

Even people on rawfoods can and will get fat if they don't do something about it.


Why Vegan?
Because I have the most love and admiration for all animals of the earth!!!
a rawvegan hopeful, rawdev4life!!!

Or and I should have said that genetics play a role...

My experience:

-It took me about 3 years to slowly lose the 'belly fat' and skin. I did that by eating a steadily increasing diet of fresh fruits and vegetables.......light aerobic exercise (running)........and some bit of ab toning. Having a generous time frame should help you. Be kind to yourself. No one in this universe will EVER love you as much as you can love yourself.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

My body fat is about 15%-16%. I think it's important to get enough protien because otherwise, you can become "skinny fat"- skinny, soft & flabby, with no muscle definition or shape. Either that, or no fat or muscle, just skin & bones. Not sexy, to me, anyways. My personal definiton of low fat, for myself, is about 35-45 grams of raw fat a day. Muscle revs up your metabolism.

hehe it reminds me of some drawings in physiology class where they showed a human body with no fat just muscle .. just muscle no fat .. an no fat or muscle just bones

all were very odd and creeping looking

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

sunshine79 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well I love fat bellies on men, so I hope it's at
> least POSSIBLE to retain the stomach fat on raw.

...Where were you when I weighed over 250lbs? ...even at 6'4" it was a bit more than a belly though.

But seriously, i've lost a lot of weight, but the stuff around the stomach does seem to come off the slowest. I would have to agree with cazyfingers that it comes off in reverse order. I've lost over 40lbs so far, much of it around the middle, but there's still more to go. My size 40 waist pants were tight in May and now my old skinny size 36 waist pants are falling off me...I had to punch new holes in my belt... to actually tighten it for a change. I've found that 45minutes-1 hour on my eliptical 5x/week seems to burn lots of fat and it's easy to focus on tightening the core/ab muscles as Rawnoggin suggests above. I've also found some great focused stretches on an exercise ball that really seem to tone that area. Also the Pilates exercise called "the 100" (i think) which is very similar to the yoga asana mentioned above, is great for ab/core toning.

I always used to joke that i was 185lbs of rippling steel...I just weighed 250lbs. Funny, but true, because now that the fat is coming off, I can feel the defined abs that were burried for my entire life. I'm convinced that by staying raw and staying active our bodies will reach a perfect balance and become perfect inside and out.

Everyone here is great! Love to you all

Greg

My body gains/loses fat from the belly area in direct proportion to how much sugary fruit I eat....bananas and dates, etc. For some reason over doing fats goes to a different spot...I only eat these sugary items when I'm excercising aerobically.
peace
venusian

venusian, where does it go when you overdo the fats? Does aerobic exercise change where it "goes"?

Love and light!

love