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Losing Belly Fat: How Can I Do It? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Trying to lose belly fat can be frustrating. The Fitness Nerd takes a look at the best ways to get rid of belly fat and keep your stomach flat … for good.

Hi Fitness Nerd,

I have a question about losing belly fat, and getting in better shape overall. I’m 24 years old and 5′ 7″ if that helps.

So here is my story… All through college, I never weighed more than 145 lbs. (that was at my heaviest). I was competing in the Miss America pageant system, walking back and forth to class, etc. But eating the same as I do now. While this helped keep my belly fat in check — I never really was able to achieve that truly flat belly that I was looking for.

Two years later, I weigh just under 170 lbs. I don’t look that heavy, all the weight is in my buttocks and belly. I went on a special eating program to get ready for the Miss USA pageant a few months ago and was very strict with it for 3 months, brown rice, grilled chicken, eggs, sweet potatoes, green beans, salad, yogurt, and lots of water plus cardio and very small weights every day. I GAINED weight!! (about 10 pounds).

So I got very, very frustrated and quit all together. Now I have a job where I sit at work all the time, and my hours are unusual so it’s difficult for me to workout all the time. Also, I am frustrated with how I look in clothes, really want to lose the belly fat and am ready to do something to change that. I typically just do cardio at the gym, but not as religiously as I could. I get bored with it easily. I do like lifting weights though. Also, I had a personal trainer, but just wasn’t making the progress I wanted. So I stopped that as well.

My diet is pretty off - I still eat a lot of grilled chicken and brown rice (just because I love it). But, my biggest issue is that I don’t eat fruit or veggies at all - except select salads, and green beans. I eat a lot of turkey and cheese sandwiches, pizza, and drink a good bit of Coke.  I’m also kind of a picky eater. It’s time for me to change, I just want something that I know will work.

How do I get rid of the belly fat for good?  Can I lose belly belly fat, or am I just a lost cause? Thanks for your help!! (Elle — Alabama)

Elle, losing belly fat is right at the top of the list for most people when it comes to fitness goals. So you’re definitely not alone.

The challenge, of course, is that there are no easy, fast, ”silver bullet” solutions to losing belly fat, regardless of what all the “Belly Fat Diet” ads say.

If you are looking for 1 way to lose belly fat, you’re probably going to be disappointed. Also, if you’re looking for the best way to lose belly fat fast, I don’t want to get your hopes up. This is going to take some work and changes on your part. But if you want to succeed …. you will.

If you really want to reduce belly fat, it really takes a combination of diet and exercise — and the most effective combination will vary considerably from person-to-person, as you’ve learned first-hand. While improvements to diet and lots of cardio might help one person get rid of their belly fat, others do better with less cardio, better diet and more weight training.

So the trick is finding what works for you. You can either accomplish this with the help of a good personal trainer (which, unfortunately, you may not have had)  or you can try to go it on your own, based on what you learn about yourself and what works.

The good news is that you aren’t hopeless, and there are some pretty effective way to lose belly fat, starting today.

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The Fitbit: Pedometer on Steroids? | Exercise Equipment & Gadgets

Will the Fitbit change the way you look at diet and exercise and give the lowly pedometer a run for it’s money?

Watch out pedometer, you’re about to have some new competition from Fitbit.

It’s called the Fitbit Tracker and its inventors are hoping that it will change the way people view activity, exercise, diet and sleep.

FitBit is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Eric Friedman and James Park. The company recently debuted the Fitbit Tracker and supporting website at the TechCrunch 50 conference in San Francisco, a yearly event that allows entrepreneurs and start-ups to pitch their products to investors and the media. I caught wind of the FitBit through a colleague who attended the event.

The Fitbit: Better Than a Pedometer

Here’s how it works:

Like a pedometer, the Fitbit Tracker is a small wireless device  (about the size of a small pack of matches) that you can clip to your belt, pocket, pants, shirt, bra or wrist. The device uses motion sensing technology to precisely capture moment-to-moment physical activity across the day and night — things like steps taken, distance, exercise intensity, calories burned and sleep. The Fitbit Tracker then automatically transfers the data via a wireless connection to your home computer, where you can see a holistic view of your activity via a website.

While the Fitbit Tracker does all of the things that a traditional pedometer would do, it adds a new twist by also tracking your sleep — or lack thereof. This is an interesting concept, since a flurry of recent research has shown that sleep quantity and quality can have significant impact not only on your energy levels, but also your weight and life expectancy.  

The use of wireless to automatically connect your Fitbit Tracker to your computer and upload your activity information to the Fitbit website is particularly ingenious. 

One of the reasons many people don’t consistently keep track of their activity levels is because the process of recording that information is manual and tedious. Even if you’ve ditched the traditional paper exercise log or journal for an online health and fitness tracking site like TheDailyPlate.com, Diettv.com or FitDay, you still have to manually enter your information each day. And you are still tied to a paper log at the gym.

While the Fitbit Tracker won’t keep track of details like exercises performed, reps, sets and weight; it will help you more accurately record and track your calories-burned during these activities. And more importantly, it makes transferring this data to your tracking site a breeze.

Continue reading The Fitbit: Pedometer on Steroids? | Exercise Equipment & Gadgets…

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