Stomach fat

I workout fairly regularly too (excessively in February) and still have tons of fat around my middle. The triathletes on my team tell me that running will take it off. Problem is I don't like running so I've resigned myself to being happy with my spare tire.

Crunches maybe...

I remember reading that sometimes people *look* fatter than they are, because of poor posture. If you have swimmer's slouch, stand with your back against a door or wall. Don't suck in your gut, but make sure your back is flat against the surface (esp. the lower back). The exercise suggestions that people mentioned should be followed, but no need to make things harder than necessary by sticking your gut out. :)

Thanks guys for your help. Ya know Mattson, I'm always being told to sit up straight because I'm tall and developed a slouch when I was younger. Putting my back against the wall *laugh* made me realize it wasn't so bad after all. valhallan, I have tried the carb thing, and oh yeah, I lost 10 pounds within the first week, but ate a hamburger bun and drank a glass of wine and gained it back in one night. I was only losing water and don't really want to give up pizza crust in return for water weight. I do realize this diet works great for some folks though and best of luck to your wife. Motivation may hit me for another type of exercise, but swimming is my one true love, until then....I'll put my back against the wall!

I'm a flyer who trains 365 x 5, every age-group. However, I only get REAL intense for the last 6 months of the age-group and the first 2 or so years of the next. That is all I can stomache of the rigors of training really, really hard. I notice that swimming, by itself, does not seem to attack the belly problem. Oh, by the way, for Val: it is not a matter of weight, it is all about fat vs muscle and the distribution thereof. So-when I start to notice that my toes are harder to see in the shower, I know it is time for something supplemental to swimming. A friend, Bill Muter, who is an ex-Marine, once told me that the key to swimming fitness is in the core of the torso, specifically the abdomen. I believe it. I hate to do it and I hate to prescribe it, but crunches, sitting cycles, bends and twists, and my old Ab-Slide machine have worked very well for me in getting rid of MOST of my built up tummy flab. Interesting note: when I am in REALLY good shape, I weigh quite a bit more than when I am not. Sure hope this helps ! Bert

There are no exercises that will remove fat from one part of the body over another part of the body. That's why we have liposuction. If you want to lose fat, consume fewer calories than you use. If you want to get bigger/stronger muscles, exercise. It is easy to do one without the other, and the results are what you would expect.

I agree with you Bert, eventually its becomes harder to lose weight with swimming. The reason I lost 16 pounds is because I'm obese. Even as a teenager, I was more likely to weight more than most swimmers for my height. I think at 16 years old I was only 5'3" and 3/4 at 130 pounds. I didn't eat more junk food than the other swimmers as a kid, I'm just a heavier bone person.

Besides your diet, try sprint swimming a little bit more and breastroke and butterfly in your workouts, they burn more calaries than does freestyle.

Mattson, are you a doctor? If so, I will defer but where are you getting items 1,3 and 4 from? I would be especially interested in the bouncing organ theory. And, are you stating that because you swim, your body thinks it is not thirsty? I don't understand.

Busted! :) I am a doctor, but not of medicine (or anything related to sports medicine). So let me say that the information comes from someone who is an amateur, but has read a lot of health and fitness articles, and has tried some of the ideas. So... for (1) I'm taking that one on faith. I think it is a natural continuation of the idea that, if you ride a roller coaster or get car sick, it is the stress from the motion/vibrations that cause you to lose your appetite. I was just reading (3) in TI, I think, about the appetite/body temperature thing. (4) is actually two parts. The first has to do with *some* overweight people who do not hydrate. Their bodies send thirst signals, but the people are mis-interpreting the signal as hunger. Eating is making them thirstier, and they wonder why they still feel *hungry*. Second, when I still hear people asking if you sweat while you are swimming, I don't doubt that not enough people hydrate while doing a swim workout. If you do not notice that you are sweating buckets, you may not pay as much attention to the water fountain. Did you have conflicting ideas/research? I would be very interested if you do. (This is not a challenge, but a plea for help. :) ) If you are just checking how much of this is hearsay/opinion, versus real research, I can try to find the articles I was looking at.