Hi all, I'm a newbie here, from the UK and have a question.

Five years ago, I was slim and toned. It happened by 'accident'; I was walking a 10 mile hike once a week for the previous year and the muscles just got toned! Then life got in the way and I stopped the hike. Instead, I spent much of the day sitting at my computer and/or in the car drriving to appointments, where I sat down (at the appointment) for most of the day. The result? I now have a roll of fat over my abdomen and my hips have spread somewhat.

However, I havent actually put on much weight - 8-10lbs maybe. So now to the question:

How do I lose size without losing much weight?

I have returned to the walking (not employed any more), but it doesnt seem to be doing much (8 months in and still with a roll of fat), and I do lots of heavy-ish work around my home and garden/yard (digging, plastering, pointing walls, lifting boxes, etc). Is there anything else I can do to get rid of the fat roll without going on a diet to lose weight?

Thanks,
Ruth

Hello RuthG, welcome to the forum, so happy that you've decided to join us here!
I've always had a problem with fat around the middle, all the women in my family are 'apple shaped' and the 'muffin top' is always popping up.

I can say that I've lost fat and toned my stomach area without seeing any noticeable loss on the scale. Through brisk walking and doing aerobic videos, like step aerobics or turbo jam, I've gone down in my waist size and stomach area. Of course I welcome weight loss with my toning, because I am not at my ideal weight.

There are also the 'core strenghtening' exercises that help tighten and tone those muscles and shed the fat. Some people use those big exercise balls as an assist to help with the waist and stomach. Bending and twisting movements are good. The house and garden work you're doing has got to be helping too.

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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~

It sounds like you need to take something to speed up your metabolism. Some people say that apple cider vinegar with honey helps to speed up their metabolism. My aunt did that and she lost a great amount of weight.

Cut your carbs to about 50 a day that must all be from fresh veggies (not fruit) and move your exercise routine into weights. As you build muscle you will gain weight in muscle mass and loose fat. Eat all the meat and fish you want... even snack on it. When you are at the shape you want increase carbs slowly. If fat starts to come on again then you have added too many carbs.. reduce back. Keep up with the weights.

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