Hi! I've been working out consistently for quite some time now, I do medium level cardio for about 30 minutes a day, and rotate between muscle groups daily as well (upper body, lower body, etc). The thing is, I was hoping to lose some flab in both the thigh and stomach areas at the same time as getting toned. That hasn't happened though. I feel that there must be some flaw to my workouts because I am definitely gaining muscle but not dropping any of the flab. I am a very healthy eater and don't believe that is the source of my problems. Any ideas for me?

Check your calories. You might need to cut a bit more out of your diet.

Eat every 3 hours, drink water, you probably know that...

and increase your cardio. I'm doing minimum an hour of cardio a day, I try to aim for 400-500 calories of calories burnt from cardio alone, per day!

I'm also cutting about 500 calories out of my diet, and it's been working out for me, for once in my life. I'm losing about 1-2lbs/week

So maybe you should try what I'm doing, I don't think what you're doing is enough, you seem slim as is so you definitely need to take it up a notch.

eating healthy isn't all of it, you have to monitor how much of it you're eating. I could eat nothing but fruits and vegetables and still get fatter because I'm going over my calorie count.

It's amazingly difficult to build muscle (there is no such thing as "toning", you either build muscle, keep the same amount, or loose it), and loose fat at the same time. Your body needs excess calories, not fewer calories, to build muscle. So if you're cutting calories to loose fat, you're highly unlikely to build any muscle.

Are you thinking the flab isn't going away based on what you see in the mirror, or what the scale says?

I found that I had much better luck splitting up my two goals. I had to lose some fat, and then concentrate on building muscle. It's a kind of 'teeter-totter' some times...when I'm working on losing fat, I still need to preserve what muscle I do have, and when I'm working on building muscle, it's tough to keep my weight in check because of the extra calories I have to eat.

Unless you're a beginner or extremely overweight, it's going to be pretty tough to do both at the same time. Pick one or the other goal until you are satisfied.

Like Josephine mentioned, how you feel, how your clothes fit and what you see in the mirror is a better guage of progress! Don't worry about the scale...And remember, muscle is an awesome fat burner!

I actually find that strange, muscle is an awesome fat burner..... then how is it possible that you can have muscle and fat the same time? Ie, people say that they are getting fatter, but we know that is due to the fat still remaining, and muscle starting to build. Wouldnt the muscle be using the fat?

I believe muscle uses carbs for energy and what people mean by muscle is an awesome fat burner is.. you'll use up a bit more energy at the end of the day than if you didn't have muscle. So you'll have a bit more of a deficit.

ie you'll start to lose fat/lose weight. I think that's what happens.

At rest, one pound of muscle burns about three times more calories a day than a pound of fat. During exercise, the metabolic rate of muscle increases even more! So, people who have more muscle on their bodies burn more calories just sitting than people who have more fat on their bodies.

Don't get too excited. Adding a pound of muscle to your body only increased the amount of calories you burn by about 30. No, not thirty percent, a whopping 30 calories. So that's what, about half a medium sized apple? But, 30 calories burnt certainly doesn't hurt, and, with more muscle, you can exercise more, and with greater intensity, and thus burn more calories.

Thanks for your comments guys! I guage by the mirror, because I'm not worried about scale weight. But I also keep a calorie count and on average I'm eating 1300-1400/day. I don't eat processed foods most of the time and definitely not fast food. I'll start watching my protein intake though, because I'm aware I don't always get my daily amt. And I will definitely step up the cardio. Thanks for your support!

I'm having this problem too. Don't check my Traineo page, I haven't updated it with my workouts b/c I no longer feel the need to use that as a motivator to make me goto the gym. I workout 5 days a week with 45 mins of cardio and 30 mins of weight lifting. I've been doing this solid for 3 months now, I initially dropped 6 pounds like instantly - over 2 weeks (very rewarding) but I'm sure that was all "water weight" as they say. Since then I've lost a whole ONE POUND! Over 2.5 months of 5 day a week workouts?

I eat yogurt (lowfat, organic) for breakfast, snack on fruits/veggies, eat a low cal/low fat frozen meal for lunch (yeah I know, not great for me but it's quick and gets me back to my desk quickly) and then usually fish or a salad for dinner. Lots of water, daily vitamins, green tea supplements.

I've gone down 1 belt notch, I feel a heck of a lot better, when I work out on the cardio machines now my heart rate runs about 120 where it used to run about 160 so I know I'm doing something better for my heart. But, I just wish the darn scale would move with me. My wife tells me I look better but I am suspicious she's just trying to help motivate me or maybe I look better b/c I feel better. I have a nice sized spare tire around my waist and it's not like I'm talking about needing to lose 5 pounds or something, I'm 230 pounds - I should think I could shed a lot more weight a lot faster.

I have a buddy of mine who started working out with me who started around 330 and he's down to 290 already in the 3 months. I'd like to think it's easier for him to lose that weight since he's a good bit heavier than me but it's not really motivating when the scale's not moving with me.

I was having so much fun watching my graph go down on Traineo.

I have been trying to lose this weight naturally through healthy diets and good exercise but I'm starting to wonder if my metabolism needs a shock or something . . .

Nathan, if your HR is 120 during your cardio sessions, you might want to shoot that up. Not sure of your age, but 120 seems low and it probably is not challenging you. With your typical day, how many cals are you eating?

I am not saying you are doing this, but a lot of people go to the gym to "workout" and I see them barely breaking sweat or getting their HR up. People need to WORK hard (within reason) to get the results they want.

Fred I'm starting to think that's my problem. What used to be challenging to me isn't anymore. Sadly, I don't think my leg muscles have kept up with my increased cardio abilities. When I try and up the resistance to push my heart rate up I can get it up closer to 145 but then I can't go for 45 minutes, instead more like 20 before my legs give out. It's sort of as though my cardio system got its act together much faster than my muscles. Ah well... I'm working on it - gotta pay off at some point.

Have you tried High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)?

When you do a cardio session at the same pace the whole time, your body goes into what is called 'steady state.' This means that your body has adjusted itself to the speed you are going and tries hard to conserve energy (calories). You've become 'efficient' which isn't a good thing!

HIIT is alternating intervals of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with periods of near-maximum effort. HIIT is great for burning fat, improving endurance, and building strength. There are a number of threads on traineo about it.

what kind of cardio do you do nathan? i guarantee you you won't have a problem getting your heart rate up with HIIT. plus, a typical HIIT workout lasts less than 20 minutes, so your legs should be able to keep up.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm

Just got back from the gym where I set the elliptical machine to "Interval" where it goes for 2mins low / 2mins high (repeat for 45 mins or 46 mins, whatever ). That was pretty good. I had my heart rate in the 140s most of the time and up in the 150s during the higher intensity portions.

By the way, I'm a mere 30 years old - in reference to what my heart rate should be. Judging by the little posters on the wall of my gym I need to go > 140 for 45mins 3-4 days a week. I go 5 days a week so maybe doing this interval stuff will help me actually start losing some of this "flab", as the original poster put it.

I've found the the ellipticals at my gym don't cut it when I set it to the pre-determined 'Interval' setting, so I use the Manual setting, and change it myself.

I do 1 minute at all-out drop dead exertion, then 2 minutes of recovery. By the end of 30 minutes--which I'm only recently able to get to--I am soaked with sweat, my face is purple and most people move away from me as if I'm going to explode on them. But I've had fantastic results! I can actually see an ab. Yes, one ab. Okay--two. But they weren't there a couple of months ago.

Everything I've read says that if your doing it effectively, you shouldn't need to do 40-45 minutes of HIIT...but work your way up to higher intensities over time!

Good luck!

You may not be giving yourself enough credit, and may be losing flab better than you realise. I notice that you didn't see any loss on the thigh and stomach areas. This may be part of your genetic make-up where your thighs/ stomach is the first place you put on weight so and therefore is the last place you lose it. Sorry if you already know this, but you put on weight where your genetic make-up directs it and so forth. Then when you lose it it comes off in the reverse order with the first fat loss being the last place you put it on. This is why crunches doesn't lose abdominal fat, and step-up activities doesn't lose fat from your thighs. When most people begin to lose weight, they get most comments about loss in their face, or neck or you see it across your shoulders. In a strange way this makes the problem areas appear worse as you are comparing it to the body parts around it that are now looking thinner.

Generally women find the bums and tums the last place to go, and men find the gut to be the problem area, but that is not always how the individual experiences it.

The other answer may be that a detox is in order. The body pushes toxins into fat cells, to remove it from the body. Now when you burn that fat and the toxin is released back into your system, if your body can't deal with it then it gets pushed back into another fat cell until the bodies toxicity levels are back under control. This is one reason it is worth consuming extra water when trying to lose weight, as well as the obvious, avoiding unnatural chemicals in your body regardless of how low the calories are.

Hope this is useful

I seem to be in a similar situation. I Have been working out 5 X a week doing cardio and weight training and sticking to a 1200-1400 calorie diet since the end of May, and it is really fustrating that I have lost only 10 lbs. but I do see significant changes in my body shape. I have gone from a size 12 to an 8, but I too would like to get rid of the belly and thigh blub! Any advice??????

Kristen, to me that sounds like good, steady progress in lbs and sizes. Belly and thighs just might be the final places you store fat (for me its hips). You've probably heard it before, there is no spot reducing. You didn't say what you're doing for cardio, do some cross training and make sure you work out for long enough. Keep it up!

I agree with Amy--you're on a good, steady roll! I'm in the same situation--I've only lost 8 pounds in the last 3 months. But, I'm down ANOTHER size, and finally--finally--the belly flab is going. It took everything in me to not give up in frustration, and now I'm finally seeing major changes!

Try mixing up your cardio--if you haven't tried HIIT--I highly recommend it. And really watch your diet since it plays a major role in ab flab.

Just hang in there and keep doing what you're doing--you can do it!

Thanks for the responses, I am trying not to get fustrated and continue. What exactly is HIIT? Is that interval training? When I go to the gym, my typical day goes like this: I start with cardio, either running or stair climber(speed intervals) for 20 minutes then I go to weights, for ex. biceps and triceps, I do three different excersizes for each muscle group, then back for another 20 minutes of cardio. I do this five times a week with one of the days being solely cardio which I do for an hour. I had talked to a Yoga instructor and she had said "thats too much cardio" but every trainer I have talked to says to lose the fat "cardio, cardio, cardio!!" I'm confused, maybe I should increase the time of my cardio sessions?