The age old question about stomach exercises...

So FS friends I'm calling on you again to ask about stomach exercises. I've read that targeting the stomach muscles isn't going to help with losing the fat, losing weight helps with losing the fat. Since you can't control where you lose weight is it best to hold off on the stomach exercises? Or should I still be trying to tone the muscle?

I've honestly neglected the whole belly area, but now I'm starting to wonder if I should be incorporating it again.

Thoughts?

Exercising abdominal/core muscles isn't likely to change the appearance of your abdomen significantly, but it can strengthen those muscles, which has a value independent of the aesthetics.

If your goal is simply to change the appearance of your midsection, then diet should be your focus.

Thanks Nimm. I read so much stuff at times I confuse myself and I need an outside opinion in order to get myself back on track.

I do yoga and pilates to strengthen my whole core. Helps me to stand up straighter too. Other than that, it's based on my eating. Cutting out the junk food, diet soda drinks, and processed foods has been a blessing to my abs as well.

I like to treat fat loss and muscle toning seperately.

No matter what you do, you can't control where you lose fat from, just like you can't control where the fat went on to begin with. Any exercise will help you lose fat, but your body will decide where it's taking it from.

Muscle toning is a great thing to do, though. Not only just because it makes you feel awesome and stronger, but building a little muscle can have a great effect on your metabolism too.

Of course, you dont have to work on your stomach muscles if you don't want to. Spinal injuries make it hard for me to do a lot of stomach exercises, so I focus on working arms and legs instead. I love how capable the extra toning makes me feel and that makes it totally worth while in my opinion!

I found that a low carb diet & jogging (to my surprise) really slimmed my belly down right down. Maybe it's toning stomach muscles along with burning fat? I don't know???