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...how do I achieve a more hourglass figure? I like my breasts and my bum, but I want my stomach to be more toned. How do I tone it (make it slimmer) without lossing my breasts and bum?
You can't spot reduce. Genentics is the main factor in weight distribution. If you reduce your overall weight I'm sure the stomach will get tighter. There's really no way to know if you'll lose your breasts and butt until you actually lose the weight.
Best way is through diet and exercise (sorry to sound so cliche, but it's true). I've found diet to be a bigger factor than exercise. How's your diet?
OpenBook's Diet Tips For The Waistline: Don't eat at night. Avoid pasta. Drink orange juice and grapefruit juice, which helps burn off the food faster in your digestive system. I've discovered these things do more than anything else (except exercise) to help keep my stomach flat.
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You can't make your waist slimmer without weight reduction but you can tighten up your abs and affect your posture, which will give you more of a T & A look.
My broken record suggests core strengthening with a combination of yoga and pilates. Both are targeted towards longer, leaner muscles and will also help your flexibility/posture/back, in latter years.
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To address some of your questions/remarks: I am 5'9" and a size 12. My weight distribution is already fairly hour-glass shapped (36, 32, 38), but I want to really whittle down my stomach even more. I wouldn't mind losing some off of my bum, but I really like my 36 DD's, and don't want to lose them!
My diet is getting better--I'm in college, so it is hard to eat extremely well, but I've been trying. So, there's no exercise that can target abs? I don't want them bulky and muscular, just trim. Haha, I'm thinking of going out and getting a hoola-hoop! They make weighted ones now. Maybe that would help?
OpenBook's Diet Tips For The Waistline: Don't eat at night. Avoid pasta. Drink orange juice and grapefruit juice, which helps burn off the food faster in your digestive system. I've discovered these things do more than anything else (except exercise) to help keep my stomach flat.
Openbook, that is interesting. Yeah, I've heard that the digestive track plays a large role in stomach inflamation. I also hear that cutting out all carbs (not just pasta) is beneficial. I'll have to try drinking more juice though. Thanks!
Openbook, that is interesting. Yeah, I've heard that the digestive track plays a large role in stomach inflamation. I also hear that cutting out all carbs (not just pasta) is beneficial. I'll have to try drinking more juice though. Thanks!
Cutting out all the carbs is not only not beneficial, but potentially harmful to one's body. Don't buy into fad diets. Instead of eliminating the carbs and negating your body a very important source of energy, lose weight in a more healthful manner (ie: no more living on pizza runs, mcdonalds and ramen noodles), do some targeted exercises using weights and you will see your body improve slowly over time, and stay that way.
Anyone that tells you to completely cut off a certain kind of food is simply misinformed. The basics of losing weight is spending more calories than you ingest, period. There's no magic pill or food to avoid that will change that principle.
Also... juice is good for you, but remember you're ingesting anywhere from 100 to 200 calories in one 8oz serving, so keep that in mind when counting your calories.
To address some of your questions/remarks: I am 5'9" and a size 12. My weight distribution is already fairly hour-glass shapped (36, 32, 38), but I want to really whittle down my stomach even more. I wouldn't mind losing some off of my bum, but I really like my 36 DD's, and don't want to lose them!
My diet is getting better--I'm in college, so it is hard to eat extremely well, but I've been trying. So, there's no exercise that can target abs? I don't want them bulky and muscular, just trim. Haha, I'm thinking of going out and getting a hoola-hoop! They make weighted ones now. Maybe that would help?
Well, I can assure you that I speak for most men when I say I hope you don't lose your DD's.
Diet will be the biggest factor. No amount of exercise will work if your diet is poor. I can tell you this from 1st hand experience. I didn't see my abs until I changed my diet. My advice:
1) Avoid liquid calories, drink mainly water. If you drink juice or soft drinks, eliminate them
2) Eat a mostly whole foods, largely uprocessed diet if you are not already doing so. That means plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds, nuts, lean meat, fish, and low-fat or fat-free dairy.
3) Get most of your carbohydrates from whole grains, fruits, and beans (these are unprocessed carbohydrates). Don't eliminate carbohydrates (like the one poster recommended), that's unhealthy and you're cutting out a whole food group. Instead, try to avoid refined and processed carbohydrates (i.e., the junk carbohydrates, like candy, cakes, pies, biscuts, all the other good stuff, lol)
4) Avoid eating out too often, make it an occassional thing. If you do, stick with grilled chicken or fish
5) Eat smaller, more frequent meals (I eat 7-8 times per day)
Other than that, try to get into the habit of doing cardio a few times a week (i.e., maybe take a cycling class at a local gym). That'll probably help.
Find some exercises that target the obliques and abs. My 2 favorites exercises are Russian Twists (for the obliques) and pre-stretch crunches (for the abs) on a medicine ball. These give you the most "bang for your buck" as far as ab exercises go. Start slowly without weights then you might want to add some light weight doing them.
I know it's difficult to eat well being in college (I've been there myself). If you want to see results, though, there aren't really any safe shortcuts. Diet and exercise, hard work and perseverence.
Well, I can assure you that I speak for most men when I say I hope you don't lose your DD's.
I don't know... I think you're speaking for a certain group, definitely.
I just like breasts, period. I don't care too much how big/small they are. Shape and tone are more important in my book. Honestly though, I prefer a woman with a more sporty and active figure. If this means her breasts are smaller, then so be it.
Anyhow, it's good that there are people with all types of tastes.
To the original poster... where someone stores excess body fat is largely genetics, from what I understand. So, it's hard to say if exercising would make your breasts smaller. My gf put on 30 lbs. and I swear none of it went to her breasts. It all ended up in her belly, ass, and thighs.
Ab exercises may actually increase your waistline, depending on how you do them. I probably put about 1/2 an inch on my waistline doing ab exercises. Your ab muscles might bulk up, and if you don't loose fat too, it will look like your waistline is bigger. Plus you won't be able to see your ab muscles, negating the point!
There is this weird thing you can do though where you suck your stomach in. This works muscles lower down, apparently, and these muscles are always activated. I've heard (don't know if it's true) that doing this over and over will actually make your waistline a little slimmer.
Ab exercises may actually increase your waistline, depending on how you do them. I probably put about 1/2 an inch on my waistline doing ab exercises. Your ab muscles might bulk up, and if you don't loose fat too, it will look like your waistline is bigger. Plus you won't be able to see your ab muscles, negating the point!
There is this weird thing you can do though where you suck your stomach in. This works muscles lower down, apparently, and these muscles are always activated. I've heard (don't know if it's true) that doing this over and over will actually make your waistline a little slimmer.
True about certain exercises having the potential to thicken the waistline.
Stomach vacuumns are wonderful. Exhale and then pull your stomach in as far as you can. Imagine drawing your bellybutton back to your spine. Hold for as long as you can (no breathing during). Work up to reps of 30 seconds.
Truly, though, you cannot spot reduce. You have to lose fat all over, not just in your stomach. Even though your actual cup size may get smaller as you get smaller, it is the proportion that will give you a more busty look, so I would not let this stand in the way of losing some weight.
Stomach vacuumns are wonderful. Exhale and then pull your stomach in as far as you can. Imagine drawing your bellybutton back to your spine. Hold for as long as you can (no breathing during). Work up to reps of 30 seconds.
That's what they are called. Thanks!
I've been doing them forever... just a few, every morning while I'm brushing my teeth.
I used to do them as a kid for fun.
Anyway, they sound weird, but I've heard not only do they have the potential to slim your waist a tad (just a tad), but they are supposedly good for your posture too. I hope so!
...how do I achieve a more hourglass figure? I like my breasts and my bum, but I want my stomach to be more toned. How do I tone it (make it slimmer) without lossing my breasts and bum?
Thanks!
Running is how I made my stomach flat. Of course to tone the rest of your body weight lifting is a good idea. But if you want to lose fat in your stomach and make it more toned, running is the best exercise.
It makes you lost some weight as well, but the majority of the toning and thinness you get from running is in your stomach (at least for me anyway).
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