I said something about this in my last question, but does anyone know if drinking green tea, adding cinnamon to your diet l, and eating some spicy foods actually boosts your metabolism a little bit? Has anyone had results with it while exercising?

Myth... what you need to do is exercise more... that ups you metabolism... and don't crash diet... that is guaranteed to slow it down.

Humans evolved to survive famines by slowing down metabolism to get through periods of little food...a crash diet fools the body into believeing there is a famine so it slows down metabolism to make more use of the calories you do consume. And it doesn't speed back up as quickly as it will slow down.

Thanks! I'm just starting to get really frustrated, I'm a normal size and not over weight for my height and age.. but I have this really stubborn fat on my belly that will not get smaller no matter what I do. I exercise and exercise with my diet and it doesn't go away!

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Myth... what you need to do is exercise more... that ups you metabolism... and don't crash diet... that is guaranteed to slow it down.

Humans evolved to survive famines by slowing down metabolism to get through periods of little food...a crash diet fools the body into believeing there is a famine so it slows down metabolism to make more use of the calories you do consume. And it doesn't speed back up as quickly as it will slow down.

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Nope it won't be easy... and it is possible even with the correct targeted exercises it might not go away.

Abdominal exercise must be done correctly or it might completely miss the targeted area... and they are easy to do wrong.

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Originally Posted by lexiiilynn1

Thanks! I'm just starting to get really frustrated, I'm a normal size and not over weight for my height and age.. but I have this really stubborn fat on my belly that will not get smaller no matter what I do. I exercise and exercise with my diet and it doesn't go away!

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What you need to do is drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

What type of work out do you do ?

I do cardio and Pilates. Pilates worked to give me muscle but its hard to see with the small amount of fat I have over it! I'm about at my end with it because it does not go away!

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Originally Posted by tickle

What you need to do is drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

What type of work out do you do ?

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Yeah its definitely not easy! I wish there was a way to post pictures so I could show you exactly what I mean but I can't!

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Nope it won't be easy... and it is possible even with the correct targeted exercises it might not go away.

Abdominal exercise must be done correctly or it might completely miss the targeted area... and they are easy to do wrong.

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Originally Posted by lexiiilynn1

stubborn fat on my belly that will not get smaller no matter what I do. I exercise and exercise with my diet and it doesn't go away!

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My husband had a bit of a gut (belly fat), so for two weeks he stopped eating anything that had any kind of grain or flour in it. His gut disappeared. This is a variation of the Atkins Diet -- no carbs, so in my husband's case, he simply eliminated all the bread and crackers and buns and cereal. For exercise, he just walked more often -- in parking lots he parked father away from the stores or took stairs instead of elevators/escalators or took two walks around our block each day (instead of one).

Hmm, I guess I never tried that, I've cut back on it a lot but never stopped. What were some of the things that he did eat?

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

My husband had a bit of a gut (belly fat), so for two weeks he stopped eating anything that had any kind of grain or flour in it. His gut disappeared. This is a variation of the Atkins Diet -- no carbs, so in my husband's case, he simply eliminated all the bread and crackers and buns and cereal. For exercise, he just walked more often -- in parking lots he parked father away from the stores or took stairs instead of elevators/escalators or took two walks around our block each day (instead of one).

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Originally Posted by lexiiilynn1

Hmm, I guess I never tried that, I've cut back on it a lot but never stopped. What were some of the things that he did eat?

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He ate a lot of meats, vegetables, and fruits and even sweet stuff -- he really just cut out all breads, cookies, cake, crackers, buns, rolls, chips, cereal, oatmeal, or any foods that had grains (wheat, corn, oats, rye, etc.) in them.

Before cattle are shipped to market, to the slaughterhouse, they spend time in huge feedlots eating corn and other grains TO MAKE THEM FAT. Think about that.

Thanks so much, you've been a great help! That's a good way to put it, I never thought of it that way, and I don't think a lot of people do! Haha

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

He ate a lot of meats, vegetables, and fruits and even sweet stuff -- he really just cut out all breads, cookies, cake, crackers, buns, rolls, chips, cereal, oatmeal, or any foods that had grains (wheat, corn, oats, rye, etc.) in them.

Before cattle are shipped to market, to the slaughterhouse, they spend time in huge feedlots eating corn and other grains TO MAKE THEM FAT. Think about that.

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The one thing I have to say is you consult your doctor before starting a new diet. IT is hard to get the right things in the right proportion to maintain proper nutrition and not become deficient in a vitamin or nutrient. Look up the Paleo diet. It is roughly what has been described here.

As said, exercise is important. It is the other half of the caloric equation. The other thing to remember is that the body will mobilize fat almost evenly. So you could work your abs all you want, it won't get rid of the belly fat. You'll have awesome abs, but still fat on top of them.

The supplements tend to make your wallet thinner instead of your belly. Just tossing that out there. It is mostly clever marketing and gullible customers. Think of it, if there was a way to be fit and thin with just a pill, would the obesity as common as it is now?

Be healthy foremost. Then lose the fat.

Pilates is not actually for losing weight. It is to strengthen your core energy same as yoga.