are sit ups alone enough to make tummy bit flatter?

Question

About Me
Member since: 26 September 2006
Best Answers:
Points earned this week:
Total points: 84 (Level 1)

does sit ups alone help to flatten tummy a bit? if sit ups cause muscle then doesnt muscle burn fat?

does sit ups alone help to flatten tummy a bit? if sit ups cause muscle then doesnt muscle burn fat?

People tell me that I need to do running too as that burns the fat off but Im not able to run for a while because of recent opperation.

If muscle burns fat then will it burn some from my tummy through sit ups?

Answer 1

There is no site specific way of losing fat... the old myth about working your abs to burn belly fat isn't true. To get rid of love handles, you need to lose overall fat. That happens with exercise and watching your diet. More on that below.

The most effective way to lose fat is aerobic exercise in the "moderate" fat-burning range, ideally first thing in the morning before you eat. When you wake your body is ready to burn fat and your levels of growth hormone are highest at that time. Later in the day it can take up to 30 minutes just to put your body into a fat-burning mode.

Another overlooked way to burn fat is by lifting weights. Skeletal muscle has very high caloric needs... almost twice that of adipose (fat) tissue. Put on a little muscle and you will burn calories all day even at rest. Be aware that skeletal muscle weighs more, so with this approach you may see your weight increasing while your body fat is melting away. Not realizing this often stresses folks who think they should be losing weight as a measure of fitness. Forget the scale, look in the mirror and you will be happy.

To lose a pound of fat, you need to eliminate about 3500 calories. You can do this by burning more with exercise or by modifying your diet to reduce intake. If you do a Google search on say, "swimming calories" you will quickly find a website with tables of calories burned for a given exercise. You can use such lists to estimate how many calories you are burning up with your routine.

For diet, keep a diary for a couple of weeks counting calories, grams of protein, and grams of fat intake. It is easy with online sources of nutritional information (type the name of the food and calories into the Google search engine) and packaging labels. That will let you quickly figure out where the fat is coming from in your diet.

Fat gives you 9 calories per gram. So take the number of grams of fat, multiply by 9, then calculate what percentage the fat calories are of your total daily calories. Restricting the calories from fat to about 20% of your total intake is ideal for a maintenance diet... that isn't overly restrictive. Of note, you need some fat in your diet. For instance, the body uses fat to produce hormones. Once you have a picture of how to modify your diet, you can drop the diary and just go back to it occasionally if you are wanting to tweek things further.

There is a subset of questions that goes further and asks about "How to get a six-pack?" The answer is the same. Six-packs are 20% abdominal exercise and 80% diet. There is one caveat... abdominal muscles will form in the position that you work them, so be certain to pull them tightly toward your spine while doing crunches, etc. Also, during most lifting, the "core is active" which means that you should be stabilizing with contracted abs then too. Fail to do this and the abs will form, but bulging outward and the result is not attractive.

If you are trying to build muscle as a way to lose fat, then you may need to increase total calories and specifically your protein intake. I target about 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight each day when actively building. That is far more protein than most people need in their diets.


Aloha

Answer 2

Sit-ups will not flatten your tummy. In fact your tummy will get larger. This is due to the fact that your abdominal muscles will be getting bigger. However, this does not mean that sit-up are not beneficial. If yo want a flatter tummy you will have to watch what you eat if you can't run. Or do other exercise that burn calories. If you can't run then try walking for about an hour a day then do some sit-ups. Or how about riding a bike. You need to do cardio and watch what you eat to get a flatter tummy. Sit-ups will only build the muscles in your abs. I still recommend doing them though. Strong abs help with your posture and when you do lose the weight by diet and cardio you will have six pack to shoe off. Good luck.

Answer 3

Sit ups should never be done. Crunches are the proper exercise. Straight up, crossing to left and right and wiht feet not supported are just some variations on the crunch. The main thing in flattening the abs is in what you eat. Your diet should consist of about 6 meal per day with anywhere from 1800 to 3000 calories total/day coming from about 80% lean protein, 15% complex carbs and 5 % in fats that would be in the proteins (chicken, fish, lean red meat and egg whites). Also about 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight perday, as a minimum.
Walking is as good as running and saves the joints from the high impact. Walk at least 30 minutes but no more than 60 minutes per session and no more than 2 sessions per day @ eight hour intervals. Situps can injury ones back, and crunches protect it by having the feet elevated on a bench or chair while do crunches. You should o 5 sets of 10 to 12 reps at a slow concentrated pace. Speed here serves no purpose and high volume such as 100"s will not hasten the fat loss process. Also you can not spot reduce. Fat will come off proportionately from the entire body and the least fatty places will go first of course and the most fatty places will be the last to go. Be patient , actual fat loss is a process of about 2-3 lbs per week. Weight can be lost at a higher rate but a lot of that is water and not fat, so it will come back whenyou rehydrate. Drinking the large amount of water each day will tell your body not to store water and your skin (the largest organ of the body) will not retain water. Ths some weight loss there. It does take muscle to burn fat, but one does not want to build large muscles in the abs. So only work the abs every third day. Allow them to rest. You will need some weighted resistance gym workouts to complete your efforts.

Answer 4

I think it should be fine. I was in the hospital for possible blood clots in my leg, and they sent me down to labor & delivery to stay down there until everything was figured out. While I was down there, I asked one of the maternity nurses if I would hurt my baby by sleeping on my back, because since I've been pregnant I ALWAYS roll over onto my back! And I'm even at that huge awkward stage where my tummy is too big and uncomfortable to move around gracefully, let alone not be heavy! Lol. Anyways, she said it's fine, because I'm not actually hurting my baby, I'm just cutting off my OWN blood supply a bit.. but your body will warn you once you need to move w/ shortness of breath, a headache, or nausea. She said that if you need to sleep on your back it's fine, but you should prop up a pillow under one hip, or tons under your back so you're not laying flat. She said that should give you enough circulation that it won't make you uncomfortable. Good luck! I know how it goes for sure.

For the best answers, search on this site https://smarturl.im/aDAPk

Answer 5

I found the book to be very informative and easy to read.

I've lost 17 pounds in 12 days, I'm just concerned that I'm losing too much weight, too quickly. I will admit I haven't followed the guide exactly. I'm not sticking perfectly to the listed foods and meal plans (but mostly) and doing very little exercise, but the weight keeps flying off.

It clearly works and if I'd followed it exactly I think it would scare the living daylights out of me because of the amount that I'd lose. So thanks again for the information. I've never purchased anything like this before because they are usually full of trash, but 3WD has been a pleasant surprise.

Get started today!

Answer 6

All your cardio can help. Before you see muscle tone you have to burn the fat off first. Then the muscle tone will be more evident. I suggest some fast walking if you are unable to run. Also your diet could cut out most of your carbs and add low fat protein. Good things to try are most fishes, and tuna is great as well. Good luck, I understand your challenge. I have recently put on weight and am challenged to get if off.

Answer 7

If you'd like major results in relation to your benchpush journey you then require the program https://tr.im/lYzK9 .
If you've actually wished to bencha specific quantity, like 200 or 300 pounds, and always dropped short, you should consider finding some suggestions from Critical Bench program.
Critical Bench will explain to you benefits in making muscle tissue through benchpress.
Considering the points stressed out in this program, you're fully guaranteed to notice great results as promised with programs created by a specialist for future bodybuilders

Answer 8

Sit-ups will help but are probably only 10% of the equation. For you to have visible abs, you have to have a low body fat percentage. You can accomplish this through diet and exercise. You will need to eat healthy, run/swim/bike/aerobics or whatever else you are capable of doing for cardio, and also incorporate a variety of ab workouts, not just sit-ups. They only target a small portion of your abs.

Answer 9

Abs training sit ups is part of the answer, you need to remember to even up all the core muscle groups so your back and sides need working to, cardio is a must to burn fat find an exercise form recommended by your doctor they generally know what you can safely do post an op.

Answer 10

Watch this video at http://www.customizedfatloss.link to learn how you can lose belly fat and get six pack abs in a short period of time. It will blow your mind. I was able to lose the belly fat and get ripped in only 6 weeks.

You will also have access to a fully customizable online weight loss software system which uses body type, age, sex, weight and current fitness level to determine the most appropriate amount of food to eat and when. It also includes a training program specific to your body type. Good luck!

Answer 11

it's got alot to do with your diet, if you cut the fat out of your diet and reduce your calorie intake you should start losing weight, situps do help to tone up your stomach and back, but doing them alone won't make you lose weight.
I know you said you can't run, maybe you could just go for walks, (I don't know your condition so I don't know if that's possible) or like somebody else said, you could go swimming.