Toning the body, NOT starving oneself

[Akira]

Hello,

 

I need advice on the best and most user-friendly ways to TONE the body without causing any damage/taking unnecessary action (such as unhealthy dieting).

 

I am not fat by any means, but then again I do not feel healthily slim. People have this perception of me being quite skinny, but in actual fact I am a bit heavy in areas such as my rear and my stomach - these are the two parts of my body I strive to tone.

 

As I wrote before, I do not want to starve myself/exhaust myself...I just went to a step by step approach on how to tone those areas (reduce the excess fat). I feel disproportionate in my body layout because of my slim upperbody and heavier lower body.

 

I don't want to be too narcissistic, but I do want to feel healthy and confident. Do you have any tips/suggestions - certain sports/exercises/food choices that will help? Thank you for reading

[brahman]

the first thing i would due is cut down on fats. dont worry too much about carbs, low carb are not always as healthy for your body as low fat. and walk/jog alot. for the lower body that is.

[northernlights]

Hey Akira...well, I'm not sure if you're a man or a woman, but my suggestinos should work for either gender I suppose. I think my advice may be helpful, since my dad is a bodybuilder and all his friends are bodybuilders and all my friends used to be bodybuilders (male and female) until about two years ago, when I just couldn't handle being so obsessive about my body anymore.

 

First of all, it's important to realize that we're all built differently and we can't all have the body we want. We can refine our bodies to their full potentials, but if we were genetically given a pear shaped body (heavier on the bottom than on the top) or if the way our intestines are located in our bodies give us a small stomach pouch, then it's not like we can completely change that.

 

But if you want to refine your body to its potential, I'm glad you're looking for a healthy way to do that. The only, and seriously, only way to make parts smaller/skinnier are to lose fat. Do cardio. Running is the best form of cardio for losing lower body weight, because it helps you lose fat overall and it builds up your lower muscles, which will give you that "toned" look. (Which really just means that you have visible muscles and less body fat to hide the muscles) If running is too much to start off with, walk uphill. Or use the cross-trainer/elliptical, though that's not as good as running. Bicycling is another awesome alternative for toning the glutes. (The butt

 

Do weights to build up muscle so you can lose fat. Spot training won't work the way you might think it should (like, doing a billion crunches isn't going to make your stomach smaller if you don't do cardio) but still work your muscles anyway so that you can burn fat with them.

 

Do cardio every other day for 30 minutes. Don't kill yoruself doing it though. If you feel tired, take an extra day off. You will be amazed at how much better your workouts are when you take an extra day off.

 

When you lose fat, it might not come off where you want it to come off right away. Again, it's due to genetics. So you might genetically lose, er, arm fat or something first, and then stomach fat. If you have a naturally slim upper body and heavier lower body, this sounds like it would be the case. But eventually your lower body should get slimmer too, depending on how hard you work.

 

Most importantly, give yourself TIME. When people want to tone up QUICK, that's when all sorts of bad things can happen like exercise injuries or depression or worst of all, eating disorders. (Which usually happen when someone's dieting/exercising gets out of control)

 

I know there's a whole school of thought out there that goes "eat 6 small meals a day with this amount of protein, complex carbs, healthy fats, etc." since I used to follow that religiously, but if you don't want to spend too much time thinking about all that, just eat what you think is healthy when you're hungry. If you're only looking to tone up a bit and are patient, doing that should work just as well.

[sumguy]

Old trick I picked up studying herbal medicines a year or two ago, I've just recently started it, and I've lost 6kg in the space of 15 days... which I think is cool, but maybe not in comparison to the bodybuilder... =P

 

Anyway. Fish Oil tablets, which can be procured at any Supermarket or Local Pharmacist, increase the blood flow and lower absorbtion rates of fatty acids - as well as having a huge number of residual benefits.

 

Take 1 tablet with every meal, watch what you eat, and take 45 minute powerwalks (or 20 minute jogs) everyday, and the results you get are quick and quite incredible.

[AntiLove_SuperStar]

WHOA Im glad I read sumguy's thread!

 

I also swear by walking.

[PutYourBackIntoIt]

I'm a personal trainer, and I hear this question all the time from my clients. You have to strength train. There's no way around it, I'm sorry. You can slim down, but that will not give you tone/definition. Are there any specific areas you want to target, such as arms/shoulders? I could write you a book on different exercises to do, but I doubt you and I have time to sit here and write/read it all. There are wonderful books at the bookstore with awesome photographs of different strength exercises, I think that would be to your best advantage. Also, do not cut out carbs, limit the types of fat you put into your body (up your omega-3's). Omega-3s also have substantial amount of protein. But you must get to the gym, or invest in some 5-8 lb. dumbells and buy a book.

[vandgsmom]

Keep in mind if you take Fish Oil, that your body will begin to put off an odd residual odor after a while when you sweat ( i know this from experience)

 

Also, if you are less of a self motivator, try a workout tape called "The Firm".. yes, corny, but they work for me. I need that perky blonde yelling at me and then telling me how good I am doing...

[sumguy]

When injested with meals and in tablet form, you avoid the 'fish-smell', That's one of the things I came accross studying - besides, it tastes better than the pure oil... =S.

 

The recommended dosage is four-six pills a day - but that's for arthritis and liver conditions, halve that for better results.