How to get rid of fat

Question
Hi Lela,
I'm 22 years old, 147cm tall (4 foot 10) and weigh 45kg (99 pounds). My arms are really skinny and my legs not overly fat except maybe my thighs a bit, but I have a lot of fat around my hips and tummy.

My waistline is about 75cm (30 inches) so I'm a bit concerned because 5 more centimetres added on makes me very close to being obese and I don't feel it! The smallest bit of my abdomen is tiny and then after that I just balloon out into a big blob.

At the moment I go on the treadmill for 30mins a day jogging, or walking on an incline and jogging without any incline. I've been doing this for about a month.

I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong because I really want to get rid of all this fat.

I usually eat cereal or two bits of toast with 2 eggs for breakfast, snack on healthy crackers with tuna, banana, apple and nuts during the day, for lunch a sandwhich with salad in it, or a sardine salad, and for dinner I usually have stuff like baked fish or baked chicken with mash potato and vegies, or pasta with vegies, or pasta dishes like spaghetti bolognase without any cheese.

I used to not be so health conscious. I used to eat like a pig and a couple of years ago I was eating big macs at least once a day for a few months. And before I started working out I used to eat lots of toast and cheese and junk food. Do you think all this has stayed on me?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Answer
Gabrielle,
The bloating issue might be a food intolerance, the most common ones being dairy and wheat. Try cutting all of the cheese and milk out of our diet if you haven't already and see how it makes you feel. If that doesn't work, try keeping a little journal where you write down what you eat and then how you feel 1 hour later and 3 hours later. You might find a connection between a particular type of food and the bloating.

I think that you should start strength training. Adding muscle will help make you feel more toned and strong. Belly fat is often associated with high stress, so a little yoga might help as well.

Also be patient with yourself. It will take some time to see results and stressing over it isn't going to help!. Relax, be kind to yourself, and think about your health!

Hope this helps,

Lela Simon

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