Lose 'Baby Belly'

Lisa –

Hello. I am a 32 year old woman who is 5'2" and weighs 125 lbs. I have been lifting weights with a mix of cardio consistently 6 days a week for the past 8 weeks primarily focusing on weight training. Before I started my weight training program, I always ran and did aerobic classes at my gym. My body fat 5 weeks ago was 25%.

I am going on vacation the first week of May and would really like to shave more inches off of my ‘baby belly’. My waist size is a 28 but my belly is 33". Of course this number has not budged for the past year!! Within the last 2 months my diet has been pretty clean. I am eating 1200 – 1400 calories a day and about 170g protein and 80 carbs. I eat the majority of my carbs in my first three meals. I have cut out all simple carbs and the carbs that I do eat come from, protein bars or shakes, berry smoothies, veggies and cottage cheese.

I have about 4 weeks left until I leave on vacation and my question to you is should I stop weight training and do srictly hard cardio sessions and abs (every other day) for the next 4 weeks to really burn fat around my belly? I think I have built a good muscle base but I really need to shed some fat quick!

Thank you very much for your help. Sorry so long just wanted to give you all of my information!

Great job, you are on your way. Please remember that ‘spot training’ does not work! As you become more conditioned and fit,your body will choose where it is going to change first, second and third, etc… DO NOT stop resistance training—-EVER!! That is what shapes your body and changes your bodies' efficiency to burn fat. I see you are eating a lot of smoothies and bars. I would be very cautious of those choices, as they can be loaded with empty calories and sugar. Eating clean can vary from person to person… I prefer to eat real food over the engineered options when leaning out is a priority, unless I am drinking clean protein powder with water, sans added sugar and carbs! You have more control and you know exactly what your are eating!