About Junko Expertise I can answer most questions pertaining to teen health, thought I cannot give medical advice. I can explain medical terminology, describe medical conditions and hopefully help people understand what is going on with their bodies. If I don`t know an answer to a question, being a medical student, I can easily find out the answer since I have many resources I can refer to.
Expert: Junko Date: 2/6/2007 Subject: how to get results from eating and working out
Question i am a college freshman and im in the middle of my 2nd semester and my goal is to work out and eat right. my workout routine is mon, wed, and fri for an hour (about 10am-11am), spent time doing the elliptical for 20 min. and the rest towards the treadmill. but i want to focus more on my abs and hips and the machines are helping only for the butt and legs but not much for the abs. i have a lot of belly fat and i want to know what i can do and what kinds of ab workouts and when can i do them. i eat breakfast and i have class and i work out and then i go about doing my thing afterwards. what foods can i eat that doesnt have so much fat for my stomach to pop out? and what drinks as well with meals? i dont want to drink water with the meals. and is my time good for workouts? and even after from doing all this, my belly still looks fat and it "sticks out". im so confused!
Answer Hi Amy,
It sounds like you have a good workout routine going. First of all, check out the following website for information on maintaining a healthy diet (http://www.wellnessletter.com/html/fw/fwNut01HealthyDiet.html). It's great that you're eating breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day and should not be skipped. In fact, skipping any meals is not a good thing and often leads to binge eating at the next meal because you are so hungry. Water is great to drink with meals but if you don't want to do that, skim milk is another good option. If you aren't drinking water with meals, I hope you're drinking water at other times during the day to keep hydrated.
As for exercises that target the abs, check out the following website (http://www.sixpacknow.com/preview3.html). Yoga and pilates are also very good for abdominal strength and toning. One other thing that could be contributing to your abdominal fat is stress. Your body releases a chemical called cortisol in response to stress, and this chemical has been shown to be correlated with increased abdominal fat. So in addition to a healthy diet and exercise, try to reduce the amount of stress in your life as much as possible. I know this isn't an easy thing to do as a college freshman, but it's worth a shot!
