i am 10 stone, 23 and 5ft. I can't seem to loose weight round those areas. It was only 3 years ago when i was size 8-10 now i am 14 and heading towards 16. I am a busy person who works in an office and only has about 10-20 a day to do exercise.

Any advise.

I have a similar problem to you Helen although I am alot older.

I have always been a size 8/10, 5ft 2ins and weighed 9st up until I had my ovaries and uterus removed in Aug 2005 and as I was too young to be going through the menopause I had to start Oestrogen Replacement Therapy.
Now almost 3 years later I am in a size 12 which is okay but at 5ft 2ins I am 10st 5lbs which is far too heavy for me.
My BMI is 25.7 which is too high I walk alot and exercise as often as I can and I eat heathily so I can only put my weight problem down to using artificial hormones and my body thinking it's going through the menopause which basically it is 'Surgical Menopause' so I have the dreaded fat settling around my stomach area I use to have a washboard stomach too and it really depresses me. I am hoping that by joining the gym it will help tone me up and hopefully lose all the excess weight/fat as I now find it hard to get rid of even when I diet, my body has changed so much after my operation I look half okay and half not if you know what I mean.
All I can advise you to do is to eat only what you need, drink plenty of water and exercise I know it's the same old story, I am going to buy the Danina McColl Power of 5 DVD as I have read great reviews about it and my friends say it works. Good Luck.

Elaine x

Hi, a few years ago i started doing romary conley and i did all the exercises in the morning and evening took about 40 minutes and on day 7 i took my measurements again was amazed that i had lost 15 inches!

try it

rita x

How to loose weight around belly and hips

POLE DANCING!!! you think i'm kidding? i have lost half a stone and gone down 3 belt notches from pole dancing alone. it makes you feel sexy it tones you and it is sooo much fun, a workout just feels like a dance in a club and you can dance to your favourite music too. such a big stress reliever too. its great to get out and meet with the girls once a week, ive even bought my own pole its up as we speak! so i get to have a dance and a sing whilst swinging round it every day. and no you dont have to be young, fit or any of that nonsense, there are women on my course in their 50's and at least half of the girls are at least 16stone and they can do all the moves just as well as i can.

xxxx

hiya ive just started pole dancing too for fitness i love it am guted when i cant make my tuesday nights noticed my upper body has go so much stronger only been going for six weeks so not noticed much weight loss yet but keeping fingers crossed

only problem is it makes the gym seem sooooooo boring!!!


ooooh also been doing hula classes now they are fun!! xx

A combination of lower body weights and high cardiovascular aerobics would be good - the weights would help you to tone up as the pounds come off. Also swimming or pilates as this elongates the leg muscles and therefore makes you look slimmer. Sit-ups for the tum, leg weights for thighs, hips, well that's one place I can never shift either! 20 minutes is plenty of time a day for sit-ups etc. Good luck!

Thanks alot i don't know much about lower weights so i will find out more about that. I thought sit ups were just to tone up not loose weight i guess thats how little i know eh.

I will defo take up your advice.

Hello there,
The problem is, if you don't do any weight bearing exercise, you end up with flabby bits (euughh!) - the fat turns to muscle so you will look slimmer although you might not lose as much weight as you expect - trust me, it works! I went down to a size 8 with a combination of a low-cal diet and calinetics (to tone)/aerobics (to burn fat)...ok so I'm back to a 14 now but I'm working on it again!

Good luck!

PS - Make sure you use your tummy muscles to pull yourself up, rather than your back.