Does fat loss travel from top to bottom?

[Foodie123]

I've lost 27 pounds since Dec 1. However, I have a lower belly pouch. I've been doing a lot of crunches, sit ups and other ab exercises at the gym to get rid of this belly fat. I notice I'm getting toned on my upper torso (stomach where my ribs are) but not my lower belly area. Do you always lose fat from top to bottom? I notice all my fat is settling in my lower belly but my upper half is toned and getting muscular. I hope this question makes sense.

[Barb135]

I will check out the inflammationfactor.com and decide if I want to buy the book.

I haven't been able to lose much weight, but I do eat healthy, and have been taking probiotics and digestive enzymes for the past 2-3 yrs.

Do you have hypothyroidism or metabolic syndrome?

I'll look into this and let you know what I think.  Again, thanks for the info.

[skydnsr]

Nutrition Over Easy is her thing, yes.  She also has a podcast called Nutrition Diva.  But her inflammation website is called inflammationfactor.com.  I have her book, The Inflammation Factor Diet, and I find it faster and easier to use the book for look-ups than it is to get the same information from the website.  The website is a good introduction to the concept, though, and you should be able to get a good idea from it as to whether you want to buy the book or not.  Good used copies of the book are available on Amazon and www.half.ebay.com.  

I'm very excited about this.  I started feeling better within the first few days on the inflammation factor diet.  I don't think it would necessarily have been that fast, except that I have been doing other things for the past couple of years that I believe prepped or primed me for this.  I lost 30 lb. in 2011-12, and I've continued to eat very healthy.  I've also been taking probiotics for about a year and a half, and probiotics can help reduce inflammation if you take enough of the right ones.  The Inflammation Factor Diet is almost like the last piece of the puzzle for me.  If I hadn't done much else before this, I think it would have taken much, much longer for the Reinagel diet to start working -- like, maybe weeks or months, rather than days.

Let us know what you think, Barb.  Good luck!

[Barb135]

Haven't heard from foodie for a long time; suspect she reached her goal and went on about her business. As for myself, I'm hanging in here... I have managed to drop about 6 pounds over the past 6 weeks, so I guess that's a good thing.

What a coincidence....... I've recently had tests done for insulin resistance and inflammation.  As I noted above, I do have metabolic syndrome, as well as, confirmed insulin resistance.  I've been trying to stay on a low glycemic diet, in order to keep blood sugar levels from spiking, which brings out the insulin....

My inflammation markers (C-RP and Ferritin) were both very high... I've been researching foods that would cause inflammation and those that might help alleviate it.

Is Monica Reinagel's web site called "Nutrition Overeasy"? Or is there another one, that actually lists the low inflammatory foods?  

Thank you very much for whatever information you can give me.

[skydnsr]

Hi, how are both of you doing?  I hope you are well.  I wanted to tell you about something that seems to be helping me feel better and get my weight loss started again, which is monitoring the inflammation potential of foods that I eat.  There is a nutritionist named Monica Reinagel who has written a book about this, called The Inflammation Factor Diet.  She also has a website, and there is an Inflammation app for the I-phone and I-Pad.  She assigns an inflammation score to about 1500 common foods, and you keep a running tab throughout the day, like some people count calories.  Foods that promote inflammation have a negative score, and foods that heal inflammation have a positive score.  The goal is to try to have a positive net score at the end of the day.  I'm very excited about the early results for me on this diet, and I thought of this thread, because I think reducing inflammation has the potential to help get rid of belly fat.  I guess I will know better about that when I have been on the diet longer, but right now it's helping me feel more energetic and sleep much better, and the number on the scales does seem to be starting to creep down again after stalling for a while.

[Barb135]

I agree that at 23 and only 27 pounds overweight, it's unlikely that Foodie has metabolic syndrome, though, unfortunately, I have seen people younger than her with it, as insulin doesn't work as well, when one is overweight.  It's not easy to get everything moving in the right direction.

In my case, the fact that I have hypothyroidism, aggravates the whole situation.

Foodie - you're doing good; keep up the good work and keep posting so we can keep up with your progress.

[skydnsr]

Ab exerciess and core exercises are good for you, so I encourage you to continue them, but don't get discouraged if the ab exercises have litttle or no immediate effect on your belly fat.  If they do, that's great, but it won't necessarily happen that way.  The ab exercises will strengthen and tone the muscles of your abdomen, but you might find that you still have a fat deposit on top of your toned muscles for a while.  You might also have a fair amount of visceral (internal) belly fat that lingers for a while.  I do think exercise helps in the long run, but maybe not as directly as you are hoping.  When you get to the point in a weight loss program that the only obvious fat you have left it belly fat, then in my opinion, the main thing that is going to help you get rid of it is to maintain your current lifestyle for the long term future.  Give this whole thing time.  Belly fat can be really hard to get rid of, so be patient.  Don't lose faith in what has brought you this far.  Keep up the good work and be happy.  I predict that your belly will eventally melt away, but it might take quite a while.  In my humble opinion, the main way that ab exercises will help you get rid of your belly fat is by making your metabolism more efficient.  Independent of the belly fat problem a strong core is a great thing to have.  Is your belly going to look the way you want it to by this summer?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I bet it will by summer of next year, if you keep up your good work.  Thanks for all your posts.