lower tummy fat?!?

ok so i am turning 14 in two days..and I weigh about 111 last time i checked I'm 25% body fat. so im looking to lose some off of my lower stromach..everything else on my body is fine. i'm a former competitive gymnast so my stomach is real strong as well as my legs and arms..but now i still do gymnastics but not the long hours. heres the excercize i get- mon- ballet and jazz 5:30-8 tues- gymnastics 7-9 thurs- hip hop 8-9 and i usually do short ab workouts at night.. i have no problem running- but its winter and i don't belong to a gym. i'm wondering what i can do to lose a little off my stomach...like how many calories i should have a day...because i eat quite a bit of meat and love milk. help please?

Public Comments

1. you're already doing enough....finish puberty...and you'll probably slim down and tone up...don't worry..have fun!
2. ab workouts don't do anything for tummy fat, believe it or not. Uh, aerobic exercise is usually the best solution to get rid of that layer of fat. just keep dancing and doing gymnastics and you'll be fine. 25% body fat is healthy... you're just right. Oh, and drink 1% milk... you'd be surprised at the amount of fat that whole milk contains =/ Eat fruits and vegetables.. that trick is to actually eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full.
3. {below i've included some general ways to diet, and an answer to your tummy question. HOWEVER, you're young, so training won't always give you the results it would an adult-- i.e., teenagers' bodies' grow in spurts, make sure you don't overdo it! ...the woman above was right, your tummy has a sheet of muscles under, then fat accumates on top, you'd need to do aerobic exercise to lose fat, then start abdominal exercises to develop muscles- THOUGH i know a lot of professional athletes that don't have the 6-packs the cover models do.} an all-in-one calculator from the university of iowa: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/nutrition/sport/energy.asp hi! i'm a 20-something american woman who lives in italy... during high school and university i was hopeless, but due to some weird circumstances in my life i ended up becoming a track runner and moving to italy. i've learned a lot about this stuff. you can really easily be screwed by a number of factors in the states... NO, i'm not going to tell you to workout or go run, but there are a few things you should know... the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat. you'll need to find how many calories you need to eat every day- (this depends on your gender, height, age, etc) i'll post a link for an online calculator below. the "average" calorie intake listed on the back of every package in an american grocery store is 2,500 calories daily. IF YOU ARE A TEEN GIRL, this is probably very wrong. your calorie needs are probably much less. (the 2,500 cal 'average american' takes in a lot of old, fat, tall men.) MY average is 2,200- but i work out 5 times per week. PLEASE find a good online calculator, but a 5'7'' girl at 130 lbs who does NO physical activity would need about 1,500 to MAINTAIN her weight. to put this in perspective: a 'super size' big mac meal at mc donald's has 1,600 calories. great, if you only want to eat one meal per day. after you figure out how many calories you need to eat every day; here are some simple rules: 1. cut out any beverage that's not water. if you think you can't do it; make iced tea or lemonade at home. (20 oz of coke = 250 calories, a venti mocha frappuccino at starbucks = 500. that's a lot of calories, when you consider a big mac has 600, and a plate of pasta with tomato sauce about 400... though that's an ENORMOUS plate of pasta- versus one very SMALL hamburger.) 2. don't eat any sauce you can't see through. (mayo has about 100 calories per tablespoon, 1 packet of ranch dressing at mc donald's = 230, barbecue, etc. i have included a link below for a site that will tell you the calorie count of the foods you eat at restaurants: thedailyplate.com) 3. don't eat while watching television, and don't eat 'straight out of the bag'... put a portion on a plate- you'll be more aware of how much you're eating. 4. don't buy 'snack sizes' you'll eat 20% more snack size oreos than the big ones... they've planned it that way. (though oreo does now make '100 calorie per bag' oreos. they don't have cream filling.) 5. prepare your own food. american food labeling is crap. 'reduced fat' can mean that it's reduced from the ORIGINAL product, which doesn't get you anywhere, if the original product was a coronary in a bag. when you prepare it yourself, you know what you're eating. 6. if you do decide to do something active, make it something you like, join a group, go at least twice a week, and you have to go even if you don't feel like it. if you don't follow these rules, you won't stick to it, i promise. 7. don't look at your weight, look at your BMI. (your body mass index) an average girl should have a bmi of about 20%-- meaning that 20% of her body weight is composed of fat. (a HEALTHY 5'2'' girl that's 100 lbs, will carry about 20 lbs of fat. it's dangerous to get below 13%. if the same 5'2'' girl weighs 160, it's unhealthy- but not because of the pounds, because the PERCENTAGE of fat is WAY too high.) anyway, if you're bmi is healthy, you're healthy. there are bmi calculators online that will tell you your percentage. 8. eat every 3 hours, if you can, small portions. set the alarm on your cell if you need to. take a power bar (or similar) in you purse ALWAYS. (i like LUNA bars, they're $1 per, but taste good, and will actually save you money, as they've got all the vitamins and minerals of a full meal.) if you HAVE to eat fast food, order kid's portions. regarding body image: i know a lot of professional female athletes, and although they don't have tummies, many have a diffcult time getting a 6-pack (abs), and most of them have cellulite on their thighs. cellulite can be made worse by eating saturated fat (butter), and those deposits can be nearly permanent. the quickest way to reduce the appearance of cellulite, i think would be tanning cream. if you have any amount of fat, it will show up first on your stomach. there are a lot of people that have strong stomach muscles, but the smallest bit of fat will cover over it right away. so a 300lb woman might have stomach muscles of britney spears (i'm not talking about a 'ripped' tummy, but a cute flat beachy one... :p ), but seeing as the stomach is the first place fat goes, you'd need to get rid of the fat before you'd be able to see what's underneath. a '6 pack', therefore is really a sign of someone in very, very good health. i won't tell you to exercise, but remember- the more you move your body, the more you can eat without worry! all diet programs that you PAY for offer do everything i've just said for you, esp. weight watchers, whose 'point system' is exactly what i've done above. hope i didn't sound preachy, and i hope it helped. p.s. when you look for info online, especially calculators, make sure the source is reliable (like www.webmd.com), and make sure to type in 'teenage girl'. you have special, different dietary needs. you'll need a bmi calculator, calorie intake calculator. then 'thedailyplate.com' will tell you how many calories are in the food you're eating. Source(s): http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/calneed, www.thedailyplate.com
4. I'm glad to hear you eat a lot of milk and meat because these are packed with protein and this will help to build muscle which is what burns the fat. Also having more muscle means that your percentage of body fat will be lower. I'd probably recommend you get some strength training into your workout routine and try to eat at least 1g of protein for everyone 1lb of lean mass, so for you this would be about 85g of protein a day. Good luck : )