Can i eatwhat i want and still get flat abs??? on cross country team, but...??? help??!?

Question

i run cross country and track so im athletic and need to eat. but i want to eat less to lose my fat belly, but every time i do i feel weak and cant run so i just go back to eating what i want. i eat some kind of junk food twice a week so its not bad. other than that i eat a ton of healthy food. if i eat what i want (mostly healthy of course and cut back to eating junk food to once a week) and do abs morning and night and after i work out, can i still lose belly fat? im only 14 (almost 15) and weigh 118-120 lbs. thats a healthy weight and its mostly muscle in my legs, and im 5'4. i just hate having small muscular legs with a fat stomach. any tips???? effective and good ab workouts would help too. please im desperate. im one of the fastest girls on the team, and most of them are small and have nice abs. i would like have nice abs too. i dont want to feel the fat anymore or see it anymore. please help!!! thanks! :)

Answer 1

you are at a good weight! you can eat what you want but just eat a little bit less of it if u want to loose a few pounds....... answer mine please  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 2

u should eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

have a little meat, maybe like a sandwhich but not a whole lot.

since ur calfs are strong u should work on abs a quite a while. its better off

Answer 3

Yes so please stop dieting. It is not healthy for an active athlete. You risk injury and hurting your running performance.

If you are 15, your base metabolism, is probably 1700 calories or more.  If you are running 5 miles a day you need an additional 500 calories per day.  That comes out to a minimum of 2200 calories per day.  If you eat less than this you will be tired and weak.  In addition, your body will metabolize itself. i.e. it will burn any  fat but it will burn your muscles. Losing muscle mass will advesely affect your running and weakened msucles can lead to injury.

If you want to tone your stomach, go ahead and do some ab workouts but make sure you eat enough food to stay healthy and power your workouts. Given your height and weight I don't  believe that you have a fat stomach.

Answer 4

first of all, the weight for your height is perfectly normal, and remember muscle ways more than fat. For example, i have a friend who runs professionally and competes in 50+ mile runs and she is definitely not the stereotypical skinny cross country runner. Believe me you burn soo many calories a day and in my opinion, cross country and track runners are in the best shape and do the hardest sport out of almost all sports. I do a lot of sports and to me, cross country is the hardest because your pushing yourself to go past your limit for a long length of time.

      As for the flat stomach, i have some tips/workouts.

1. First i'm sorry to say that you can not eat whatever you want (ex ding dongs, twinkies and mc'donalds) but that doesn't mean starve yourself. Just find healthy lunches that taste good to you and give you energy to run. I usually eat an apple, banana, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and some pretzles and that usually does the trick. (for after practice i know sometimes i can get a little hungry so i bring some more fruit or a bag of dry cereals like cheerios)

2. Second do your ab workout after you run. Heres a workout

       a. start out at 3-4 minutes then work up from there

      b. each minute, do a different ab workout. don't stick to the normal crunches or boring situps. Do maybe bicycles for a minute, lay on your back and put your feet up and touch your toes sixty times, you can also do "planks" or lay on your back and hold your feet about a foot off the ground for a minute

       c. these things really helped me and i can definitely see the improvement. but none of this will have an affect on you if you don't stay consistent or give up in the middle. if you want some abs  its important to do it every day not just once or twice a week

     d. last and most important, don't stress to much on your weight, you're perfectly healthy and every body is different. good luck on your sports and hey! i might even see you out there

Answer 5

...

Several things contribute to flat abs, or "six-packs."

First, over time (but I don't think you've had enough years for this to happen), the abdominal muscles sag.  So you do have to do the crunches to keep the belly from hanging over.

Second, being overweight.  But you're really not there.  The belly is the first and worst place for excess fat to accumulate and show itself.

And third, how much you drink.  The guys (and gals) who look ripped are really dehydrated.  They've starved themselves of water (I know you don't eat water), to the point that there's really insufficient (to be healthy) fluid in their bodies.

So, of these three variables, possibly, likely, the one you can best address is doing the crunches AND hitting the weights.  By light (and I mean light) upper body weight training (doing curls, bench press, lats pull downs, rowing, tricep 'dips'), you minimally tone your upper body, which also has the nice benefit of pulling up on your middle - making the middle look flatter.

Regards,

Phil

P.s., seek fitness, and the form will follow!