I just want to shed a few pounds.

by Kristine Morgan

I need to shed some pounds, and it's a problem for me.

I'm not really heavy at all, but I have just a little bit of flab on my stomach. And it just doesn't want to budge.

What is an efficient way that I can tone my stomach? I've tried various methods. And no -- sit-ups and crunches don't work!

I'm a little frustrated and just want the best way to get rid of this little bit of flab.

Is there any way that you know that I can do this, not necessarily easily, but perhaps quickly?

I think that if I find a good method that I could reach this goal very soon, but the only problem is that I just don't know the best way to approach the situation. Thanks for your help!

Note from Dr. Dan

Kristine,

There are a lot of things that will help get rid of that extra stomach fat, and most of them have nothing to do with sit-ups.

Now, core work -- like sit-ups, crunches, back extensions -- are very important. In fact, if you had to pick all core and nothing else versus lots of arm and leg work and no core, I think you'd be better off working the core.

But that doesn't do much for making lean abs.

What makes lean abs is high-intensity cardio. If you're a runner you can do sprints -- as long as your joints can take the stress.

For a lot of people doing high intensity cardio on a cross-trainer machine is safer. It's easier on the joints. And there is a readout to show how hard you are working, so you can compare one workout with another.

Dr. Dan