What Kind of Exercise Is Good for the Stomach but Won't Make You Lose Weight?

You've spent countless hours performing aerobic exercises to burn fat throughout your body and bid farewell to the spare tire of stomach fat you carried for years. Now, the mission is to tone your midsection without losing more fat, as you've reached your ideal weight. If developing a rock-hard set of abs is your primary focus, core exercises aren't likely to burn enough calories to make you continue to lose weight.

  1. Losing Weight

    • Losing weight is the result of putting your body in a calorie deficit, which takes place when you can burn more calories than you consume on an ongoing basis. Aerobic exercises such as swimming, running and biking are effective workouts to help you reach this deficit, due to their ability to burn calories rapidly. Core exercises don't burn calories as quickly and -- while increasing your muscle mass will elevate the rate that you burn calories -- strengthening the muscles around your stomach shouldn't lead to further weight loss.

    Body-Weight Exercises

    • Body-weight exercises are ideal to incorporate into any workout regimen because of their simplicity. With no equipment, you can perform these exercises just as easily at home as during a gym visit. Exercises such as crunches, situps and front planks target your abdominal muscles, while side planks target your obliques. Other body-weight exercises, including pushups, target other muscle groups but involve the use of your abs and obliques to keep your torso steady during the movement.

    Stability Ball Exercises

    • If you incorporate a stability ball into your core-building workout, you open the door to a variety of new exercises that can strengthen your core muscles without leading to further weight loss. These exercises include: abdominal crunches, which you perform while sitting on the ball; bridges, which you perform lying on the floor with your feet elevated on the ball; and planks; where you use the ball to elevate your feet while balancing your upper body on your hands. If you have a form of resistance such as a medicine ball or weight plate, Russian twists provide a challenging exercise for your core.

    Yoga

    • Yoga is an ideal exercise to perform if you wish to strengthen the muscles around your stomach, but be vigilant about selecting the right class for you. Vinyasa and hot yoga burn calories quickly, which can lead to further weight loss. Instead, focus on Hatha or Ashtanga yoga, which burn calories at a slow rate. If you'd rather practice a handful of core-specific yoga poses at home, choose Cat, Plank and Full Boat poses.

    Workout Regimen Ideas

    • Any workout regimen should include a combination of aerobic exercise and strength training. The latter includes yoga, body-weight and stability ball exercises, which are effective at strengthening your body but do not lead to weight loss. Aerobic exercise, however, is a common way for people to lose weight. Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderately paced aerobic exercise per week for ideal health. To meet this requirement but avoid weight loss, pick a low-intensity exercise, such as walking.