Hi! 2 questions

dcdeleon02

Hi everyone! I’ve been weightlifting for a few months now and was in a calorie deficit to lose a few pounds on the app. I’m trying to figure out if I still need to be in a deficit to lose another 2 or 3 inches off my waist. I’m not sure that I have “weight” to lose besides the belly fat. How do I make a plan on MFP? Would I chose lose 0.5 lbs/week or maintain?

As far as working out I would like my arms and legs to relatively stay where they are and not get too toned but want to work on belly fat. Would I stick to the same weight on arms and shoulders to maintain or do you continue to up the weight?

Hope all of this makes sense! Thanks!

Courtscan2

If only we could design a plan that determines where fat is lost from! Unfortunately - we can't. Planning to lose at a rate of 0.5lb a week while strength training sounds reasonable to me. You likely won't build a lot of muscle doing so, but it will allow some fat loss and help muscle retention. It will go from your belly eventually, but I never find it goes from where I want it to first. If you are happy with your weight overall, and want to work on doing a recomp - whereby you build muscle while losing fat, but your weight stays the same, this could also work. You'd eat at maintenance instead of a deficit, and make sure your lifting program is a good one. It's slow. Both options are pretty slow. But entirely doable.

dcdeleon02

Thank you! Yes I wish it would flow from the belly to the bottom

driganezis

Very well said by Courtscan2! There is no spot reduction in fat loss. As long as you are in a deficit eventually sometime you will get rid of it, you just don't know exactly when. In my case i lost almost 15 kg in 7 months, dropped my bodyfat from 30% to 15% but still have to loose a lot of fat in my belly and lower in my back in order to achieve my goal of 10-12% bodyfat. That's why my plan is a slight def for the next 9 months so i can gain some muscle as well with resistance training...