FUSSY EATER

caycimooney691

hi all i’m new to fitness and i want to eat healthier but im so so fussy what sort of meals can i have and im looking to maintain my weight but look abit more toned and flatter stomached can anyone help much appreciated xx

tulips_and_tea

Very much depends on your meaning of "fussy". Do you have food allergies or intolerances? Do you have texture issues or is it just out of habit to eat the same things? Do you eat prepared food, or do you cook? More info would be helpful in order for others to make suggestions.

csplatt

You can have a fairly repetitive diet and still meet your calorie goals. It sounds like you may want to eat at maintenance and lift weights or eat in a slight deficit to slim down a tad, then lift weights at maintenance for toning and strength. Do you know how to calculate your estimated maintenance calories? In MPF, you would simply say that your current weight is your goal weight.

What are your preferred foods? Do you do fruits and veggies?

AnnPT77

For eating ideas, I'd also suggest you answer questions in the post above. Generically, the answer would be to eat mostly minimally-processed meats, fish, veggies, fruits, whole grains. Any of those you like eating would be your best start. Working on trying new things, including repeating them a few times until the 'new' wears off, would also be a good idea - to see if you can happily expand the range of foods you eat.

Realistically, most methods for looking flatter stomached are going to require fat loss. There are two routes toward that: Weight loss, and body recomposition (gaining muscle weight, using fat weight as part of the needed fuel).

Information about how to do that is here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

It's slow, and requires a lot of persistent work.

The things I can think of that could help a person appear to have a flatter stomach would not apply to everyone.

- If a person has poor posture, that can make the belly area look more flabby or prominent. Common contributing problems can be a chin-forward rounded-shoulders posture that can come from the modern tendency to hunch over phones and keyboards (called kyphotic posture - not the same thing as the structural medical definition of kyphosis); routinely standing with locked knees; anterior pelvic tilt, which is common in this era of young women wanting to make their bum look bigger, plus wearing heels can contribute to developing it. There are exercises for all of those, if they apply to you. Bob and Brad on Youtube, physical therapists, would be one possible source

- Severely under-muscled abdomen. This is quite unlikely, even though way too many people think ab exercises are the key. Most people lose fat in the belly area last, and until excess fat there is depleted, even very good musculature there won't create a flatter stomach area. A person would have to be pathologically undermuscled in order for this to be a major factor.

Finally, since your profile says you're female, I'd caution you not to believe what the influencers' photos and posts suggest about a flat belly. Some of them seriously work hard to delude us so we'll buy their products, or so we'll watch their monetized online content so they can sell ads. For one example, we women have uteruses, and that will cause a slight belly rise for most women that is part of healthy anatomy. This thread will fill you in about realities:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10689837/does-this-uterus-make-my-stomach-look-fat/p1

The best route to "toned" is strength exercise. "Toned" doesn't have a strict definition, so what it means can vary from woman to woman. Generally, it means having enough muscle to create a bit of defintion, retaining enough of a thin layer of all-over subcutaneous fat to smooth out that definition so it doesn't look too muscle-y. Since muscle gains are slow, requiring work and patience, you can start a good strength program and simply keep going long-term until you get the look you like. It's not going to happen overnight, so you'll have time to assess. There are suggestions here of strength programs other MFP-ers have liked:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Despite the title, it includes bodyweight programs that can be done at home with minimal or no equipment, if you don't have access to a gym.

I'm sure this doesn't apply to you, since you're here and working on self-improvement, just mentioning it because I'm an irritable old crank: In the US, and probably in other developed countries, the average woman is now over-fat from a health perspective. This has led the culture to have distorted ideas about what's normal. There are quite a few women who - probably fueled in part by influencers as well as that perception of what's "normal weight" - who think they can look "toned" and have a "flat belly" at that "normal" but in reality over-fat body weight. They are incorrect. Like I said, most of us lose fat last in the belly area. I'm not hyping for ultra-skinny models when I say that. Ultra-skinny isn't healthy either. Body fat toward the lower end of normal BMI range, plus decent musculature gained through strength training, is going to be necessary for most women to have the flattest belly their genetics allow, and to look "toned".

Best wishes!