Flatter Stomach?

Thank you for all the feedback - what amount of calories would you recommend I eat per day? 1200 as MFP says you should not go below?? I want to lose weight at a good pace, but obviously don't want to mess up my body / metabolism.

& should I then eat any calories I burn from exercise too, or is 1200 cals per day enough as well as burning lets say 300 cals per day (walking). Would not eating the calories I have burnt from exercise be healthy?

You need to calculate your TDEE (http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/), subtract 20% (and no more) from that number, and eat that many calories a day. You can manually change your goals in MFP. If you insist on using MFP's 1200 calorie limit, then YES, eat ALL of your exercise calories back (provided they are accurate). 1200 would be your NET goal, not gross. I strongly suggest the TDEE method, though, because I think MFP's is too low. MFP recommended I eat 1200 calories per day, too, but my TDEE - 20% is 1400, which is what I eat and I'm losing.

I am not sure what to put in under the 'FORMULA' section - do I pick a particular one, and should I enter my body fat - I do not know my body fat measurement?

Pick the Mifflin-St Jeor one, that's the standard and it's the most accurate. From your TDEE substract 15% of it (I say 15% because it's not too far from your goal weight). For example, let's say your TDEE is 1800 then substract 15% which will give you 1530.

i know you can't lose weight in one specific area, but doing crunches always helps my stomach to shrink a bit temporarily.

Only way that is true is that if you strengthen your rectus abdominus muscle from crunches you will be able to suck it in for longer.

I am not sure what to put in under the 'FORMULA' section - do I pick a particular one, and should I enter my body fat - I do not know my body fat measurement?

Mifflin-St Jeor

I got these results:

Your BMR is:
1361 CALORIES/DAY
Your TDEE is:
1871 CALORIES/DAY

So should I eat 20% less my TDEE which is just under 1500?

Yes, that sounds about right. Just want to warn you that you probably will see the scale go up initially. Don't panic - your body is replenishing glycogen stores and figuring out what to do with the extra fuel after having been in such a large deficit. Stick with it, and things will eventually move the direction you want them to again.

the least I eat is 1200 calories-because the less you eat your body store the fat-I do planks-I do side to side situps=pullups squats and I can on-I have competed-it is mainly how you eat and what you eat-when you workout you should always tighten your stomach whetever excersie you do-I am know expert but I can only say what works for me-I have strong stomach muscles but it takes a lot of work-and doing it everyday like that will not make it happen any faster-I do workout 5 days aweek-2 days I rest-so to me its to each their own-but 900 calories is my focus to you that is truly not enough-and if you workout the way you say you need to fuel-for me I do stomach crunches-and sit ups and side to side crunches-I also do pull downs-you can add me if you like

This post gave me cancer... it doesn't matter when you eat to get a flat stomach, just eat in a calorie deficit and do some exercises that utilize your core muscles (deadlifts, squats, and overhead press are great because they are whole-body movers and your core must stay tight to lift maximum weight) to make sure you have muscles to show when you drop the fat. I agree that you should try to calculate your TDEE and eat about 500 calories under that, you will start to lose weight againa nd feel much better with the extra calories you can do this, and there is a lot of good advice here, just ignore the tone of a few of these. Some people can come across a bit harsh but that's because we have seen so many very low calorie diets end in misery and bodily harm and we care about you!

Thanks for all the advice in this forum...
OK so I will be starting this from Friday:

Eating 1500 cals (fruit, veg, protein and complex carbs) per day
Exercise will still be walking most day for 1hr, swimming 1 day a week for 45mins, and adding three days of strength training for 15-30 mins)

Aiming for 0.5-1lb weight loss per week. I was not sure how quickly I should expect inches to decrease?

Does this sound healthy and do-able?

That sounds totally healthy and doable. All I would say if there was any caveat here is that really it shouldn't be about your weight, I can't say that enough. It would be much better if you established a way to monitor your bodyfat rather than your weight. Simplest way is with a tape measurer.

If you only weight 135 pounds at 5'6 and feel you have that much weight left to lose chances are you don't have a lot of muscle and could benefit from putting some on or at the very least retaining what you have.

You will have a much healther attitude in my opinion as well as a happier time of it if you care less about what your weight is. Goal should be about how you look and how you feel not about the number on the scale, they really aren't as related as many people seem to think.