Help please

Options
shortiemamma
shortiemamma Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone I'm a mum of six and I am looking for aome advice on shifting stubborn belly fat. I'm new to the whole fitness thing and I'm quite nervous about it all. My fitness pal has allocated around 1200 calories daily is this a suitable amount? I weigh 13 stone at the moment but want to get down to 11 stone and not have loose skin on my belly. Any tips will be great

Replies

  • pinkiezoom
    pinkiezoom Posts: 409 Member
    Options
    You cant spot reduce fat :( as you lose the fat all over the tummy chub will come off too. I cant manage on 1200 cals a day, i need to have something i can stick to ....for ever, so i am 1600 a day. Which is fab as i still have whatever i want, but just in moderation. I tried 1200 and was miserable, but everyone is different.
    Remember to weigh everything you eat, electronic scales are you friend.
    Take body measurements, as weighing scales are not always your friend.
    Drink lots of water.
    Get the kids out to the park or go for a walk, it burns a good deal of cals, and you can have fun.
    I am losing my weight slowly, as I am scared i get saggy skin too.
    Be kind to yourself, you can do this :) x
  • Pootler74
    Pootler74 Posts: 223 Member
    Options
    At 13 stone you could probably still eat more and lose weight. The MFP calorie allowances are meagre, and they also spit out 1200 for just about everyone who says they want to lose 2 pounds a week. 2 pounds a week is aggressive unless you are actually clinically obese, which you aren't. It's likely that if you start out a diet at 1200, you'll end up giving up, or entering a cycle of binging and deprivation. If you decide instead to lose slowly, you could stick at it much longer and reach your goal healthily.

    Best bit of wisdom on here: the one who eats the most and still loses weight wins. :smiley: Finding out what your 'most' is might take a few week's trial and error. For example, I have found that if I set my MFP goal to half a pound a week, it still gives hundreds fewer calories than what I actually eat while losing three times that much. Even now at about 30 pounds down.

    Pick a number of calories that you think you could cope with easily. Perhaps a net calorie goal of 1600? Log accurately (that means weighing all solid food in metric grammes and measuring liquids too) and assess after 3 or 4 weeks. Adjust your calorie allowance if you need to.

    Adding exercise earns you more food. If you earn extra calories with exercise, eat some of them. You need them. Also it makes room for treats, which helps you stay on plan. A good rule is to only eat back 25-75% of what the machines and monitors tell you you burned though. Lots of MFP users stick to eating back half of what they burn through exercise.

    Oh and work out what sort of food fills you up the longest. Most people find that protein, fat and fibre are key. How much of each is individual, but lots of people have success with making their daily calories come from 30% each of fat and protein, and 40% from carbs.

    Unfortunately, belly fat is often the last to go, and you don't get to tell your body where to lose it from. It'll lose fat wherever it likes, and nom a bunch of muscle while it's busy too. What you can do is resistance training on those areas to help preserve the muscle there, which should improve the look of it.



Categories