How long does it take to lose the belly!?

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  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
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    brianam204 wrote: »
    One factor is when you eat... I try to do the I.F. thing (Intermittent Fasting), though I'm far from hardcore on it. At it's most basic and easy level, it's simply a matter of not eating outside of a period of time of the day. So for the people who only want to do the most basic involvement, it's just keeping your eating to a 12 hour period of the day (such as 8am - 8pm). No snacking, no drinking, etc. The consumption window should be less than 12 hours and the shorter it is, the more results you'll notice; doing it for 12 hours will prevent late night snacking, but not give you much burn time.

    Some caveats though... As people have said, some of that fat is the last to go, so if you're storing fat elsewhere, it might take quite a while before your body gets to that. You generally need a lean diet to start with and also a calorie deficit. Stick to the diet and the macros; I.F. isn't a silver bullet. At the very least though, it can help keep you from snacking your way over your numbers if you cut yourself off at a certain point.

    Since you use IF you should understand that the basic premise is that meal timing is irrelevant to fat loss. When we eat does not impact if we have belly fat. You could eat at 11pm and immediately go to bed without it magically turning to fat if you are in a calorie deficit.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
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    Belly is primary fat stores for most people and they are deep fat stores...belly is generally first on, last off.

    I'm really lean everywhere...like you can barely pinch anything...but I still have some pesky love handles and a little pooch that just don't seem to go away.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I am down 55 pounds and lean everywhere but my belly. It's just the last (fat) frontier for a lot of people. I'm hoping to shrink it enough by 138-140 (10 more pounds) that I feel comfortable switching to recomp. I have a very strong fear of having to go lower though because I continue to lose inches on stupid places like my wrists faster than my waist.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    Yep, I was just ranting about this. The stomach is the last to go for so, so many of us.
    jemhh wrote: »
    I have a very strong fear of having to go lower though because I continue to lose inches on stupid places like my wrists faster than my waist.

    Me tooooooooo.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Not to depress you or anything :smiley: But my collarbones started protruding, I had to put cushions on my chairs because of my bony tailbone, and my arms turned to toothpick size before I saw a "noticeable" difference on my belly.
    I would still like to lose 3-4 kgs, but I'm in no rush. I'd say that small amount of loss will get rid of the belly I have left.
  • stefng33
    stefng33 Posts: 49 Member
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    Yes and I couldn't imagine taking on a larger deficit ! I'm at 1470 right now and I eat back my calories burned from exercise. I couldn't do 1300 that's for sure. I also have myself set to lightly active even though I'm definitely not!

    I do not eat past 730pm, unless it's the weekend and then well, no holds barred ;)
    That's when I eat anything I want, like chips or burgers lol...but I try not to go too far over my calories for the day. And I limit it to only one of the days.

    I'm sure that doesn't help but I'd be absolutely miserable and likely end up with an eating disorder or quitting altogether if I didn't have some flexibility.

  • marissafit06
    marissafit06 Posts: 1,996 Member
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    I lose there first and put on weight there last. My hips and thighs take forever to move, so I feel your general pain.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
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    stefng33 wrote: »
    Yes and I couldn't imagine taking on a larger deficit ! I'm at 1470 right now and I eat back my calories burned from exercise. I couldn't do 1300 that's for sure. I also have myself set to lightly active even though I'm definitely not!

    I do not eat past 730pm, unless it's the weekend and then well, no holds barred ;)
    That's when I eat anything I want, like chips or burgers lol...but I try not to go too far over my calories for the day. And I limit it to only one of the days.

    I'm sure that doesn't help but I'd be absolutely miserable and likely end up with an eating disorder or quitting altogether if I didn't have some flexibility.

    If you set your goal too aggressive (anything more than half a pound per week) then of course you are feeling miserable. Your one day of eating anything is what is causing you to have very little progress. Set your goal to lose half a pound per week. Eat burgers and chips within your calorie goal when you want them and you won't go crazy.
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
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    usmcmp wrote: »

    If you set your goal too aggressive (anything more than half a pound per week) then of course you are feeling miserable. Your one day of eating anything is what is causing you to have very little progress. Set your goal to lose half a pound per week. Eat burgers and chips within your calorie goal when you want them and you won't go crazy.

    You took the words right out of my mouth...hehe singing this in my head lol x
  • stefng33
    stefng33 Posts: 49 Member
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    I'll try it!
  • stefng33
    stefng33 Posts: 49 Member
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    usmcmp wrote: »
    stefng33 wrote: »
    Yes and I couldn't imagine taking on a larger deficit ! I'm at 1470 right now and I eat back my calories burned from exercise. I couldn't do 1300 that's for sure. I also have myself set to lightly active even though I'm definitely not!

    I do not eat past 730pm, unless it's the weekend and then well, no holds barred ;)
    That's when I eat anything I want, like chips or burgers lol...but I try not to go too far over my calories for the day. And I limit it to only one of the days.

    I'm sure that doesn't help but I'd be absolutely miserable and likely end up with an eating disorder or quitting altogether if I didn't have some flexibility.

    If you set your goal too aggressive (anything more than half a pound per week) then of course you are feeling miserable. Your one day of eating anything is what is causing you to have very little progress. Set your goal to lose half a pound per week. Eat burgers and chips within your calorie goal when you want them and you won't go crazy.

    Question for you: if I reset to half pound my cals are about 1700; does this mean my exercise is technically included in this? Right now I'm eating back my burned calories for the day and always logging my workouts and walks etc. but if I'm set to lightly active, is exercise already factored in? Meaning one should not at all be eating back any burned calories or even tracking exercise?
    I read your article and I thought it was very helpful! I checked out my TDEE and it was just under 1600.

    What do you suggest??
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    stefng33 wrote: »
    Question for you: if I reset to half pound my cals are about 1700; does this mean my exercise is technically included in this? Right now I'm eating back my burned calories for the day and always logging my workouts and walks etc. but if I'm set to lightly active, is exercise already factored in? Meaning one should not at all be eating back any burned calories or even tracking exercise?
    I read your article and I thought it was very helpful! I checked out my TDEE and it was just under 1600.

    What do you suggest??

    One of those numbers is wrong. Because if MFP is giving you 1700 calories to lose 0.5lbs/week, then it's assuming that your NEAT (calories burned excluding exercise) is 1950. Your NEAT should be lower than your TDEE. What did you set your activity level to in MFP? Make sure that whatever that setting is doesn't include workouts.

    When you say you "checked" your TDEE and it was just under 1600, how did you check it? Is that based on actual results (calories consumed, weight lost)? Or based on an online calculator?
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
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    stefng33 wrote: »
    usmcmp wrote: »
    stefng33 wrote: »
    Yes and I couldn't imagine taking on a larger deficit ! I'm at 1470 right now and I eat back my calories burned from exercise. I couldn't do 1300 that's for sure. I also have myself set to lightly active even though I'm definitely not!

    I do not eat past 730pm, unless it's the weekend and then well, no holds barred ;)
    That's when I eat anything I want, like chips or burgers lol...but I try not to go too far over my calories for the day. And I limit it to only one of the days.

    I'm sure that doesn't help but I'd be absolutely miserable and likely end up with an eating disorder or quitting altogether if I didn't have some flexibility.

    If you set your goal too aggressive (anything more than half a pound per week) then of course you are feeling miserable. Your one day of eating anything is what is causing you to have very little progress. Set your goal to lose half a pound per week. Eat burgers and chips within your calorie goal when you want them and you won't go crazy.

    Question for you: if I reset to half pound my cals are about 1700; does this mean my exercise is technically included in this? Right now I'm eating back my burned calories for the day and always logging my workouts and walks etc. but if I'm set to lightly active, is exercise already factored in? Meaning one should not at all be eating back any burned calories or even tracking exercise?
    I read your article and I thought it was very helpful! I checked out my TDEE and it was just under 1600.

    What do you suggest??

    The calorie method in the stomach fat thread is different than MFP's method. I think I know what went wrong with your calculations between MFP and your TDEE. I'm guessing when you entered your information on MFP your activity level was set higher than the calculator and on the calculator you didn't include your exercise in your activity level. MFP's calculator goes off of activity not including exercise and TDEE calculators add in exercise.

    If you want to stick to MFP's numbers you eat back some or all of the calories burned.

    If you want to do the TDEE method you don't count calories burned exercising (recheck your TDEE on http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ )
  • stefng33
    stefng33 Posts: 49 Member
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    usmcmp wrote: »
    stefng33 wrote: »
    usmcmp wrote: »
    stefng33 wrote: »
    Yes and I couldn't imagine taking on a larger deficit ! I'm at 1470 right now and I eat back my calories burned from exercise. I couldn't do 1300 that's for sure. I also have myself set to lightly active even though I'm definitely not!

    I do not eat past 730pm, unless it's the weekend and then well, no holds barred ;)
    That's when I eat anything I want, like chips or burgers lol...but I try not to go too far over my calories for the day. And I limit it to only one of the days.

    I'm sure that doesn't help but I'd be absolutely miserable and likely end up with an eating disorder or quitting altogether if I didn't have some flexibility.

    If you set your goal too aggressive (anything more than half a pound per week) then of course you are feeling miserable. Your one day of eating anything is what is causing you to have very little progress. Set your goal to lose half a pound per week. Eat burgers and chips within your calorie goal when you want them and you won't go crazy.

    Question for you: if I reset to half pound my cals are about 1700; does this mean my exercise is technically included in this? Right now I'm eating back my burned calories for the day and always logging my workouts and walks etc. but if I'm set to lightly active, is exercise already factored in? Meaning one should not at all be eating back any burned calories or even tracking exercise?
    I read your article and I thought it was very helpful! I checked out my TDEE and it was just under 1600.

    What do you suggest??

    The calorie method in the stomach fat thread is different than MFP's method. I think I know what went wrong with your calculations between MFP and your TDEE. I'm guessing when you entered your information on MFP your activity level was set higher than the calculator and on the calculator you didn't include your exercise in your activity level. MFP's calculator goes off of activity not including exercise and TDEE calculators add in exercise.

    If you want to stick to MFP's numbers you eat back some or all of the calories burned.

    If you want to do the TDEE method you don't count calories burned exercising (recheck your TDEE on http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ )



    Awesome thanks !! I'll get the hang of this eventually, lol...