belly fat

You have to lose weight to see a difference, that area is of course the most challenging for most of us. Spot reducing isn't possible unfortunately! Eat at a calorie deficit and take your measurements so you can see the changes!

I am new to this whole counting calories, so excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean eat at a deficit?

Reading88 wrote: »

I am new to this whole counting calories, so excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean eat at a deficit?

Your body burns calories just by existing and being alive. To eat at a deficit is to eat less than your body burns naturally [TDEE]. For example, I believe my 'maintenance' calories are 1900 to around 2000 [desk job isn't very active]... I'm eating at 1200, which would be a deficit of around 700-800 calories. I'll eat back half of the calories I burn off with any additional exercise, too.

Remember; Do not go below 1200, as it is the minimum recommended ever. Even MFP will yell at you with the red font when logging what you ate, and trying to complete entries below 1200.

hugheseva wrote: »

Reading88 wrote: »

I am new to this whole counting calories, so excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean eat at a deficit?

It means that you burn more calories than your food intake. So if you ate 500 calories and burnt (by exercising) 600 calories, you have a deficit of 100 calories.

That is actually wrong.. Please see above post. n___n; This thinking made my roommate nearly anorexic, trying to exercise off EVERYTHING he ate. He didn't realize calories didn't work that way.

Reading88 wrote: »

Thanks for the information. Another question, should I base my "maintenance" calories off of what MFP is telling me I should be eating? Will not reaching my calorie goal hurt me? I just don't like food, so I tended to fill up on junk food. So sometimes hitting my calorie goal is difficult.

Did you tell MFP you wanted to maintain your weight, or to lose weight? MFP just calculates around what it would take for you to lose a certain amount of weight per week, over a period of time. As I mentioned above, I'm eating 1200 calories/day, the absolute minimum, as MFP suggested it for me to lose 2lbs/week.

I would say log your food here on MFP, and try to find the calorie amount where your weight would remain the same.. Use that as your 'maintenance'. That may take a while to get used to, though. Not hitting your goal will not hurt you, just do NOT eat below 1200, which is the MINIMUM needed to run your body.

If you are losing weight, you may usually go with what MFP suggests. Just remember; weigh. everything. Eyeballing can give you HUGE differences on weight. Another user posted this in another thread, but I bookmarked it to give out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKPIcI51lU

No problem. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions! I won't accept random friend requests, but I'm always okay with random private messages.

You can still have it! Just remember in moderation. For example, I splurged reaaaaally hard last night for dinner. There was a BBQ festival going on in the next town over, and I couldn't resist. BUT... I only had a salad for lunch that day, so I didn't go too over, maybe I even hit my 'maintenance' calories.

Sometimes, it's the little cheats that push you forward. If you are good for the rest of the week, and don't 'cheat', you can have your 'cheat day'! Just remember, never go crazy and binge. Even cheat days should have moderation.

Note;
I ate... smoked bacon ice cream, another waffle cone vanilla ice cream, bbq pork street taco w/ slaw, mac n' cheese w/ smoked brisket sampler, regular pork sampler. >___>; I felt so bad at end of night. Samplers are fairly small, roughly 5 bites with fork n' gone.

usmcmp wrote: »

A cheat day could easily wipe out someone's deficit for the week. A better method is to set a goal that allows for things you enjoy through the week.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach#latest

I specified to not binge, and that it must be had in moderation. Like my example of eating up to my maintenance. I should have explained further to avoid miscommunication, methinks.

usmcmp wrote: »

PixelPuff wrote: »

usmcmp wrote: »

A cheat day could easily wipe out someone's deficit for the week. A better method is to set a goal that allows for things you enjoy through the week.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach#latest

I specified to not binge, and that it must be had in moderation. Like my example of eating up to my maintenance. I should have explained further to avoid miscommunication, methinks.

It isn't that hard for some people to wipe out a deficit without a binge. I think for most beginners a cheat day or a cheat meal gives them the wrong idea. They should be able to maintain what they are doing week in and week out. The need to "cheat" usually means that the deficit is unsustainable or the methods are too strict (such as "eating clean" or cutting out entire food groups). A cheat is a method reserved for people who have sustained a deficit over an extended period and have had their weight loss stall due to hormonal imbalance.

Hm. My way works for me, but true, it may not work for other people. I 'cheat', but I stay within my maintenance calories. My 'cheats' just tend to be greasy Americanized Chinese food, or BBQ food. You are right, it may not be good for beginners.

arditarose wrote: »

Yeah, I agree with usmcmp. When you first start, it's enough just to figure out your deficit, get used to weighing food, watch the scale drop. Once you have data and experience, cheating can be more controlled-or at least you can understand/expect a stall. Some of us are only losing at .5 or 1 pound per week and a cheat meal can wipe out smaller deficits.

I've been stalking this thread. Still trying to figure out the whole calorie deficit thing myself. Arditarose and others have provided some very helpful info on that subject in my thread titled "Question about total calorie goal in My Fitness Pal.” With any luck and thanks to these ladies, I won't need a scientific calculator to figure out such elusive topics (for me anyway) as calorie deficit, net calorie goal and calories burned.