Having trouble losing (lower) stomach fat
Eva_M97
Posts: 49 Member
Hey! I've been on a weight loss mission for almost a month now, I have strictly followed a low carb diet with calorie deficit ( something between 500- 1200 cal per day ) and been following c25k running program, since I was a complete beginner with exercise. So I do cardio 7 days a week (30 minutes each workout, sometimes more like hiit) and strength training at least 5 times a week, sometimes with weight sometimes body weight (depending on difficulty) and make sure to have some protein after. Thanks to all this I've lost 6-7 kg (some of that probably water weight I know) and it's definitely showing on my upper torso, back, chest, face, 5cm on the waist, little bit on the thighs and butt... but not on my most tragic area, my stomach. I haven't lost a single centimeter measuring around my hipbones and belly button. Now I find this really discouraging for obvious reasons, but I don't understand why this is happening. Any ideas? Could visceral fat have something to do with it? I have no idea.
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Replies
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The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?3 -
Because most people store fat in that area and it's the last place it comes off for them.0
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The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
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The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
you're massively under eating15 -
Eat more food.9
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Hey! I've been on a weight loss mission for almost a month now, I have strictly followed a low carb diet with calorie deficit ( something between 500- 1200 cal per day ) and been following c25k running program, since I was a complete beginner with exercise. So I do cardio 7 days a week (30 minutes each workout, sometimes more like hiit) and strength training at least 5 times a week, sometimes with weight sometimes body weight (depending on difficulty) and make sure to have some protein after. Thanks to all this I've lost 6-7 kg (some of that probably water weight I know) and it's definitely showing on my upper torso, back, chest, face, 5cm on the waist, little bit on the thighs and butt... but not on my most tragic area, my stomach. I haven't lost a single centimeter measuring around my hipbones and belly button. Now I find this really discouraging for obvious reasons, but I don't understand why this is happening. Any ideas? Could visceral fat have something to do with it? I have no idea.
you are doing all that training and eating 500-1200 calories per day??? why?? are you purposely trying to do permanent damage to your body!?!
on top of that, you've lost more than 15lbs in less than a month and not happy with that??? so many red flags here...15 -
Massively under eating and over training is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will likely cause your body to lose more muscle (which means you aren't losing as much body fat); cutting body fat and maintaining muscle is what makes people look lean. Excessive calorie cuts can lead to a host of issues; hair loss, skin issues, gallbladder issues, etc.... Also, why are you doing cardio 7 days a week while lifting 5 days? What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? What would you like out of exercise?8
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TavistockToad wrote: »The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
you're massively under eating
But I don't feel weak or anything? I mean how would I be out there runnning around every morning after 3 and half weeks if I was undereating that much ? And I do feel myself getting stronger and having better endurance.4 -
TavistockToad wrote: »The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
you're massively under eating
But I don't feel weak or anything? I mean how would I be out there runnning around every morning after 3 and half weeks if I was undereating that much ? And I do feel myself getting stronger and having better endurance.
you're massively under eating...4 -
TavistockToad wrote: »The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
you're massively under eating
But I don't feel weak or anything? I mean how would I be out there runnning around every morning after 3 and half weeks if I was undereating that much ? And I do feel myself getting stronger and having better endurance.
Hun, you need to eat more! Your body needs food, especially for the activity you're doing. You can only lose so much body fat in a day and the rest is muscles and other useful stuff. You don't want to lose muscles as they keep you not only lean, but also prevent osteoporosis and other bad things. Btw, your heart is a muscle too. You don't want to burn energy out of THAT muscle.3 -
Massively under eating and over training is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will likely cause your body to lose more muscle (which means you aren't losing as much body fat); cutting body fat and maintaining muscle is what makes people look lean. Excessive calorie cuts can lead to a host of issues; hair loss, skin issues, gallbladder issues, etc.... Also, why are you doing cardio 7 days a week while lifting 5 days? What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? What would you like out of exercise? wow sounds bad but I don't feel bad? In the beginning goal was to lose weight , but now I'm also looking to start running, in my strength workouts i mainly do legs and some core training to support my running goals. Atm I can jog/run about 20min straight, which isn't much but a lot more than the 1 minute I could struggle to jog when I started. 0
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Massively under eating and over training is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will likely cause your body to lose more muscle (which means you aren't losing as much body fat); cutting body fat and maintaining muscle is what makes people look lean. Excessive calorie cuts can lead to a host of issues; hair loss, skin issues, gallbladder issues, etc.... Also, why are you doing cardio 7 days a week while lifting 5 days? What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? What would you like out of exercise? wow sounds bad but I don't feel bad? In the beginning goal was to lose weight , but now I'm also looking to start running, in my strength workouts i mainly do legs and some core training to support my running goals. Atm I can jog/run about 20min straight, which isn't much but a lot more than the 1 minute I could struggle to jog when I started.
you are three weeks in so you don't feel bad YET...this is not sustainable or safe in any way...what calories does MFP recommend for you and why aren't you following that?4 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »Massively under eating and over training is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will likely cause your body to lose more muscle (which means you aren't losing as much body fat); cutting body fat and maintaining muscle is what makes people look lean. Excessive calorie cuts can lead to a host of issues; hair loss, skin issues, gallbladder issues, etc.... Also, why are you doing cardio 7 days a week while lifting 5 days? What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? What would you like out of exercise? wow sounds bad but I don't feel bad? In the beginning goal was to lose weight , but now I'm also looking to start running, in my strength workouts i mainly do legs and some core training to support my running goals. Atm I can jog/run about 20min straight, which isn't much but a lot more than the 1 minute I could struggle to jog when I started.
you are three weeks in so you don't feel bad YET...this is not sustainable or safe in any way...what calories does MFP recommend for you and why aren't you following that?
Recommends 1200 cal , I only eat more asceticly few times a week0 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »Massively under eating and over training is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will likely cause your body to lose more muscle (which means you aren't losing as much body fat); cutting body fat and maintaining muscle is what makes people look lean. Excessive calorie cuts can lead to a host of issues; hair loss, skin issues, gallbladder issues, etc.... Also, why are you doing cardio 7 days a week while lifting 5 days? What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? What would you like out of exercise? wow sounds bad but I don't feel bad? In the beginning goal was to lose weight , but now I'm also looking to start running, in my strength workouts i mainly do legs and some core training to support my running goals. Atm I can jog/run about 20min straight, which isn't much but a lot more than the 1 minute I could struggle to jog when I started.
you are three weeks in so you don't feel bad YET...this is not sustainable or safe in any way...what calories does MFP recommend for you and why aren't you following that?
Recommends 1200 cal , I only eat more asceticly few times a week
1200 should be your minimum...PLUS exercise calories.5 -
From my experience I felt horrible after 5 days of eating about 300-600 calories (a long time ago when I was afraid to eat and thought 1200 was too much). I was in college and just felt like death on that 4th night. I don't understand how someone could eat as little as you say you are, workout as much as you say you are and feel perfectly fine.
Unless you are weighing everything with a food scale I believe you're eating much more than you think you are. You don't have to eat so little to lose weight; that was the best thing I learned this time around. I'm much more happier and healthier (mentally and physically) realizing that.0 -
From my experience I felt horrible after 5 days of eating about 300-600 calories (a long time ago when I was afraid to eat and thought 1200 was too much). I was in college and just felt like death on that 4th night. I don't understand how someone could eat as little as you say you are, workout as much as you say you are and feel perfectly fine.
Unless you are weighing everything with a food scale I believe you're eating much more than you think you are. You don't have to eat so little to lose weight; that was the best thing I learned this time around. I'm much more happier and healthier (mentally and physically) realizing that.
this is true. OP - how are you measuring your food intake?? (although based on the fact she has lost 15 lbs in less than a month she is probably still waay undereating)0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
you're massively under eating
But I don't feel weak or anything? I mean how would I be out there runnning around every morning after 3 and half weeks if I was undereating that much ? And I do feel myself getting stronger and having better endurance.
You will. And then it will be too late.2 -
From my experience I felt horrible after 5 days of eating about 300-600 calories (a long time ago when I was afraid to eat and thought 1200 was too much). I was in college and just felt like death on that 4th night. I don't understand how someone could eat as little as you say you are, workout as much as you say you are and feel perfectly fine.
Unless you are weighing everything with a food scale I believe you're eating much more than you think you are. You don't have to eat so little to lose weight; that was the best thing I learned this time around. I'm much more happier and healthier (mentally and physically) realizing that.
There might be differences between people on this ? Maybe it's about getting the right macronutrients7 -
From my experience I felt horrible after 5 days of eating about 300-600 calories (a long time ago when I was afraid to eat and thought 1200 was too much). I was in college and just felt like death on that 4th night. I don't understand how someone could eat as little as you say you are, workout as much as you say you are and feel perfectly fine.
Unless you are weighing everything with a food scale I believe you're eating much more than you think you are. You don't have to eat so little to lose weight; that was the best thing I learned this time around. I'm much more happier and healthier (mentally and physically) realizing that.
There might be differences between people on this ? Maybe it's about getting the right macronutrients
/shrug/
Good luck with losing your stomach fat.6 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »From my experience I felt horrible after 5 days of eating about 300-600 calories (a long time ago when I was afraid to eat and thought 1200 was too much). I was in college and just felt like death on that 4th night. I don't understand how someone could eat as little as you say you are, workout as much as you say you are and feel perfectly fine.
Unless you are weighing everything with a food scale I believe you're eating much more than you think you are. You don't have to eat so little to lose weight; that was the best thing I learned this time around. I'm much more happier and healthier (mentally and physically) realizing that.
this is true. OP - how are you measuring your food intake?? (although based on the fact she has lost 15 lbs in less than a month she is probably still waay undereating)
Scale, or ready foods from stores like soup or whatever that's got the calories and all calculated per portion0 -
Please talk to your doctor or a nutritionist about healthy weight loss. 500-1200 calories is extremely unhealthy. You are starving your body and can do damage.2
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Please up your amount
You may feel fine now, but eating 500 calories a day can cause side effects such as hair loss, nausea, fatigue etc., and more serious issues such as brain hemorrhage and strokes.
Stay safe!
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You should not have said how much you eat on here. If someone says they do something unhealthy on here then the thread will get derailed from the original point.
As for your actual question the fat comes off from all over your body and there is no way to control the places that you lose it. So long as the number on the scale is lower than when you started then you are losing weight and eventually you will lose the fat from around your waist.5 -
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TavistockToad wrote: »The fat will come off from some places later than others. For you, it sounds like that will be the stomach. Just keep doing what you've been and it will happen.
That 500-1200, is that your deficit per day or the calories you're consuming?
The calories I'm consuming, sorry for the confusion. So it looks like I'm just being too impatient
you're massively under eating
But I don't feel weak or anything? I mean how would I be out there runnning around every morning after 3 and half weeks if I was undereating that much ? And I do feel myself getting stronger and having better endurance.
Hun, you need to eat more! Your body needs food, especially for the activity you're doing. You can only lose so much body fat in a day and the rest is muscles and other useful stuff. You don't want to lose muscles as they keep you not only lean, but also prevent osteoporosis and other bad things. Btw, your heart is a muscle too. You don't want to burn energy out of THAT muscle.
OP, did you read this? When you lose weight, you lose some fat and some lean muscle mass (everyone does). When you under eat, you lose more of your lean muscle mass in proportion to fat. *You don't want to do this!* It's incredibly hard to rebuild. Please stop saying you feel fine... the damage is being done regardless.3 -
Massively under eating and over training is going to be a recipe for disaster. It will likely cause your body to lose more muscle (which means you aren't losing as much body fat); cutting body fat and maintaining muscle is what makes people look lean. Excessive calorie cuts can lead to a host of issues; hair loss, skin issues, gallbladder issues, etc.... Also, why are you doing cardio 7 days a week while lifting 5 days? What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? What would you like out of exercise? wow sounds bad but I don't feel bad? In the beginning goal was to lose weight , but now I'm also looking to start running, in my strength workouts i mainly do legs and some core training to support my running goals. Atm I can jog/run about 20min straight, which isn't much but a lot more than the 1 minute I could struggle to jog when I started.
Issues take time and you may not even feel all of the effects. You won't know if you are losing muscle, but without adequate protein and resistance training, you are bound to increase the loss over normal rates (muscle is correlated to metabolism, leanness and strength; it also prevents things like osteoporosis.
I'd recommend that you follow a structure lifting routine. Since you like lower body focus, something like strong curves (It's a 3x full body routine). By following a structured program will prevent muscle imbalances and you will see greater improvements in shorter periods of time.3 -
That 1200 calories estimated by MFP is the BARE MINIMUM your body needs to continue functioning normally if you do literally nothing but sit and breathe all day. If you eat less than that, your body starts to break down, decrease its metabolism, etc. It's going into starvation mode, trying to be more efficient (a bad thing for bodies to do, even though we usually think of "efficient" as a positive word). You may feel fine for now, but you're doing damage to your body.
Please consult a doctor, registered dietitian, or some other qualified professional to assess a HEALTHY fitness and nutrition plan for you.1 -
princeofmind wrote: »You should not have said how much you eat on here. If someone says they do something unhealthy on here then the thread will get derailed from the original point.
As for your actual question the fat comes off from all over your body and there is no way to control the places that you lose it. So long as the number on the scale is lower than when you started then you are losing weight and eventually you will lose the fat from around your waist.
This may be true... but a large % of loss will come from fat with a smaller deficit. OP, get adequate protein, eat enought (set your goal to lose 2 lbs/week if you have 75 lbs to lose, 1.5 if 50-75, 1 if 15-50, and 0.5 if 10 or less) eat some exercise calories back, and do some strength training to help retain muscle so most of your loss comes from fat.3 -
I agree with the above comments about undereating. Eat more of the good stuff -- veggies, healthy fats and lean protein. Eat small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism revved up too!3
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You are running on adrenaline - and you are at risk for a serious crash.
Think about it in these terms: What if you woke up one day and life as you knew it was over, due to some natural or man made disaster? Food was scarce and you were forced to do heavy labor or flee for your life. This is what your body is doing right now. It's working and you "feel just fine" because your body is designed to do this in "survival mode". This is not a tenable, long term solution for weight loss. Eventually, your body will turn on you and will begin to hold on to each and every calorie and weight loss will cease and in some cases reverse.
There are a lot of hormones that work in concert to keep you functioning. https://www.yourhormones.com/homeostasis-systems/
When you restrict food the body can only compensate for a short period of time before things start to break down.
https://www.katheats.com/is-adrenal-fatigue-making-you-fat3
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