We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Time to see a decrease of belly fat

icetea666
icetea666 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone.

So after some months of bulking and 3 months of maintenance during 2 strength mesocycles, i have started my first cut.

After 7 weeks of cutting i lost about 3 kg.
I don't feel any side effects or hunger. I always had much more problems eating at TDEE or bulking than cutting.

I think however that my belly fat didn't change much or at least not significantly.
Since i know that fat will be burned first from your head,upper,back,legs arms etc I wasn't so concerned. But now i would like to know how long it usually takes to see loss of belly fat,ie. after how many weeks should i adjust things if nothing happens.

Thanks.

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,987 Member
    icetea666 wrote: »
    I think however that my belly fat didn't change much or at least not significantly.
    Since i know that fat will be burned first from your head,upper,back,legs arms etc I wasn't so concerned. But now i would like to know how long it usually takes to see loss of belly fat,ie. after how many weeks should i adjust things if nothing happens.

    I'm not sure how you 'know' this? Where we lose fat is highly individual. Sure, the abdomen is often 'last' or certainly not quick enough for what most people want, but it's not an exact science to know when belly fat will go down.

    Are you measuring yourself? Taking progress pictures? If you're losing weight, I don't think you should adjust anything, except your mindset perhaps: just be patient and track your progress? Your current rate of loss (3kg in 7 weeks; nearly 1lb a week for the non-metric people) seems okay to me, I personally wouldn't aim to lose more quickly, to preserve your muscle mass as much as possible.
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    Where you lose fat depends on the person. I happen to lose fat from my belly first. You just have to wait it out and see.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    "how long it usually takes to see loss of belly fat?"
    Depends on how much fat you have to lose and where you personally tend to lose fat from, we aren't all the same and there isn't a set order or priority.

    e.g.
    Losing from c. 20% bodyfat I don't really see small reductions in weight reflected in visible loss of stomach fat although clearly it's happening. (Doesn't take much of a covering of fat to hide what's underneath.)
    At c. 16% bodyfat (that's sort of "two pack" level for me) every pound lost makes a clear difference. I'll also be seeing far shaper muscle definition and vascularity appear in arms and legs even with small changes in lost bodyfat and/or gain of muscle.

    Are you tracking progress with a tape measure as that tells you valuable information?
  • icetea666
    icetea666 Posts: 2 Member
    Well my trainer said that order of fat loss i mentioned is something that generally happens but ofc can be different from person to person,different for men and women and also will be different for different demographic groups. So yes i know about randomness, i just expected to see belly fat loss at least to some degree by now.

    I used measurement tape and i lost maaaaaybe 0.5 cm but it's hard to say considering you could always hold it tighter than the last time.
    If it was to believe rpdiet app my fat % is estimated at around 21%
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    The midsection is first on, last off for most males as well a many females. At 15% I have no noticeable belly and a 2 pack in the right light...at 20% where I'm at right now I definitely have a pronounced belly. So for myself, I don't really see much reduction in the mid-section until I start going below 20% and the difference between 15% and 20% is night and day.

Categories