Building Strength, Loosing Belly

So, say more. How tall are you, how old, what current weight?

If your goal is to lose a small amount of fat, and gain muscle, then a very small calorie deficit, good overall nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein), and a good progressive strength program faithfully performed are your best bets . . . but results will be a matter of weeks to months and more, not days to weeks.

Patience and persistence may be the best answer. I totally get that that's frustrating, maybe disheartening. The goal is worth the having, though, right? That means a realistic plan with realistic expectations is a good place to be.

Strength gains at first can be pretty fast, but it's neuromuscular adaptation (NMA) - better recruiting and utilizing existing muscle fibers. Mass gain is slower, and is more likely to happen (slowly) after strength gains from NMA are tapering off but you're still challenging yourself. Trying to lose fat fast (big calorie deficit) works against muscle mass gain, though it won't necessarily totally prevent it happening in all circumstances (even more slowly than it would at a small deficit, maintenance calories or surplus).

If you have lots of fat to lose (high BMI), the answer might be different.

Hang in there. If you say more about your strength program, your calorie intake, the questions in my first paragraph, then people might be able to give you more specific feedback.

Best wishes!

As mentioned, height and weight would be beneficial and really a pic is best. Your direction will be determined on how much belly fat you actually have. If you ARE skinny and not that much belly fat sometimes it’s better to add muscle instead of eating in a deficit and getting even skinnier then go back to a Fatloss diet later.

Without stats or a photo it’s hard to say what you should do.

OK, so probably not a lot of excess fat to lose, maybe 20-ish pounds at the outside, guessing based on presumption of average build and your "skinny fat" self perception, since no photo?

If so, I'd double down on the advice in my PP, small deficit, good nutrition (especially but not exclusively protein), good progressive lifting program faithfully performed, patience. Maybe 250 calorie deficit (half pound a week weight loss goal), or slower?

From your OP, I thought your goals were maybe more aesthetic than fitness. IMO, being a little overfat isn't generically a big barrier to adequate fitness, so you if you're not seeing a compromise to your current search & rescue performance solely because of current body weight, you could consider eating at maintenance, even - more of a recomposition approach. (I'm biased, though, having spent about a dozen years as a fat age-group athlete with pretty reasonable fitness performance in objective terms . . . while lots more than 20 pounds overfat, in my case.)

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

Calorie surplus would give you somewhat better odds of muscle gain, but would add fat, which you'd want to lose eventually . . . but that doesn't really sound like what you had in mind.

first you need to have a weight body scale and food scale to track your calories
and make a nutrition plan based on your needs such as proteins, carbs,fat
and lower your calories below maintenance level at least 500 calories and measure the progress every week and take pictures of your body cuz sometimes your body is changing and the weight remains the same
good luck and stick to it

Based on your stats you are *slightly* overweight. If all of your weight is around your mid-section, you need to be in a caloric deficit - which means measuring/tracking accurately. With such a small amount to lose it will be a slow process. A slight calorie deficit of ~250 cal/day will yield about half pound loss per week. That coupled with a structured lifting program will change your proportions as you add muscle to your chest/shoulders/back.

Consistent workouts + a slight deficit + adequate protein + adequate sleep and recovery will get you to your goal. It's just going to take a little time and patience. It's great you are seeing solid strength gains. That is a reason to celebrate in and of itself. Congrats!

Has anybody mentioned anterior pelvic tilt? If you spend any significant amount of time sitting - desk job, for example, anterior pelvic tilt is very common. Even with skinny guys or gals, this can cause what looks like a belly. Good way of testing this is to stand up straight, shoulder back and head back, and then clench your butt cheeks and thrust your hips forward (don't do this in public). Does the belly go away? If yes, or it's significantly reduced - then it is in part a posture issue.

This was all very interesting to read. I am able to apply some of this to my own situation. Thank you!