Can I lose stomach fat without watching my macros?

That's actually a good question. I've been losing weight, but very few inches in that time... and I feel like my stomach hasn't changed at all..

Could you?

Yes.


Would you likely do it faster/more effectively by tracking macros?

Probably.

This. Also, exercise helps.

I think of course you can if you are overweight. But if you wanna see your abs, you have to watch your macros.

Why don't you want to track macros? It's not that hard.

I'm a vegetarian and I can say its fairly challenging for me to hit my macros.

I'm in this exact same boat.

Well then you two really are special snowflakes.

From my personal experience cutting out wheat really helped. I lost 5 inches off of my chest (where your bra sits on your rib cage), 5 inches off of my waist and 5 inches off of my hips from replacing wheat with brown rice.

There are delicious brown rice breads and cereals at your local health food store.

For me it worked like gang busters. I think too many carbs cause big bellies and muffin tops.

From my personal experience cutting out wheat really helped. I lost 5 inches off of my chest (where your bra sits on your rib cage), 5 inches off of my waist and 5 inches off of my hips from replacing wheat with brown rice.

There are delicious brown rice breads and cereals at your local health food store.

For me it worked like gang busters. I think too many carbs cause big bellies and muffin tops.

What foods did you cut out? I'm not exactly an expert at this lol.

Foods made of wheat like bread, cereal, crackers, pasta. I replaced them with similar foods made of brown rice. You can get tasty bread made of brown rice, puffed brown rice cereal and you can also find pastas made of rice in the Asian isle of your super market.

It is also helpful to cut out foods made of dairy.

I lost 30 lbs in 3 months doing this.

At the risk of sounding like a dope....what are macros? :S

Carbs, protein, fat. You should eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body fat in order to maintain as much muscle as possible while losing weight (your body will burn both fat and muscle in a calorie deficit). You should also eat at least 0.3 grams of fat per pound of body weight to maintain good health. For the most part, as long as you eat those minimums, and eat less calories than you burn, you'll lose weight and end up with better body composition (more muscle less fat) than you would if you didn't pay attention to protein and fat. But of course hitting protein is really difficult for vegans...

So since I am 165lb should I be eating 165g of protien? This sounds quite a lot.

One gram per pound of body fat, not per pound of weight.

Most nutritionists recommend .8g of protein for each kg of weight (or .37 per lb for the metrically challenged).

At the risk of sounding like a dope....what are macros? :S

Carbs, protein, fat. You should eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body fat in order to maintain as much muscle as possible while losing weight (your body will burn both fat and muscle in a calorie deficit). You should also eat at least 0.3 grams of fat per pound of body weight to maintain good health. For the most part, as long as you eat those minimums, and eat less calories than you burn, you'll lose weight and end up with better body composition (more muscle less fat) than you would if you didn't pay attention to protein and fat. But of course hitting protein is really difficult for vegans...

So since I am 165lb should I be eating 165g of protien? This sounds quite a lot.

One gram per pound of body fat, not per pound of weight.

Lean mass, not bodyfat.

Why don't you want to track macros? It's not that hard.

I'm a vegetarian and I can say its fairly challenging for me to hit my macros.

I'm in this exact same boat.

I'm a vegetarian, and I hit my macros pretty well. Assuming you go over on carbs and are low on fat and protein- you probably need to think about your diet differently. Protein is my #1 priority- starting with my first meal of the day, my goal is to hit/exceed 1g/lb LBM of protein. After that comes fat- I add peanut butter and coconut oil to meals to bump up the fat, cook with olive oil, etc. I've given up any low/nonfat dairy- only the real stuff. Still, fat is generally my biggest challenge. Once I've hit my protein, and made a good run at fat, I can eat whatever I want for the rest of the day. I like hitting protein early and then not having to stress at dinner and evening snacks about it. It might sound challenging- but it becomes habit pretty quickly and it's really not that stressful or restrictive. I hope that helps!

The MFP app tells me my goals are:

Fat 62g
Carbs 256g
Protein 70g

So should I be eating that much of each per day, as well as exercising to come under my calories (but so they are not under 1400).
And that would help me lose weight faster, whilst building muscles. And eating less means Id lose weight slower?

Just to clarify, as I'm totally new haha!

What deficit do you have set? 2lbs/week?
You should try to hit those numbers as close as possible, and you probably don't need to come under your calories. MFP sets a deficit of 500 calories per day per lb weight loss a week, so if you've set it to 2lbs/week you're already at 1000 calorie deficit. Anything more than 1000 calories is not going to accelerate FAT loss, but will likely be dipping in to your lean muscle stores, which is bad. So you might lose weight faster if you come in under your calories, but it won't necessarily be fat you're losing.

If I were you I would bump up the protein allowance to be 1g/LBM- if you don't know what your LBM is, 100g protein is probably a good place to start for women, to minimize muscle loss.

It's set at 500. With 1lbs per week.

Glad to hear it! 1lb/week is generally much more sustainable long term. With a 500 cal deficit, you can come in under if you want without too much risk (as long as its not WAY under) but you don't NEED to come in under to meet your goals.

To the vegetarians who can't get enough protein: I eat VERY low meat (as in maybe once every few weeks or so if at all) and get plenty of the stuff without supplements. There are lots of options out there! Tofu, Seitan, store-bought meat alternatives, etc.

OP- I've found that macros have helped me keep a balanced diet, which will eventually lead to loss of belly fat. Eventually. *glares at own belly fat*