CEGrant501

He means by running a calorie deficit in the future, your body will turn the fat into energy. I'm confused about your numbers. 2600-3100 Cal per day? Or week?

If that's your picture in your profile, you're pretty muscular. Are you lifting? If you're a big lifter, you're going to need a lot of calories to maintain that. Is it possible that you aren't eating enough on a day to day basis, letting the hunger build up till it overwhelms you?

It's an ongoing process. The simple answer is about 12 hours from the time you eat till the time your body digests and turn the calories into fat. The tricky part is that fat is easier to put on than to remove, sort of. Let me explain. If you eat an extra 3500 Cal on a certain day, and don't exercise or lift weights, most…

Are you asking how long it is going to take your body to covert the excess calories into stored fat?

I just promised myself that when I hit my body goal and maintained it for a year, I would splurge on a tummy tuck. :) As others have said, it's genetics. There's no way any of us can predict what you'll end up with as far as excess skin is concerned. But there's not a lot you can do about it, so worrying won't help you.…

Another possibility is that you might be gaining muscle as you're losing fat. Thus, the scale might be staying the same as you get more fit. Try tracking measurements instead of pounds. Go by how your clothes fit.

I understand that your goal is to lose weight before you gain muscle. My point is that is a very inefficient way to go about it. So I'm afraid I have nothing else to add that will help, but I do wish you the best in life and health.

I think you're going about this backwards. Don't lose weight to get to a certain body fat % and then gain muscle. Concentrate on gaining muscle FIRST. Then you can worry about your body fat %. If your maintenance is 1900 kcal, then eat at least that much on rest day and more on lifting days. Also, throw out your scale. It…

Well, judging by your pic you are much further along than I am. So perhaps you are at a more advanced stage of training? I was a true beginner (still am!). I know that lots of lifters have incredibly complex eating protocols, but they are, like you, more advanced. I figured since I didn't have any base knowledge to work…

I was surprised too! Especially since I get to eat at maintenance, which means 1850 cal on rest days, 2089 on lifting days. It's so liberating.

Agreed. I've been doing New Rules of Lifting for Women for about 3 weeks now. I ditched the scale, so I can't tell you how much weight I've lost, but I've dumped 1.5 inches from my waist and half an inch from each thigh already.

Thank you to everyone who bravely posted pics. It is inspiring! I really enjoy seeing the other women who are lifting weights.

I go for 40/30/30, but I lift weights. I struggled a bit at the beginning getting the ratios right...but I've started using a protein shake mix that has protein but minimal carbs. That helps me get the protein I need. I also use almonds if I need to add fat AND protein. The easiest way to get it right is to pre-plan your…

In a general sense, we are programmed to like sweet foods. They are an easy source of glucose, which is the one form of energy our brains can use. From an evolutionary perspective, eating sweet things was good. Once upon a time, this wasn't an issue because sugar simply wasn't abundantly available like it is now. Fresh…

You're going to lose a lot of water weight and then rebound it back when you get better. Assuming this goes on for a day or two, you're unlikely to see any permanent gain or loss, no matter what you eat.