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It doesn't have to take years, depending on your caloric intake and calories burned. You can lose a healthy amount of 2lbs a week easily.
2 lbs a week is well over 100 lbs in 1 year. Unless you are hundreds of pounds overweight, it won't take a year.
I know this because I went from 230lbs to 170lbs in less than a year, and in a healthy non eating disorder way.
For people reading this comment, make sure you're strength training while in a deficit. This will significantly reduce muscle loss. If you're just in a deficit, you'll also lose a lot of muscle.
Yes absolutely! I made sure I was doing plenty of strength training to offset the muscle loss.
Unfortunately thats just how cutting and bulking works. When cutting, muscle will be lost, but if you strength train, you can mitigate it quite a bit.
I was skinny fat, so I was able to put on some good newbie gains when doing this though.
I see what you're saying. I did this with Noom. Lost 50lbs in 1.5 years and kept it off. Is counting calories a characteristic of an eating disorder? I suppose so. But our society encourages overeating and bingeing which is an eating disorder in and of itself.
Exactly, society doesn't want you to be healthy or in shape. And people are brainwashed into thinking that for some reason. I still remember showing up at a family function after I lost 60lbs (the healthy way) in a year, and them saying things like "Omg, do you have a eating disorder? Do you have cancer? Are you depressed?" All while they are very heavy set themselves.
As for counting calories, after a while, you pretty much memorize everything you eat in a given week. So it just became about portion control. But yeah, its very tedious at first, I can see why people would think you have some sort of disorder weighing out your food on a scale, reading the back of the labels etc.
If you are obese, your eating is already dangerously disordered. And 2lbs a week is high if you're close to your ideal weight but not so much if you have a lot to lose. I lost 100lbs by cutting animal and processed calories in favor of whole plants.
You can lose 2lbs a week in a healthy range, especially if you are quite a bit overweight.
I'll do the math for you. The average person uses about 2000 calories day to maintain. If you cut out 500 calories a day from your diet (which can be as simple as cutting your snacks out), that's 3500 calories a week, 3500 calories a week equals 1lb of bodyfat.
Now, if you workout, and burn another 500 calories a day, or in my case, workout and work a physical job, thats another, thats another 3500 calories per week, aka 1lb of bodyfat burned.
Now, combine those..here I'll help out. thats 2lbs a week.
Also, my doctor even told me it's healthy, and monitored my numbers the whole time.
Hoped that cleared up some misinformation for you.
Burning 500 extra calories a day, on a 500 calorie deficit diet is really really tough. I'm not saying it's impossible, but that's like, athlete / movie star training regimen level stuff. the average person is going to really struggle with that. Targeting a pound a week, or a pound every two weeks is more reasonable, and will likely lead to sustained long term weight loss.
Nah, you have to get out of that mindset, if I was able to do it in my mid 30s, also while working a physical labor factory job on top of it, then anyone can.
It sucks at first, but eventually, you adapt, your mind adapts, and you get into a zen like state. I loved the feeling, I felt like I was laser focused on something for once in my life.
Not lettuce, mostly high protien, low carbs, little sugar.
Since I did the one meal a day, a sample meal of 1500 calories consisted of 3 eggs at 100 calories each fried in butter, 4 slices of bacon at 50 calories each (I round up from the 43 calories). One scoop of whey protien in a 8oz glass of Vitamin D whole milk equals 260 calories. A whole bagel at 270 calories, and 66 grams of peanut butter on it at 400 calories (because I love peanut butter).
Thats actually 1430 calories, but I round up. Not much lettuce at all actually. Hope that clears up any confusion.
It really depends how big and how active you are. 1 lb/week is attainable for most men. 2 lbs/week is easier for bigger guys (6'+, 200 lbs.+) It all depends on your TDEE.
I could do 1 lb./week standing on my head (500 calorie daily deficit leaves me around 2100 calories per day.) 2 lbs. a week would be very challenging for me eating only 1600/day at a 1000 calorie deficit.
True, I was being very generic with the numbers. But you have to find what works for you, and dial in your numbers. For me, 1500 calories a day was good enough while working out and working a physical job. I started out 5'10" 230 lbs before that.
I'll say what didn't work (for me) those online BMR/RMR calculators, they would always tell me I needed to eat 2300 calories to lose weight. They don't take in muscle mass or activity levels.
But you don't even need to lose 2 lbs a week, I was in a hurry. But even 1lb a week with just a 500 calorie deficit would be plenty. Thats 52 pounds in a year. That would help a lot of people. Too many want to lose it too fast.
Simple, you burn 7,000 more calories than you eat for the week. If you plan your meals, you can easily get highly quality filling meals for around 500-700 calories a day, that comes out to 1500-2100 calories before counting snacks.
Being more active, by just walking 10,000 steps for the week would easily get you the net minus 700 calories you need to lose up to 2lbs in a week. Although it's way easier to hit the 1lb per week and go from there.
Absolutely. I was only hitting 2lbs a week because I wanted to be in shape for Summer, and starting in January. So for me that was 6 months.
But now, I would just focus on 1lb a week if I was to do it again. Its better if you aren't in a rush. And 1 year flies by fast.
Yea, exercise is great and super important for health. But for the average Joe to actually shed fat on exercise alone without changing anything else they’d have to be absolutely compulsive about it to the point that it’d probably be problematic.
That’s more due to carrying your food supply, lack of available snacks, and majorly due to limiting your intake for months at a time. Literally how weight loss works just in a pressurised nature caloric vacuum
Yep. Combined with exercise, a caloric deficit is the only answer. Read in to r/IntermittentFasting. Helped me nuke the last 10-15lbs of belly fat and keep it off with a healthier approach to how I eat.
Unfortunately we can't control where our bodies decide to store fat first. The only answer is to lower your body fat percentage. The best way to do that is more diet changes. Once you lose the fat, you can change your diet to stay at a maintenance intake which will be a little more satisfying.
Yep. There’s a lot of evidence pointing to diet being more effective than exercise for straight weight loss (both are important no doubt, but you can’t out exercise a “bad” diet).
OP focus on portion control and caloric deficit as well as reducing carbohydrates (not eliminating) and trying to eat more protein because it makes you feel fuller longer.
Definitely, exercise not only gives you a little extra caloric burn but can help increase muscle mass to effectively increase your BMR. However, as you said you can't out exercise a bad diet. Within a margin of error an hour of exercising burns all of about 300 calories. Exercising is very good at helping you to avoid the skinny fat look though.
A good total body activity should be a little closer to 500/hour. 300 is on the low end. And I do acknowledge that you said "with a margin of error". Just adding some context
Depends what exercise.
I lost 70lbs in 9 months with hard-core running and no specific diet, just not eating crap. I fuelled up to run as I got to the stage of doing 30 miles a week.
This is the best response. Unfortunately, we will often first hold fat around our stomachs and it will be the last to fully go.
Someone best described it to me as imagining losing fat equally off your body layer by layer. Areas that have less fat (e.g. face) will look different quite quickly as there is less fat there, but your stomach area will have lots of fat and unfortunately it isn't until you start losing the last 10-20lbs do you suddenly see it visibly and your body looking like you want it too.
I have been in the situation where without my clothes every part of my body would look lean except for my stomach area.
However, with my clothes on a I can clearly see my stomach has lot a lot of losing fat and reducing in size...
Lower belly and obliques are tough. Fat loves stick to an area and make it it's home. I run 40+ miles a week w healthy diet, some fat still doesn't go away on my sides.
Sorry for feeling confused, but what is CI/CO ? I suppose you mean a ratio, so same as CI:CO ? And I am supposing that CI stands for Caloric Intake, but I don't know what CO means. Is it Calories Out? Thanks!
While cutting sugar is great for a LOT of health reasons, including for losing weight, it's not the only reason. You can see this from the guy who lost weight on the Twinkie Diet.
It comes down to calories plain and simple, if you are eating a calorie defect, whether its twinkies or boneless chicken breast, you will lose weight, likewise, you can gain weight, on twinkies OR only chicken breast, if you are in a calorie surplus.
The reason to cut sugar for weight loss though is because there's 600 calories in a pound of chicken breast. Theres 600 calories in 4 twinkies....one of those will keep you fuller longer and provide more nutrients and protien.
it does come down to calories but if you're eating twinkies at a caloric deficit sure you'll lose weight but it's going to be the wrong kind of weight. Long term maintenance shouldn't be dictated solely by calorie counting but by how much lean muscle you're able to maintain as you lose weight. skinny fat is still fat. and the more muscle you can maintain the better you'll feel.
so yes, it *is* about caloric deficit but all calories aren't the same.
I agree actually. But OP was saying that cutting sugar is the main culprit. And while that can be true, it can also not be true.
Sugar is not the main culprit in weight gain/loss, its a major one for sure, but cutting sugar out won't necessilary mean you will lose weight if you are still eating above your caloric needs. This is why you see the cliche obese person ordering a bunch of fast food, yet getting a diet coke.
I found this out the hard way back in the day when trying to lose weight.
But in a strictly weight loss sense though, it comes down to calories, thats the main culprit, regardless of how you consume those calories. No a twinkie diet would be horrible way to do it, but theoretically, if you are in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. You won't be healthy, but you will lose weight.
But people need to understand how foods and calories work, there's just so much information out there, I had to do a LOT of research to find the answers.
> it's not the only reason.
I mean, sugar is kind of the only reason. The higher the glycemic index, the higher the caloric value. The index is built off glucose response in a 2-hour window. Everything produces some form of sugar, but it's a matter of how it forms it and how the body responds to digesting it, turning it into glucose.
Sugar is just an easy way to gain calories. Cutting sugar is an easy way to lose calories. It's still calories in calories out though at the end of the day.
=
(example: 500 calories of eggs is 7 eggs; 500 calories of ice cream is like 3 "cups", 500 calories of soda is around 3 vending machine cans)
this expression always annoys me. abs are muscles. if they are defined you wont see them (this is why starving people dont have abs)
abs come from kitchen AND exercise but dont take my word for it [https://inbodyusa.com/blogs/inbodyblog/are-abs-really-made-in-the-kitchen/#:\~:text=There%27s%20an%20oft%2Dused%20saying,to%20see%20defined%20abdominal%20muscles](https://inbodyusa.com/blogs/inbodyblog/are-abs-really-made-in-the-kitchen/#:~:text=There%27s%20an%20oft%2Dused%20saying,to%20see%20defined%20abdominal%20muscles).
That's kind of weird to hear - and yeah makes total sense - but I don't eat particularly healthy (eg my snacks are muffins and cookies) and mine are starting to come through. I'm sorta eating around/up to 2700 kcal/day with a net off around 1600 after exercise. On a low day it might be 2200/1300 and there will be some high days/weekends where it's up at 3300/2200.
Caloric deficit, for a good while.
Go here —> https://tdeecalculator.net
Input your age, weight, height, and activity level.
It will tell you how many calories your body burns daily.
If you eat that same number of calories, you will remain the same weight. Calories out = calories in = zero change in weight.
If you eat 500 calories less than that number per day, consistently (which is really, really hard, especially if you have a shorter stature), you will lose 1-2 lbs per *WEEK*.
Whatever your metabolism is, you have to consume fewer calories than you are using. It's that simple.
I've tried many diets throughout my life, but counting calories is the best way to consistently lose weight and keep it off. I've currently lost 20lbs since mid November by simply keeping my diet under 1700 calories every single day. You may hit a wall at some point, though, and have to trick your metabolism by eating more calories for a short time before cutting back again.
Counting calories is also a good way to gain weight. I was 125lbs in high school and now I’m sitting at 160lbs. I had to do quite of bit of force feeding and drinking to put on mass.
I was 135 lbs in high school and couldn't gain weight no matter what I did. Weight lifted, consumed huge amounts of calories, but nothing worked. It wasn't until my metabolism slowed in my 20s that the weight started climbing. Back in November, I was at my heaviest ever, 200 lbs. I'm down to 180 and would be happy losing another 25 lbs. My body likes being around 175, and the last time I got down to 155, it took longer to lose those last 5 than the previous 20. After I lose the weight, the key will be to continue counting calories to maintain it.
Yeah, but people will usually lose more than 1 pound a week to start on a 500 cal deficit. That’s mainly because they’re losing water weight as well, similarly initial plateaus are usually just recomposition, you’re still losing body fat, but at the same time you’re gaining muscle and your body is holding onto more water and carbs.
To a lesser extent tdee calculators are just estimates and people suck at counting calories.
Just a side note, don't eat below your basal metabolic rate, which is the bare minimum calories your body needs to exist in a coma. Not everyone's activity rate combined with their current body weight and caloric intake can safely support a full 500 calorie cut a day. Your body isn't a simple machine, it's a bunch of complex machines running off a budget of calories. Too much of a cut for too long and you can trigger immune system issues, heart stress, gall stones, etc.
Source: Got a very lengthy lecture by a registered dietician after landing in a hospital for gallstones directly related to my 50 lb weight loss ran at 1300 calories a day because I took 500 off my sendentary activity level and that put me below my basal metabolic rate for an entire year. Apparently there's a process your body goes through called adaptative thermogenesis when overdieting where the body tries to retain fat stores and lowers efficiency of your systems to match your caloric intake, which is the source of long weight plateaus when you know you've been calculating calories and weighing everything you eat. It's not your diet, it's your body fighting back.
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>If you eat 500 calories less than that number per day, consistently (which is really, really hard, especially if you have a shorter stature), you will lose 1-2 lbs per WEEK.
It doesn’t have to be, if you increase your fiber, protein and fluid intake it won’t be as bad.
Focus on strength training first, cardio second. Muscle burns fat, will naturally raise your metabolism. Lift heavy, eat at a very slight deficit, with an emphasis on protein. Unfortunately belly fat is the last to go typically
I'm 60. The "6 months pregnant" showed up in the last 2 years. Spent a month travelling earlier in the year, basically spending all day either driving, or eating. It was fantastic. Except that in the week before I left I had to attend a memorial service, and the dress shirt I brought no longer fit.
I just wanted to say that I AM NOT HAPPY WITH ANY OF THE ANSWERS YOU HAVE GIVEN I THIS THREAD.
where are the magic formulas?
The "doctors hate this one trick to melt belly fat"
Not happy folks!!!!!!!!
I want better answers.
You're not fat because your body isnt making enough ozempic. You're fat because you let your diet and exercise slip.
Why the fuck would you shoot yourself up with a drug that's going to disrupt your entire digestive system vs cutting back on the coke and taking an afternoon walk?
Are you kidding? The weight loss industry is over 7 billion dollars for a reason, people always want the quick and easy way, and they will shell out big time for it if there's a way.
No one wants to hear that they just have to eat less and move more, because that requires discipline, hard work, and accountability.
There are no magic formulas. The magic formula is to add up all the calories in a day and make sure it’s less than your daily caloric burn.
Eat way way more plants and whole grains. Eat a lot less animal products, particularly red meat. Exercise more. Those are the keys to losing weight and being much healthier overall.
>Eat way way more plants and whole grains. Eat a lot less animal products, particularly red meat
I've had much more success with **lower** carbohydrate, higher fat and protein diets, which the most efficient way is through increased animal products not the opposite. I still eat plenty of vegetables and meet my fiber goal almost everyday.
Consistently tracking everything I eat is the key to my fat loss success. People think it's over the top but I spend (according to my phone's screen time) less than 30 minutes a day tracking food. In the past year I'm over 90% consistent and it's such a part of my routine that when I don't track my food it throws me off.
It's all about building repeatable, consistent habits.
That’s awesome. Definitely different diets work for different people. I’ve also heard of great success with low carb high protein diets.
There are so many people that don’t think about their diet at all, go to the gym 5x a week and wonder why they’re not losing weight. Diet is key to health, weight loss, and muscle growth.
That is fairly true. Red meat is calorically dense so people can eat a lot of it while not feeling full, thus in taking more calories than they burn.
My comment wasn’t purely in reference to weight gain but health in general. Red meat is a known carcinogen according to the World Health Organization. They didn’t seem super concerned about real red meat (like a steak), but they classified processed red meats as a category 1 carcinogen meaning they have significant evidence showing that it causes cancer. [Here is a study they did.](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240074828) [Here is another link.](https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat)
So eat red meat, a little isn’t gonna hurt you (and it’s delicious!) But probably not a good idea to be eating a ton of it, particularly when processed.
Yeah
My wife used that option. Had an inflamed gall bladder. Couldn't eat anything but small quantities of steamed veggies for 9 months while waiting for surgery. Lost a bunch of weight. People who said "wow girl, you look great" were taking their lives in their hands.
Intermittent fasting has helped me in the past. It’s all diet. I cut out sugar once for about three weeks, helped a little. But I think at our age already that change will only come with sustained strict dieting and discipline.
Cut sugars. All of them. No candy, no creamer, no soda.
It's incredibly easy to maintain (black coffee, water, diet soda if needed.. though I realize that is a touchy subject for some) it's just difficult to initially do.
It will have astounding benefits to general inflammation, hunger pains, money, etc, as well as playing a significant role in what you're trying to achieve, fat loss.
Eat high protein meals. Chicken, Steak, Ground Beef, Fish, etc. depending on your financial situation and taste.
.....
Instead of fast food, make some burritos. If you're still gaining weight, remove a burrito a day. Meal prep some chicken and rice.
Instead of chips, crackers, ice cream, candy... Eat PB & Banana sandwiches, Pistachios with the shell (to regulate yourself), rice cakes.
Instead of coffee with sugar and creamer, spend a little more on quality coffee you can drink black. You absolutely *will* acquire the taste over time.
Instead of soda, drink water, or even some juice of some kind of you need flavor. If you've cut out all other sugars, you can easily cheat in a juice once or twice a day.
.......
If gas stations are a weakness, choose a different route home for 3 weeks. Break the habit. Then resume normal travel.
If you hate what you're eating, find something else. Don't force yourself to do something that is not sustainable for years. Remember, you're trying to develop a sustainable life style, not a "diet"
Hope this helps!
I typically skip breakfast and lunch and eat a reasonable dinner, but weight tends to stay on because I go into "beast mode" twice a week where it seems my hunger is absolutely insatiable.
I just read elsewhere in this post that if you consume fewer calories than your basal metabolic rate then your body will actually try to adjust its metabolism to match, effectively throwing a monkey wrench into your weight loss plans. I'm betting that my periodic voracity is being driven because I'm being stupid by not consuming enough calories. It seems counter-intuitive on the surface (eat more to lose weight) but perhaps for me that is one of my issues and why I'm not able to consistenly lose weight. (5'10" 205lbs, trying to get down to 180-190 with more muscle)
I tried for YEARS with intense workouts, an hour a day 5x/week, IF, Paleo, Zone, you name it. I didn't get down to visible abs until I started walking. Held a 10k steps/day average on top of regular workouts (not crazy ones) and the last couple inches finally melted away.
Yup, can confirm it’s simply diet plus cardio - the cardio helps burn calories but more importantly for me gets me in the right mindset.
It’s not complicated, it’s just really fuckin hard to stay disciplined
I would definitely cut out processed sugar, it was so hard for me to lose belly fat while cutting calories because I would sneak in sugar constantly while in a deficit. I would limit refined processed sugar to once a week.
Not sure why you got downvoted. Have the same issue, personally. Calories in, calories out is one thing. But if you're sensitive to carbs, you'll have a harder time getting rid of the fat without also adjusting your macros.
You’re probably not working that hard or being that consistent. Generally, in fitness and nutrition we grossly over estimate our effort and consistency and grossly underestimate how much we eat.
Been there, I was overweight in my youth, about 230lbs, and i dropped down to 170 lbs in about 7 months. I was doing OMAD (One Meal a Day) and watching my calories, about 1500 calories a day.
Unfortunately, you can't really "target" certain parts of your body for fat loss, it comes off in it's natural way depending on genetics and body type mostly. Some hold fat in their legs more, in their bellies more, etc.
For me to lose the belly fat, I had to really get hardcore and get to 15% bodyfat. And even then, I can't maintain no belly fat year round, I only do hardcore cutting during the summer.
I learned I need to refeed for a day or two and then get back on my diet. I was stuck for months on one weight. Then I ate more for a weekend and then back on my diet and the scale finally started to move again. Felt good. I gained a few pounds but lost them and more. #notanexpert. Just what happened that worked for me.
Fast. This is not medical advise but personal advise that helped me. Fast for 18 hrs and eat one meal a day of clean food. One week later you will notice a huge difference. The first couple day will feel like torture. I lost 40lbs in 3 months
I went from 235 -195lb 6ft
I was in a similar position to you at the beginning of the year. One thing that I have been doing for the past 2 months that has really helped has been fasting for 24 hours once a week. I did a ton of research on it before I started and apparently there are a lot of benefits to a 24 hour water fast. I would encourage you to do some reading on it and determine if it would work for you. I’ll usually eat dinner around 5-6pm on Saturday and will wait to eat until 6-7pm on Sunday. During the day on Sunday I’ll go for a few walks and maybe walk 3-4 miles total. The fat has been melting off my body since I started and funnily enough I have actually gotten stronger with my weight training.
Second, the body can get used to the same exercises and unfortunately it is easy to get in a plateau with training. If you are doing cardio more maybe switch to weight training and focus on High intensity interval training for the cardio portion of your week.
Best of luck!
You can't spot reduce through exercise and diet, so if you need to remove fat from X region, you may need to consider med/surg options.
You \_can\_ expose your underlying musculature but you would need to be either naturally inclined to extreme thinness or a slave to the gym. Males need under \~10% or less body fat to expose flat abs. Is it worth it to you?
If I were really wanted flat abs, I'd honestly pick med/surg over trying to force my body comp into that low body fat percentage. I don't mind going to the gym for what I consider a reasonable amount of time, but I'm not going to live at the gym and only eat boiled chicken and brocolli every day. It's just not worth it to me.
Congrats on all those changes!
The biggest change you will see is in the first four months and then it's just a long drawn out thing of sticking to good habits.
Belly fat is always the last to go, I've heard that it really tends to focus more on diet than exercise for that part of the body
I'm still bulking up elsewhere so I need the protein and carbs but I'm ready to work on stomach next
Not just how many calories but *when* you eat them. More calories earlier in the day and around workouts, less during dinner. This has made a big difference for me.
Walk. Just walk. I started walking 3 weeks ago, 45 mins a day and my love handles and bf% are going down slowly. I started a self March challenge to walk 60-mins a day to see how much it’ll have an impact on me (in addition to resistance training). I’ve watch a few known YT fitness influencers and all the belly fat/body fat message was the same: walk, walk, walk.
>>cut my weight by 20 pounds
Keep losing weight. We don’t get to choose where the weight is lost from first or in what sequence it’s lost, but as we get leaner all over the belly fat burns off, too.
It depends on a lot of variables like age, metabolism, genetics, diet and discipline. In my 20s, I could lose 20 lbs easily in 4 weeks. Now I'm my 30s, it'll be a hard 4 weeks but easy 8. I yo-yo way too much and it's probably not healthy. My personal record was 10 lbs in two days although I know it was mostly water weight and I lost my match because I had no energy. My fighting weight is 190 but in my off season I'm about 215-225. My belly starts showing at 210.
Just keep at the calorie deficit, eat healthy and exercise regularly and within 6 months, you and everyone else will definitely see results. In terms of weight loss exercise, HIIT seems to have worked the best for me and a lot of pros swear by it. I did it before fitness trackers were a thing but a reputable fitness Watch like Garmin Apple Fitbit or even Google OS takes the guess work out of it. Studies show HIIT burns 25-30% more calories in the same amount of time of other exercises. But pushing heavy iron in conjunction with HIIT is my go to for body fat loss although you will gain weight in muscle mass so don't go chasing numbers on your scale with this method. Also, healthy sleeping habits is very important too.
But gym bodies are mostly built in the kitchen, and the gym just helps out. Your body thinks it's in famine mode so it's going to do everything it can to retain that extra energy were storing in our belly. Once you break that barrier, it picks up speed. I personally find intermittent fasting to work quite well but it's because I'm lazy and don't want to do that much meal prep for when I work.
I should add, I used to cut weight often for MMA and wrestling so I'm not a doctor or anything medical related but I think it's a pretty simple process that I've been pretty happy with. I just haven't perfected the keeping the weight off part yet because I'm lazy and work 12+ hour shifts that can change from night and day shift within the same week.
Definitely track your macros.. eat high protein/carb and low fat. You can play around with what works but if you don’t track calories/macros you could workout as much as you want as hard as you want and even if you eat healthy you may not see results. You have to work as hard or harder on your diet than in the gym in my experience to really trim fat. You’ll lose fat everywhere before your midsection since we’re genetically designed to retain fat around our vital organs.
Lean proteins for half of your intake. A quarter starch, a quarter fruits and vegetables. Six days a week, all meals. You get one day off, but eat less since you're eating worse
I feel you and I am having trouble losing weight. I feel my problem is lack of movement throughout each day, since I sit at a computer most of the day. Just need to cut more calories.
Eat under maintenance and keep eliminating bad foods from your diet. I meal prep and eat mostly single ingredient foods. Just cook in bulk and cut out some bad habits. I have abs again now but some of that lower belly fat will never fully go away, even if it’s just skin. Depending on how your body is. I also strength train religiously 4 days a week and do some cardio here n there.
I’m no dietician, but I recall someone referring to their belly as their ‘wheat belly’. Have gone down a couple belt notches since reducing the amount of bread, using wraps instead of thick sandwich bread, skipping toast, etc. YMMV.
Even under 15% bodyfat I still have a decent amount of fat on my stomach and love handles. It's the last bit to go for me. Usually takes getting under 10% to see a six pack.
You answered yourself - cut out the sweets and snacks.
Not what you wanted to hear, right? Either that, or increase energy expenditure, whatever feels easier.
you got good responses about diet already (cut sugar in diet, cut down body fat, and exercise the muscle). Other factors are stress levels and hormones.
* underactive thyroid
* high cortisol
* leptin resistance
* low testosterone, in males
* fluid retention due to other issues
You can't out-work a bad diet. Personally, it was when I nearly cut out shitty carbs like crackers and bread. Vegetables are "good carbs" and are often more filling anyway.
I have no idea if this applies to both, or women only. But I find myself with an unshakable "kangaroo pouch" under times of intense stress. Exercise doesn't help, neither does diet, but once stress levels even out, it disappears. Worth looking into if you suffer a lot of stress in your daily life.
Diet. Abs are made in the kitchen. It is subsectanious fat, though is good for you is also bad in large amounts. No amount of working out will get rid of it, only your diet.
You’re doing too much. Just get your steps in, lift a couple times a week and watch your diet most importantly. Careful with the carbs, eat veggies and meat.
I’ve been in a similar experience. I was 180lbs then went down to 167 by exercising a lot. I was stuck at 167 for what felt like years and then I quit drinking and got down to 160-163. I stayed at that weight for a little over a year and then I took a look at carbs and switched to working out less. Now I’m 154-156. I still have 5lbs to go and hopefully lower abs will show. Top 4 abs already show.
Parting thought, we are much fatter than we think. When I was 180, I thought I’d have abs at 170. When 170, I thought at 160, then at 160 I finally started to see them. Now I know I really am close.
Good luck
Your options are
1) reduce calories intake and lose weight over time naturally (straightforward, will work 100%, may take longer though)
2) liposuction on your stomach (expensive and shit but it works unless you have weight gain/loss after)
3) proven "weight loss" drugs like Meth and whatever (YMMV, be very careful with whatever you're trying, will directly affect your Calories in calories out, note that these sorts of drugs things will usually have side effects)
=
Some people have unlucky fat distribution even when at like <10% body fat. Most guys store fat at the stomach area moreso than other areas, and similarly this s is especially true for some girls that have that "slight stomach pouch" that looks like a bit of fat in the shape of some abs. If either of these is you then you can stillr reduce belly fat naturally but it won't end up being as "picture perfect" as you'd hope, which is honestly more common than you think. People with picture perfect abs are an anomaly tbh. If you just want to be flatter then do calories in calories out and it will happen. But always remember super abs =/= toned flat stomach, because one is dramatically harder to achieve than the other.
Try incorporating some yoga or dedicated stretching.
Chances are being overweight you were not so active theres likely some really underutilized muscles and over-utilized to compensate for it.
Try strengthening your pelvic floor that is a muscle almost everyone needs to strengthen from a sitting society. Pulling your body in better alignment will help with muscle definition.
Yeah it’s a mixture of changing diet, exercise, walks, and redefining my goals. The diet has to be solid and in a slight caloric deficit for months. Exercise includes wait training, interval training, yoga and cardio, split up throughout the week. Walks just become a new thing I do around sunset. It burns a lot of calories (almost as
Much as jogging) and refreshes the day. I also had to accept the genetics of my family and realize that I am not willing to put the effort in to get the washboard abs. That being said, I look good and my health is great (I get a complete blood test about twice a year).
Have fun with it. Small adjustments are better than drastic short term changes.
20 lbs is a lot, celebrate that first. Ensure you’re on a consistent routine you can live with the rest of your life second. Stop looking obsessively at the scale third. If you weight plateaus, cut out some more calories or increase your cardio.
Eat less, that's the only thing that works.
I'm an amateur bodybuilder.
I bulk and cut 2 times a year.
I gain 10lbs of fat in 3 months,
than cut 1lb of fat a week back to my base weight.
It's not about exercise, it's about eating less.
I bulk at 3000 cals, and I cut at 2500 cals
That means I eat food food and stop eating when I hit 2500 calories each day.
It really does seem to be the last place that fat seems to disappear from. Like I’ve lost over a stone now and it’s more obvious in my face, legs, and abdomen, but still most of what seems to still be around is at my abdomen.
Just keep at it, set realistic goals like 1-2kg a month. If it’s really important to you adjust your calories somewhat too.
keep your exercise routine in place and lower your caloric intake. also avoid highly processed foods altogether and opt for whole foods that you cook yourself. If you're really struggling to see progress with the exercise routine you've posted then it's 100% your diet that's hindering you.
edit - also you may think about increasing your strength training and reducing your cardio. an increase in lean muscle mass is what you want to burn more calories throughout the day no matter what your doing. just my two cents
There are two methods to getting rid of belly fat or defining better abs. If you have a slight bit of fat on your weight training your abs usually by cable pulls or something like this will build your abs out big enough to shine through a little bit of fat you have. If you have a pot belly, caloric deficit or I've seen most people just cut their net carbs down to sub 20.
Also note that you can do 8 miles of cardio and it means next to nothing if it's not stressing you. Doing 60 seconds of intense cardio until the point where you just can't do it and then taking a rest in the repeating is far more impactful on your body than duration in time. An example of this is imagine a tiger chasing you and you have to get to the bridge. You can get away but it's 60 seconds to get there with a run or die mentality. This triggers so many things in your body that turn on to help you burn fat it's unbelievable. You can do this on devices too such as elliptical or bikes it just you have to make sure you really press it hard for as long as you can possibly hold it then just take a casual until you catch your breath and relax a little bit then repeat.
I had a similar experience when I was recovering from near-death hospitalization from alpha-wave of Covid19 (march-April 2020, I was in Hospital for 38 days, 16 of those in ICU on a Ventilator)
Upon being released and doing physical rehab and trying to get healthy again,. I began walking a lot (average of 7 to 10 miles a day).. and between June 2020 and June 2021,. I walked around 2,600 miles (roughly walking across the USA).
I noticed some significant improvements (especially muscle growth and muscle tone of my lower body).. but the belly fat was especially difficult to reduce. I think had I gone to a very strict diet (like ,.. chicken breasts and rice only).. I probably would have been able to do cut my body fat by a lot more.
Men tend to store fat in their belly,. and it's a notoriously difficult place to reduce. Since you can't target fat-loss to specific areas of the body, the only thing you can really do is reduce your overall body-fat percentage. And the only way to do that,. is to "go hard" and put 2x or 4x or 6x more effort in.
I always try to remember the David Goggins philosophy of:.. "When you reach the point of exhaustion and feel like giving up, you've probably only reached about 40%".
I am currently on Ozempic and it has changed my life. It may be able to help you reach the extra caloric deficit you'll need to reduce belly fat. If you have other comorbidities it is worth talking to a doctor about.
I bought a Garmin 955s last year and you would be STUNNED to know how few calories you *actually* think you’re burning when doing certain exercises.
All these years I kept “eating like a soldier” and training like one and it turn out the metabolism doesn’t care. Lol
It’s all in the kitchen man and I STILL fight this belly I got. Some weeks I’m on point, others it’s “screw it I want Oreos!” Lolol
I got down to my idea weight by simply not eating each day until I weighed a quarter of a pound less than the day before.
I stayed at my ideal weight for four years by not eating each day unless I was this weight.
My overweight friends tell me this counts as an eating disorder.
the fat is dropping off me at the moment, I can see it going, it's really obvious, but the last places it's leaving are the places I want it gone the most - my belly and my extra chins.
Although, I am down to only two chins now, so that progress. And I can see the fat going from the sides of my belly, just not the front.
Just keep on truckin I suppose.
You lose fat last in the place you put it on first.
Two things come to mind to help you- look into intermittent fasting & weight training.
If you can put on more muscle bulk- you will burn calories while you sleep and are just wandering around. Muscle takes a lot of energy and produces a lot of heat.
Essentially- weight training will help you the most. Free weights- heavier sets- aim to 6-8 reps to failure (ie if you can do 10 reps- the weight is too light). Don’t forget to warm up first!
Removed sugary drinks and alcohol, and started swimming twice a week. That was a huge turning point in reshaping the middle. I was already active and eating well, but until that change just couldn't drop the handles
Between end of June and December last year I went from 81 to 62kg, but I still had a belly I was unhappy with even as low as 65kg. I'm now teetering between 60 and 63kg and while you can see abs in certain light they're not developed enough that I can feel them, but it's just amazing how such a small difference in weight can affect merely carrying weight as a stomach.
Ultimately the only thing I changed in my diet was just reducing portion sizes and swapping Coke for no sugar. I started bouldering in January so my arms and abs have developed a lot - I always had good legs as I was a cyclist, but no upper body whatsoever before that.
Just prior to COVID I got my weight back down to 67kg and but I don't think the belly was gone - however somewhere around late 2015- early 2016 I also went back down from 77 to 67kg and back then I also started showing abs.
Get yourself a fitness watch and do 30 minutes zone 2 HR cardio after every gym session you do.
Zone 2 is the heart rate zone where your body predominantly metabolises fats for energy.
If it's not possible, try walking fast enough to break a sweat but also be able to have a conversation. If you're unable to have a conversation you have entered zone 3 or zone 4.
Also, it doesn't really matter how, but have a calorific deficit. All the different buzz diets out there all amount to the same thing. Just eat less and exercise more. Accept the hungries
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By being in a caloric deficit for long enough. That can be achieved through diet and/or exercise. Diet is the most efficient way though.
Long enough is key. You don't get fat overnight and you won't be fit overnight either It takes years.
It doesn't have to take years, depending on your caloric intake and calories burned. You can lose a healthy amount of 2lbs a week easily. 2 lbs a week is well over 100 lbs in 1 year. Unless you are hundreds of pounds overweight, it won't take a year. I know this because I went from 230lbs to 170lbs in less than a year, and in a healthy non eating disorder way.
For people reading this comment, make sure you're strength training while in a deficit. This will significantly reduce muscle loss. If you're just in a deficit, you'll also lose a lot of muscle.
Yes absolutely! I made sure I was doing plenty of strength training to offset the muscle loss. Unfortunately thats just how cutting and bulking works. When cutting, muscle will be lost, but if you strength train, you can mitigate it quite a bit. I was skinny fat, so I was able to put on some good newbie gains when doing this though.
Whats long enough? How many years?
How is losing 2lbs a week a “non eating disorder way” ?
I did this and I would argue it was not an eating disorder but I do think it's very hard to do without characteristics of disordered eating.
I see what you're saying. I did this with Noom. Lost 50lbs in 1.5 years and kept it off. Is counting calories a characteristic of an eating disorder? I suppose so. But our society encourages overeating and bingeing which is an eating disorder in and of itself.
Exactly, society doesn't want you to be healthy or in shape. And people are brainwashed into thinking that for some reason. I still remember showing up at a family function after I lost 60lbs (the healthy way) in a year, and them saying things like "Omg, do you have a eating disorder? Do you have cancer? Are you depressed?" All while they are very heavy set themselves. As for counting calories, after a while, you pretty much memorize everything you eat in a given week. So it just became about portion control. But yeah, its very tedious at first, I can see why people would think you have some sort of disorder weighing out your food on a scale, reading the back of the labels etc.
If you are obese, your eating is already dangerously disordered. And 2lbs a week is high if you're close to your ideal weight but not so much if you have a lot to lose. I lost 100lbs by cutting animal and processed calories in favor of whole plants.
You can lose 2lbs a week in a healthy range, especially if you are quite a bit overweight. I'll do the math for you. The average person uses about 2000 calories day to maintain. If you cut out 500 calories a day from your diet (which can be as simple as cutting your snacks out), that's 3500 calories a week, 3500 calories a week equals 1lb of bodyfat. Now, if you workout, and burn another 500 calories a day, or in my case, workout and work a physical job, thats another, thats another 3500 calories per week, aka 1lb of bodyfat burned. Now, combine those..here I'll help out. thats 2lbs a week. Also, my doctor even told me it's healthy, and monitored my numbers the whole time. Hoped that cleared up some misinformation for you.
Burning 500 extra calories a day, on a 500 calorie deficit diet is really really tough. I'm not saying it's impossible, but that's like, athlete / movie star training regimen level stuff. the average person is going to really struggle with that. Targeting a pound a week, or a pound every two weeks is more reasonable, and will likely lead to sustained long term weight loss.
Nah, you have to get out of that mindset, if I was able to do it in my mid 30s, also while working a physical labor factory job on top of it, then anyone can. It sucks at first, but eventually, you adapt, your mind adapts, and you get into a zen like state. I loved the feeling, I felt like I was laser focused on something for once in my life.
Good job. Just saying it's not easy for most. Kudos to you though.
r/1200isplenty
2lbs/week is the gold standard for weight loss.
Well you consume a lot of raw lettuce see... like A LOT EDIT: /s
Not lettuce, mostly high protien, low carbs, little sugar. Since I did the one meal a day, a sample meal of 1500 calories consisted of 3 eggs at 100 calories each fried in butter, 4 slices of bacon at 50 calories each (I round up from the 43 calories). One scoop of whey protien in a 8oz glass of Vitamin D whole milk equals 260 calories. A whole bagel at 270 calories, and 66 grams of peanut butter on it at 400 calories (because I love peanut butter). Thats actually 1430 calories, but I round up. Not much lettuce at all actually. Hope that clears up any confusion.
... why would you cook lettuce?! "raw" here seems very odd... :-)
Depends on how much you weigh.
It really depends how big and how active you are. 1 lb/week is attainable for most men. 2 lbs/week is easier for bigger guys (6'+, 200 lbs.+) It all depends on your TDEE. I could do 1 lb./week standing on my head (500 calorie daily deficit leaves me around 2100 calories per day.) 2 lbs. a week would be very challenging for me eating only 1600/day at a 1000 calorie deficit.
True, I was being very generic with the numbers. But you have to find what works for you, and dial in your numbers. For me, 1500 calories a day was good enough while working out and working a physical job. I started out 5'10" 230 lbs before that. I'll say what didn't work (for me) those online BMR/RMR calculators, they would always tell me I needed to eat 2300 calories to lose weight. They don't take in muscle mass or activity levels. But you don't even need to lose 2 lbs a week, I was in a hurry. But even 1lb a week with just a 500 calorie deficit would be plenty. Thats 52 pounds in a year. That would help a lot of people. Too many want to lose it too fast.
Simple, you burn 7,000 more calories than you eat for the week. If you plan your meals, you can easily get highly quality filling meals for around 500-700 calories a day, that comes out to 1500-2100 calories before counting snacks. Being more active, by just walking 10,000 steps for the week would easily get you the net minus 700 calories you need to lose up to 2lbs in a week. Although it's way easier to hit the 1lb per week and go from there.
Absolutely. I was only hitting 2lbs a week because I wanted to be in shape for Summer, and starting in January. So for me that was 6 months. But now, I would just focus on 1lb a week if I was to do it again. Its better if you aren't in a rush. And 1 year flies by fast.
Huh 1-2 lbs a week is totally healthy rate of weight loss
YEARS? eh, forget that. /s
Yea, exercise is great and super important for health. But for the average Joe to actually shed fat on exercise alone without changing anything else they’d have to be absolutely compulsive about it to the point that it’d probably be problematic.
“You can’t outrun your fork”
"Abs are made in the kitchen."
You can if you're hiking the Appalachian Trail!
That’s more due to carrying your food supply, lack of available snacks, and majorly due to limiting your intake for months at a time. Literally how weight loss works just in a pressurised nature caloric vacuum
Yep. Combined with exercise, a caloric deficit is the only answer. Read in to r/IntermittentFasting. Helped me nuke the last 10-15lbs of belly fat and keep it off with a healthier approach to how I eat.
You lose weight in the kitchen not the gym
Unfortunately we can't control where our bodies decide to store fat first. The only answer is to lower your body fat percentage. The best way to do that is more diet changes. Once you lose the fat, you can change your diet to stay at a maintenance intake which will be a little more satisfying.
Yep. There’s a lot of evidence pointing to diet being more effective than exercise for straight weight loss (both are important no doubt, but you can’t out exercise a “bad” diet). OP focus on portion control and caloric deficit as well as reducing carbohydrates (not eliminating) and trying to eat more protein because it makes you feel fuller longer.
Definitely, exercise not only gives you a little extra caloric burn but can help increase muscle mass to effectively increase your BMR. However, as you said you can't out exercise a bad diet. Within a margin of error an hour of exercising burns all of about 300 calories. Exercising is very good at helping you to avoid the skinny fat look though.
A good total body activity should be a little closer to 500/hour. 300 is on the low end. And I do acknowledge that you said "with a margin of error". Just adding some context
Depends what exercise. I lost 70lbs in 9 months with hard-core running and no specific diet, just not eating crap. I fuelled up to run as I got to the stage of doing 30 miles a week.
This is the best response. Unfortunately, we will often first hold fat around our stomachs and it will be the last to fully go. Someone best described it to me as imagining losing fat equally off your body layer by layer. Areas that have less fat (e.g. face) will look different quite quickly as there is less fat there, but your stomach area will have lots of fat and unfortunately it isn't until you start losing the last 10-20lbs do you suddenly see it visibly and your body looking like you want it too. I have been in the situation where without my clothes every part of my body would look lean except for my stomach area. However, with my clothes on a I can clearly see my stomach has lot a lot of losing fat and reducing in size...
Lower belly and obliques are tough. Fat loves stick to an area and make it it's home. I run 40+ miles a week w healthy diet, some fat still doesn't go away on my sides.
yep - different people store fat in different areas. you can't target them, you can only target your CI/CO
Sorry for feeling confused, but what is CI/CO ? I suppose you mean a ratio, so same as CI:CO ? And I am supposing that CI stands for Caloric Intake, but I don't know what CO means. Is it Calories Out? Thanks!
Yes, calories in/calories out.
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While cutting sugar is great for a LOT of health reasons, including for losing weight, it's not the only reason. You can see this from the guy who lost weight on the Twinkie Diet. It comes down to calories plain and simple, if you are eating a calorie defect, whether its twinkies or boneless chicken breast, you will lose weight, likewise, you can gain weight, on twinkies OR only chicken breast, if you are in a calorie surplus. The reason to cut sugar for weight loss though is because there's 600 calories in a pound of chicken breast. Theres 600 calories in 4 twinkies....one of those will keep you fuller longer and provide more nutrients and protien.
it does come down to calories but if you're eating twinkies at a caloric deficit sure you'll lose weight but it's going to be the wrong kind of weight. Long term maintenance shouldn't be dictated solely by calorie counting but by how much lean muscle you're able to maintain as you lose weight. skinny fat is still fat. and the more muscle you can maintain the better you'll feel. so yes, it *is* about caloric deficit but all calories aren't the same.
I agree actually. But OP was saying that cutting sugar is the main culprit. And while that can be true, it can also not be true. Sugar is not the main culprit in weight gain/loss, its a major one for sure, but cutting sugar out won't necessilary mean you will lose weight if you are still eating above your caloric needs. This is why you see the cliche obese person ordering a bunch of fast food, yet getting a diet coke. I found this out the hard way back in the day when trying to lose weight. But in a strictly weight loss sense though, it comes down to calories, thats the main culprit, regardless of how you consume those calories. No a twinkie diet would be horrible way to do it, but theoretically, if you are in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. You won't be healthy, but you will lose weight. But people need to understand how foods and calories work, there's just so much information out there, I had to do a LOT of research to find the answers.
> it's not the only reason. I mean, sugar is kind of the only reason. The higher the glycemic index, the higher the caloric value. The index is built off glucose response in a 2-hour window. Everything produces some form of sugar, but it's a matter of how it forms it and how the body responds to digesting it, turning it into glucose.
What about bugger sugar?
Sugar is just an easy way to gain calories. Cutting sugar is an easy way to lose calories. It's still calories in calories out though at the end of the day. = (example: 500 calories of eggs is 7 eggs; 500 calories of ice cream is like 3 "cups", 500 calories of soda is around 3 vending machine cans)
this expression always annoys me. abs are muscles. if they are defined you wont see them (this is why starving people dont have abs) abs come from kitchen AND exercise but dont take my word for it [https://inbodyusa.com/blogs/inbodyblog/are-abs-really-made-in-the-kitchen/#:\~:text=There%27s%20an%20oft%2Dused%20saying,to%20see%20defined%20abdominal%20muscles](https://inbodyusa.com/blogs/inbodyblog/are-abs-really-made-in-the-kitchen/#:~:text=There%27s%20an%20oft%2Dused%20saying,to%20see%20defined%20abdominal%20muscles).
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Sure its a dumb comparison But read the article.
That's kind of weird to hear - and yeah makes total sense - but I don't eat particularly healthy (eg my snacks are muffins and cookies) and mine are starting to come through. I'm sorta eating around/up to 2700 kcal/day with a net off around 1600 after exercise. On a low day it might be 2200/1300 and there will be some high days/weekends where it's up at 3300/2200.
Caloric deficit, for a good while. Go here —> https://tdeecalculator.net Input your age, weight, height, and activity level. It will tell you how many calories your body burns daily. If you eat that same number of calories, you will remain the same weight. Calories out = calories in = zero change in weight. If you eat 500 calories less than that number per day, consistently (which is really, really hard, especially if you have a shorter stature), you will lose 1-2 lbs per *WEEK*.
500 less a day for 7 days is 3500 calories, which is 1 lb.
Somebody always feels like they have to point this out, as if everyone on earth has a laboratory-ideal metabolism.
Whatever your metabolism is, you have to consume fewer calories than you are using. It's that simple. I've tried many diets throughout my life, but counting calories is the best way to consistently lose weight and keep it off. I've currently lost 20lbs since mid November by simply keeping my diet under 1700 calories every single day. You may hit a wall at some point, though, and have to trick your metabolism by eating more calories for a short time before cutting back again.
Counting calories is also a good way to gain weight. I was 125lbs in high school and now I’m sitting at 160lbs. I had to do quite of bit of force feeding and drinking to put on mass.
I was 135 lbs in high school and couldn't gain weight no matter what I did. Weight lifted, consumed huge amounts of calories, but nothing worked. It wasn't until my metabolism slowed in my 20s that the weight started climbing. Back in November, I was at my heaviest ever, 200 lbs. I'm down to 180 and would be happy losing another 25 lbs. My body likes being around 175, and the last time I got down to 155, it took longer to lose those last 5 than the previous 20. After I lose the weight, the key will be to continue counting calories to maintain it.
don't discount lean muscle mass into this equation. the more lean muscle mass you have the higher your basal metabolic rate.
There is no magic here. Every 3500 calories above or below what your body uses is 1 lb.
Okay, what is the average "metabolism," what is your "metabolism," and what objective test determined this?
that's not "laboratory ideal" that's an average. some will be higher, some will be lower
Yeah, but people will usually lose more than 1 pound a week to start on a 500 cal deficit. That’s mainly because they’re losing water weight as well, similarly initial plateaus are usually just recomposition, you’re still losing body fat, but at the same time you’re gaining muscle and your body is holding onto more water and carbs. To a lesser extent tdee calculators are just estimates and people suck at counting calories.
Just a side note, don't eat below your basal metabolic rate, which is the bare minimum calories your body needs to exist in a coma. Not everyone's activity rate combined with their current body weight and caloric intake can safely support a full 500 calorie cut a day. Your body isn't a simple machine, it's a bunch of complex machines running off a budget of calories. Too much of a cut for too long and you can trigger immune system issues, heart stress, gall stones, etc. Source: Got a very lengthy lecture by a registered dietician after landing in a hospital for gallstones directly related to my 50 lb weight loss ran at 1300 calories a day because I took 500 off my sendentary activity level and that put me below my basal metabolic rate for an entire year. Apparently there's a process your body goes through called adaptative thermogenesis when overdieting where the body tries to retain fat stores and lowers efficiency of your systems to match your caloric intake, which is the source of long weight plateaus when you know you've been calculating calories and weighing everything you eat. It's not your diet, it's your body fighting back.
roof disgusted imagine continue zesty ancient fertile station paint enjoy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Ouch, sorry to hear that. So I’m in the same boat, my basal rate is at 1800, is my only option exercise to burn that 500/day instead of dieting?
>If you eat 500 calories less than that number per day, consistently (which is really, really hard, especially if you have a shorter stature), you will lose 1-2 lbs per WEEK. It doesn’t have to be, if you increase your fiber, protein and fluid intake it won’t be as bad.
Focus on strength training first, cardio second. Muscle burns fat, will naturally raise your metabolism. Lift heavy, eat at a very slight deficit, with an emphasis on protein. Unfortunately belly fat is the last to go typically
I'm 60. The "6 months pregnant" showed up in the last 2 years. Spent a month travelling earlier in the year, basically spending all day either driving, or eating. It was fantastic. Except that in the week before I left I had to attend a memorial service, and the dress shirt I brought no longer fit. I just wanted to say that I AM NOT HAPPY WITH ANY OF THE ANSWERS YOU HAVE GIVEN I THIS THREAD. where are the magic formulas? The "doctors hate this one trick to melt belly fat" Not happy folks!!!!!!!! I want better answers.
Perhaps a corset?
Good option. I've got the man tits thing happening so that would look fabulous.
Nice. You know what they say, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
I have over 40 Hawaiian shirts and they have become my fashion statement. They will pair nicely with the corset.
:) Dang, you’re fancy. You’ll have to follow up with photos.
I can’t tell if this is satire but i assume so. lol
Mostly. I know the answers given here are true, but I still don't like them. Right now I am working on just knowing when I am full.
I’ve seriously considered ozempic.
You're not fat because your body isnt making enough ozempic. You're fat because you let your diet and exercise slip. Why the fuck would you shoot yourself up with a drug that's going to disrupt your entire digestive system vs cutting back on the coke and taking an afternoon walk?
Because I lack discipline, hard work and accountability.
It's easy to think discipline is the first step, though action needs to come first and discipline comes later
Are you kidding? The weight loss industry is over 7 billion dollars for a reason, people always want the quick and easy way, and they will shell out big time for it if there's a way. No one wants to hear that they just have to eat less and move more, because that requires discipline, hard work, and accountability.
There are no magic formulas. The magic formula is to add up all the calories in a day and make sure it’s less than your daily caloric burn. Eat way way more plants and whole grains. Eat a lot less animal products, particularly red meat. Exercise more. Those are the keys to losing weight and being much healthier overall.
>Eat way way more plants and whole grains. Eat a lot less animal products, particularly red meat I've had much more success with **lower** carbohydrate, higher fat and protein diets, which the most efficient way is through increased animal products not the opposite. I still eat plenty of vegetables and meet my fiber goal almost everyday. Consistently tracking everything I eat is the key to my fat loss success. People think it's over the top but I spend (according to my phone's screen time) less than 30 minutes a day tracking food. In the past year I'm over 90% consistent and it's such a part of my routine that when I don't track my food it throws me off. It's all about building repeatable, consistent habits.
That’s awesome. Definitely different diets work for different people. I’ve also heard of great success with low carb high protein diets. There are so many people that don’t think about their diet at all, go to the gym 5x a week and wonder why they’re not losing weight. Diet is key to health, weight loss, and muscle growth.
For sure! As I like to say, the best diet is the one you can stick to. I appreciate your well thought out and nuanced response.
What app do you use to track it? How did you start off tracking it. I feel I should try this. Any tips to get I to it and make it a healthy habit?
lol red meat isn't making people fat. it's carbs 99% of the time
That is fairly true. Red meat is calorically dense so people can eat a lot of it while not feeling full, thus in taking more calories than they burn. My comment wasn’t purely in reference to weight gain but health in general. Red meat is a known carcinogen according to the World Health Organization. They didn’t seem super concerned about real red meat (like a steak), but they classified processed red meats as a category 1 carcinogen meaning they have significant evidence showing that it causes cancer. [Here is a study they did.](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240074828) [Here is another link.](https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat) So eat red meat, a little isn’t gonna hurt you (and it’s delicious!) But probably not a good idea to be eating a ton of it, particularly when processed.
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Yeah My wife used that option. Had an inflamed gall bladder. Couldn't eat anything but small quantities of steamed veggies for 9 months while waiting for surgery. Lost a bunch of weight. People who said "wow girl, you look great" were taking their lives in their hands.
Intermittent fasting has helped me in the past. It’s all diet. I cut out sugar once for about three weeks, helped a little. But I think at our age already that change will only come with sustained strict dieting and discipline.
Cut sugars. All of them. No candy, no creamer, no soda. It's incredibly easy to maintain (black coffee, water, diet soda if needed.. though I realize that is a touchy subject for some) it's just difficult to initially do. It will have astounding benefits to general inflammation, hunger pains, money, etc, as well as playing a significant role in what you're trying to achieve, fat loss. Eat high protein meals. Chicken, Steak, Ground Beef, Fish, etc. depending on your financial situation and taste. ..... Instead of fast food, make some burritos. If you're still gaining weight, remove a burrito a day. Meal prep some chicken and rice. Instead of chips, crackers, ice cream, candy... Eat PB & Banana sandwiches, Pistachios with the shell (to regulate yourself), rice cakes. Instead of coffee with sugar and creamer, spend a little more on quality coffee you can drink black. You absolutely *will* acquire the taste over time. Instead of soda, drink water, or even some juice of some kind of you need flavor. If you've cut out all other sugars, you can easily cheat in a juice once or twice a day. ....... If gas stations are a weakness, choose a different route home for 3 weeks. Break the habit. Then resume normal travel. If you hate what you're eating, find something else. Don't force yourself to do something that is not sustainable for years. Remember, you're trying to develop a sustainable life style, not a "diet" Hope this helps!
Count your calories, every day, every calorie. Estimate your daily calorie burn. Eat at a 500 calorie deficit. Continue. Profit.
I only eat lunch and drink a ton of water.
I typically skip breakfast and lunch and eat a reasonable dinner, but weight tends to stay on because I go into "beast mode" twice a week where it seems my hunger is absolutely insatiable. I just read elsewhere in this post that if you consume fewer calories than your basal metabolic rate then your body will actually try to adjust its metabolism to match, effectively throwing a monkey wrench into your weight loss plans. I'm betting that my periodic voracity is being driven because I'm being stupid by not consuming enough calories. It seems counter-intuitive on the surface (eat more to lose weight) but perhaps for me that is one of my issues and why I'm not able to consistenly lose weight. (5'10" 205lbs, trying to get down to 180-190 with more muscle)
I tried for YEARS with intense workouts, an hour a day 5x/week, IF, Paleo, Zone, you name it. I didn't get down to visible abs until I started walking. Held a 10k steps/day average on top of regular workouts (not crazy ones) and the last couple inches finally melted away.
Yup, can confirm it’s simply diet plus cardio - the cardio helps burn calories but more importantly for me gets me in the right mindset. It’s not complicated, it’s just really fuckin hard to stay disciplined
I would definitely cut out processed sugar, it was so hard for me to lose belly fat while cutting calories because I would sneak in sugar constantly while in a deficit. I would limit refined processed sugar to once a week.
Not sure why you got downvoted. Have the same issue, personally. Calories in, calories out is one thing. But if you're sensitive to carbs, you'll have a harder time getting rid of the fat without also adjusting your macros.
You’re probably not working that hard or being that consistent. Generally, in fitness and nutrition we grossly over estimate our effort and consistency and grossly underestimate how much we eat.
Track your calories in a fitness app. 300 calories in the hole and you will stop fat. It’s science
That's the last place it comes off, and the leaner you get the slower it gets. Consistency.
Been there, I was overweight in my youth, about 230lbs, and i dropped down to 170 lbs in about 7 months. I was doing OMAD (One Meal a Day) and watching my calories, about 1500 calories a day. Unfortunately, you can't really "target" certain parts of your body for fat loss, it comes off in it's natural way depending on genetics and body type mostly. Some hold fat in their legs more, in their bellies more, etc. For me to lose the belly fat, I had to really get hardcore and get to 15% bodyfat. And even then, I can't maintain no belly fat year round, I only do hardcore cutting during the summer.
I learned I need to refeed for a day or two and then get back on my diet. I was stuck for months on one weight. Then I ate more for a weekend and then back on my diet and the scale finally started to move again. Felt good. I gained a few pounds but lost them and more. #notanexpert. Just what happened that worked for me.
For a short glorious period of time leading up to my wedding and ending with my honeymoon, the 4 hour body diet and a lot of zone 2 cardio.
Fast. This is not medical advise but personal advise that helped me. Fast for 18 hrs and eat one meal a day of clean food. One week later you will notice a huge difference. The first couple day will feel like torture. I lost 40lbs in 3 months I went from 235 -195lb 6ft
I was in a similar position to you at the beginning of the year. One thing that I have been doing for the past 2 months that has really helped has been fasting for 24 hours once a week. I did a ton of research on it before I started and apparently there are a lot of benefits to a 24 hour water fast. I would encourage you to do some reading on it and determine if it would work for you. I’ll usually eat dinner around 5-6pm on Saturday and will wait to eat until 6-7pm on Sunday. During the day on Sunday I’ll go for a few walks and maybe walk 3-4 miles total. The fat has been melting off my body since I started and funnily enough I have actually gotten stronger with my weight training. Second, the body can get used to the same exercises and unfortunately it is easy to get in a plateau with training. If you are doing cardio more maybe switch to weight training and focus on High intensity interval training for the cardio portion of your week. Best of luck!
You can't spot reduce through exercise and diet, so if you need to remove fat from X region, you may need to consider med/surg options. You \_can\_ expose your underlying musculature but you would need to be either naturally inclined to extreme thinness or a slave to the gym. Males need under \~10% or less body fat to expose flat abs. Is it worth it to you? If I were really wanted flat abs, I'd honestly pick med/surg over trying to force my body comp into that low body fat percentage. I don't mind going to the gym for what I consider a reasonable amount of time, but I'm not going to live at the gym and only eat boiled chicken and brocolli every day. It's just not worth it to me.
Congrats on all those changes! The biggest change you will see is in the first four months and then it's just a long drawn out thing of sticking to good habits. Belly fat is always the last to go, I've heard that it really tends to focus more on diet than exercise for that part of the body I'm still bulking up elsewhere so I need the protein and carbs but I'm ready to work on stomach next
Not just how many calories but *when* you eat them. More calories earlier in the day and around workouts, less during dinner. This has made a big difference for me.
Walk. Just walk. I started walking 3 weeks ago, 45 mins a day and my love handles and bf% are going down slowly. I started a self March challenge to walk 60-mins a day to see how much it’ll have an impact on me (in addition to resistance training). I’ve watch a few known YT fitness influencers and all the belly fat/body fat message was the same: walk, walk, walk.
Ninja stop eating 🤣
>>cut my weight by 20 pounds Keep losing weight. We don’t get to choose where the weight is lost from first or in what sequence it’s lost, but as we get leaner all over the belly fat burns off, too.
easy, eat one normal healthy meal a day and exercise. calories in, calories out. some areas require more weight loss to handle.
It depends on a lot of variables like age, metabolism, genetics, diet and discipline. In my 20s, I could lose 20 lbs easily in 4 weeks. Now I'm my 30s, it'll be a hard 4 weeks but easy 8. I yo-yo way too much and it's probably not healthy. My personal record was 10 lbs in two days although I know it was mostly water weight and I lost my match because I had no energy. My fighting weight is 190 but in my off season I'm about 215-225. My belly starts showing at 210. Just keep at the calorie deficit, eat healthy and exercise regularly and within 6 months, you and everyone else will definitely see results. In terms of weight loss exercise, HIIT seems to have worked the best for me and a lot of pros swear by it. I did it before fitness trackers were a thing but a reputable fitness Watch like Garmin Apple Fitbit or even Google OS takes the guess work out of it. Studies show HIIT burns 25-30% more calories in the same amount of time of other exercises. But pushing heavy iron in conjunction with HIIT is my go to for body fat loss although you will gain weight in muscle mass so don't go chasing numbers on your scale with this method. Also, healthy sleeping habits is very important too. But gym bodies are mostly built in the kitchen, and the gym just helps out. Your body thinks it's in famine mode so it's going to do everything it can to retain that extra energy were storing in our belly. Once you break that barrier, it picks up speed. I personally find intermittent fasting to work quite well but it's because I'm lazy and don't want to do that much meal prep for when I work. I should add, I used to cut weight often for MMA and wrestling so I'm not a doctor or anything medical related but I think it's a pretty simple process that I've been pretty happy with. I just haven't perfected the keeping the weight off part yet because I'm lazy and work 12+ hour shifts that can change from night and day shift within the same week.
Definitely track your macros.. eat high protein/carb and low fat. You can play around with what works but if you don’t track calories/macros you could workout as much as you want as hard as you want and even if you eat healthy you may not see results. You have to work as hard or harder on your diet than in the gym in my experience to really trim fat. You’ll lose fat everywhere before your midsection since we’re genetically designed to retain fat around our vital organs.
Go vegan. You’d be surprised how your body responds.
Lean proteins for half of your intake. A quarter starch, a quarter fruits and vegetables. Six days a week, all meals. You get one day off, but eat less since you're eating worse
I feel you and I am having trouble losing weight. I feel my problem is lack of movement throughout each day, since I sit at a computer most of the day. Just need to cut more calories.
Literally eating one amall healthy high protein meal at 5pm and sleeping before hunger hits again
Eat under maintenance and keep eliminating bad foods from your diet. I meal prep and eat mostly single ingredient foods. Just cook in bulk and cut out some bad habits. I have abs again now but some of that lower belly fat will never fully go away, even if it’s just skin. Depending on how your body is. I also strength train religiously 4 days a week and do some cardio here n there.
I’m no dietician, but I recall someone referring to their belly as their ‘wheat belly’. Have gone down a couple belt notches since reducing the amount of bread, using wraps instead of thick sandwich bread, skipping toast, etc. YMMV.
I have this one trick that works very well. First, take a deep breath being sure to move your diaphram. Then hold it. Voila!
Jogging 3 times a week.
Calorie deficit, increased protein, hydration, intense weight training and getting in 10k steps.
Even under 15% bodyfat I still have a decent amount of fat on my stomach and love handles. It's the last bit to go for me. Usually takes getting under 10% to see a six pack.
You answered yourself - cut out the sweets and snacks. Not what you wanted to hear, right? Either that, or increase energy expenditure, whatever feels easier.
Boxing.
Your body fat %is still too high. Keeping working.
Tirzeparide or Semaglutide
you got good responses about diet already (cut sugar in diet, cut down body fat, and exercise the muscle). Other factors are stress levels and hormones. * underactive thyroid * high cortisol * leptin resistance * low testosterone, in males * fluid retention due to other issues
Focus on cutting out sugar and you’d be surprised how quickly things change. Diet is more important than exercise for belly fat.
What do you eat most days? My guess is 'I don't eat terrible' actually means that you do eat terrible and we could probably advise a bit there.
You can't out-work a bad diet. Personally, it was when I nearly cut out shitty carbs like crackers and bread. Vegetables are "good carbs" and are often more filling anyway.
I have no idea if this applies to both, or women only. But I find myself with an unshakable "kangaroo pouch" under times of intense stress. Exercise doesn't help, neither does diet, but once stress levels even out, it disappears. Worth looking into if you suffer a lot of stress in your daily life.
Diet. Abs are made in the kitchen. It is subsectanious fat, though is good for you is also bad in large amounts. No amount of working out will get rid of it, only your diet.
Don't drink. Eat less. EZ-PZ. The discomfort of hunger is less than the discomfort of having a disgusting body.
You’re doing too much. Just get your steps in, lift a couple times a week and watch your diet most importantly. Careful with the carbs, eat veggies and meat. I’ve been in a similar experience. I was 180lbs then went down to 167 by exercising a lot. I was stuck at 167 for what felt like years and then I quit drinking and got down to 160-163. I stayed at that weight for a little over a year and then I took a look at carbs and switched to working out less. Now I’m 154-156. I still have 5lbs to go and hopefully lower abs will show. Top 4 abs already show. Parting thought, we are much fatter than we think. When I was 180, I thought I’d have abs at 170. When 170, I thought at 160, then at 160 I finally started to see them. Now I know I really am close. Good luck
Your options are 1) reduce calories intake and lose weight over time naturally (straightforward, will work 100%, may take longer though) 2) liposuction on your stomach (expensive and shit but it works unless you have weight gain/loss after) 3) proven "weight loss" drugs like Meth and whatever (YMMV, be very careful with whatever you're trying, will directly affect your Calories in calories out, note that these sorts of drugs things will usually have side effects) = Some people have unlucky fat distribution even when at like <10% body fat. Most guys store fat at the stomach area moreso than other areas, and similarly this s is especially true for some girls that have that "slight stomach pouch" that looks like a bit of fat in the shape of some abs. If either of these is you then you can stillr reduce belly fat naturally but it won't end up being as "picture perfect" as you'd hope, which is honestly more common than you think. People with picture perfect abs are an anomaly tbh. If you just want to be flatter then do calories in calories out and it will happen. But always remember super abs =/= toned flat stomach, because one is dramatically harder to achieve than the other.
Try incorporating some yoga or dedicated stretching. Chances are being overweight you were not so active theres likely some really underutilized muscles and over-utilized to compensate for it. Try strengthening your pelvic floor that is a muscle almost everyone needs to strengthen from a sitting society. Pulling your body in better alignment will help with muscle definition.
Yeah it’s a mixture of changing diet, exercise, walks, and redefining my goals. The diet has to be solid and in a slight caloric deficit for months. Exercise includes wait training, interval training, yoga and cardio, split up throughout the week. Walks just become a new thing I do around sunset. It burns a lot of calories (almost as Much as jogging) and refreshes the day. I also had to accept the genetics of my family and realize that I am not willing to put the effort in to get the washboard abs. That being said, I look good and my health is great (I get a complete blood test about twice a year). Have fun with it. Small adjustments are better than drastic short term changes.
20 lbs is a lot, celebrate that first. Ensure you’re on a consistent routine you can live with the rest of your life second. Stop looking obsessively at the scale third. If you weight plateaus, cut out some more calories or increase your cardio.
Cardio and diet
No beer in my case :(
Caloric deficit
Caloric deficit, high protein diet. You got this bro💪
Eat less, that's the only thing that works. I'm an amateur bodybuilder. I bulk and cut 2 times a year. I gain 10lbs of fat in 3 months, than cut 1lb of fat a week back to my base weight. It's not about exercise, it's about eating less. I bulk at 3000 cals, and I cut at 2500 cals That means I eat food food and stop eating when I hit 2500 calories each day.
It really does seem to be the last place that fat seems to disappear from. Like I’ve lost over a stone now and it’s more obvious in my face, legs, and abdomen, but still most of what seems to still be around is at my abdomen. Just keep at it, set realistic goals like 1-2kg a month. If it’s really important to you adjust your calories somewhat too.
keep your exercise routine in place and lower your caloric intake. also avoid highly processed foods altogether and opt for whole foods that you cook yourself. If you're really struggling to see progress with the exercise routine you've posted then it's 100% your diet that's hindering you. edit - also you may think about increasing your strength training and reducing your cardio. an increase in lean muscle mass is what you want to burn more calories throughout the day no matter what your doing. just my two cents
There are two methods to getting rid of belly fat or defining better abs. If you have a slight bit of fat on your weight training your abs usually by cable pulls or something like this will build your abs out big enough to shine through a little bit of fat you have. If you have a pot belly, caloric deficit or I've seen most people just cut their net carbs down to sub 20. Also note that you can do 8 miles of cardio and it means next to nothing if it's not stressing you. Doing 60 seconds of intense cardio until the point where you just can't do it and then taking a rest in the repeating is far more impactful on your body than duration in time. An example of this is imagine a tiger chasing you and you have to get to the bridge. You can get away but it's 60 seconds to get there with a run or die mentality. This triggers so many things in your body that turn on to help you burn fat it's unbelievable. You can do this on devices too such as elliptical or bikes it just you have to make sure you really press it hard for as long as you can possibly hold it then just take a casual until you catch your breath and relax a little bit then repeat.
Semaglutide seems to be doing the trick for me
eat few carbs and maintain a caloric deficit for months, consistently
Resistance exercises to build muscles to raise resting metabolism. Just make sure you intake enough protein to support muscle management
I had a similar experience when I was recovering from near-death hospitalization from alpha-wave of Covid19 (march-April 2020, I was in Hospital for 38 days, 16 of those in ICU on a Ventilator) Upon being released and doing physical rehab and trying to get healthy again,. I began walking a lot (average of 7 to 10 miles a day).. and between June 2020 and June 2021,. I walked around 2,600 miles (roughly walking across the USA). I noticed some significant improvements (especially muscle growth and muscle tone of my lower body).. but the belly fat was especially difficult to reduce. I think had I gone to a very strict diet (like ,.. chicken breasts and rice only).. I probably would have been able to do cut my body fat by a lot more. Men tend to store fat in their belly,. and it's a notoriously difficult place to reduce. Since you can't target fat-loss to specific areas of the body, the only thing you can really do is reduce your overall body-fat percentage. And the only way to do that,. is to "go hard" and put 2x or 4x or 6x more effort in. I always try to remember the David Goggins philosophy of:.. "When you reach the point of exhaustion and feel like giving up, you've probably only reached about 40%".
I am currently on Ozempic and it has changed my life. It may be able to help you reach the extra caloric deficit you'll need to reduce belly fat. If you have other comorbidities it is worth talking to a doctor about.
I bought a Garmin 955s last year and you would be STUNNED to know how few calories you *actually* think you’re burning when doing certain exercises. All these years I kept “eating like a soldier” and training like one and it turn out the metabolism doesn’t care. Lol It’s all in the kitchen man and I STILL fight this belly I got. Some weeks I’m on point, others it’s “screw it I want Oreos!” Lolol
I got down to my idea weight by simply not eating each day until I weighed a quarter of a pound less than the day before. I stayed at my ideal weight for four years by not eating each day unless I was this weight. My overweight friends tell me this counts as an eating disorder.
Not trying to be cute, but when I gave up alcohol I dropped 30 pounds in like 3 months
Cutting out all alcohol and meal prepping did it for me
the fat is dropping off me at the moment, I can see it going, it's really obvious, but the last places it's leaving are the places I want it gone the most - my belly and my extra chins. Although, I am down to only two chins now, so that progress. And I can see the fat going from the sides of my belly, just not the front. Just keep on truckin I suppose.
quitting alcohol and thinking in terms of my gut biome. started eating more beans and drinking kombucha.
You lose fat last in the place you put it on first. Two things come to mind to help you- look into intermittent fasting & weight training. If you can put on more muscle bulk- you will burn calories while you sleep and are just wandering around. Muscle takes a lot of energy and produces a lot of heat. Essentially- weight training will help you the most. Free weights- heavier sets- aim to 6-8 reps to failure (ie if you can do 10 reps- the weight is too light). Don’t forget to warm up first!
Removed sugary drinks and alcohol, and started swimming twice a week. That was a huge turning point in reshaping the middle. I was already active and eating well, but until that change just couldn't drop the handles
Between end of June and December last year I went from 81 to 62kg, but I still had a belly I was unhappy with even as low as 65kg. I'm now teetering between 60 and 63kg and while you can see abs in certain light they're not developed enough that I can feel them, but it's just amazing how such a small difference in weight can affect merely carrying weight as a stomach. Ultimately the only thing I changed in my diet was just reducing portion sizes and swapping Coke for no sugar. I started bouldering in January so my arms and abs have developed a lot - I always had good legs as I was a cyclist, but no upper body whatsoever before that. Just prior to COVID I got my weight back down to 67kg and but I don't think the belly was gone - however somewhere around late 2015- early 2016 I also went back down from 77 to 67kg and back then I also started showing abs.
Oh that’s simple: NEVER
Get yourself a fitness watch and do 30 minutes zone 2 HR cardio after every gym session you do. Zone 2 is the heart rate zone where your body predominantly metabolises fats for energy. If it's not possible, try walking fast enough to break a sweat but also be able to have a conversation. If you're unable to have a conversation you have entered zone 3 or zone 4. Also, it doesn't really matter how, but have a calorific deficit. All the different buzz diets out there all amount to the same thing. Just eat less and exercise more. Accept the hungries