Dieting

[eXiilez1]

I recentley posted a thread about my exercising etc. Was given a great response too. Having alot of trouble on these forums sites though. Where to look for certain topics. etc. I really dont know how to use a forum site well. Not understanding what a sticky is etc.

I would just like to ask a couple questions hoping to get an answer without me spending a whole lot of time looking for it.

First off. I am somewhat unable to keep myself under a strict diet, as in counting calories, daily intake etc. I really have no idea how to do that and how many calories is in what food. I am 17, roughly weigh 136lbs and am about 5.8" tall. Im uncertain that I am at the right weight for my age but I have a beer belly as stated in my other post. Other than thait im fair skinny.

My question is that If I just eat healthy foods without counting calories will I see results in losing my belly fat? Im talking about Veggies, fruits, nuts and all those good foods. I want to put my ab workouts to a halt until I lose the fat. Im not sure if this is a good thing or not but instead of the ab workouts maybe take up some running on the treadmil. I really dont know how to get rid of it. So please, leave a post on what I can do about my situation.

Thank you.

 

[Jericho]

Well, first you are not unhealthy at that weight. Seriously.

Second: You can still gain weight eating healthy. It's calories in vs calories out.

third: You are at your healthy weight basicly. You are 17! You are still growing. Don't be obsessive. Eat right and keep exercising.

 

[aravind82]

I think you can safely ditch the calorie counting idea. Just stick to eating sensibly and work on the exercise aspect, especially the weight training. Things will work out from there.

 

[eXiilez1]

Thanks ALOT that really helped (seriously).

One last thing. Normally I do 11 sets of 25 reps (ab workouts) twice daily. Once during the day and once at night. Is that too much? Should I do it once a day or am I fine.

Second. Lifting weights i normally can do 4 days a week since I live at 2 areas. So Normally I do Bicep Curls, Triceps, Shoulders, Over hand/Reverse grip pull ups (close and wide), pectorial and chest weights. Is there any set reps/weight i should be doing. Normally lifting between 15-30kg and Some exercises 10 reps, 15 and 20 reps. Or I just gradually keep building?

Thanks

 

[KaraCooks]

Having alot of trouble on these forums sites though. Where to look for certain topics. etc. I really dont know how to use a forum site well. Not understanding what a sticky is etc.

If you go to this link, this is the main forum board: Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Weight Loss, Diet - Weight Loss Forum You can see all the various subforums and discussion areas divided by topic. Just click around - you can't break anything and you'll see how it works. AT the top of each area are posts that are labelled "Sticky" .. that means that they're always at the top of the forum because they contain valuable information.

I would just like to ask a couple questions hoping to get an answer without me spending a whole lot of time looking for it.

While I understand that, please remember that you are one of several dozen people each day who come on to the boards saying the same thign: I don't want to have to go searching for this - I just want someone to answer my question. That's why we have sticky posts - to answer questions that are asked frequently. It's not fair to ask us to keep repeating the same answers over and over and over and over when we can direct you to that information that is already written out.

I am somewhat unable to keep myself under a strict diet, as in counting calories, daily intake etc. I really have no idea how to do that and how many calories is in what food.

That's why you should read the sticky posts. All the information you need is in those posts. How to figure your calories. What a macro nutrient is. Why they're important. Etc.

My question is that If I just eat healthy foods without counting calories will I see results in losing my belly fat? Im talking about Veggies, fruits, nuts and all those good foods.

It is possible to gain weight eating healthy foods if you eat too much of them. That's why calories are important.


Please read the sticky posts. Please. Most of the questions you're asking have already been answered a dozen times over and more. Or use the search feature and search on "belly fat". I promise you that everything you need is on the site - it's unfair of you to ask us to hand it to you on a platter when all you need to do is look around.

 

[whiskeytangofox]

Kara

I think 17 is too young and 5'8/136 is too small to start calorie counting.

OP - join a swimming class or go do something fun. Don't start dieting.

 

[BobbyK1]

I dont think you are ever to young or light to count calories....you should know whats going in you and when its to much.....now cutting calories and losing weight, thats a different story

 

[KaraCooks]

I think 17 is too young and 5'8/136 is too small to start calorie counting.

Sorry, I strongly disagree.

At ANY age, learning what amount of calories you should eat, how many calories are in your food, what a proper portion size is, etc. is important.

If I had learned proper eating habits, calorie counting, and portion sizes at 17, I wouldn't have gotten to 250 lbs by the time I was 38.

 

[whiskeytangofox]

I disagree. 'Dieting' is how the OP sees it with a :-( face. Besides that's a silly statement - obviously there can be too young an age to start logging calories even if you think it's younger than 17 - 13, 8, 5? Plenty of people begin dieting at those ages and I disagree that it is a good method to lose weight young. And I think 17 is still too young. Learning about nutrition, making good food choices, doing fun sports and getting more active - fine.

Making food diaries? Logging every morsel that goes into your mouth? When you are not overweight and a teenager - I'm sorry - that's probably the beginning of a life long eating disorder and at least completely unsustainable.

As for 'had I started young, I'd be fine now', I completely disagree. There's a fairly long thread on the calorie count forum which anecdotally disproves this as well. It asks 'when did you start dieting' - the answer is really young. Most people tried calorie counting, wws, etc etc when they were younger and eventually rebelled, got sick of it. Forcing young kids and teenagers into obsessive dieting, especially when they are just growing and not even overweight is counterproductive. Had healthy eating been emphasized and being active, they probably wouldn't have gained weight rather than being forced into high effort, socially stigmatizing diet regimes and beginning a life long pattern of 'success' and 'failure'.

In fact, my own anecdotal evidence agrees with that. Everyone around me started banging on about how fat I was and how I just needed to lose 'a bit of weight' when I was 14 and only had gained hips and boobs (prob what the OP has now) and I wasn't at all - I was (by age 18) still a US size 6. I was convinced however that I was just huge - and didn't care. I had friends, was popular and was happy. If this is what being fat is, I don't care. I gained tons of weight through college and didn't see it or care because I had basically accepted being fat at age 16 as a size 4. Only now I am losing weight but honestly, what my body looks like now is what I thought it looked like when I was a size 4. That is what obsessing about being 10 pounds overweight at 16 actually leads to - fat kids and anorexic kids. Please OP you are not fat. Go and do some fun physical exercise or join some gym classes with a friend that you will enjoy and so stick to. Don't get sucked into life long yoyo dieting and begin to see things that aren't there. Very few people look perfect like the airbrushed models in a magazine. Try to eat less crap - yes - but don't get obsessive or allow normal insecurity to flourish into something much more destructive.

This is not a rant against calorie counting which is a great method and which I am doing myself and it is working! But I cannot believe that a growing 17 year old who is not overweight at all and whose BMI is 20.7 - which is borderline underweight - is being encouraged to count calories! To get to where - a BMI of 18?16?14? Why don't we just save time and point the OP to the pro ana boards?

 

[eXiilez1]

I disagree. 'Dieting' is how the OP sees it with a :-( face. Besides that's a silly statement - obviously there can be too young an age to start logging calories even if you think it's younger than 17 - 13, 8, 5? Plenty of people begin dieting at those ages and I disagree that it is a good method to lose weight young. And I think 17 is still too young. Learning about nutrition, making good food choices, doing fun sports and getting more active - fine.

Making food diaries? Logging every morsel that goes into your mouth? When you are not overweight and a teenager - I'm sorry - that's probably the beginning of a life long eating disorder and at least completely unsustainable.

As for 'had I started young, I'd be fine now', I completely disagree. There's a fairly long thread on the calorie count forum which anecdotally disproves this as well. It asks 'when did you start dieting' - the answer is really young. Most people tried calorie counting, wws, etc etc when they were younger and eventually rebelled, got sick of it. Forcing young kids and teenagers into obsessive dieting, especially when they are just growing and not even overweight is counterproductive. Had healthy eating been emphasized and being active, they probably wouldn't have gained weight rather than being forced into high effort, socially stigmatizing diet regimes and beginning a life long pattern of 'success' and 'failure'.

In fact, my own anecdotal evidence agrees with that. Everyone around me started banging on about how fat I was and how I just needed to lose 'a bit of weight' when I was 14 and only had gained hips and boobs (prob what the OP has now) and I wasn't at all - I was (by age 18) still a US size 6. I was convinced however that I was just huge - and didn't care. I had friends, was popular and was happy. If this is what being fat is, I don't care. I gained tons of weight through college and didn't see it or care because I had basically accepted being fat at age 16 as a size 4. Only now I am losing weight but honestly, what my body looks like now is what I thought it looked like when I was a size 4. That is what obsessing about being 10 pounds overweight at 16 actually leads to - fat kids and anorexic kids. Please OP you are not fat. Go and do some fun physical exercise or join some gym classes with a friend that you will enjoy and so stick to. Don't get sucked into life long yoyo dieting and begin to see things that aren't there. Very few people look perfect like the airbrushed models in a magazine. Try to eat less crap - yes - but don't get obsessive or allow normal insecurity to flourish into something much more destructive.

This is not a rant against calorie counting which is a great method and which I am doing myself and it is working! But I cannot believe that a growing 17 year old who is not overweight at all and whose BMI is 20.7 - which is borderline underweight - is being encouraged to count calories! To get to where - a BMI of 18?16?14? Why don't we just save time and point the OP to the pro ana boards?

Wow.... I really appreciate that post. And yes im not going to bother counting calories or anything like that, it's way too time consuming. I understand that im not overweight or anything like that. I would just like a flat stomach, just want to get rid of it. My question was if I ate healthy, did exercise (ab workouts, weight lifting) will I end up losing it? No I did not find a post regarding that question.

Is it too much to be doing 11 sets of 25/40 reps of ab workouts twice daily, should I do it once a day? No I did not find a post regarding that question.

All I asked is for a little help on how to lose it, which im sure would atleast take 5 minutes of someones time to fill me in on my main question. Whats the best way to lose my stomach fat? Im not here to lose weight or anything like that. If I need to eat healthy to lose my stomach. Please just give me some tips on what I should be eating (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks etc). I dont know wheather or not I should be running on a treadmil or not. I have NO idea what so ever regarding my stomach fat. So please, someone cut me some slack and give me a hand.

thank you

 

[Harold14370]

My question was if I ate healthy, did exercise (ab workouts, weight lifting) will I end up losing it? No I did not find a post regarding that question.
thank you

You cannot target weight loss to a specific part of the body. The ab workouts are a waste of time, other than for general physical fitness.

 

[KaraCooks]

My question was if I ate healthy, did exercise (ab workouts, weight lifting) will I end up losing it? No I did not find a post regarding that question.

If you had done a search for "belly fat" or "stomach fat" you would have found these threads:
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-through-exercise/38581-belly-fat.html?
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-programs/21778-tips-lose-belly-fat.html?
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/advanced-weight-loss/23019-losing-very-last-bit-belly-fat.html?
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/advanced-weight-loss/36073-question-about-stomach-fat.html?
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/club/27503-stomach-fat.html?
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/adva...-fat-stomach-even-lipsuction-didnt-work.html?

And many many many more.

Is it too much to be doing 11 sets of 25/40 reps of ab workouts twice daily, should I do it once a day? No I did not find a post regarding that question.

You can do them or not do them, but they won't help you lose fat around your tummy. You can't target fat loss. All ab workouts do is build the muscles that are under the fat. You have to lose the fat by losing weight. Period.

Whats the best way to lose my stomach fat? Im not here to lose weight or anything like that.

You can't lose fat w/out losing weight. The best way to lose your stomach fat is to lose weight.

You want a simple one line answer and one doesn't exist. It's NOT a 5 mins answer that anyone can give you. Eating the right foods in the right quantities, getting proper amounts of exercise, etc., can help you reshape your body to lose fat and build muscle. But it's not a 5 minute response.

Reading the sticky posts will teach you about healthy eating and proper exercise, which will help you to understand why ab work won't remove the fat from your belly and why you need to learn proper nutrition - which will help to remove the fat.

 

[KaraCooks]

I disagree. 'Dieting' is how the OP sees it with a :-( face.

And your comment feeds that - by equating learning nutrition and calories with "dieting".

Besides that's a silly statement - obviously there can be too young an age to start logging calories even if you think it's younger than 17 - 13, 8, 5?

Nope. There is no age that is too young to begin understanding how what you eat affects your body. If we had more people who taught healthy eating and calorie levels, we'd have fewer morbidly obese 10 year ols.

It disturbs me that you equate calorie counting and learning nutrition with DIETING in the most negative sense of the word and you are using that to discourage people from developing an understanding of what they're putting in their bodies.

I don't diet. I lost 80+lbs not dieting. I do watch my calories. I am aware of the food I'm putting in my body. I do log what I eat. And I don't diet.

But I cannot believe that a growing 17 year old who is not overweight at all and whose BMI is 20.7 - which is borderline underweight - is being encouraged to count calories! To get to where - a BMI of 18?16?14?

Again, you're putting your own negative spin on the process and failing utterly to understand that being aware of the caloric content of your food has nothing to do with being unhealthy or obsessed.

 

[eXiilez1]

Thanks guys for all the posts. Sorry Kara if I have caused you alot of grief. Really just not that greta with forums. I'll try to do my best from here on in.

Thanks

 

[Big D]

Alrighty OP, here's the basics for boards, since most have harped about it but gave little actual instruction or help.

Look up at the top of the page, and you'll see a line that says something like:
Weight Loss Forum > General > Advanced Weight Loss > Dieting That's your breadcrumb trail (yes like the kids book). "Weight Loss Forum" is the main page. if you click there, you'll see all the various sections with categories, like "General", "Diet & Motivation" etc, and contained within those you see categories like newbies, contests, etc. you click on those, you'll go to the individual threads, like this one.

When you're viewing the list of threads, you'll see some at the very top that say "Sticky: "... those are the stickies they talk about so much. They tend to relate specifically to the topic you're in.

As far as your other questions, yes, its true, if you dig around in here, people ask the same things all the time, so it is a bit aggravating. But for your info on your issue.. if you eat healthier, you'll potentially take on less calories, especially if you've been chugging McDonalds or Taco Bell all day. At the same time, you're 17, don't sweat stuff like that too much, jus tmake good choices. At your age, its much easier to *increase your activity level* (aka more physical exercise, even running around) than to restrict your calorie intake obsessively. If you make physical exercise a regular part of your daily life NOW (take all the old farts word for it here), you'll have to worry about stuff like this much less later in life when it gets much tougher to do.

As for stomach exercises, etc... You can't spot reduce. That idea came from people working out with light weights and high reps, their muscles shrunk in size (compacted, toned, etc) -or- they simply exercised and cut some fat and it happened to be where they wanted it to be and they saw it as spot loss. Basically, you're going to not have to lose weight, but lose fat if you want to see those abs. How? Body composition changes.

Here's what you do at your age... See your doctor first. Get a good physical and an accurate body fat reading. Check the charts online or with your doc and see where you are, and where you want to be. Exercise and lift weights. Heck, eat a little more and put on some muscle, then cut down on the food *a small bit* for a few months and lets the muscle burn the fat for you. you'll get to where you want to be before you know it and you'll be establishing good solid *lifelong* habits in the process.

Sure, you can get your abs, but that will help you keep them.

 

[whiskeytangofox]

I don't equate dieting with learning about nutrition.

However I said

I think 17 is too young and 5'8/136 is too small to start calorie counting.
Sorry, I strongly disagree.

You said

At ANY age, learning what amount of calories you should eat, how many calories are in your food, what a proper portion size is, etc. is important.

If I had learned proper eating habits, calorie counting, and portion sizes at 17, I wouldn't have gotten to 250 lbs by the time I was 38.

You were the one who equated learning about nutrition and healthy eating with counting calories. And then defended that. I disagree that learning about nutrition and health has to equal calorie counting.

I may be wrong so correct me if I am but isn't there evidence that the 'daily calorific needs' of a teenager are greater than those of an adult so they should be eating more than a standard 'BMR calculator' would tell them to anyway?

what you said

It disturbs me that you equate calorie counting and learning nutrition with DIETING in the most negative sense of the word and you are using that to discourage people from developing an understanding of what they're putting in their bodies.

What I said

This is not a rant against calorie counting which is a great method and which I am doing myself and it is working!

I am still in love with calorie counting. On my diary I think I said 'this is the most amazing diet ever. It doesn't hurt, it's completely sustainable and I'm loving it.' Diet is not an ugly word in my vocabulary. Do I think it's appropriate for everyone at every stage of their lives and development, especially if they are of normal weight? No. The OP seemed unhappy and I was suprised that that wasn't addressed. The OP is not a morbidly obese 10 year old. And like I said, I think you'd be suprised how many overweight 6 year olds turn into morbidly obese 10 year olds because parents immediately turn to extreme and unsustainable methods. And yes somethings that are fine for adults I think are extreme for other age groups.

And btw - I personally don't believe that any 10 year old would be emotionally and physically best served in the long run by being continously told the exact no of the calories in their meals and having it drilled into them to think about this every time they thought about food. Maybe I'm wrong and I am just soft. But I'd think that would fk you up pretty bad eventually.

But anyway this is all my opinion and I apologize to the OP for the hijack and to you Kara if I've offended. I just think that while fat is bad and it's bad to be fat (we can all agree) there is an insidious social context underlying these discussions, especially for people growing up where there are so many lies and half truths and danger zones. I just wanted to let the OP know that they have choices.

 

[KaraCooks]

I"m not sure how we jumped from what is appropriate for a 17 year old struggling with body image and some tummy fat to creating obese 10 year olds with food disorders becuase they were forced to count calories.

You stated that you thought 17 was too young to worry about calories. I disagree. That's about the end of it. I'm not going to follow a slippery slope argument that educating a 17 year old on calories and nutrition is the same as giving a 10 year old an eating disorder.

17 is perfectly old enough to learn about calories, nutrition, and how what you eat affects your body. A 17 year old is a year or 2 away from being out on their own (or in college), making their own food choices, etc. It's in no way, shape, or form "too young" to learn to make good choices, including learning how many calories are in their food and how calories affect their weight - positively or negatively.

 

[eXiilez1]

Thanks a bunch for that Big D!

 

[aloharuiz]

I guess your weight is just right for your height and age. The average weight for a 17 year old girl is 120 lbs and for a boy, it's 150 lbs. I am just guessing but I couldn't be too far off. Don't be too conscious! Don't be so into dieting because you may be depriving yourself of some guilty pleasures. You're still young.

 

[eXiilez1]

Well im not going to get all into this healthy eating and exercise and so on. I just wanted a flatter stomach instead of a pot belly. I just wouldnt think I would grow older with one. The pot belly would stay unless I do something about it right?