New Lifestyle, Needing Help

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Crystal1996

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Hello,

I am new to this site, as well as new to making changes to my lifestyle in order to lose belly fat. I am 23 years old, only 5'1 and weigh 135 lbs. My goal is to not necessarily lower the scale but to lower my fat percentage (not sure what it is as now but it is not good). A few weeks ago, I started watching my calories intake and I make sure I don't eat any more than 1200 calories a day (using the "myfitnesspal" app by Under Armour). About 3 weeks ago I started going to the gym where I do 30 minutes of cardio and then 45 minutes of weight training, full body. I know within the past 14 days I have lost about 4lbs but obviously not enough to see a difference. I have an endomorphic body type so have been trying to watch my macros however am still stuck on whole wheat bread and the occasional pasta entree. I feel like I am not doing what I should be doing in order to see results which is obviously very frustrating. I have debated Paleo diets and Keto diets but I am such a picky eater that I feel like I won't succeed as I will just end up eating the same stuff all the time. I do not want to pay for pills or diet plans, I just want some genuine advice as to what I can do to lose belly fat.
 
There is no way to lose fat specifically from a certain part of your body. It comes off in whatever pattern our bodies deem correct (often top-down). Stress (mental or physical) does seem to make us store more fat in the abdominal area so I could imagine stress reduction to be somewhat helpful in the long run. Otherwise, if you're not unhappy with your actual weight, posture and muscle tone can make your belly look smaller.
 
Hey Crystal, welcome to the forum!

LaMa would know more about this than I, so I won't try to advise you. On the other hand should you start a diary and stick around I can try to encourage whatever you decide to do.

There are others, also wiser than me, who may chime in with advice.

Best of luck to you.
 
I agree with the whole "no pills, no diet plans" thinking. When I lost weight the first time I changed my eating to healthier fare and began exercising. People would ask me what I gave up and I didn't really give anything up. I ate some foods less often but I still had ice cream (my weakness!) and ate out. What I've found is that as long as I have my head on straight, anything works. It sounds like you have a good plan laid out. Good luck!
 
Hey Crystal, welcome to the forum! It actually looks like you're off to a pretty good start. Going to the gym regularly, including both cardio and a full body workout are both great! I think you need to give yourself more time. As I said in another post recently, the weight loss industry has really trained people to think that this should be a quick, easy fix. Usually, it's not! And if you want to lose weight, it should be because you really want to, not because you feel you have to. It's a matter of being as active and eating as healthy as you can, while not depriving yourself of things you enjoy. You want healthy habits to stick for the long haul. If you like bread and pasta, that is fine! Incorporate that into your daily diet. Unless you have an allergy or specific intestinal issue, there are really no "good" or "bad" foods. Treating foods this way just tends to ruin our relationship with food and hunger. Obviously, there are foods that are more healthy and less healthy, and it's a matter of balancing these out in a way that you can live with long term.

As was previously mentioned, you can't lose fat from a specific area. Weight training will go a long way to creating positive changes with respect to body composition, though. So give yourself some more time to see results.
 
Hey Crystal, how's it been going?
 
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