How many calories should I really be eating and belly fat...

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TheRealAdriana
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04 Feb 2013, 9:55 pm

I am 22 years old, weigh 93 pounds and I am 4'11 tall. I am in shape everywhere but my stomach is still out of shape. I've tried cardio, strength training, ab workouts, diet, and nothing has made my belly flat. It is like a hard belly but it also jiggles and you can grab a handful of the fat with your hands. I also have love handels (a muffin top). I just keep losing weight everywhere else but my stomach stays the same. People have been already questioning if I'm pregnant :(
I really do not like how my body looks. I think I am looking too skinny but with a belly and it makes my body look so out of proportion and makes me feel horrible. I still workout and try to eat pretty healthy (been doing this since 2008) and still have not seen huge changes. I am wondering, how many calories should I be eating? I don't want to get anymore skinner, I just want my belly to go down. I already lost my butt which I am upset about. I did like having a big butt but now it's small because I've lost so much weight around there and my legs. Here is a list of my daily foods and my workout. I am on a budget and can't afford a lot of things.

10AM: Breakfast: 1 organic apple, 1 organic orange, 3 cups of water, and a cup of Yogi green tea
11:30AM: 15 minutes of stength training, then I jog for 30 minutes straight, drink 3 cups of water
1PM:Snack: Smoothie: 2 bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen mangoes, and almond milk
3PM:Lunch: Quaker Instant Oatmeal (1 packet of the apples and cinnamon) mixed in with some Old Fashioned Quaker Oatmeal and almond milk
6PM:Dinner: Rice with chicken, fish, or steak with cooked veggies, 3 cups of water

Vitamins I take: Fish Oil (morning), Vitamin D (afternoon), Probiotics (before bed)

I can only spend 50 dollars per week on food for me. And I get free dinner from my parents. Here is my shopping list:

Bananas (3 packs of 6) - 6.00
1 bag of Frozen Strawberries- 4.99
1 bag of Frozen Mangoes- 4.99
1 box of Tea- 3.99
7 Apples - 8.00
7 Oranges- 7.00
1 box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal- 4.69
1 container of Old Fashioned Quaker Oatmeal- 2.67
2 cartons of Almond Milk- 4.19x2



auntblabby
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04 Feb 2013, 10:24 pm

eat less carbs and more lean proteins. you are eating too many fruit products/carbs.



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04 Feb 2013, 10:31 pm

Replace some of those fruits with veggies or nuts. You are eating too much sugar.



1000Knives
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04 Feb 2013, 11:06 pm

It's probably high cortisol. If your cortisol is high you'll have a gut basically regardless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing's_syndrome

Something you're doing could be causing that. I don't know what. Usually it's excess stress in some form. If you need to reduce cortisol, you can take some herbs like Rhodiola Rosea and actually licorice. Licorice is weird in that it'll raise cortisol, but you can manipulate it to your benefit by having cortisol come in at the right time and make your body produce it at right levels. You can also buy DHEA, too, which is a prohormone your body converts to various hormones.

So, if you got means, get to an endocrinologist (or if you're super broke, you can even go get mail order labs done) and get some labs done, and figure out if it's high cortisol. It sounds likely from what you're describing. The problem with severely cutting calories and exercising a lot if you do have high cortisol is since it's a stress hormone, it'll pretty much make the problem worse. So the key to a physical activity is finding something you actually like doing/relaxes you. Sometimes with diet even, going too low calorically makes things worse. I've lost 10lbs from just basically eating pasta and bread and stuff again and getting a lot of calories in, just because it normalized my hormone levels again after doing low carb diets and whatnot. So, try that and possibly the supplements, and maybe see an endocrinologist.

EDIT:
To the people telling her basically weight loss diets, that's ridiculous. She's a 18.8 BMI, 18.5 is the lowest you can be before being considered underweight. She definitely does NOT need to lose more weight.



auntblabby
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04 Feb 2013, 11:36 pm

it's her diet- it is not true that "a calorie is a calorie, a carb is a carb" - there are good carbs and less-good carbs, the OP was eating too many of the latter. refined or ready carbs causes insulin levels to spike, which causes a bad kind of fat accumulation around the middle, and especially in the viscera. the OP is young and i sincerely hopes she corrects this situation before she develops fatty liver. she might also consider checking her blood levels of choline, too little also encourages the sort of problem she is describing. choline comes from foods which she did not include in her dietary description above. it also comes in supplements such as lecithin as well as choline bitartrate. 3.5 grams per day is the maximum safe dose. the minimum dose is 400 mg. daily for women.



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05 Feb 2013, 12:21 am

TheRealAdriana wrote:
I already lost my butt which I am upset about. I did like having a big butt but now it's small because I've lost so much weight around there and my legs.


There's definitely a remedy for this and its squats! It says you're doing strength training which is fantastic so if you aren't already, add squats and I guarantee you'll regain whatever you lost due to body fat reduction without gaining anything but lean mass. As far as everything else, I completely agree with 1000knives that you certainly don't need to lose weight and honestly, your diet is probably fine. Cushing's Syndrome is an interesting potential. I'd recommend seeing a doctor and just getting everything checked out. In the meantime, I congratulate you on living such a fit and healthy lifestyle!


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TheRealAdriana
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05 Feb 2013, 12:41 am

1000Knives wrote:
It's probably high cortisol. If your cortisol is high you'll have a gut basically regardless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing's_syndrome

Something you're doing could be causing that. I don't know what. Usually it's excess stress in some form. If you need to reduce cortisol, you can take some herbs like Rhodiola Rosea and actually licorice. Licorice is weird in that it'll raise cortisol, but you can manipulate it to your benefit by having cortisol come in at the right time and make your body produce it at right levels. You can also buy DHEA, too, which is a prohormone your body converts to various hormones.

So, if you got means, get to an endocrinologist (or if you're super broke, you can even go get mail order labs done) and get some labs done, and figure out if it's high cortisol. It sounds likely from what you're describing. The problem with severely cutting calories and exercising a lot if you do have high cortisol is since it's a stress hormone, it'll pretty much make the problem worse. So the key to a physical activity is finding something you actually like doing/relaxes you. Sometimes with diet even, going too low calorically makes things worse. I've lost 10lbs from just basically eating pasta and bread and stuff again and getting a lot of calories in, just because it normalized my hormone levels again after doing low carb diets and whatnot. So, try that and possibly the supplements, and maybe see an endocrinologist.

EDIT:
To the people telling her basically weight loss diets, that's ridiculous. She's a 18.8 BMI, 18.5 is the lowest you can be before being considered underweight. She definitely does NOT need to lose more weight.




Yes. I think you are 100% correct. I use a lot of steroid creams for my eczema. I think that is what is causing high levels of cortisol or even Cushing's. But the steroids seem to be the only thing that keeps my eczema away :(



TheRealAdriana
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05 Feb 2013, 12:42 am

windtreeman wrote:
TheRealAdriana wrote:
I already lost my butt which I am upset about. I did like having a big butt but now it's small because I've lost so much weight around there and my legs.


There's definitely a remedy for this and its squats! It says you're doing strength training which is fantastic so if you aren't already, add squats and I guarantee you'll regain whatever you lost due to body fat reduction without gaining anything but lean mass. As far as everything else, I completely agree with 1000knives that you certainly don't need to lose weight and honestly, your diet is probably fine. Cushing's Syndrome is an interesting potential. I'd recommend seeing a doctor and just getting everything checked out. In the meantime, I congratulate you on living such a fit and healthy lifestyle!




Thank you. I'll try adding more squats to my routine.



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05 Feb 2013, 1:22 am

TheRealAdriana wrote:
windtreeman wrote:
TheRealAdriana wrote:
I already lost my butt which I am upset about. I did like having a big butt but now it's small because I've lost so much weight around there and my legs.


There's definitely a remedy for this and its squats! It says you're doing strength training which is fantastic so if you aren't already, add squats and I guarantee you'll regain whatever you lost due to body fat reduction without gaining anything but lean mass. As far as everything else, I completely agree with 1000knives that you certainly don't need to lose weight and honestly, your diet is probably fine. Cushing's Syndrome is an interesting potential. I'd recommend seeing a doctor and just getting everything checked out. In the meantime, I congratulate you on living such a fit and healthy lifestyle!




Thank you. I'll try adding more squats to my routine.


At 93lbs, I highly doubt you're doing any serious strength training. Something like Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" is generally a good start. Big barbell compound movements. I don't agree with Rippetoe's lowbar squat, and feel high bar is much better, but it's a start. Unfortunately doing a hundred reps with tiny dumbells (as this is what most girls do) isn't gonna do much.

This is gonna sound hokey, but using Chinese medical theory has helped me quite a bit. Do a bit of research on TCM and eczema and see what you can come up with. I had a health ailment a while back that antibiotics didn't solve and Western doctors were just like "well, it's gonna hurt and it's normal." You can use the herbal formulas, but long term it's best to change your lifestyle/diet using what you learn from TCM (ie, TCM food classification.)

Lastly, one other side of cortecoids is they're catabolic. You lose muscle mass on them. I find it absurd how doctors will indiscriminately prescribe cortecoids for basically everything but will never prescribe an anabolic one for the same purpose, but anyway. Also, obviously the lower your bodyweight gets, the more sensitive you'll be to the creams and whatnot, compared to, say, a 200lb man.



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06 Feb 2013, 8:33 am

auntblabby wrote:
it's her diet- it is not true that "a calorie is a calorie, a carb is a carb" - there are good carbs and less-good carbs, the OP was eating too many of the latter. refined or ready carbs causes insulin levels to spike, which causes a bad kind of fat accumulation around the middle, and especially in the viscera. the OP is young and i sincerely hopes she corrects this situation before she develops fatty liver. she might also consider checking her blood levels of choline, too little also encourages the sort of problem she is describing. choline comes from foods which she did not include in her dietary description above. it also comes in supplements such as lecithin as well as choline bitartrate. 3.5 grams per day is the maximum safe dose. the minimum dose is 400 mg. daily for women.


Depends on how active you are. If you´re at college or at a desk job for 8 hours, it makes no difference if the carbs are from cake or from bread when it comes to fat storage. The only real difference is that fast carbs will be absorbed (and thus used) more quickly.



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09 Feb 2013, 3:48 pm

I looked at your list of what you eat, and I'm thinking you might be eating too few calories for your activity level, especially if you have a BMI of 18.9. Going too low will actually make a person feel more stressed, and this stress will dump cortisol into your body.

I typed in your height and weight into one of those online calorie calculators, along with your level of exercise ("Some exercise, two-three times a week.")


It gave me this: 1400-1500 for maintenance.

Since you want to remove the bit of belly fat, you are going to need to build muscle (which gives the sleek toned figure) and to build muscle you are going to need to eat more or it won't work. Muscle requires protein and fuel, and if you aren't eating enough, you are just going to be wasting your time with the exercising.

Also, one last thing I must mention:
If you try to lose any more weight, you risk damaging your body. It can damage your organs pretty bad, and it can mess up your hormone levels and make you have the bones of an older person (they break easier and are thin.) You don't want that, as it would make it very hard to do anything, and fill your days with a lot of upset.


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10 Feb 2013, 4:48 am

TheRealAdriana wrote:
windtreeman wrote:
TheRealAdriana wrote:
I already lost my butt which I am upset about. I did like having a big butt but now it's small because I've lost so much weight around there and my legs.


There's definitely a remedy for this and its squats! It says you're doing strength training which is fantastic so if you aren't already, add squats and I guarantee you'll regain whatever you lost due to body fat reduction without gaining anything but lean mass. As far as everything else, I completely agree with 1000knives that you certainly don't need to lose weight and honestly, your diet is probably fine. Cushing's Syndrome is an interesting potential. I'd recommend seeing a doctor and just getting everything checked out. In the meantime, I congratulate you on living such a fit and healthy lifestyle!




Thank you. I'll try adding more squats to my routine.


If booty is what you want, go with lunges, they are unilateral motions (better for coordination), and the gluteus maximus is much more involved.



1000Knives
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10 Feb 2013, 12:43 pm

starryeyedvoyager wrote:
TheRealAdriana wrote:
windtreeman wrote:
TheRealAdriana wrote:
I already lost my butt which I am upset about. I did like having a big butt but now it's small because I've lost so much weight around there and my legs.


There's definitely a remedy for this and its squats! It says you're doing strength training which is fantastic so if you aren't already, add squats and I guarantee you'll regain whatever you lost due to body fat reduction without gaining anything but lean mass. As far as everything else, I completely agree with 1000knives that you certainly don't need to lose weight and honestly, your diet is probably fine. Cushing's Syndrome is an interesting potential. I'd recommend seeing a doctor and just getting everything checked out. In the meantime, I congratulate you on living such a fit and healthy lifestyle!




Thank you. I'll try adding more squats to my routine.


If booty is what you want, go with lunges, they are unilateral motions (better for coordination), and the gluteus maximus is much more involved.


But you can load more weight on a squat.



TheRealAdriana
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11 Feb 2013, 1:12 am

Metalwolf wrote:
I looked at your list of what you eat, and I'm thinking you might be eating too few calories for your activity level, especially if you have a BMI of 18.9. Going too low will actually make a person feel more stressed, and this stress will dump cortisol into your body.

I typed in your height and weight into one of those online calorie calculators, along with your level of exercise ("Some exercise, two-three times a week.")


It gave me this: 1400-1500 for maintenance.

Since you want to remove the bit of belly fat, you are going to need to build muscle (which gives the sleek toned figure) and to build muscle you are going to need to eat more or it won't work. Muscle requires protein and fuel, and if you aren't eating enough, you are just going to be wasting your time with the exercising.

Also, one last thing I must mention:
If you try to lose any more weight, you risk damaging your body. It can damage your organs pretty bad, and it can mess up your hormone levels and make you have the bones of an older person (they break easier and are thin.) You don't want that, as it would make it very hard to do anything, and fill your days with a lot of upset.


Thank you so much. I absolutely feel most days like I want to eat more, but I stop myself because I don't want my belly to get bigger. I thought I had to eat everyday 1200 calories to get rid of my belly....But I feel better when I get 1500-1800 calories per day.

What exercises do you recommend? Like strength training right?



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11 Feb 2013, 5:52 am

TheRealAdriana wrote:
Thank you so much. I absolutely feel most days like I want to eat more, but I stop myself because I don't want my belly to get bigger. I thought I had to eat everyday 1200 calories to get rid of my belly....But I feel better when I get 1500-1800 calories per day.


If you eat too little over a prolonged period, weight loss will plateau - your body goes into "starvation" mode, as it assumes there's no food around and it wants to preserve what fat reserves you have left! Don't think in terms of "per day" - work on a weekly basis. It doesn't matter if you eat more one day if the average over the week is lower.

Agreed on the sugars front. Cut way back on the sugar and get more fats and proteins in you - though with the fats, try to avoid too many saturates.

Finally, you need to choose - do you want to gain strength or lose weight? It's possible to do both at once, but VERY hard - so pick your battle. If you want to gain muscle, you'll need to eat a lot more, especially protein. A calorie deficit will see any protein used for energy rather than packing on muscle. Don't worry about bulking up really big - you'll need to eat like crazy for months on end for that to happen! You will also gain some fat this way, but you can then switch to dieting/cardio to reduce that.



TheRealAdriana
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11 Feb 2013, 8:10 pm

Thom_Fuleri wrote:
TheRealAdriana wrote:
Thank you so much. I absolutely feel most days like I want to eat more, but I stop myself because I don't want my belly to get bigger. I thought I had to eat everyday 1200 calories to get rid of my belly....But I feel better when I get 1500-1800 calories per day.


If you eat too little over a prolonged period, weight loss will plateau - your body goes into "starvation" mode, as it assumes there's no food around and it wants to preserve what fat reserves you have left! Don't think in terms of "per day" - work on a weekly basis. It doesn't matter if you eat more one day if the average over the week is lower.

Agreed on the sugars front. Cut way back on the sugar and get more fats and proteins in you - though with the fats, try to avoid too many saturates.

Finally, you need to choose - do you want to gain strength or lose weight? It's possible to do both at once, but VERY hard - so pick your battle. If you want to gain muscle, you'll need to eat a lot more, especially protein. A calorie deficit will see any protein used for energy rather than packing on muscle. Don't worry about bulking up really big - you'll need to eat like crazy for months on end for that to happen! You will also gain some fat this way, but you can then switch to dieting/cardio to reduce that.


What I really want is my belly fat to be completely gone. I want my belly to be flat. And NO love handels anymore. It looks so gross on me, even when I don't wear tight jeans, you can still see my love handels and it makes my body look out of proportion. Someone on here said my cortisol levels might be high. I think it is.

I also want more meat on my thighs and butt. Everytime I do cardio, all the fat leaves my thighs and butt and I don't like how it looks. Makes me look so skinny and sick. Especially my face looks skinny.

I started doing strength training and its been helping me with my posture, so my stomach don't stick out so much. But the fat is still there.

So yeah, I mainly just want to lose my belly fat. That is what I am more concerned about.