Current Events > I don't get it: Weight loss

(+) Yeah! (+)

I thought it was just supposed to be calories out > calories in

Then this website here is telling me: https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19538914/lose-belly-fat-two-exercises/

Diet is Critical
But that doesnt mean you should starve yourself. You just need to eat the right amount. Key to that is knowing the lowest number of calories your body needs to function properly while simply lying down and breathing. And this can be worked out with a simple math formula for basal metabolic rate. This is your starting point in your journey to drop belly fat, and fat in general.
You shouldnt be eating this amount of calories; you need more than that. If you eat too few calories, your body will limit the amount of fat it burns to insure that you, you know, dont die. That means fat loss winds up coming from eating smartly (but not too little) and generating a more high-octane metabolism. And thats where smart, targeted fat-burning exercises come in.

Which is saying I should be eating more calories then my body burns or else I won't burn belly fat

Which is the truth? Also is it better to do intermittent fasting or just eat whenever but eat little calories?

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There's some nuance but if you're not a body builder then you're not going to benefit from focusing on intermittent fasting and the like. It's also generally better to eat nutrient dense foods because you'll keep craving more if you eat nothing but one type of food, like carbs. But yes, calories in vs. calories out will ultimately dictate your weight loss.

Now, if you eat nutrient dense foods while factoring in resistance training, internal training, and cardio, you'll see the best results the fastest. It will suck, though, and the idea should be to build up habits in a way that doesn't make you relapse in less than two days.

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berlyman101 posted...

There's some nuance but if you're not a body builder then you're not going to benefit from focusing on intermittent fasting and the like. It's also generally better to eat nutrient dense foods because you'll keep craving more if you eat nothing but one type of food, like carbs. But yes, calories in vs. calories out will ultimately dictate your weight loss.

Now, if you eat nutrient dense foods while factoring in resistance training, internal training, and cardio, you'll see the best results the fastest. It will suck, though, and the idea should be to build up habits in a way that doesn't make you relapse in less than two days.

So I'll burn my fat (and belly fat) by just eating like 600-1000 calories (usually 700) a day just fine right?

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well yeah but that's practically having an eating disorder to lose weight. it won't last.

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Spot reduction is inconsistent if not impossible. You'll lose belly fat when fate seems you worthy of losing belly fat.

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I always believed that it was always calories in < calories out

But that the calories out part is pretty inconsistent between different people even if they all have the same/similar diet
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berlyman101 posted...

well yeah but that's practically having an eating disorder to lose weight. it won't last.

I'm planning on doing it along with intermittent fasting to hit my goal then I'm just going to do my basal metabolic rate to maintain it (which should be higher)

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Sexypwnstar posted...

I'm planning on doing it along with intermittent fasting to hit my goal then I'm just going to do my basal metabolic rate to maintain it (which should be higher)

seems highly dubious.

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Sexypwnstar posted...

Which is saying I should be eating more calories then my body burns or else I won't burn belly fat

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't your body eat excess fat before it starts eating away at protein for energy? I thought this was why when you see obese people start to take weight seriously, the initial "drop off" of weight is usually enormous, due to how much fat the body initially uses for energy (assuming they are eating healthy).

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For most people, eat like 500 less calories than what you need to maintain your current weight. For instance, with the exercise I do, and how much I weigh, I need about 3000 calories a day to maintain my weight. When losing weight, I eat about 2500 calories a day with the same activity level and thus lost about a pound a week.

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DoGCyN posted...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't your body eat excess fat before it starts eating away at protein for energy? I thought this was why when you see obese people start to take weight seriously, the initial "drop off" of weight is usually enormous, due to how much fat the body initially uses for energy (assuming they are eating healthy).

not really. it's water weight.

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/how-water-weight-affects-weight-loss/#:~:text=Water%20makes%20up%2060%25%20of,pounds%20because%20water%20is%20heavy.


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berlyman101 posted...

not really. it's water weight.

That's a LOT of water weight. Damn.

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DoGCyN posted...

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't your body eat excess fat before it starts eating away at protein for energy? I thought this was why when you see obese people start to take weight seriously, the initial "drop off" of weight is usually enormous, due to how much fat the body initially uses for energy (assuming they are eating healthy).

It will eat fat before protein if you're active enough to warrant the process. Otherwise, you're going to lose muscle and bone in higher proportion.

The dropoff you're talking about is related to newbie gains: Basically, because your body isn't adapted to exercise, any exercise you do will have a bigger impact. Fat people who just started cardio are going to shed like 3lbs weekly if not more.

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The biggest thing people miss from "calories in < calories out" is that a 300 calorie candy bar is the equivalent of 3 bananas. If you eat high calorie garbage you'll be hungry all the time because it's just not enough food to be full. So people try to cut calories and burn out because they're starving all the time, when what they really need to do is a gradual shift in overall diet in combination with calorie cutting so you're consuming fewer calories while ALSO eating enough to feel full.

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what everyone is trying to tell you is weight loss is futile, eat, eat, eat!!!

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s0nicfan posted...

The biggest thing people miss from "calories in < calories out" is that a 300 calorie candy bar is the equivalent of 3 bananas. If you eat high calorie garbage you'll be hungry all the time because it's just not enough food to be full. So people try to cut calories and burn out because they're starving all the time, when what they really need to do is a gradual shift in overall diet in combination with calorie cutting so you're consuming fewer calories while ALSO eating enough to feel full.

Yeah but I just have willpower and eat like a bowl of apple sauce most days which is ~400 calories or something

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Sexypwnstar posted...

So I'll burn my fat (and belly fat) by just eating like 600-1000 calories (usually 700) a day just fine right?

Sexypwnstar posted...

I'm planning on doing it along with intermittent fasting to hit my goal then I'm just going to do my basal metabolic rate to maintain it (which should be higher)

Definitely don't recommend this strategy. Trust me when I say that if you're used to eating 2000ish calories per day, then cutting that by 50% or more will not do you any favours. Your BMR is likely far above that, so you'll be putting your body in a lot of danger. This is how eating disorders develop. Plus, suddenly going into such a severe caloric deficit will pretty much set you up for a relapse.

The general rule of thumb for weight loss is to eat 80% of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE - higher than your BMR because it factors in activity level as well).

Weight loss and fitness should be treated as a long-term behaviour change. No point going for it at all if you can't sustain it for months and months. Make gradual changes over a long period to give yourself time to adjust to your new lifestyle.

Everyone thinks they'll have the willpower to change their diet cold turkey. No one does.

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Counting calories is futile if youre still eating like shit. And if you drop your calories too low, youll feel like shit. I decided to count my macros, along with calories, on my next weight loss venture. The goal for me is to maintain muscle(high protein) while cutting fat(low fat/calorie deficit). So I do a 40/30/30 ratio(MyFitnessPal keeps this for me) and just from avoiding unnecessary fats and prioritizing carbs and protein, I stay satisfied longer. I still eat close to 2k calories, but Im a gym rat so I burn that off.


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Cheese_Crackers posted...

Definitely don't recommend this strategy. Trust me when I say that if you're used to eating 2000ish calories per day, then cutting that by 50% or more will not do you any favours. Your BMR is likely far above that, so you'll be putting your body in a lot of danger. This is how eating disorders develop. Plus, suddenly going into such a severe caloric deficit will pretty much set you up for a relapse.

The general rule of thumb for weight loss is to eat 80% of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE - higher than your BMR because it factors in activity level as well).

Weight loss and fitness should be treated as a long-term behaviour change. No point going for it at all if you can't sustain it for months and months. Make gradual changes over a long period to give yourself time to adjust to your new lifestyle.

Everyone thinks they'll have the willpower to change their diet cold turkey. No one does.

I thought the whole point was to have my BMR to burn my fat for me as energy if I don't got enough?

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You need to maintain your BMR calories, but you also need to make sure the calories you ARE eating are proteins, fats and green vegetables. These have all the nutrition. Minimize the carbs as much as possible and avoid sugar at all costs. Those calories are empty and devoid of nutrition, and they will stimulate your hormones (insulin, leptin, ghrelin, etc) and keep your body imbalanced.

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Sexypwnstar posted...

I thought the whole point was to have my BMR to burn my fat for me as energy if I don't got enough?

Your BMR is the amount of calories that you would need on a totally sedentary day to survive. It's based on your age, sex, height, and weight. Your TDEE is how many calories you actually burn in a day because hardly anyone stays still all day.

Yes, you want to consume less calories than you burn in order to lose weight. But if you go too far under then you don't give your body time to adapt and you will relapse, hard.

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Well yeah just pure weight loss is about calories in < Calories out.

Body composition is about protein intake and weight lifting.

Eating more food that is more filling will help you continue to calories in < Calories out.

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Cheese_Crackers posted...

Your BMR is the amount of calories that you would need on a totally sedentary day to survive. It's based on your age, sex, height, and weight. Your TDEE is how many calories you actually burn in a day because hardly anyone stays still all day.

Yes, you want to consume less calories than you burn in order to lose weight. But if you go too far under then you don't give your body time to adapt and you will relapse, hard.

What do you mean by relapse? You mean just giving up what I've been doing and eating a bunch of junk food and like 3k calories a day? I mean I don't really think that will happen if that's the case...

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Sexypwnstar posted...

What do you mean by relapse? You mean just giving up what I've been doing and eating a bunch of junk food and like 3k calories a day? I mean I don't really think that will happen if that's the case...

Yes. Do what you want, but no one has as much willpower as they think. Not to mention that you'll probably be passing out from exhaustion if you're only eating 600-1000 calories each day.

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Stop overthinking it. I'm sure you'll also come across articles that warn you of eating "too much" protein, as if it's worse for you than eating too much carbs or fat.

I averaged 1200 calories a day for 4 months, worked out 6 days a week and lost 57 lbs. And I lost plenty of fat. Wouldn't recommend doing it that quickly unless you NEED to lose the weight fast, but anything is doable.

Don't let online articles make you overthink things. If you want to lose weight and lose fat, then workout and eat less, just keep it at 1200 calories per day minimum. Do whatever works for you.

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also, as for everything with the human body, these are all guidelines but every body reacts to things differently

the important part is learning your body and figuring out what works and what doesn't work for you

you start by following others' advice, but you should really focus on altering and adapting those methods to fit your personal needs

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It sounds like they are talking about the starvation response and fat targetting.

For one, you can't target fat loss. As you start losing weight your body pretty much decides that for you.

And don't worry about the starvation response. Yes, your metabolism will go down if you reduce your calorie intake enough. But it won't nearly be enough to offset the calorie intake reduction.

The main reason you don't want to lower your calorie consumption too much while losing weight is it becomes harder to get enough of the micro-nutrients you need.

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i've lost around 40 lbs in around 6 months

as for why, idk

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