I am currently doing 48 hour fasts and then eating until I lose my desired amount of weight. I’ve only been doing this for 2 weeks so far and have noticed some difference. Am I being impatient or maybe doing something wrong? I don’t expect much in a few weeks but my stomach fat isn’t budging whilst other areas are slimming down. (I’m 5’10 and am a size 14 in UK measurements, so I don’t have much to lose).
My belly fat was the first to come in on my body and it is the last to go. I still have some left, but not as much as before. I am skinny-fat and struggle with localized deposits of fat.
I cut out all unnecessary carbs (no sugar added to anything) and ate one meal that was a large salad before my stomach fat budged. My belly fat was related to insulin spikes.
My friend lost her belly fat easily even though she was hugely overweight. She eventually told me that she had bariatric surgery and it helped her immediately. Without knowing that information, I was pretty frustrated with my diet and fasting. So, chances are that people who lose belly fat quickly are doing other things than fasting.
For me, it was years of eating dinner late at night and falling asleep right after that due to messed up work schedules that caused my stomach fat and it was a solid year of fasting before I saw results.
have you done actual measurements? i recommend measuring yourself once every two weeks. you may not see a difference but the measuring tape won’t lie.
and yes, two weeks is too soon to notice a large difference. patience is key.
If you think about how It took years to build up your belly fat, it can take years to get it to come off without surgery. A lot of these transformations I see online where they get a flat tummy after only a few months is usually surgical
Same problem here my friend. I started with a YUGE beer gut. And after 3 months of consistently pushing it at the gym, my legs look like a quasi-athlete and my gut looks maybe 25% down.
It’s probably not a scientific way to think about it, but I imagine heavy gut fat as like the freezer in the back of the basement. Nothing gets taken out of till all the other stock runs low.
Where you lose fat is genetic. Where you first gain it is generally where you last lose it.
I have tons of stomach det and thigh fat, but my arms are skinny for example. Some people keep a nice thick as, but lose their boobs. It’s different for everyone
if you are biologically female (judging by post history, please correct me if i am mistaken), stomach fat will always be the last to go. females naturally have “permanent” fat stores on the stomach, to protect the reproductive organs. its that little pouch on the lower tummy that sort of pokes out. and because it is there to protect you, the body prioritizes weight loss in other areas BEFORE the stomach (because it doesn’t want to put your reproductive system in danger, it burns non essential fat stores first and saves the most important parts for last).
i know this is a fasting sub, but weight loss is not always the answer. if you find yourself unhappy with your stomach once you hit your goal weight, the very very ABSOLUTE best way to reduce stomach fat is to tone through weight training (no, you will not get bulky. body recomposition through strength training maintains your weight and replaces fat with muscle, making you look smaller over-all despite weighing the same).the reason for this is because having muscle not only burns fat, but also takes up less space for the same amount of weight. if you reduce your body fat percentage and replace it with toned muscle through strength training, you will see results a LOT faster than on the scale, without having to lose more weight than you are comfortable with!nobody at a healthy weight will have a flat stomach unless they have a reduced bodyfat percentage and a good amount of muscle. the dense muscle then becomes what protects your reproductive organs, so it no longer needs the fat stores on top very much. the muscle burns the fat, and the stomach becomes flatter. your body becomes more proportionate because in order to tone your stomach, you must tone your whole body rather than spot reducing.
source: i am 5’10” and had the same issue when i was around your size range, accidentally put on some muscle because i had to bike to work and back every day, and i noticed that my stomach became a lot flatter while my weight stayed the same. i ended up diving into fitness and nutrition, and studied a whole lot about how the body works which answered a lot of burning questions i’ve always had.feel free to shoot me a PM if you’re interested and would like me to share some resources that helped me a whole lot!
please don’t worry too much about stomach fat, keep in mind the stomach is the stretchiest part of the body so not only do we have to deal with “”permanent”” fat stores there, but also bloating and food weight and expansion and all kinds of silly stuff like that. your stomach will always be a little different from the rest of your body, muscle or not. please be kind to it! do not let one body part ruin how you see the body you’ve worked this hard for so far!
the term is “skinny fat”. when you are skinny but still have a chubby belly
I lost around 10kgs of skinny fat belly with power walking + consuming less than 1000 kcals a day, I’d recommend it! nowadays I fast from time to time just to keep the shape.
Going up against the mods here, apparently, but there are two obvious reasons which may apply: the first is that stress tends to lead to abdominal fat more than overall fat, and two, that anything containing sucrose (table sugar) or fructose (from fruit, but 40% of the sucrose molecule) can’t be utilised by the whole body but only the liver, and as the liver fills up with fat, it’s deposited more as visceral fat around the organs and abdomen. Bear these in mind!
You often have to lose the fat in and on your organs before you lose actual stomach fat. 2 weeks is barely any time. I’ve been doing this for a little over a month now and Ive lost 20 lbs with most not coming from the stomach. Don’t worry about the timing either and just keep up the good work. The body likes to lose weight as evenly as it can so just give it at least another couple of weeks before even thinking something like this.
Gotta keep going…often lower abdomen is the last place to go. Surprisingly enough some new research is showing that exercising the muscles in a region may increase blood flow and subsequently fat cell mobility. I’ve also noticed this in my own training and training others - so core resistance training could help.
When my hormones were different, I had different fat patterns. Example: I took domperidone for breastfeeding and it raised my prolactin, which made me gain weight specifically in my middle. Typically, I’m a pear. I stopped taking the medication and my shape changed back to pear, without losing much weight. It could be hormonally driven.
It takes about 4 lbs of fat loss to lose an inch in your stomach. 4 lbs of fat loss is only about 1/4th inch off your hips and chest. Depending on your weight, you probably lost less than 2 lbs of fat so far that you wouldn’t be able to see much of a difference.
Your genetics are the only factor that determines where your body stores fat. You can’t spot reduce it, so you just need to reduce your body fat by eating in a calorie deficit over time until you get to the body fat that reveals your stomach. God bless
The belly is the last to go.I started to lose from my shoulders, ribs, hips but the belly… It takes more time…Enjoy your progress as the gratification for your efforts and focus on your objective as it’s not a short race.
What kind of exercise are you working into your day? Most studies show that if you’re to be fasting, and 48hr is definitely that, you should be mixing in calisthenics at the very least, but resistance training shows the most effective and healthy results.
Resistance training has been shown to boost hormone production and utilizes protein more effectively. I myself (32m) have been IF for about 5 months now, usually between 14-16 hr fasts counting sleep. I have a pretty active job, and mix calisthenics into my day.
I’d start with that, but I’m sure there is much more in depth advice from others. This is purely what works for my lifestyle and body type.
Very valid question. My biggest recommendation from personal experience, and others I know - is to to only eat single ingredient foods and to completely cut out anything containing sugar or something sweet, and cutting out all grains. Eat 80% meat and animal products, and the rest can be fruits or vegetables. I personally eat fully carnivore, and have completely lost all of my extra weight and belly fat, as well I have had full body recomposition. Gained muscle and lost a lot of extra fat.
Maybe ease on the carbs. Carbs(sugar) retain water, and if you’re not burning those carbs, they turn into fat. If you really want to lose belly fat fast, try a low carb/keto diet. There is plenty of information out there my friend, good luck!
Belly fat is one of the last areas to go for most of us, I’m currently in the same boat as you. I’m about 15lbs from having a good set of abs for the first time ever at 30, I’ve tried multiple times but the difference now is that I’m a lot more patient. Just keep going
The belly you see if not all of the fat. The fat also goes deep inside your body, and it will take a long time to get rid of it. But don’t give up. It can take up to 2-3 months to see any significant progress. I, too, have a lot of belly fat, in fact, almost all of my fat is in my belly and butt. These are the two hardest places to lose, but I’m fighting to stick with the program to lose it eventually.
I would try to do a walk for 20 minutes a day, its about 2500 steps. I got a cheap pedometer from Decathlon and keep it on me at all times. I get to work early or when I have a free moment I would do a little circuit.
I record my steps each day as well as my weight on my phone in the notes. Belly fat mostly gone…give it a month.
When I was 17 I was in the best shape of my life. I didn’t exactly eat well but at a calorie deficit. I lifted and did lots of cardio including martial arts, and I was very flexible. However, I still had a noticeable gut and thought I was fatter than I was.
I imagine it will take a lot longer than you hope to lose the stomach, but be patient and stick with it. For motivation just try to concentrate on how better you feel. That’s what I try to do.
I had similar issues during my last weight loss phase, and instead of eating larger meals I broke my meals into more frequent smaller meals. My body started storing less weight in my trunk as a result. Hope this helps!
Just FYI, areas, thighs,belly,bicipe are the frist to accumulate and last to go.you can’t target which area to lose fat your body decides that.
Lastly your belly, thighs, bicipe. Will get jiggly and dragged down before losing inches
Fat lost process
1.visceral fat. ( Fats that stick to your organs) 2.Subcutaneous Fat.( Under your skin aka. the one we want to lose )
When you lose visceral fat area will be. Empty usually filled with water untill your. Body adjust to your fat lose.
Resulting in jiggly Fats, though the more obese your are the more obvious the jiggly Fats is.
Most of the incredible results you saw people posting here are the results of months or even years of fasting. Your body will have to adjust and get use to ketosis
Can’t expect your body to go into ketosis in full gear when it only have a handful of experience in ketosis. Give it time we all are ruttin for you
You should do cardio. That’s going to shed your fat pretty quickly. Although you should eat a 1000 calories diet for exercise. I don’t fast anymore, because fasting gave me gallstones and needed serious surgery because of it. My gallbladder have been removed. It was 4 weeks, until I could normally live my life, but to recover fully, 8 weeks. It’s a known issue.
The best if you just eat a low amount of food and do cardio. You could do weight lifting 2 times a week as well to retain muscle loss. Then when you lost enough weight, you could go to 3 days of full body workout a week and drop the cardio to twice per week.
When I was 120kg and dropped to 80kg. I only used a 1000 calories diet with cardio eveyrday and 4 times weight lifting. Sometimes, I needed a week off, because it was too much. But I became ripped pretty fast. Also, unfortunately after a depression episode in my life, I gained my weight back 5 years later to 110kg. Now I am at 80 again, but tried the fasting and that was a bad choice. :\ Fortunately, I am okay now and I am able to lift weights again and so on. But fasting can be dangerous. Even just an 18 hour fast my doctor said, is very dangerous. Nobody should skip meals.
You gotta pick a task or activity that calls for physical work, i lost 20 kgs while on OMAD and doing warehouse job where I am required to lift weights upto 80lbs and work for long hours. You feel exhausted doing longer shifts but I offset this feeling by offering myself a big feast meal.
You gotta drop your overall body fat, doing ab workouts will not rid the belly fat… You gotta do chinups and push ups… Just find a tree branch and a chair to do those.
I always found it was the stomach fat that seemed to slim down first during a fast. You didn’t gain the weight overnight so you cannot expect to lose it overnight. Not sure if you’ve had kids so some of that may not be fat.