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Question: Can you lose belly fat by just dieting and not workout?

(Posted by: Caio on 2010-03-11 11:44:31)

This is my friend's question that i couldn't give her a good answer... she has a skinny body but she has a chunky belly, and she asked me if she can lose that chunk by just dieting around 1, 000 calories of food per day compared to the average diet 2, 000 calories a day. is it possible for her to lose belly fat just eating less? say... less than 1, 000 calories or you still have to workout? bc i thought the only way to lose fat was to sweat but she has a point o the 1000 calories a day... she ain't fat so she doesn't need any exercise but her belly dont match wit her body so can somebody help me t answering her? thank you so much and please lt me kno a good diet i can give her bc i just recommended her what i do... which is drink water only and nothing else, and to eat just focus on fruits and any other food just keep the calories below 1, 000

Posted by: Armymom22 on 2010-03-11, 12:04:53

Yes she will most likely lose weight by restricting her calorie intake to only 1000 per day.. However, it is not the smartest way to do it. When you "starve " your body you automatically start taking energy from your muscles but will hold onto fat because that is our body's natural survival technique. She won't lose fat that way. Another downfall to this "crash diet " method is that she will not be able to keep it up for too long and will go back to eating the way she did before which will cause her to gain what she lost quickly and maybe gain a few extra pounds on top of what she had to begin with. It's a losing battle. The only way to lose fat is to eat a healthy, balanced diet with regular exercise. She will need to cut out all complex carbs, foods high in sugar, sodas, diet sodas, fast food and replace them with fresh veggies, fruit, lean protein, whole grains, and lots of water. 30 minutes of cardio at least 3 times a week, 2 days of strength exercises, and if she wants to really target the abdominal section then I suggest Pilates, yoga, hula hooping, or regular crunches and other ab workouts.

Posted by: Tiktaalik on 2010-03-11, 11:46:18

First, she should never eat less than 1200 calories a day no matter what diet she's on. Tell her to eat 1500 for weight loss, 1800+ for weight maintenance. Exercise won't give you a flat stomach; it'll give you abs that are covered by a layer of fat that you can only lose by taking in fewer calories than you burn, and that's much easier to do with diet than with exercise. (However, for best results, do both.) Her belly problem might be a result of water retention if she's taking in too much sodium; tell her to try cutting her sodium intake and see if that helps.

Posted by: grrrr on 2010-03-11, 11:46:48

Yes. i did it 6 years ago

Posted by: SHANNON F on 2010-03-11, 11:50:44

You can but, for the best results you should workout.

Posted by: sirjohn on 2010-03-11, 11:55:15

Belly fat is the hardest kind of fat to get rid of. In your friend's case, exercise would be her best bet. For someone who is not obese, 1000 calories a day is too low. As she exercises to get muscle tone in her abdomen, she will burn off the fat. SirJohn180

Posted by: brimh on 2010-03-11, 11:59:54

Well, she does have a point in that eating less that your body is used to you eating will result in it trying to find something to substitute the lost calories elsewhere- they would turn to the fat deposits on your body. However, each person is very different, so there's no guarantee that the fat around the stomach is what her body would go after first. I'm sure eventually it would be effective, but it could be a long time (a few months) before any noticeable changes were present. And sometimes people just have fat in places that can't be gotten rid of only through dieting- that's just the way their body works. Also keep in mind that when you suddenly drop the amount of food you're eating, your body registers this as a sign of famine/ food shortage/ food scarcity and will actually convert a higher portion of food to fat that normal in order to maintain the balance. It will eventually stop doing that but in order to avoid that I would suggest decreasing the calorie intake slowly, like over the course of a month, so the body has time to adjust. In the end, it really is best to do at least SOME exercise if your friend wishes to lose weight in that area, because then you can target the problem area specifically. I'm not saying she has to do hours of workout a day: search online for a set of abdominal exercises and just do them every day- most shouldn't take more than 30-45 minutes. This will help tone the muscle underneath the fat and pull it flat- some people have belly bulges not so much because of fat but because their abdominal muscles are loose. You can't really sweat off fat per se..at least not that I'm aware of. Sweat is salt water, not fat, and is a way of cooling down your body when it's overheated. But you can "burn fat " by doing aerobic exercises that gets your heart pumping and your body temperature up. As for food- make sure she is eating a proper balance of the food groups. Cut back on junk food, fast food, soda, and candy as much as possible, and drink lots of water.

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