How strict should one get with their diet to lose belly and hip fat?

Question

I am 6ft and currently weighing 83Kgs. I keep fluctuating on this weight from 82 to 85 kgs. I was 95kgs and managed to lose 13kgs with running, gym and rollerblading and skating.

I also made some diet changes like eating within 1200 calories limit.

But there are times I go for a party have some beer or some junk food. I leverage this by going to my regular workout. This has helped me to maintain my weight.

What I want to know is how strict should one be to lose belly and hip fat. I know there is nothing like spot reduction. Is it that if a person wants to lose fat he should eat clean, for like 6 to 12 months or till his belly is flat, without eating any junk food for the period of time. Do I have to give up all the bad food? Or is it that belly fat takes it time to lose?

Answer 1

As mentioned, sticking to a diet requires effort, focus, and dedication. If you want to eat some 'bad' food, eat a little less of the clean food. Maintaining the calorie deficit is most important.

I lost 18 kg (127 tot 109) with dieting and cardio in the last 8,5 weeks. And I cheated with pizza once, but on that day I still didn't eat more then 2000 calories (while being 1.93 m and weighing 112 kg at the time).
For your size and weight, you should eat around 1600 kcal daily. And what works for me—it might be bro science, but my coach swears by it—is to have one cheat day in the week where you eat the amount of calories and macros that are needed to maintain your current weight. Because as my coach explained, after multiple days of not enough calories, your body goes into starvation mode and you don't lose much fat.

The most important thing is, as also mentioned, to maintain the healthy lifestyle even after reaching your goal.

Answer 2

As you may know, at your height, 83kg is not an unreasonable weight. However fat distribution is important. Gut or visceral fat is linked to higher levels of heart disease, and should be dealt with. It will be costly to discover if you have internal fat round your vital organs, so even though outwardly slim, some individuals still carry internal fat. What is usually classed as junk food is as a rule best avoided, and a good Mediterranean diet should be followed, it is enjoyable and healthy, stick to that and moderate the booze, you can't go wrong with that. Good luck!

Answer 3

To attain any goal, it requires effort, focus and dedication. First of all, you need to cut down anything that's putting in excess of calories into your body. Eating clean is the best thing to do, but every human has temptation for what they like, so once a while it's okay, but don't get overwhelmed by junk and always stick to a limit. They day you eat more, make a point to workout a bit more.

Also, eating healthy should be a habit to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Even after you attain your goal, you'd not like to spiral down again. So, try to cultivate the habit of healthy eating and healthy living. It's not an easy thing to do, but it fetches great returns on a long run.

Answer 4

I know it's an old question, but I'm going to go against the advice in all the other answers.

I am 6ft and currently weighing 83Kgs.

Fat distribution and muscularity will make a big difference here, not so much the weight on the scale. I've been 72Kg at around both 20% and 12% body fat and didn't have a visible 6-pack on either (I started seeing some lines at 10%). My coach was around 80Kg at ~12% BF with very visible abs. We both have the same height.

...managed to lose 13kgs with running, gym and rollerblading and skating.

The more you do cardio, the less calories your body will burn for the same effort. So you'll need to do more cardio to burn more calories. How far do you think you can go to keep burning more calories?

On the other end, you can always lower your calories. The problem is: your body will also get used to have less calories, and will start burning less over time. So how low do you think you can go with calories without starving yourself and being unhealthy / miserable?

What I'd suggest instead is: focus on building muscle. More muscle requires more energy, burning more calories. So you will need to eat MORE to maintain or increase your lean body mass.

More muscle also has another benefit: you can have visible abs with a higher body fat percentage, once your abs are developed enough.

So my advice is to focus on resistance training at the gym (weight lifting) to create a muscle building stimulus that will make your body burn more calories, so you can have your junk food sparingly (I'd say 80/20, meaning eat whole foods 80% of the time).

Spread your calories during the week, so you can eat more on some days and compensate on others. Even if you get into a calorie deficit it will not going to be so extreme as 1200kCal / day. You don't need to work out more on the day you eat more, just make sure you don't exceed your weekly calories.

You should find what are your daily calorie needs or TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) using the calculators linked. From there you can figure out how much you need to eat to lose or gain weight. Eat more protein and carbs, less fat. Track what you eat for a few months so you learn to gauge how much you're eating.

It's what I learned, what I did and what I see many people I know also getting results with it.