How long to decrease body fat percentage?

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shannonstube
shannonstube Posts: 64 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just had my body fat percentage checked for the first time, and it is higher than the recommended range for a woman. I am starting a wellness program at work where we will weigh in each week, and I am just wondering how long I should wait to check my body fat percentage again and how much I could reasonably expect to decrease it by in, say, 3 months. I'm guessing it doesn't change as quickly as your weight, but I'd like to have some kind of goal in mind.

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  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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    Body Fat will decrease with weight decrease, but so will lean body mass, to maintain as much LBM as possible add in resistance training so most of your weightloss comes from fat.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
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    adowe wrote: »
    Body Fat will decrease with weight decrease, but so will lean body mass, to maintain as much LBM as possible add in resistance training so most of your weightloss comes from fat.

    This. Also, increase your protein consumption to 1 gram per lb of lean body mass (or thereabouts.) Resistance training (ie. weight lifting) and eating protein will tell your body that you need your muscles, so it needs to use fat stores instead to make up the missing energy caused by a food deficit. If you don't do these things, then your body will use muscle along with the fat.

    You can still expect to lose a bit of muscle from eating at a deficit, but you'll keep significantly more, and lose significantly more fat, if you follow this advice.

  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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    SnuggleSmacks wrote: »
    adowe wrote: »
    Body Fat will decrease with weight decrease, but so will lean body mass, to maintain as much LBM as possible add in resistance training so most of your weightloss comes from fat.

    This. Also, increase your protein consumption to 1 gram per lb of lean body mass (or thereabouts.) Resistance training (ie. weight lifting) and eating protein will tell your body that you need your muscles, so it needs to use fat stores instead to make up the missing energy caused by a food deficit. If you don't do these things, then your body will use muscle along with the fat.

    You can still expect to lose a bit of muscle from eating at a deficit, but you'll keep significantly more, and lose significantly more fat, if you follow this advice.

    ^ Smart stuff right there. 100g protein as a minimum would be a great start (judging by Op's photo)
  • shannonstube
    shannonstube Posts: 64 Member
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    adowe wrote: »
    SnuggleSmacks wrote: »
    adowe wrote: »
    Body Fat will decrease with weight decrease, but so will lean body mass, to maintain as much LBM as possible add in resistance training so most of your weightloss comes from fat.

    This. Also, increase your protein consumption to 1 gram per lb of lean body mass (or thereabouts.) Resistance training (ie. weight lifting) and eating protein will tell your body that you need your muscles, so it needs to use fat stores instead to make up the missing energy caused by a food deficit. If you don't do these things, then your body will use muscle along with the fat.

    You can still expect to lose a bit of muscle from eating at a deficit, but you'll keep significantly more, and lose significantly more fat, if you follow this advice.

    ^ Smart stuff right there. 100g protein as a minimum would be a great start (judging by Op's photo)

    Thank you both. I did recently (in the last month) start resistance training for the first time, but I honestly have not paid much attention to my protein consumption. I am going to look back at it and see where I'm at. I'm sure I need to increase it.

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