Decreasing fat percentage

cnbbnc

Everyone says it takes a "long time" for women to do this, so I'm just curious as to how long "long" generally is.

If diet were spot on, strength training is there, planets are all aligned just so.... What's a ballpark timeline for say....dropping 5%? 6 months? A year?

ndj1979

assuming you are strict with logging and hitting macros/micros, and on a structured lifting program I would say four to six months is reasonable to drop about 5% body fat. This is also dependent on your starting point too..as someone with less to lose will take longer to drop 5% than someone with more to lose.

nordlead2005

If the planets are all aligned (proper protein/diet, sufficient training, not losing weight too fast) you'll lose no LBM. So, it is a simple equation of lb of fat you have to lose divided by average loss rate. If you want to go super ideal, you are actually building muscle and losing fat at the same time, but we'll ignore that scenario.

If you have enough room in your diet and weight to lose 1lb/week (i.e. you are larger, like me who will never weigh less than 170lb), then 5% might be having to lose 9-12lb, so 9-12 weeks or 2.1-2.8 months.

But I was assuming you are trying to lose weight. If you are trying to do a recomp, you might be able to build 0.25lb of muscle/week (which means you lose 0.25lb of fat/week). That will take significantly longer to achieve the results you want.

So, the timeframe can be anywhere from as little as a few months to well over 6 months.

Hornsby

If you are 40% a 5% drop could probably done in a month. If you are 20%, it could take 6 months to a year. Not enough info.

Whitezombiegirl

I dropped from 29% to 12% in 10 months according to bio-impedance scales.

jemhh

OP, to get a general idea of how much fat a 5% loss means, you can do the following:

1. Determine beginning weight - EXAMPLE: 140 lbs.
2. Determine beginning body fat percentage (a good estimate at least) - EXAMPLE: 27%
3. Multiply your beginning weight by your BF% to get your current lbs. of body fat - EXAMPLE: 140 lbs x .27 = 37.8 lbs.
4. Subtract your current pounds of body fat from your current total weight to get current lean body mass (LBM) - EXAMPLE: 140 lbs. - 37.8 lbs. = 102.2 lbs.
5. Determine your goal body fat percentage - EXAMPLE: 22%
6. Divide your current LBM by (1-goalBF) - EXAMPLE: 102.2 lbs. / (1-.22) = 102.2 lbs / .78 = 131.0 lbs.
7. Multiply your goal weight by your goal body fat percentage - EXAMPLE: 131 lbs x .22 = 28.8 lbs.
8. Determine your pounds of fat to lose by subtracting your goal pounds of fat from your goal pounds of fat - EXAMPLE: 37.8 lbs. - 28.8 lbs. = 9 lbs. of fat to lose

This assumes no LBM loss, which is extremely optimistic, but based on it you can get a general idea of how much fat you need to lose and then figure out how long it may take based on your caloric goal.

cnbbnc

nordlead2005 wrote: »

If the planets are all aligned (proper protein/diet, sufficient training, not losing weight too fast) you'll lose no LBM. So, it is a simple equation of lb of fat you have to lose divided by average loss rate. If you want to go super ideal, you are actually building muscle and losing fat at the same time, but we'll ignore that scenario.

If you have enough room in your diet and weight to lose 1lb/week (i.e. you are larger, like me who will never weigh less than 170lb), then 5% might be having to lose 9-12lb, so 9-12 weeks or 2.1-2.8 months.

But I was assuming you are trying to lose weight. If you are trying to do a recomp, you might be able to build 0.25lb of muscle/week (which means you lose 0.25lb of fat/week). That will take significantly longer to achieve the results you want.

So, the timeframe can be anywhere from as little as a few months to well over 6 months.

Right now I am still losing weight. I have no idea what my exact percentage is but my guess is somewhere between 25-30. I still have to lose another 5-10lbs before trying to recomp, but was just curious.