Lowering your body fat %

fShaw86

I know this is relative to your diet, body, and what your workout/training program looks like. (Also pretty sure this thread has been made before.) However, how long would it take for someone to drop 1% of body fat? I have roughly 8% to lose to get to an ideal.

5'1", weigh around 123 lbs, body fat 32%. Cardio 6x/strength train 3x week. Trying to eat "clean" and stuff. Thank you

edit: lol forgot to put in my body fat %

elainemorris1982

I lost 1% in 15 days. Today is day 15 and just finished my weight and measurements . I have 5% more to go

fShaw86

Wow however did you do that? Way to go, so much awesomeness! Are you on P90X or Insanity?

I lost only 1.5% in 2 months. Not too impressive! :ohwell:

refuseresist

From what I have read, eat at a deficit, up your protein and lift heavy weights seems to be the general advice

ladytinkerbell99

You both ROCK!! I mean that. I have lost weight and yet my BF% does not move.
I tend to get so sad at times.

Due to injuries I cannot do too much strength training - so I am a cardio bunny!!
I keep trying with the weights. One day at a time.

Thank you so much for posting. You both give me hope.

Have a great weekend.:flowerforyou:

elainemorris1982

I'm only started but I haven't eaten any take aways or fizzy drinks in the 15 days. My treat an odd day will be some chocolate. I also don't drink alcohol. I am only able to walk for exercise as I'm just over surgery but upping it each day and will start lifting light weights next week

fShaw86

^Wow good job! I'm gonna find it tricky to not eat the occasional junk, gotta do it though! Also, lol I'm a teetotaler

You both ROCK!! I mean that. I have lost weight and yet my BF% does not move.
I tend to get so sad at times.

Due to injuries I cannot do too much strength training - so I am a cardio bunny!!
I keep trying with the weights. One day at a time.

Thank you so much for posting. You both give me hope.

Have a great weekend.

You are so sweet! Thank you for the encouragement! I feel like it's going really slow, so totally gonna up those workouts and be really dedicated about what I eat!

@refuseresist, I'll try eating at a deficit, I'm sure that'll work lol

TavistockToad

You both ROCK!! I mean that. I have lost weight and yet my BF% does not move.
I tend to get so sad at times.

Due to injuries I cannot do too much strength training - so I am a cardio bunny!!
I keep trying with the weights. One day at a time.

Thank you so much for posting. You both give me hope.

Have a great weekend.:flowerforyou:

being a cardio bunny is what is keeping your BF% high

TavistockToad

eat at a deficit, up your protein and lift heavy weights

correct

55in13

One thing to keep in mind is that the early quick loss a lot of us experience is largely water, so if you get a BF% done before starting a diet it will probably be lower than a reading you would get after losing your first 5 pounds. All the studies I have seen show the vast majority of weight lost is fat if you have fat stores available (like over 20%). Maybe yarwell will come along and post that graph he has from some studies or you could search his posts to find it. Anyway, if you are overweight the answer is simple - eat at a deficit, lose weight and you will lower your BF%.

yarwell

5'1", weigh around 123 lbs, body fat 32%.

If you lose 1 lb/week for 3 weeks that would be around 1% off the body fat number.

spetermann190

From what I have read, eat at a deficit, up your protein and lift heavy weights seems to be the general advice

This is what I am trying ... Unfortunately the first 7-8% much easier for me to lose them the last 2-3% ... But then I am having difficulty giving up my vices (mostly beer) to get to my goal ... Everything has a price ... Just not willing to pay it ... Yet

55in13

being a cardio bunny is what is keeping your BF% high

I strongly disagree. I dropped my BF% from over 35% to under 24% doing nothing but cardio and dieting. If you said you need more than cardio to get it really low then I might agree. But cardio will not keep it high.

TavistockToad

This is what I am trying ... Unfortunately the first 7-8% much easier for me to lose them the last 2-3% ... But then I am having difficulty giving up my vices (mostly beer) to get to my goal ... Everything has a price ... Just not willing to pay it ... Yet

i agree! i like cake and wine too much to get the amount of definition i want on my stomach.... plus i was starting to get more wrinkly as my face got more lean... :sad:

Francl27

I lost 8% in 3.5 months but I'm at 32% now so I know it's going to be harder. I mostly lift weights (les mills pump) twice a week, and walk for an hour the other days, and try to eat 110g of protein a day (emphasis on try lol).

neanderthin

being a cardio bunny is what is keeping your BF% high

I strongly disagree. I dropped my BF% from over 35% to under 24% doing nothing but cardio and dieting. If you said you need more than cardio to get it really low then I might agree. But cardio will not keep it high.

Weight loss always lowers body fat, but utilizing weight resistance maintains more LBM than cardio alone.......but yeah you can lower your body fat just sitting on the couch all day.

TavistockToad

being a cardio bunny is what is keeping your BF% high

I strongly disagree. I dropped my BF% from over 35% to under 24% doing nothing but cardio and dieting. If you said you need more than cardio to get it really low then I might agree. But cardio will not keep it high.

Weight loss always lowers body fat, but utilizing weight resistance maintains more LBM than cardio alone.......but yeah you can lower your body fat just sitting on the couch all day.

thats what i meant!

lin7604

This is what I am trying ... Unfortunately the first 7-8% much easier for me to lose them the last 2-3% ... But then I am having difficulty giving up my vices (mostly beer) to get to my goal ... Everything has a price ... Just not willing to pay it ... Yet

i agree! i like cake and wine too much to get the amount of definition i want on my stomach.... plus i was starting to get more wrinkly as my face got more lean... :sad:

good to know it's just not me! i noticed too the more lean i got the more i noticed wrinkles in my face!

are u sure your bf% is correct, that seems high for you height and weight. i am 5.2 ft and when i was 122-125lbs i was about 24-25% i know everyone is different but i wasn't even that high when i was 142 lbs... go on fat2fit to get a rough estimate, use the military calculator...

my weight and bf has come off very very slow, so don't think you are alone. it's frustrating. i am pretty much at a goal weight, well where my body seems to like to stay at. so i am working on the last few % f bf to come off... i think you may want to decrease your cardio to maybe 3 days a week.

bunbunzee44

mine dropped from 34% to 30.5% in two and half months, I joined the gym and I go there 2-3 times a week I don't do a lot of cardio..

55in13

being a cardio bunny is what is keeping your BF% high

I strongly disagree. I dropped my BF% from over 35% to under 24% doing nothing but cardio and dieting. If you said you need more than cardio to get it really low then I might agree. But cardio will not keep it high.

Weight loss always lowers body fat, but utilizing weight resistance maintains more LBM than cardio alone.......but yeah you can lower your body fat just sitting on the couch all day.

thats what i meant!

According to my calculations, about 38 pounds of 50 lost was fat. I am not sure how you decide what the split is between water and LBM for the rest of it. Anyway, my loss with just cardio was over 75% fat. I think that most people will mostly lose fat if they have it. A pound of fat will provide 3500 calories; a pound of muscle just 600.

I am also doing a lot of resistance work as I get closer to goal because I want to reshape my upper body a bit.

fyeter

I have always exercised regularly fro years but never could get that 6 pack definition. 6 weeks ago I started 169 lbs. 4 weeks ago I was 167.5 lbs and body fat 16%. Yesterday was 6 weeks since I started counting my calories, targeted creating 400- 500 cal/day deficit (daily goal is 1600 cal net). Distributing these 1600 cal/day by 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, 20% fat.
Lifting weights and doing cardio total of 90 min/day for 3 days a week. I have been recording everything I eat...after doing all these, I got measured yesterday:

Dropped from 169 lbs to 163.5 lbs (In 6 weeks)
Dropped from 16% body fat to 12% (In 4 weeks)
My goal is to drop down to 9% so I can see my 6 packs:)) I know the last 3% will be much tougher now, but I have the nutrition and exercise data that I have been recording, so I can look at it and do some modifications as I go....

tomcornhole

Eat at a caloric deficit to lose weight. Lift weights to ensure that all that weight lost is fat and not muscle. Then it is simple math.

123 lbs at 32% BF = 39.4 lbs of fat and 83.6 lbs LBM. If you want to drop your BF% to 30%, you will need to lose 3.6 lbs of fat while maintaining your LBM at 83.6 lbs. 25% BF = 14.5 lbs of fat loss. But your weight will be down to 111.5 lbs. not sure if that is too low or not.

If you don't strength train while cutting, you may lose fat and muscle and that won't change your BF% much.

55in13

If you don't strength train while cutting, you may lose fat and muscle and that won't change your BF% much.

You need to read my previous reply. I lost over 75% fat while losing 50 pounds with no strength training. I agree that it will be helpful in getting below 20% and I need to do it to shape my body better. But cardio is effective for overweight people to lower BF%. Could I have gotten more doing resistance? Maybe, I don't know. But I don't think people should be made to feel they can't lower BF% effectively with cardio.

tomcornhole

Not arguing with the efficacy of cardio for weight loss. I use it and I think it works. I am arguing that adding strength training to a weight loss program should help preserve muscle mass while losing weight. What would you look like now had you lost 50 lbs of fat and kept all your muscle? It's going to be really hard to replace that 12 lbs of muscle you lost.

My weight loss was 70 lbs and that was all fat. I believe it's because I did strength training throughout the cut. I started with 158 lbs of LBM and I currently have 158 lbs of LBM. If I had gone cardio only, based on your data, I might expect to have lost 17.5 lbs of muscle and 52.5 lbs of fat. Instead of being at 15.6% BF right now, I would be at 24% BF.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Tom

55in13

Not arguing with the efficacy of cardio for weight loss. I use it and I think it works. I am arguing that adding strength training to a weight loss program should help preserve muscle mass while losing weight. What would you look like now had you lost 50 lbs of fat and kept all your muscle? It's going to be really hard to replace that 12 lbs of muscle you lost.

My weight loss was 70 lbs and that was all fat. I believe it's because I did strength training throughout the cut. I started with 158 lbs of LBM and I currently have 158 lbs of LBM. If I had gone cardio only, based on your data, I might expect to have lost 17.5 lbs of muscle and 52.5 lbs of fat. Instead of being at 15.6% BF right now, I would be at 24% BF.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Tom

I am not sure that all LBM loss is muscle, but yeah, I am a little disappointed at the pecs and abs I found buried under the fat. Only a little; I am in pretty good shape, but I remember them being better defined before. I didn't know it was possible to retain 100% of LBM. I thought 80% was the high water mark, so I felt pretty good about the 75%. I am hitting the gym now to get it back. I still feel like I am better off just because running was something I was able to do regularly and consistently. I enjoy it. I have to drag myself to the gym. It's a different strokes thing, though in this case it seems there is an advantage to strength training.

giveMEbeauty

Bump

FP4HSharon

I keep the weight loss/body fat % records for our moderate sized weight loss group. What I usually see as an average for every 2 lbs you lose, you lose about 1% body fat. That said, the lower you go on body fat %, the harder it becomes to get any lower, & the more exercise you need to do to build the muscles & decrease body fat.

funforsports

This depends on a lot of variables. One, it sounds like you are mainly doing cardio and no lifting. I also am going to assume you are not on a high protein diet encouraging the retention of your current muscle mass. Therefore as you drop weight, approximately 30% of it will be muscle. Just off pure estimates, if you lost 2 lbs, you would lose 1% bf. Of the 2 lbs lost you would lose approximately 1.5 lbs of fat and 0.5 lbs of muscle.

lin7604

Eat at a caloric deficit to lose weight. Lift weights to ensure that all that weight lost is fat and not muscle. Then it is simple math.

123 lbs at 32% BF = 39.4 lbs of fat and 83.6 lbs LBM. If you want to drop your BF% to 30%, you will need to lose 3.6 lbs of fat while maintaining your LBM at 83.6 lbs. 25% BF = 14.5 lbs of fat loss. But your weight will be down to 111.5 lbs. not sure if that is too low or not.

If you don't strength train while cutting, you may lose fat and muscle and that won't change your BF% much.

i'm confused why does the weight have to be so low just to get the body fat down? I was told the same thing. I am 5.2 ft and 118 lbs and approx around 23% bf and i want to be around 20-21% max. i was told i would have to be 110 lbs to get that. I know someone who had lower body fat but was at a good weight, so i am confused as what to do and how to get my body fat lower b/c i really don't desire to be 110 lbs if i don't have to.

tomcornhole

That's the nature of BF%. It is just a ratio of fat weight to total weight. Since it is a ratio, you can choose to control the numerator (fat weight) or the denominator (total weight). So, if you want to reduce BF%, you can lose fat or add muscle. Or both.

Losing fat reduces the numerator and denominator and thus reduces the % BF. This works well until you get too skinny. I was well on my way to 10% BF but had to stop losing weight because I was starting to look like a prisoner of war. So I went after the total weight part of the equation. I decided to maintain my total weight and try to replace some of the fat with muscle. I did this by starting to strength train. Turns out, that has worked well. I have maintained 185 lbs but managed to lose 6 lbs of fat and add 6 lbs of muscle. That reduced my BF% from 15.6% to 11.5%. And my total weight didn't change. This is your best bet when you get to a good goal weight and want to reduce BF%. It isn't easy to do, though. Cardio won't get you there. You have to move heavy things.

Tom

cingle87

Eat at a caloric deficit to lose weight. Lift weights to ensure that all that weight lost is fat and not muscle. Then it is simple math.

123 lbs at 32% BF = 39.4 lbs of fat and 83.6 lbs LBM. If you want to drop your BF% to 30%, you will need to lose 3.6 lbs of fat while maintaining your LBM at 83.6 lbs. 25% BF = 14.5 lbs of fat loss. But your weight will be down to 111.5 lbs. not sure if that is too low or not.

If you don't strength train while cutting, you may lose fat and muscle and that won't change your BF% much.

i'm confused why does the weight have to be so low just to get the body fat down? I was told the same thing. I am 5.2 ft and 118 lbs and approx around 23% bf and i want to be around 20-21% max. i was told i would have to be 110 lbs to get that. I know someone who had lower body fat but was at a good weight, so i am confused as what to do and how to get my body fat lower b/c i really don't desire to be 110 lbs if i don't have to.

Unfortunaly everybody is different so what might be true for one person might be the oposite for another.