Lowering your body fat %

Options
2»

Replies

  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    Options
    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
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    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
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    Options
    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
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Options
    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
    giveMEbeauty Posts: 192
    Options
    Bump
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
    Options
    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
    funforsports Posts: 2,656 Member
    Options
    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
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
    Options
    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
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    Options
    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
    cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
    Options
    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.
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
    Options
    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.

    Weight needs to be evaluated at whatever your body fat percentage is. You can do a rough estimate of weight at a future lower body fat percentage, but it's only an estimate. For example, when my body fat percentage is dropping, my weight continues to drop, but once I hit a certain body fat percentage, my weight goes up w/muscle. For example, when I was at 15% body fat, I weighed 118.5, but when I dropped to 14% I actually weighed 124. Once you get to a certain point on your weight, then the body fat percentage is a much better way to evaluate your progress.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
    Options
    wow so confusing to me... ugh,... i was doing mostly cardio before with the odd weight when i was doing programs like 30ds, rin30, etc... I was told by so many that like you have said, i needed to lift more or heavier.. So i got clx ( chalean extreme) some don't call this strength training/ lifting but to me it sure is as i am lifting heavier then i have ever in my life. I feel great and stronger then i have ever been but the body fat just isn't coming off like i thought it was going to or as fast as i thought. it's a 4 month program and i have 1.5 months left and i thought i would of seen better results then i have so far :( i am going to finish the program and then see where i am... I take pics every 30 days and i don't see much of a difference. I have managed to maintain my weight, which is great as i am at a healthy weight.. sure i could go a bit lower but i don't care.... I see more definition but still nothing to get excited over... My measurements have stayed the same and i find the little body fat tester you can buy i never get it in the same spot twice so i don't know if i really have lost body fat or not, but i would assume i should be able to see that in my pics... shouldn't i...
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Options
    wow so confusing to me... ugh,... i was doing mostly cardio before with the odd weight when i was doing programs like 30ds, rin30, etc... I was told by so many that like you have said, i needed to lift more or heavier.. So i got clx ( chalean extreme) some don't call this strength training/ lifting but to me it sure is as i am lifting heavier then i have ever in my life. I feel great and stronger then i have ever been but the body fat just isn't coming off like i thought it was going to or as fast as i thought. it's a 4 month program and i have 1.5 months left and i thought i would of seen better results then i have so far :( i am going to finish the program and then see where i am... I take pics every 30 days and i don't see much of a difference. I have managed to maintain my weight, which is great as i am at a healthy weight.. sure i could go a bit lower but i don't care.... I see more definition but still nothing to get excited over... My measurements have stayed the same and i find the little body fat tester you can buy i never get it in the same spot twice so i don't know if i really have lost body fat or not, but i would assume i should be able to see that in my pics... shouldn't i...

    how much of a deficit are you eating at? do you weigh and measure everything? do you have cheat days?
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
    Options
    i do weigh and measure and LOG everything! I don't do cheat days i have a small treat daily to keep myself in check, so it may just be a granola bar, or a cookie, or what ever, just something i can put in my snack listing. I am eating a 10 % deficit, sometimes 15% max. my tdee is around 1800 so i eat around 1600
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Options
    i do weigh and measure and LOG everything! I don't do cheat days i have a small treat daily to keep myself in check, so it may just be a granola bar, or a cookie, or what ever, just something i can put in my snack listing. I am eating a 10 % deficit, sometimes 15% max. my tdee is around 1800 so i eat around 1600

    i dont know the chalen extreme workout (or how tall, how much you weigh), but 1800 cals seems fairly low if you are exercising regularly?
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
    Options
    chalean is a beachbody program that has you lifting " as heavy as you can" 3 days a week, 1 hiit session a week and one endurance training a week. so it's 5 days a week total, 2 rest days. i am only 5.2 ft and 117-118 lbs. my tdee i figured out on scoobies website. i went in between lightly active and active. I really don't think i am completely active as i don't do any other form of exercise besides the program. I have maintained my weight since Jan, which is great i figured out how many cals i need to eat to do that but i still want to lower my body fat. i'm approx around 23% and want to be 20-21 %...

Categories