how long reduce body fat realisticly

KathrynCummings1

Hi all started weight again 6 weeks ago after 10 year break. I have a bmi of 24.5 and am quite skinny looking around my neck and shoulders with weight around my hips and thighs. I am doing cardio 3-4 times a week as 20 mins a time as I dont want to lose much weigh just get rid of saggy bits and get firmer and leaner. I am doing strength training 3- 4 times a week, cant do HITT at moment as I have a medical problem called pots.cut all all processed foods and increased my protien and really reduced carbs, What would be a realsitic reduction in body fat . would like to go to about 25% . im at 34% now although people think im skinny, but obviously not to my horror im 45 and lost lots of muscle over last few years due to hypermobility and getting older

blues4miles

Are you focusing on gaining muscle or losing fat?

It's incredibly difficult to do both simultaneously, especially for an older woman (it's the testosterone you really want).

I'd recommend eating at a very slight calorie deficit and keep doing your strength training. Hopefully it is a full body progressive lifting program. Protein is also really important, at LEAST 1g per lb of lean body mass, possibly 1g per lb of total body mass. Then, with the slight calorie deficit you should very slowly lose weight, which should be mostly fat if you are weight lifting and getting adequate protein and losing slowly.

After losing some fat, you can increase calorie intake to a very slight surplus and continue your progressive lifting routine in the hope of gaining muscle.

Basically you need to cut or bulk to change your body fat. The third option is recomposition, but that can take a long long time (years).

KathrynCummings1

Hi thanks for your advice . Its hard as i want to lose the surplus fat around my bum and love handles and not really lose off my top half as Im quite bony up there with a skinny neck and bony clavicle. im a typical hourglass figure. I have too much fat lower half so want to lose that really though i know its hard to lose off spots. I didnt realise how little protein I actually eat and how much carbs until now and im reading about protein intake. I am doing full body weight sessions with cardio after or if not on alternative days. I try to work on larger muscle groups like doing the seated leg press and leg extensions etc. I do about 3 sets of ten reps so im fatigued at the tenth rep. What is recomposisiton by the way