I am around 5"7 and 157lbs and need to lose weight to have optimal BF levels.
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karrysalexi
Posts: 62 Member
Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
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Replies
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What is your current body fat %? What is your fitness / training history? 5'7" 157lbs should show muscle (I am 5'7" 165lbs and have visible muscle, I would say I am 15% regularly, though post workout I look like 13%.
There are a couple possibilities:- You do not have sufficient muscle mass - even if you lose weight, you will still not be where you want to be aesthetically. AKA skinny-fat. Solution: have a good routine with compound and isolation lifts, cut and bulk as needed
- You are fine, just stalling on your weight loss. Are you tracking everything you eat? Your eating habits sound unhealthy and random. Solution: Calculate your TDEE and track calories religiously. Eat at maintenance for a few weeks, then go at TDEE-500 calories to lose 1lb per week. Anything faster than that and you lose your muscles, your motivation, and feel like crap all the time
I'd love to give you more advice but I need more information.
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What's your strength training regimen?0
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So you've lost about 18 lbs so far. Have you recalculated your goals? Are you logging accurately and regularly? Are you measuring your food? Are you weighing yourself often and looking at trends?
Just a few things to help, but it just sounds like a plateau.1 -
karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?1 -
Something doesn't add up.
I'm 5'8" 172# w/20% BF and I look lean (but not skinny) at this weight. A couple of years ago, I dropped down to 158# w/12% BF. I was strong relative to my weight at 158 (I could squat 205 and DL 275) but I looked really skinny. Couldn't maintain that weight w/o being really obsessive about food. 170-175 was/is a much better weight 4 me.
Being at 157 already, losing more fat and weight doesn't seem like the answer for you (the OP) . Seems to me that you need to get on a program to increase LBM, muscle and strength, which would involve an initial cycle of lifting to increase strength & muscle while bulking to get up to around 190-200 and then cutting back to 170-175 to lose the accumulated fat while retaining most of the LBM & muscle gained while bulking. If you don't like, the way you look when you get back to 170-175 after cutting, you can always cut further to 160-165 but I doubt you'd have to cut back farther than that.
FWIW, this is pretty much what I've done over the years (more by accident than by plan) to get where I am with reasonable success.
Good luck!
PS: Check out the Gaining Weight subforum for additional ideas and suggestions.0 -
Something doesn't add up.
I'm 5'8" 172# w/20% BF and I look lean (but not skinny) at this weight. A couple of years ago, I dropped down to 158# w/12% BF. I was strong relative to my weight at 158 (I could squat 205 and DL 275) but I looked really skinny. Couldn't maintain that weight w/o being really obsessive about food. 170-175 was/is a much better weight 4 me.
Being at 157 already, losing more fat and weight doesn't seem like the answer for you (the OP) . Seems to me that you need to get on a program to increase LBM, muscle and strength, which would involve an initial cycle of lifting to increase strength & muscle while bulking to get up to around 190-200 and then cutting back to 170-175 to lose the accumulated fat while retaining most of the LBM & muscle gained while bulking. If you don't like, the way you look when you get back to 170-175 after cutting, you can always cut further to 160-165 but I doubt you'd have to cut back farther than that.
FWIW, this is pretty much what I've done over the years (more by accident than by plan) to get where I am with reasonable success.
Good luck!
PS: Check out the Gaining Weight subforum for additional ideas and suggestions.
I can't get to 200lbs without getting a horrible amount of body fat. Update: my stomach is flat and my lifts are slowly increasing, but I've just started progressively overloading.0 -
karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?
I am slowly starting to lift within the 6-7 rep range on my compound lifts.0 -
GauchoMark wrote: »So you've lost about 18 lbs so far. Have you recalculated your goals? Are you logging accurately and regularly? Are you measuring your food? Are you weighing yourself often and looking at trends?
Just a few things to help, but it just sounds like a plateau.
I may stop using the mirror to be honest. I want to get stronger and have a relatively acceptable amount of body fat.0 -
HamsterManV2 wrote: »What is your current body fat %? What is your fitness / training history? 5'7" 157lbs should show muscle (I am 5'7" 165lbs and have visible muscle, I would say I am 15% regularly, though post workout I look like 13%.
There are a couple possibilities:- You do not have sufficient muscle mass - even if you lose weight, you will still not be where you want to be aesthetically. AKA skinny-fat. Solution: have a good routine with compound and isolation lifts, cut and bulk as needed
- You are fine, just stalling on your weight loss. Are you tracking everything you eat? Your eating habits sound unhealthy and random. Solution: Calculate your TDEE and track calories religiously. Eat at maintenance for a few weeks, then go at TDEE-500 calories to lose 1lb per week. Anything faster than that and you lose your muscles, your motivation, and feel like crap all the time
I'd love to give you more advice but I need more information.
It would be impossible to tell you what body fat I am right now because I have no means of measuring. I would say I am around 20% but my stomach does pop out a little and no visible abs. My training regiments is fairly simple and not too complex. I do one compound lift usually heavy followed by some isometrics.0 -
karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
You lost me at the bolded. I was in the best shape of my life at 5'6" 172 with a BF% in the 11-13 range. I actually gained about 8lbs over a 12month recomp to get to the 170-173 range.
Keep on a progressive lifting regimine, cardio if you like it, watch your deficit (don't go too steep) and worry more about the mirror / tape measure than the scale. You don't need to lose "weight" to have optimal BF%, you need to lose fat to have optimal BF%. Losing overall weight vs lowering your BF% can really be two different things.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p10 -
karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
You lost me at the bolded. I was in the best shape of my life at 5'6" 172 with a BF% in the 11-13 range. I actually gained about 8lbs over a 12month recomp to get to the 170-173 range.
Keep on a progressive lifting regimine, cardio if you like it, watch your deficit (don't go too steep) and worry more about the mirror / tape measure than the scale. You don't need to lose "weight" to have optimal BF%, you need to lose fat to have optimal BF%. Losing overall weight vs lowering your BF% can really be two different things.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
Yeah you might be right. It was very hard to maintain my weight at around 170. I'm now 158lbs and my body fat has gone down a bit. Ive adjusted my goals for myself. Now I am aiming for 145lbs with about 10% body fat. I'm going to attain this by lifting heavy and consuming lots of protein but having a colorie deficit in my diary.0 -
MegsieFighter wrote: »Try eat more regularly, 5-6 small portions per day instead of 3 meals. You may start to see the effects of sluggish metabolism if you eat only 3 tpd.
eating more meals wont make a difference in metabolism.thats old bro science. lots of people here eat 3 times a day,some less than that and have no issues with their metabolism.OP(karrysalexi) if you are in a true deficit you will lose fat and weight,your body doesnt store it unless you eat over maintenance calories then you start to gain weight and fat.2 -
you also need to log your foods and should not be eating less than 1500 since you are a male(unless under the care of a dr)0
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karrysalexi wrote: »karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
As the great goblin Yoda says "do or do not, there is no try"
Log your calories by weight
And what's your progressive training?
I am slowly starting to lift within the 6-7 rep range on my compound lifts.
Which lifts, how many sets, what weight increase or adaptation and how often per week?
Do you not think it would be better to get a tested programme that has built in progression?
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karrysalexi wrote: »GauchoMark wrote: »So you've lost about 18 lbs so far. Have you recalculated your goals? Are you logging accurately and regularly? Are you measuring your food? Are you weighing yourself often and looking at trends?
Just a few things to help, but it just sounds like a plateau.
I may stop using the mirror to be honest. I want to get stronger and have a relatively acceptable amount of body fat.
That is the worst idea. You should use the mirror and scale. Do not use strength to justify getting fat unless you are a competitive powerlifter. You WILL regret it!0 -
karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
I think you have to get focused. Please don't listen to advice of any particular number of meals or get lost in magical thinking. You are just confusing yourself, trying all sorts of things, never sticking to anything, spinning your wheels, seeing poor results. Just eat enough but not too little (follow MFPs setup and adjust if needed), and log accurately, and do both consistently. To build muscle, you have to push yourself, and then rest, and do that consistently, too.1 -
kommodevaran wrote: »karrysalexi wrote: »Hello everyone. My name is Alex. Over a year ago I was 175lbs and thought I looked great but soon learned that 5"7 and 175lbs isn't logical or acceptable. I had a big gut, and decent strength gains. However I want to obtain a leaner more dense look instead of a flabby, fat look. I have been trying to eat less for quite some time but to no avail. I hover around 157lbs now even with only eating a meal a day sometimes. I'm not sure if it's the body storing fat but I will eat 3 meals a day and not lose or gain anything. I'm at a stalemate and need help. Advice is appreciated thanks!
I think you have to get focused. Please don't listen to advice of any particular number of meals or get lost in magical thinking. You are just confusing yourself, trying all sorts of things, never sticking to anything, spinning your wheels, seeing poor results. Just eat enough but not too little (follow MFPs setup and adjust if needed), and log accurately, and do both consistently. To build muscle, you have to push yourself, and then rest, and do that consistently, too.
And not have high bodyfat!0
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