Maintain weight - lose body fat

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abs1970
abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Yesterday I asked how to hit my calorie target (which I'm consistently under). Today, I'm curious to know whether 1750 sounds right for a female, 5ft2, 49kg, 20.58% body fat . Happy with weight but just want to lose a little more fat. :)
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  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Age and activity level will have some bearing on how many cals you need. Your fat level is healthy enough if you are young, but I am guessing you want to look leaner? (Personally, I think your profile pic shows that you already look great. :) )
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Now that you have a new picture wow I personally think you are a lot leaner than 20%. Where do you carry fat that you want to lose? Keep in mind the leaner you are the more stubborn it can be to lose the last of the fat. Also I found that recomping while I was very lean didn't really get me anywhere.
  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    I'm 46 and in my best shape ever but always room for improvement.:)
  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    @sardelsa I took that pic last weekend, so it's kinda how I look now! My body fat was measured last week. My main areas are thighs and backs of arms (classic places for females I'm told). Also, a teeny wobbly bit round my back which apparently is stress related - that's where cortisol sits!
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Yea women tend to carry fat on the legs and thighs.. and it is frustrating.. I will start losing muscle before the fat can leave there..grr. The only thing that worked for me was to build more muscle in those areas so when I cut the definition shows first.

    But recomping may work for you and I would try that first. Just have to be patient and consistent.

    In terms of your cals I say stick with it for a few weeks and see what your weight does, try taking daily weigh ins and use a trend app (Happy scale, Libra, etc) to see what is going on without getting freaked out with fluctuations (if you aren't already). You are very active right so that amount of cals is probably needed to fuel your workouts.
  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    Thank you so much for your great advice @sardelsa. My only problem is a serious lack of patience - I train hard and have a consistently clean and healthy diet, but want results NOW :) I've actually stopped weighing myself daily as I thought it was maybe too often. But I'll now stop stressing about not reaching my calories every day.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Oh I hear you about the lack of patience. I had to put it aside for the greater good.. I am just getting out of an 8 month bulk and now I am on to cutting soon.. so it will be almost a year by the time I finish this cycle.. but that's ok it's all about the journey not the destination (as cheeseball as that sounds!! :D ). Good luck!! And ps. You do look fantastic so keep doing what you are doing ;)
  • gen39
    gen39 Posts: 36 Member
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    Track your bodyweight daily for two weeks, as well as your calorie intake. From that information you can calculate your true TDEE, rather than relying on online calculators, which just give ballpark figures.

    If you train and eat at maintenance calories, you can lose body fat and gain muscle (called a recomposition). But this is a very slow process and really only possible for beginners. After some time you will need to look to bulking / cutting phases to improve body composition.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
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    gen39 wrote: »
    Track your bodyweight daily for two weeks, as well as your calorie intake. From that information you can calculate your true TDEE, rather than relying on online calculators, which just give ballpark figures.

    If you train and eat at maintenance calories, you can lose body fat and gain muscle (called a recomposition). But this is a very slow process and really only possible for beginners. After some time you will need to look to bulking / cutting phases to improve body composition.

    why is a recomp only for beginners?
  • brettr23
    brettr23 Posts: 115 Member
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    1750 may or may not cause the loss your looking for..I didn't calculate but guessing your maintenance cant be more then 1950 so start there and adjust cals according to feel and loss...that's all anyone can ever do. My maintenance is 3173 I started at 2900 didn't see much change...dropped to 2500 and started losing too fast..found my sweet spot currently at 2700
  • projectalice13
    projectalice13 Posts: 11 Member
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    Can I join this thread? I like my weight where it is but I'm in the boat of wanting to tone and shape what I've got. I'm terrible with nutrition goals but the more I watch other people making theirs the more it spurs me to try.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    abs1970 wrote: »
    Yesterday I asked how to hit my calorie target (which I'm consistently under). Today, I'm curious to know whether 1750 sounds right for a female, 5ft2, 49kg, 20.58% body fat . Happy with weight but just want to lose a little more fat. :)

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    Just worked out my TDEE which is around 2,000. If I'm eating way less than this, I'm guessing I won't build muscle let alone lose body fat! Does anyone know if this sounds correct?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited April 2017
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    gen39 wrote: »
    If you train and eat at maintenance calories, you can lose body fat and gain muscle (called a recomposition). But this is a very slow process and really only possible for beginners. After some time you will need to look to bulking / cutting phases to improve body composition.

    @gen39
    Sorry but this is very inaccurate, I've been training since the early 1970's and recomp still works.
    It's slow for me now as I'm near my training peak and I'm old and a bit broken (!) but it's definitely not slow for everyone.
    Very few people actually need to do bulk/cut cycles. It's goal dependant and also personal preference.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    abs1970 wrote: »
    Just worked out my TDEE which is around 2,000. If I'm eating way less than this, I'm guessing I won't build muscle let alone lose body fat! Does anyone know if this sounds correct?

    Did you work out your average TDEE from your own data? That's generally best if you have been logging consistently as it then adjusts for your logging inaccuracies.
    In the trial and error will tell you your true calorie balance over time.

  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    @sijomial I worked it out on a website that someone gave me. I know, not the most accurate. Is there a better way to work it out?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    abs1970 wrote: »
    @sijomial I worked it out on a website that someone gave me. I know, not the most accurate. Is there a better way to work it out?

    Look back over your last 4 weeks of logging - add up all your calories eaten, add 3,500 for any lbs of weight lost in that time and then divide the total by 28.
    That's your effective average TDEE and gives you a good start point to make any minor tweaks over the coming weeks.
  • Dazzler21
    Dazzler21 Posts: 1,249 Member
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    You seem to be smashing it as you are, your current calorie goal seems fine as you are exercising.

    5ft2"
    49kg
    Age 46
    Female

    Based on the above stats,
    Your actual BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate is 1200. This does not account for muscle mass and therefore can easily be increased by up to 500 (especially with exercise).


  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    @sijomial sounds like a task..... will give it a try later. Thanks for the help.
  • abs1970
    abs1970 Posts: 235 Member
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    @dazzler21 Thanks for this - I've tried working out my BMR loads of times but just get more and more confused!! Time for me to stop worrying that I'm under my calories.

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