Possible to lower BF% without calorie counting?

mymadfatdiaryy

Possible to lower BF% without calorie counting? Im too focused on numbers! I'm female, 5'7, and 130 pounds. I don't need weight loss. I just wanna lower my BF% but I feel like my fitness pal and calorie restricting is setting me up for failure. How can I lose BF%? And can I do it without logging every little calorie? I'm so much more likely to binge if I'm calorie counting because then food and planning are always on my mind.

mattywesmitchell

Well, obviously to burn fat you have to have some kind of a calorie deficit. I have no idea if you do or not but if not you need to calculate a recommended daily intake for yourself and eat a deficit of 500-1000 calories to burn fat. You could be beyond this already, I'm just making sure. As for not logging, it is possible to burn, but it isnt as stable if you don't know where your calories are at. You could be overeating every Day and not know because you don't check. If you don't want to update it all the time to keep it our of your head, perhaps you should right whatever you eat down throughout the Day or just remember it (that's what I do) and go back at the end of the Day and enter it all in and see where you stand. As for lowering BF% along with diet, I would recommend a cardio program that pushes you to the limit and maximizes calorie burning. The key to fat loss is burning more calories than you take in. I've been doing Insanity for 3 Weeks and with the correct diet, BF% drops easily. To me, there isn't another cardio program out there that can match it. So as my final message for you in your journey to burn body fat: 1. Have a calorie deficit 2. Make sure you get in all your daily recommended nutrients and vitamins 3. Push yourself in cardio training and have a recovery drink at the end of every workout (recommending Beachbody's formula or any Whey Protein!

Goodluck!
MM

pcastagner

500-1000 way too steep for a recomposition. You will wind up losing weight.

250 deficit daily on rest days, 250 over on lifting days, lift 3 times a week full body. You will gradually recomp.

anemoneprose

I'm not sure whether this might not *also* feel too depriving, but the other way to go is to limit your menu to a low carb/typical bodybuilder's diet, or follow something like Jamie Eason's plan. If it's easier to deal with following simple rules, and you can handle excluding kinds of food (eg white carbs), might be worth a try.

So that would be something like:

- 1 fist's worth of lean meat (or a few eggs), or 1/4 of your plate +

- 1/2 cup complex carb (brown rice, beans) = another 1/4 of your plate +

- 2 cups grean/leafy/fibrous veg = half your plate.

+ some whole fats (olive oil, avocado).

for each of 3 meals.

And then, before or after your workout, you'd get a protein shake in there, or else 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, to meet your 1 g/lb or .7/8g /lb requirements.

Following something like that should keep you full, & at maintenance, just because of what all those things are worth, calorie & nutrient wise.

SideSteel

Possible to lower BF% without calorie counting?

Yes.

cwolfman13

Ummmm....yeah....of course....calorie counting isn't magic...it's just making sure your numbers are where they're supposed to be.

bumblebums

It's definitely doable. Plenty of people lose fat by excluding certain foods altogether or by skipping meals or simply by eating smaller portions. Calorie counting just takes some guesswork out of the process.

mattywesmitchell

I don't know what that one guy is talking about. Lol. Losing weight is going to happen if you burn body fat but you're technically gaining it back and more by putting on lean muscle. I don't think eating 250 more calories a Day is gonna help you burn more fat lol

pcastagner

I don't know what that one guy is talking about. Lol. Losing weight is going to happen if you burn body fat but you're technically gaining it back and more by putting on lean muscle. I don't think eating 250 more calories a Day is gonna help you burn more fat lol

No. You lose weight when in a given time span your intake is less than your output. If over that same time span your input equals your output you will stay about the same weight. Your losses and gains in a recomp are too small for most to consider as "gains" and "losses". It's a slower process but possible.



Cut/bulk vs. recomp

tomcornhole

I have been re-comping for a couple of months now. Hit my target weight and wanted a lower BF%. I could have kept losing weight to get there, but I was skinny enough. I could have bulked first and then cut back to my goal BF%, but it's summer and I didn't want to bulk and gain fat. So I decided to try this re-comp thing. I eat enough to keep my weight at 185 lbs and do 5/3/1 strength training 4x a week and cardio once a week. In 3 months, I have gone from 16% to 13% BF and look much more cut and muscular. I think it's a lot slower than bulking then cutting, though.

You could try a re-comp without counting calories. Counting makes it easier to stay in the narrow window of not too much of a deficit to lose weight but not so much to gain fat. It's a tricky approach, though. And slow.

froeschli

I'd say it is possible, but it takes a great deal of self control. I don't like counting calories myself, so I've tried the "only eat when you're hungry, as much as you need not to be hungry anymore"-approach.
I do ok, but I think it would work better, if I was not so addicted to "just one more taste" :blushing:
Anyhow, exercise, preferably strength training, in addition to controlled eating should yield the right results.

pcastagner

I'd say it is possible, but it takes a great deal of self control. I don't like counting calories myself, so I've tried the "only eat when you're hungry, as much as you need not to be hungry anymore"-approach.
I do ok, but I think it would work better, if I was not so addicted to "just one more taste" :blushing:
Anyhow, exercise, preferably strength training, in addition to controlled eating should yield the right results.

There is also the opposite problem, which I have, and the reason I can't go too long without counting. I will wind up eating too little and losing muscle and strength, because I assume I'm eating too much due to a history of eating too damn much.

rybo

Yes its possible. It helps if you eat a lot of the same things everyday, & reduce the variables.