How do I lose body fat?

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kdkdkdmmds
kdkdkdmmds Posts: 1 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
How do I lose fat? I’m female , 5’6 , 130 pounds and have a body fat % of 21. My best time is 20 mins for the 5K. I hold my fat in my lower stomach and thighs the most. I have a kitchen scale and an activity tracker, and my activity tracker tells me that I burn 2000-3000 calories per day ( that’s bmr and exercise). I mostly run with very little strength training as I’m training for a marathon. My diet is balanced with no restrictions on any food groups and I do tend to watch my calories ; eating 2000-2400 per day ( at the moment )

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    Track calories, average it over a week for a few weeks, and if you don't lose weight in that time frame, cut 10-20%.
  • mreichard
    mreichard Posts: 235 Member
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    How old are you? How are your macros? Given the marathon training you might not have a lot of flexibility in terms of your training, but you probably want to make sure you are getting plenty of protein. I think that if protein comes at the expense of carbs it might make your training runs a bit harder, but I’m not sure - when I was running a lot I always got a lot of carbs.

    Long term you may want to switch the balance more toward strength training. My body fat level now that I’m 100% strength training is regularly at a level that would have been tough to reach when I was running 60 MPW — as counter intuitive as that may sound.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    edited July 2019
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    You lose fat by eating fewer calories than you burn. A simple concept that is often difficult to implement.

    I'm assuming you're using a training plan for the marathon? With most plans, in the last 8-10 weeks of training before the race, it's almost impossible not to lose weight. You're going to be running a lot of miles in those weeks and it's difficult to eat back all the calories you'll burn running those miles. If you are just slightly conscious of what you're eating, e.g., staying away from calorie dense foods like ice cream, nut butters, etc., you'll lose weight.

    I personally wouldn't start any serious strength training while training for a marathon. To some degree they compete with each other for resources from your body and generally one or the other will suffer if you try to do both. Nothing wrong, and actually it's good for you, to do some light strength exercise for muscles that do things like stabilize your knees, adductor exercises would be a good example, but I'd keep it relatively light so as not to stress your body more than you're already going to be stressing it with all the running.

    Good luck on the race! If it's your first you're in for quite a rush when you cross the finish line.
  • Rammer123
    Rammer123 Posts: 679 Member
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    kdkdkdmmds wrote: »
    How do I lose fat? I’m female , 5’6 , 130 pounds and have a body fat % of 21. My best time is 20 mins for the 5K. I hold my fat in my lower stomach and thighs the most. I have a kitchen scale and an activity tracker, and my activity tracker tells me that I burn 2000-3000 calories per day ( that’s bmr and exercise). I mostly run with very little strength training as I’m training for a marathon. My diet is balanced with no restrictions on any food groups and I do tend to watch my calories ; eating 2000-2400 per day ( at the moment )

    Generally not advised for athletes to attempt to lose weight during a heavy training load phase.

    If it happens as a by product accidentally then that is fine. I would advise against trying to lose weight while training. Save that for the "off sesason" when you aren't training as vigorously. My .02 cents

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