Wanting help to loose bodyfat

Johfra93

I've been trying to find out how much I should eat to loose body fat. I'm currently at a 27% body fat and weigh 140lbs/63.6kg and I'm 5.47ft/167cm tall. My BMR is 1430 and I've been told to eat less than that to loose weight. My goal weight is 127lbs/58kg or 20% bodyfat. I've currently lost 3lbs/1.4kg so far since april and I feel like it's been a very slow process.

I eat about 1200-1300 kcal a day and my macros are 40% Protein, 20% Carbohydrates and 40% Fat whether I am or not exercising. When I exercise I aim to burn about 500 kcal a day.

Is this a good plan or am I eating too less so that I've caused a metabolic damage to my body? Since I've seen that when I eat my bmr I gain weight when it's supposed to be my maintenance kcal intake. I've been experimenting with finding what's good for my weight since April and that's why this weight loss journey has been so slow. I'm still confused about how much I should eat.

Also whenever I get to 136lbs/62kg I have a hard time to loose anymore weight. I've been dieting since April and had cheat meals within my 1200-1300 kcal intake.

Any tips for what I can do? I would like to loose about 1-2lbs a week. Also if I've caused metabolic damage what can I do to recover from it without putting back all the weight I've lost so far? It feels like it would be such a waste of effort if I were to put back all the weight I've lost since february when I weighed 67kg.

Johfra93

Also I would like to add that I'm not doing much of activity throughout the rest of the day. I'm mostly drawing and playing games on my free time.

Lleldiranne

I would recheck your numbers … BMR is what you would burn lying in bed all day. You generally want to eat over that to not tank your metabolism. You do want to eat under your TDEE, though, which is your total daily burn. Google TDEE calculator and play with several of those to see where your TDEE is (and it will give you a calorie goal and macros based on what you want to achieve).

I would also highly suggest adding in exercise, especially strength training. Just eating at a deficit will burn fat and lean body mass. While you'll still lose some LBM with exercise, it will be less, meaning you'll drop the BF% faster and look better when you're done.

nichi123

I would say you definitely need to up the exercise. You can lose weight by eating well alone, but you will lose a lot more and faster with exercise

lorenzovonmatterhorn7549

TDEE -20% is generally the way to go. Just make sure you set the activity level accordingly.

GIRL1983

I can't offer advice but my stats are nearly identical to yours so I am very interested to hear others responses

thisismeraw

At your current height and weight trying to lose 1-2lbs a week is going to give you too high of a deficit. Looking at your diary you are not eating nearly enough food in a day.

Too high of a deficit will increase the amount of muscle you lose along the way. Everyone normally will lose some muscle while trying to lose weight however with a higher deficit you will increase the amount of muscle you lose.

Best way to cut body fat is to eat at a small deficit (set your weekly goal to 0.5lbs per week) and lift heavy weights. You want to try and retain as much muscle as possible along the way. If you don't you will end up losing lean body mass along with some body fat but you will notice your body fat % changes will not be much.

grumpadon

At your current height and weight trying to lose 1-2lbs a week is going to give you too high of a deficit. Looking at your diary you are not eating nearly enough food in a day.

Too high of a deficit will increase the amount of muscle you lose along the way. Everyone normally will lose some muscle while trying to lose weight however with a higher deficit you will increase the amount of muscle you lose.

Best way to cut body fat is to eat at a small deficit (set your weekly goal to 0.5lbs per week) and lift heavy weights. You want to try and retain as much muscle as possible along the way. If you don't you will end up losing lean body mass along with some body fat but you will notice your body fat % changes will not be much.

I agree with this. for me to keep the lean muscle and burn the fat. I do 40%carbs 40%protein and 20%fat. not saying it's for everyone. it works for me.

Johfra93

TDEE -20% is generally the way to go. Just make sure you set the activity level accordingly.

According to this site http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ using the body fat % formula my BMR is 1373 kcal and TDEE is 2008 kcal a day if I were to exercise 5 times per week. So by subtracting 20% of 2008 kcal I will get 1607 kcal that I should eat on the days that I exercise.

But if I start to eat 1600 kcal a day I will gain weight. I've tried before a month ago to eat more than 1300 a day and I started to put on weight. So does that mean that I have damaged my metabolism?

Johfra93

I would recheck your numbers … BMR is what you would burn lying in bed all day. You generally want to eat over that to not tank your metabolism. You do want to eat under your TDEE, though, which is your total daily burn. Google TDEE calculator and play with several of those to see where your TDEE is (and it will give you a calorie goal and macros based on what you want to achieve).

I would also highly suggest adding in exercise, especially strength training. Just eating at a deficit will burn fat and lean body mass. While you'll still lose some LBM with exercise, it will be less, meaning you'll drop the BF% faster and look better when you're done.

I'm doing cardio exercises every day which is about 300-400 kcal a day, it take me about 30-50 min on the treadmill. Sometimes I burn about 600 kcals a day on just cardio. I've been trying to get some more strenght training in my schedule but I have very little access to gym due to that it's so expensive. Any tips for great strength training at home? I've so far just gone for Jillian michaels 30 day shred like 2 times a week.

DancingMoosie

30 Day shred is great, especially if you can gradually increase the weight of the dumbbells you use. I started with 3lb and now try to do as many of the exercises I can with the 8lb dumbbells. You should probably also increase your calorie goal, but do it in small increments. You don't have to jump from 1300 to 1600 all at once. Do one week of netting 1400, then increase to 1450, 1500, 1550, and finally 1600. That will give your body a chance to catch up and get used to the increased calories. You can also see how you feel and what the scale does. If it feels too high or low, give it a week or two, then adjust.

lorenzovonmatterhorn7549

According to this site http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ using the body fat % formula my BMR is 1373 kcal and TDEE is 2008 kcal a day if I were to exercise 5 times per week. So by subtracting 20% of 2008 kcal I will get 1607 kcal that I should eat on the days that I exercise.

But if I start to eat 1600 kcal a day I will gain weight. I've tried before a month ago to eat more than 1300 a day and I started to put on weight. So does that mean that I have damaged my metabolism?

The TDEE method is yet another guide for success but it's not a cookie cutter formula. There are some people who require less calories than others. Are you sure you are calculating your calories correctly? I have been guilty of this myself. Are you weighing your food, etc? If you are not losing weight at 1300 calories, I would speak to your doctor before dipping down any further.

Johfra93

The TDEE method is yet another guide for success but it's not a cookie cutter formula. There are some people who require less calories than others. Are you sure you are calculating your calories correctly? I have been guilty of this myself. Are you weighing your food, etc? If you are not losing weight at 1300 calories, I would speak to your doctor before dipping down any further.

I weigh everything I eat and I am also very precise when I do so. I would rather think that I've damaged my metabolism which is not fun to know since I've read it could be very hard to recover it.

choijanro

Do lifting,hiit and liss cardio,abs exercise & dieting

you also drink protein shake or take some supplements,to support you in your goals, i recommend muscle pharm,very effective and safe,,

I_Will_End_You

Just up your intake gradually. You'd have to have been starving yourself for pretty long to gain weight going over 1300 calories. Or you're not calculating correctly. Unless you have a medical condition, no one just randomly gains weight going over 1300 calories. It's just not going to happen.

Johfra93

30 Day shred is great, especially if you can gradually increase the weight of the dumbbells you use. I started with 3lb and now try to do as many of the exercises I can with the 8lb dumbbells. You should probably also increase your calorie goal, but do it in small increments. You don't have to jump from 1300 to 1600 all at once. Do one week of netting 1400, then increase to 1450, 1500, 1550, and finally 1600. That will give your body a chance to catch up and get used to the increased calories. You can also see how you feel and what the scale does. If it feels too high or low, give it a week or two, then adjust.

I will try to do this, going to set my cal goal to 1300 and then slowly get up to 1350 and so on. Thanks for the tip!

Johfra93

Just up your intake gradually. You'd have to have been starving yourself for pretty long to gain weight going over 1300 calories. Or you're not calculating correctly. Unless you have a medical condition, no one just randomly gains weight going over 1300 calories. It's just not going to happen.

Yeah I think so as well, about the starving part since I am calculating my food correctly. I'll be trying to gradually up my intake the following weeks and see what will happen. I can say that I've been going on with the 1200 kcal intake since february this year and started to exercise in april so it wouldn't surprise me that's why I've had such a pain in the *kitten* to get the results I want. xD