Lose body fat (not weight) body recompositon challenge

akshemsley

Hiya,

I’m looking for a few people to join this challenge. If you are more or less happy with your body weight but want to focus on trying to now lose body fat, this challenge is for you!

About me - I’m a 48 year old woman in the perimenopause. I’m 5ft3 and have been holding my weight at 64kg for around 6 months now after losing 4.5kg over the previous year. My body fat percentage is still annoyingly high at 29.5%. (It was higher, believe me!) I want to work on getting it down to 28% initially and then ultimately getting it down to 25-26%.

If you are looking to do something similar and like to join in then please do reply to this post.

Thanks!

Annaliese

akshemsley

By the way I’m based in the UK!

Bluelouper

I'm in! I'm also in the UK, 47, also perimenopausal. I'm currently 83kgs, but I'm tall (178cm) so that doesn't put me vastly overweight, BMI 26.2 if you buy the old BMI thing. I do a fair bit of exercise including weight training and think it's very sensible to focus on fat loss, rather than weight loss. My body fat percentage is much higher than yours (whithings scales) at 41%. If I can beat this down to sub 35% over the next 12 months I'll be delighted, but each % would be a win. Trying some intermittent fasting, and I need to start logging on MFP again. It's dull, but it works!

akshemsley

Yay!! Nice to meet you. My BMI is 25 so top end. But I don’t mind being heavier if I’m leaner/stronger. I weight train twice a week and do lots of walking. And I do yoga once a week and swimming once a week most of the time. I need to really be doing at least one HIIT or run a week. That needs to be a bit of a shift for me. I agree that body fat takes ages to change so this is a 6-12 month focus for me as well. At least. What’s your IF schedule. I’ve tried it in the past and can eat in a short 6-8 hour window. But it makes me miserable in the mornings. I read for women it’s best not to fast more than 12-13 hours. Which at least stops snacking on the sofa!! But a good idea to try it. Maybe I will again. And I do track on MFP most days. I just need to focus on macros a bit more!

Bluelouper

Nice to meet you too Annaliese! IF I usually go from 7pm till I can’t go any further. Sometimes that’s 11am, but not often! So never less than a 8 hour eating window, usually more like 10 hours. I try and always go 12 hours which I believe is very good for us all metabolically. I think it makes quite a difference but you have to be consistent - 6 days a week maybe. It probably just does curb the evening snacking, but it seems to have a greater effect on me than calorie deficit alone. Brushing my teeth when the kids do theirs (youngest is 6!) works really well to stop me eating later - whatever works hey.
I’m experimenting with really upping my protein intake to see if that makes me less hungry. I dont know how to ‘follow / friend’ you on MFP for accountability, but I’d be happy to if it’s helpful to you. My body fat this morning read at 40.4%. Not convinced that’s an accurate number (it seems very high, Im not that wobbly!!) but it should be consistent as a trend regardless. Best of luck and keep me posted- I’ll try to remember to check in here as it doesn’t seem to notify me of a comment etc…

SuzanneC1l9zz

I'd love to get in on this! I'm 47 years old, also in perimenopause. I'm at a healthy weight, but would like to drop ~10 lbs (still well within a healthy range for me) because I have a lot of arthritis and my knees & hips hurt less when I'm a bit lighter. I don't have a way to directly measure my body fat (no Withings scale or anything like that) so I go by my measurements.

I have to do things a bit differently than a lot of folks on here - I learned the hard way that logging my food, especially tight logging with a scale, is a fast slide into obsessive behaviour. I did it long enough to have a pretty good idea of the calories & nutrition in the things I commonly eat, so I use the app to get a calorie target and then eyeball things. If I'm going out or eating something really different than my norm I might search it in the database but not log. My exercise is also really inconsistent due to disability.

With all that said, I know what works for me (physically & mentally), just have to do it a bit more consistently. Hopefully joining in here will help with that.

akshemsley

I’ve just sent you a friend invite and I’ll also send you an invite to join a new group I started so we can have a group discussion. Hopefully others will join!

MCP804

I’d love to participate too! I’m 45 and definitely “softer” than I’ve ever been 😩
I’d like to lose about 10 pounds, but more than anything, build muscle and lean out. I’m decent with workouts, but eating is my downfall. I’d like to focus on my protein intake. I don’t want to become obsessive with logging. We’re moving to a nearby neighborhood in the next few months, so I want to stay disciplined bc it’s way too easy for me to throw in the towel trying to keep everything organized with two kids, dog, etc while we’re in this transition. Looking forward to having some accountability.

akshemsley

Great! I have set up a Group so will invite you now…

globalhiker

Hello, I would like to join this group if you have space. I am a 59 y.o. female who is disciplined to go to the gym, eats generally healthy, reads all science under the sun, but need team support and direction to take me to the next health level. Hormones are gone and I have a different body! I need to re-learn how to train right and how to time eating with workouts to maximize lean muscle and burn the unhealthy fat.

5' 1" height
Mesomorphic, not a petite frame
29% fat (based on my electronic scale at home).
Used to be 24% after having kids and could still lose a lot; got as high as 30% in my lifetime
Not taking prescription meds
Intermittent fasting gave me weight gain, do better with 5 meals a day, mostly protein

Thank you!

maly629

Me! I'm 41yo based in the US and I care to reduce my BMI. I don't feel obese but my BMI is telling me otherwise . I'm 4'11" and 128lbs, so my BMI is just under 30. I think this group would be great for me, so how do I get involved?

I have recently switched to 5 high-protein, low-calorie meals daily. Let's see what happens!

globalhiker

@akshemsley can you add me to your group? I did want to also make a correction that my BMI is 29 but body fat % is 36%. Thank you!

famnewout625

I am in!!! 51y.o. 5'3'' ( 160cm) 116lbs( 52.7kg), 25% fat I just started my journey to build muscles! @akshemsley please add me too