body fat estimate & goal weight evaluation?

tindy5799

5'7"
Started at 162 (29% body fat according to one of those hand held devices)
Down to 145, what would you estimate body fat at?

I'm lifting heavy 5x a week with occasional cardio and I'm trying to decide if I should lose 10 more pounds then do a bulk to gain muscle or start now and eat only a surplus of 200-300 calories. Advice? Any women out there who've had success either way?

tindy5799

I'm going to Cali in 8 weeks so I want to maximize fat burn AND muscle definition. I'm just trying to figure out how to do that.

BradlesPortelli

as soon as you go from deficit to surplus, your body wont be maximizing any fat burning, you will put weight back on, whether it be just lean muscle really depends on how strict you are with your eating

if anything you would probably be better just staying at a maintenance range and just swap up your training program, that way you can focus on toning up. higher rep ranges and super sets and really focus on the mind/muscle connection and make sure to pause and contract each time.

Springfield1970

I'm 5'7"

Dropped 10% body fat. This is what I did, after starting at about 136-140lb over 30%bf in Feb 2012.

Divorce dieted for about a year, lost approx 10lb, ran a lot, prob lost equal amounts of fat and LBM. Yoyod around a while. Played with Paleo and moved back to high nutrient athletic diet with carbs. Found MFP summer 2012. Then really dialled it in.

Cut until I got to 123lb, a bit too fast and a bit too much, but I was experimenting with 5k racing times. I did it by -20% tdee! but in hindsight I wish I'd done -15% because I lost some LBM which I didn't have much of to start with. I heavy lifted the whole time and always do whatever I'm doing, just adjust it for my needs. Did too much cardio which is why I lost LBM but that's ok. I know now what to do.

Then I bulked because I was hungry and couldn't eat at maintenance. Went from 124/5 to 129lb. Gained quarter lb muscle and same in fat per week by adding 1700 cals a week to my diet (half pound =1700cals). Did that through December. Lifted heavy 3x per week, minimum cardio under lactate threshold.

Very happy with results. Have gone from under 100 LBM to 104lb LBM in two years of trial and error. Got my 5k to 22.43. Squatting body weight, and feeling very good.

Next goal is to slowly melt off 1 or 2 pounds of fat to coincide with triathlon season.

I don't know what your bf is but I'm tempted to say keep cutting coz personally I had to get under my goal to be able to deal with gaining fat again.

Springfield1970

I'm going to Cali in 8 weeks so I want to maximize fat burn AND muscle definition. I'm just trying to figure out how to do that.

There's muscle definition under that layer of fat, it will pop out and say hello if you just keep cutting. The secret is to preserve the muscle you already have by lifting heavy to give it the message that you need it, and not cutting too fast.

8 weeks. I'd go for a third to a half a pound a week loss. There will be a little LBM loss, but if you go slow you will keep it to a minimum.

Don't forget to keep your protein at about 1g per pound of LBM. I'm going to take a guess that your about 25% bf so that is about 105/110g protein per day.

89nunu

You can bulk whenever you can handle the extra fat. I was a bit leaner when I started my bulk and if you want to look and feel your best in 8 weeks I'd say cut. Slow cut as Springfield said. Maybe try calorie cycling, eating at -5% on lifting days and -10% on non lifting days

tindy5799

I'm 5'7"

Dropped 10% body fat. This is what I did, after starting at about 136-140lb over 30%bf in Feb 2012.

Divorce dieted for about a year, lost approx 10lb, ran a lot, prob lost equal amounts of fat and LBM. Yoyod around a while. Played with Paleo and moved back to high nutrient athletic diet with carbs. Found MFP summer 2012. Then really dialled it in.

Cut until I got to 123lb, a bit too fast and a bit too much, but I was experimenting with 5k racing times. I did it by -20% tdee! but in hindsight I wish I'd done -15% because I lost some LBM which I didn't have much of to start with. I heavy lifted the whole time and always do whatever I'm doing, just adjust it for my needs. Did too much cardio which is why I lost LBM but that's ok. I know now what to do.

Then I bulked because I was hungry and couldn't eat at maintenance. Went from 124/5 to 129lb. Gained quarter lb muscle and same in fat per week by adding 1700 cals a week to my diet (half pound =1700cals). Did that through December. Lifted heavy 3x per week, minimum cardio under lactate threshold.

Very happy with results. Have gone from under 100 LBM to 104lb LBM in two years of trial and error. Got my 5k to 22.43. Squatting body weight, and feeling very good.

Next goal is to slowly melt off 1 or 2 pounds of fat to coincide with triathlon season.

I don't know what your bf is but I'm tempted to say keep cutting coz personally I had to get under my goal to be able to deal with gaining fat again.

Thank you!!! This is really helpful.

tindy5799

You can bulk whenever you can handle the extra fat. I was a bit leaner when I started my bulk and if you want to look and feel your best in 8 weeks I'd say cut. Slow cut as Springfield said. Maybe try calorie cycling, eating at -5% on lifting days and -10% on non lifting days

Yeah I think calorie cycling might be a good idea at this point. And a slow cut. I do want to lose more weight but I also need to just improve how I look and muscle is the best way to recomp.