Confused

z71_bucks

I check my body fat at work using a Omron body fat tester. Today I tested myself and my body fat went up since last week. I'm even down 3lbs since then. I eat roughly 1200 calories a day. I walk 4 miles or more a day. Weekends I usually do more. I take vitamins every day to make up the nutrients that I may not be getting. Since June 1st, Ive lost 53lbs. I have 27 more to go and I'll be at 160. Then I will start lifting and gain about 10lbs of muscle.

vismal

Those devices are incredibly inaccurate. I'd say at least +/- 5%, maybe worse. You should also start lifting now! If you lift now, you won't gain muscle mass but you will preserve muscle you already have. This is critical as muscle gains are a very slow, arduous, process. Gaining 10 lbs of muscles takes most men about 5 months if diet and training are perfect and they are brand new to training. The more muscle you've gained, the slower the process becomes. It would take me over a year to do at the point I'm at in my training. This is why you want to preserve as much as possible when losing weight!

ana3067

Those devices are incredibly inaccurate. I'd say at least +/- 5%, maybe worse. You should also start lifting now! If you lift now, you won't gain muscle mass but you will preserve muscle you already have. This is critical as muscle gains are a very slow, arduous, process. Gaining 10 lbs of muscles takes most men about 5 months if diet and training are perfect and they are brand new to training. The more muscle you've gained, the slower the process becomes. It would take me over a year to do at the point I'm at in my training. This is why you want to preserve as much as possible when losing weight!

I agree with this, plus if you get to your goal of 160lbs without working on preserving lean body mass, what happens if you are at a higher body fat than you'd like to be at for bulking? I got down to 145 years ago, but I was "skinny fat." Once I added in weight training, I started putting on muscle but that was under my existing fat. So I was just getting puffier with some muscle under, since I was gaining both muscle and fat (this was at a time when I had much less knowledge of how to eat for one's goals). Not fun!
Trust me, it kind of sucks lifting while in a caloric deficit (less energy, harder recovery, don't really progress so much as maintain), but it's worth it.

Also you are not eating enough. I'm female, which means my requirements are already lower than yours, yet I'm eating 2000 calories for fat loss. This is taking into account activity, not based on net intake.

z71_bucks

Thanks for the advice guys. I think begining of next month I'll go ahead and join a gym and start lifting. When I graduated from school 18 uears ago, I was 150. Then I didnt play sports after High School and never changed my diet. 3 months after I graduated I was 180 and hit my highest weight 2.5 months ago at 239. Its harder to lose it for sure.