<25% body fat

nat102

I believe I read somewhere ..once you are under 25% body fat it's harder to lose the weight and you should only have a caloric deficit of 250 a day (1/2 lb per week). Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this!

FitChickBritt

Generally, the more you lose the harder it becomes to lose. Mathematically, you should probably only try to lose 1/2 a pound a week after you reach a certain weight. If you try to lose at a faster rate you'll most likely have to take in less than the suggested net 1200 per day.

snowflakelaia

I am at 20.5% and I work out a lot. I know that if I eat all the calories I burn, it is extremely difficult to lose any weight. It's not that I have that much left to lose, I doN'T want to be thin, nor skinny.

hpsnickers1

Yes. Your body actually tried to defend its fat stores when you get down to a "lean" weight. It would rather burn off muscle (fat is there in case of famine and when the stores get low it will hold onto it). In fact, the best way to burn off fat when you are at a healthy weight is really weight and resistance training. Increasing lean muscle mass will increase your metabolism and you will burn more fat through normal activity and even while sleeping. And you need to eat well and eat plenty when exercising. You can even stall weight loss if you don't.

But yes, .5lb a week is the best way to do it so you won't end up consuming too few calories. I used this goal and saw loss in .2-.4 increments (even dropped 2lbs after switching over to maintenance calories).

If you are doing just cardio on a calorie restriction you will lose more muscle than fat.

yanicka

The less you have to lose, easier it is to actually burn lean mass instead of fat. Slowly but surely is the way to go. 1/2 is ok.

hpsnickers1

http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TPAdaptation.html

The law of unintended consequences

Your body is an amazing feedback system aimed at balance and survival. Humans are at the top of the food chain because they are able to adapt to their environment. Every action produces a reaction. Every change in its environment triggers a survival response. It's important to keep that in mind when you plan your fitness program. If you treat your body as an enemy to be conquered, you'll produce unintended results.

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As another example, if you put your body under stress through overexertion and lack of sleep, it will respond by slowing down, reducing muscle growth, and increasing your appetite for junk food, carbohydrates and fat. If you feed your body excessive amounts of sugar and quickly digested carbohydrates, and it will shut off its ability to burn fat until those sugars are taken out of the bloodstream.

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Setting the right goal

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