Question for the "buff" people

missigus

Ok, My question is for those that have lost 30 to 50lbs. And may have been working out prior to losing the weight. I am wondering about how long it took you to reach your goal of looking fit and cut (not competition bodybuilder form or anything) but just reasonably defined. I am a really strong person from lifting,( I'm built like a linebacker) so I know there is muscle under there, i just can't see it! I'm wondering what the general consensus is as far as how long it took your bodies to kick into gear, and lean out, once you changed up your eating habits, and was it hard to retain the muscle while you were losing the fat? Thanks!

millerll

I can't speak for others, but it took me about 9 months to lose 40 pounds. Once I reached that goal, I decided that I wanted to trim off a bit more body fat, so I kept going. But this time it was with an eye more towards the BF % than the scale weight. I only lost another 5 or 6 pounds, but it made a huge difference in my appearance. That last 3-5 % BF took another year to come off.

It's funny how you lose 25 or 30 pounds and don't think you look all that different, and I only lost a couple of clothes sizes. But, for me, the last 10 pounds were completely different. I lost another 3 sizes then and thinned out a lot. The point is that weight loss and body changes aren't always linear. Just be patient and you'll get there eventually. Good luck!

cooter2533

I am not sure I'd I'm qualified to answer this as I'm not to the buff stage yet but I've dropped about 40 lbs in 15 weeks from 253 to 213.4. I was always prertty athletic for my size and carry all my weight in my chest and stomach and those 40 lbs has made a lot of difference. Since I carry most of my excess fat in my abdomen the 40 lbs lost has really started allowing my arms and legs to get some definition and I'm still In the mid to upper 20's bf%. Depending what ur stats are and how good u are with ur diet 4-6 months can vastly change you physique, I'm planning on losing another 30-40 in the next 6 months making for a complete body transformation in 9-10 months. Do u have any current pics? What's ur hght and wght?

Sidesteal

At the 1 year mark I started to like what I saw in the mirror.

d2footballJRC

Ok, My question is for those that have lost 30 to 50lbs. And may have been working out prior to losing the weight. I am wondering about how long it took you to reach your goal of looking fit and cut (not competition bodybuilder form or anything) but just reasonably defined. I am a really strong person from lifting,( I'm built like a linebacker) so I know there is muscle under there, i just can't see it! I'm wondering what the general consensus is as far as how long it took your bodies to kick into gear, and lean out, once you changed up your eating habits, and was it hard to retain the muscle while you were losing the fat? Thanks!

No good answer for this, depends on your body fat and muscle mass. Add in water retention and other variables and it varies from person to person.

I've seen a big difference in 160 days.

I will say muscle memory seems to kick in before that and my lifts raised back up to close to back in the day pretty fast.

MaximalLife

In general I do 90 minutes of cardio with 30 minutes of resistance 6 days a week.
I rest resistance Tuesday and cardio every 10 days or so.
My resistance is lower weights but high reps, then heavy every 3rd workout.
And I split my body into 3 muscle groups:
1. Legs
2. Chest- triceps - shoulders
3. Arms - back
I do a lot of weird things for cardio like military march, boxing type training,
dancing, floor rolls, squat thrust intervals and the good ole jumping jack.
And I jog, swim, play tennis, fast walk and bike.

Lost 70lbs and nearly 20% body fat - it works for me.

Diet
I increased calories to almost 3000 to account for my activity level, exercises and other variables, and I thought NO WAY! I was eating less than half that....
Out of the 70 lb total weight loss, half of that resulted from a higher calorie diet but slightly restricted with enough of a deficit to reflect a 1lb weekly weight loss.

It worked!

And today I have less than 10 lbs to go, eating around 3000 daily [except on rest days, losing 1 lb each week like clockwork.
If your input is right, all will be well.

RimRK

This is a great question! I guess it's also dependent on gender as well eh? I have muscle, its just cushioned under a layer of fat, I am also looking at losing 30/40lbs for it to show up. With the way I am slowly loosing now and working out I had budgeted about a year. I am looking forward to seeing what all the buff people say!

d2footballJRC

This is a great question! I guess it's also dependent on gender as well eh? I have muscle, its just cushioned under a layer of fat, I am also looking at losing 30/40lbs for it to show up. With the way I am slowly loosing now and working out I had budgeted about a year. I am looking forward to seeing what all the buff people say!

One thing I've noticed is depending on how your body loses weight different areas will show up for people first. Funny enough my arms and pecks have very little fat now, but my stomach and thighs have a lot. My calves are pretty solid as well. Belly fat seems to be the one area that doesn't want to go away for me.

chrisdavey

It really depends on how much you have to lose.

If you can see in my pics. I went from fat to way too skinny in 9 months and then spent the next 2 years lifting heavy to get where I'm at now.

crewsicka

Working on cutting now. My goal is about 5 lbs a week.

missigus

To answer a few of your questions, I'm 5'5 and currently 170. As far as the analysis I had done I have 105lbs of lean body mass. I was informed that i should lose about 35 lbs to fall into a normal healthy body fat of about 25-26% for a woman at least. So I still have 25 to lose yet. I don't know if that will get me cut like i want to be, so we will see when I get there, but that is what my Dr. told me was appropriate. I'm thinking I will need to get to 130lbs another 15 lbs below his desired weight. I just don't know if that will be possible with thyroid issues etc. I don't have any current photos, I try to hide from those! LOL. But like i said I am just kinda thick all over. Muscle under fat- a line-man for sure!

AndreaG170

"One thing I've noticed is depending on how your body loses weight different areas will show up for people first. Funny enough my arms and pecks have very little fat now, but my stomach and thighs have a lot. My calves are pretty solid as well. Belly fat seems to be the one area that doesn't want to go away for me."

It's funny that you say this because I saw a big difference from day 1 to day 160 in your pictures! Maybe the belly fat isn't all the way gone for you, but you've definitely lost a lot of weight, and that's a big inspiration. Great visual for the original topic too.

Now, as far as the original question, I've just started on my journey, so I don't have any answers, but I do think that it depends on your body type and your exercise routine.

Excellent advice here. Just joined a few days ago and I'm impressed by the community here and the advice and support everyone gives.

tigerblue

I think it depends on your body. It took me 10 months to lose 40 lbs. I dropped 6 pant sizes and I am currently in the bottom half of a healthy BMI. My arms and legs have great definition. But then I never carried a lot of fat there. It tends to accumulate between my shoulders and the top of my thighs. I still have what I consider is a "soft" tummy, even though it is fairly flat. I'd love to be able to burn off that last bit of fat, but instead, my legs and arms just get skinnier and more cut. So, I'd love to know the answer, too. . . .

chrisdavey

If you still have a fair bit of weight to lose I would be sticking to lower impact "normal" cardio for a while. Concentrate on hitting the cal goals for the day. You will lose weight & get fitter.

WHen you are closer to your goal weight & feeling fitter, then you could start doing HIIT. It's asking for an injury (if done properly) in relatively untrained people IMO.

IF can be done at whatever BF% but I didn't do it until I was already relatively lean. (about 10-12%)