calorie deficeit / female weight training

DizzyLinds

Sorry for gate graphing this thread!

I'm just concerned as to why I'm continuosly gaining and am not sure how much more ill gain eating at maintenance?

DrMAvDPhD

Based on your pic and what you have said you don't have much more fat to lose, so it probably doesn't matter too much what you do until it is gone since that should only be another couple few weeks. In general though you would want to watch how fast you are losing, especially the lower bf% you get to, and 1200 would be pretty low for longer term. Once the fat is gone as a woman you would eat around 200 over maintenance if you want to grow more muscle. A ton of useful info can be found here http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146519303

thanks. i know the lower the numbers the harder the results too. can you tell me what a healthy bf% is for a female (5'3, 122) - i am goig for an "athletic" build (you know that of like a laxed fitness model) - my first reading on the hand held said 19.8, and i don't look as lean as i'd like just yet - but i don't want to shoot for too lean either - i know the mirror is all that counts, i'm not caught up in numbers, i just don't know the basics of what my bf% should be either - and i don't like using the online calcuators (doesn't seem right to me a online calc could tell me something that everything else uses physical evidence to show)...

You won't ever get the fitness model physique if you don't have a lot of muscle mass, even if you cut down to a low BF%.

karrielynn80

Just wanted to add my experience to good information you're getting here.

I started heavy lifting in April 2011. I saw great results with body recomposition and kept bopping along doing some combination of heavy weights, some cardio, and deficits eating from 1500-2000 for probably almost a year with 40/30/30 c/f/p macros. I bounced around a lot depending on how on target I was with these goals. I dropped body fat and looked better this April than last but still wasn't at my body fat goal and getting frustrated.

I realized I had been essentially eating at deficit for too long and took 2 weeks and ate at maintenance. After, late June, I started a an aggressive cut following a most of a recommended program from Leigh Peele (http://www.leighpeele.com/). This was a change. The deficits are much more dramatic, the macros vary according to which part of the cut you are in and there much more cardio work. I am always at a deficit of at leat 30% of TDEE and as high as 40%. I don't log exercise calories since they're already included in TDEE. I am working on being diet adherent all the time except for 1 meal/evening per week.

After 4 weeks I have lost 8 inches overall and 6.5 lbs (some of it water from having been eating more for 2 weeks before the cut). Body fat is harder to determine but I think that's trending downwards. I am in my 5th week with 7 weeks left (12 total)

I tell you all this because while I think slow and steady works for some it wasn't getting me where I wanted to go. I am cutting aggressively now and after I will reassess, eat at maintenance for a while and if I want to I will go back to cutting, though, according to the numbers this should put me where I want to be.

thanks, i've only been eating at a def* for 5 wks now. i'm seeing the results i want in the mirror / measuring tape. just like to know how everyone else does it. i know i'm not at my ideal bf% b/c i still have my "pooch" and my thighs still rub a bit (it not muscle rubbing either lol). u look great btw!!

Determinednoob

Based on your pic and what you have said you don't have much more fat to lose, so it probably doesn't matter too much what you do until it is gone since that should only be another couple few weeks. In general though you would want to watch how fast you are losing, especially the lower bf% you get to, and 1200 would be pretty low for longer term. Once the fat is gone as a woman you would eat around 200 over maintenance if you want to grow more muscle. A ton of useful info can be found here http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=146519303

thanks. i know the lower the numbers the harder the results too. can you tell me what a healthy bf% is for a female (5'3, 122) - i am goig for an "athletic" build (you know that of like a laxed fitness model) - my first reading on the hand held said 19.8, and i don't look as lean as i'd like just yet - but i don't want to shoot for too lean either - i know the mirror is all that counts, i'm not caught up in numbers, i just don't know the basics of what my bf% should be either - and i don't like using the online calcuators (doesn't seem right to me a online calc could tell me something that everything else uses physical evidence to show)...

I am not quite as well versed in the exact bf percentages for women although I think it varries based on your breast size? Not sure... Somewhere between 15 and 20 I think but i am sure you can get some valid replies from other women.

chuisle

Look here for body fat percentage: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

He's right - 15-20% is usually a sweet spot for most people who want to look lean.


And thanks! I'm not entirely sure what my body fat is at the moment 22-24% range I think. It's hard to tell. Scales/handhelds aren't particularly accurate. Calipers can even be off by quite a bit. Looking in the mirror is one of the easier/best ways.

karrielynn80

thanks "determine..."

karrielynn80

Look here for body fat percentage: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

He's right - 15-20% is usually a sweet spot for most people who want to look lean.


And thanks! I'm not entirely sure what my body fat is at the moment 22-24% range I think. It's hard to tell. Scales/handhelds aren't particularly accurate. Calipers can even be off by quite a bit. Looking in the mirror is one of the easier/best ways.

and see u look great! now i think maybe i just need to add calories to gain muscle... if that's what you look like at 20+ bf... i'm torn b/c i know i could lean out more & see more definition, but i also think if i bulk up on muscle, any fat will be stretched & thus appear less - i'd like to do the first with my thighs and wouldn't mind the later with my abs LOL - bah!!

DizzyLinds

I'm about 22-23 according to my PT's callipers. I'd love to be 20!

12by311

OP, I would definitely take Rae's advice.

Also, you are not building muscle eating 1200 calories a day. You may actually be losing some muscle.

I don't have anything else to add, except...you talked about your belly pooch and I looked at your pictures. You may want to work in some hip flexor stretches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj30Qun63iY

chuisle

Look here for body fat percentage: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

He's right - 15-20% is usually a sweet spot for most people who want to look lean.


And thanks! I'm not entirely sure what my body fat is at the moment 22-24% range I think. It's hard to tell. Scales/handhelds aren't particularly accurate. Calipers can even be off by quite a bit. Looking in the mirror is one of the easier/best ways.

and see u look great! now i think maybe i just need to add calories to gain muscle... if that's what you look like at 20+ bf... i'm torn b/c i know i could lean out more & see more definition, but i also think if i bulk up on muscle, any fat will be stretched & thus appear less - i'd like to do the first with my thighs and wouldn't mind the later with my abs LOL - bah!!

Since you're relatively new to strength training (right?) it's possible for you to gain muscle and lose fat. Think of it as a starting out bonus.. You'll probably be able to lean out more and gain a bit of muscle. You're right about muscle - it does often reduce the appearance of fat and make you firmer. Since what you're doing now is working decently I would carry on. Potentially consider increasing your protein and calories to encourage you body to hang on to muscle but keep at a deficit.

Keep going and as you see what's happening you can adjust your body fat goals etc.

karrielynn80

Since you're relatively new to strength training (right?) it's possible for you to gain muscle and lose fat. Think of it as a starting out bonus.. You'll probably be able to lean out more and gain a bit of muscle. You're right about muscle - it does often reduce the appearance of fat and make you firmer. Since what you're doing now is working decently I would carry on. Potentially consider increasing your protein and calories to encourage you body to hang on to muscle but keep at a deficit.

Keep going and as you see what's happening you can adjust your body fat goals etc.

Thanks!, i am new to lifting overall for the body. i bench pressed / competed as a youth - but it was not for fitness reasons so i didn't pay much attention to such logistics

catpow2

My fitness goal is also to just to reduce body fat. I'm also seeing some good results with what I've been doing (lifting 2-3x a week-- increasing weight and building strength as well as some cardio). There's so much conflicting info about BMR and TDEE that I really don't know what these are for me. I've calculated this using different websites recommended by MFP members but they give me different numbers--the only way to know for sure is to eat at a certain calorie level for a few weeks and see what happens. Slow and steady is the only way to go so I'm trying to eat just below what I think is maintenance, which is somewhere between 1600-2000, I think. So I eat 1600 and I'm continuing to get leaner very gradually but I don't think I've lost any weight, which is what I want. In order to keep losing fat, you want to create a small calorie deficit (10-15%)--depending on how tall you are 1200 might not be enough calories. But if what you're doing is giving you the results you want, keep at it. When you're close to a point where you've lost as much fat as you want then it seems like you could increase your calories--gradually so you can really figure out what your maintenance level is and eat at that.

In terms of the belly--it's stubborn. Your diet has to be really, really strict to get cut abs--hard to do, but it can certainly be done. Good luck!

fittiephd

i don't feel weak or like my body needs it & i do sometimes go over my goal (maintaining good ratios) - i'm doing this as life style change so i don't want to have diet mindset & allow myself some leway within my diet but i want to make sure i'm not holding productivity up by continuing the calorie deficeit - i see many girls who are looking great, that are eating like 1500-2000 calories... you girls are who i am speaking to - did you wait to up your calories until you reached your body fat goal, or not?

I eat 1900 plus exercise calories when I workout and I've been losing fat and inches still. No lbs lost though. I was pretty close to goal when I started lifting so I'm not sure but I DEF think you should be eating more than 1200 calories. I can't believe you can even lift on that little. Be careful.