Pounds of fat vs % body fat advice please.

addmorecloud

I have about 20-25 pounds of fat to lose (being an apple body shape and only 5'2" it does not sit well on me at all).
I am currently 37% body fat (wah).

This puts me in the overfat category, so obviously my first goal is to get back into the healthy range. I am already quite muscular (higher than 'normal' according to my Tanita scale and similar test at a gym a while back) I am using pounds lost as a guide that I am on the right track with calories (1700 lightly active and eating back 3/4 to all exercise calories). Exercise at the moment is the 30 day shred, and I will start running and doing TRX or other resistance training when my strength and endurance have improved a bit.
I'm not going to be a slave to the scale as I want to build more muscle, but am aiming to lose 1 pound of fat a week. I was wondering if anyone can advise how long it takes to lose approx 13% body fat at a slow but steady rate. I think this is my final goal, but will adjust when I get closer to it.

Any help much appreciated! Thanks.

Hadabetter

To do the estimate, one needs to know how much you weigh at 37% body fat. Take your weight and divide by 100. That result equals 1% of your body. Now multiply that by the per cent you want to drop. That result is how many pounds you need to lose in order to drop that body fat %. Then, if you want to drop 1 lb/wk that's also the number of weeks you're looking at.

addmorecloud

Fab, thank you. I want this to be a lifestyle change, but I'm getting married in July hence the time frame.

stfuriada

As I understand it, the math goes:

Pretend you're at 150 lbs.
- At 37% body fat, that means you have 55.5 lbs of fat on your frame, and 94.5 lbs of lean mass.
- You plan on losing 13% body fat which is 19.5 lbs of fat.

If you plan on doing 1 lb of fat loss a week, that will take about 20 weeks, in theory.

Greenrun99

Hey,
So just my suggestions but at 37% BF I wouldn't specify myself as quite muscular.. don't think you are going to bulk up by lifting weights(if you are thinking this already)... Eating correctly during your activities is going to help you keep what LBM you have while losing weight.. Most likely that number is that high cause you weren't eating correctly (too big of a deficit) and your body took muscle and fat from your weight loss journey.

Now as your activity, you are not lightly active, you are doing 30 day shred, running, strength training.. I would probably eat back all your exercise calories.. Add strength resistance as a more than occasional thing, and cut back on cardio if its everyday... now the thing with BF and weight is you can't estimate 1 lb of just fat a week.. eating protein to rebuild your muscles, not having a huge deficit daily, and the correct workout routine will help slow the loss of LBM but may or may not stop it from happening.

All just suggestions for you.

GauchoMark

your weight loss will not be linear over time, so trying to calculate an end date is kind of trivial. Just take it one week at a time and keep going until you get there.

Even trying to estimate your final weight at this point is not very accurate because you will also lose a bit of LBM along the way. You can slow this by lifting weights,eating enough protein, and keeping your deficit moderate, but you will still lose some.

Hadabetter

As I understand it, the math goes:

Pretend you're at 150 lbs.
- At 37% body fat, that means you have 55.5 lbs of fat on your frame, and 94.5 lbs of lean mass.
- You plan on losing 13% body fat which is 19.5 lbs of fat.

If you plan on doing 1 lb of fat loss a week, that will take about 20 weeks, in theory.

The result is the same either way. Your way seems easier. Basically, it's your weigh,t times the per cent you want to lose (divided by 100) = pounds needed to lose.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

With 21 pounds to go you can expect to lose ~17 pounds of fat and 4 pounds of muscle. That's being a bit generous on the maintenance of LBM if you're being too restrictive with calories, you could retain more muscle if you're lifting weights and keep a smaller deficit.

In 6 months you can lose 18 pounds by losing 3/4 pound a week--that's a deficit of 375 which will be great for muscle sparing.

So, if 21 pounds of fat was a decrease of 13% then 17 pounds of fat would be a loss of ~10.5% (estimate). You can get almost that much fat loss by aiming for the 375 calorie deficit. You might lose 16 pounds of fat and 2 pounds of muscle or even maintain your muscle mass if you're lifting weights.

This might be confusing--basically I'd aim for 3/4 pound a week, lift weights, and just see where that gets you. Use a TDEE calculator (scoobysworkshop.com is amazing) and subtract 375--that's your calorie target every day (Assuming you do the amount of exercise that you indicated when you chose an activity level. Even rest days would have the same number of calories so long as you got your exercise time in).

addmorecloud

Thanks everyone, my current deficit is 300-400 a day from TDEE. I would love to lift heavy, but have to rely on barbie weights and body weight exercises until I move apartment.

I know there's no exact science and I'm not looking to drop the weight fast, as I said I want this to be a permanent lifestyle change. But no one wants to be chubby in their wedding photos!

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

I completely understand the wedding day deadline! Im getting married in August and that is one of the biggest sources of motivation for me to lose the 10-12 pounds I've gained since thanksgiving.