Can I lose 10% body fat in 3 months?

JAT74

I am currently 30-31% body fat and am looking to get down to 20% or below ideally before the summer. I'm doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution which will finish in mid-April but I don't expect to see huge changes by the time I have finished, although I expect to lose at least a few more pounds and maybe a little body fat.

The program I'm doing now combines cardio (HIIT) training twice per week with weight training four times per week. On top of that I've been doing a little extra cardio some days such as walking or using the treadmill/eliptical machine.

What will be the best way for me to lose fat quickly after that? I would ideally like a 6-8 week program which will give me results at home and I have a fully equipped home gym so I can use barbells, dumbells, resistence bands, kettle bells and my multigym machine as well as body weight exercises. I like th idea of cardio based DVD programmes like Insanity, Turbo Fire or Les Mills Combat but would only do one of those if I could also do weights alongside it.

The total workout time per day can't really exceed 1 hour 30 minutes split into 2 sessions, what would you all recommend and what can I expect in terms of results?

JAT74

Bump

JAT74

Bump

susannahsutton1

Don't see why not, I have lost 8% since New Years Day and I don't do much in the way of specific strength/lifting. I probably do one or two sessions a week of machine weights, mid-weight, mid-reps.

Mine has come from doing weight-bearing cardio, so hiking on hilly, uneven terrain, cycling and spinning on high resistance ratios. Plus some step aerobics. That uses my big muscle groups and so they are getting more muscly! Nothing particularly scientific, just using them lots in a variety of ways to keep them guessing!

AhlaWahda

Hello!
I'm no expert but I think it's doable. If not 10% I think you can lose a lot of body fat in 3 months.
I think you should focus on HIIT and weight lifting. The people I've read about who managed to lose body fat quickly lifted a lot of weights. So that's my advice to you.

JJordon

After you've calculated your intake and TDEE, the rest, well...

This one come down to your macronutrients: Protein, Carbs, Fats.

What is often called a Fat Shredder ratio is:

50/30/20

Combine this with a strenuous, advanced exercise regiment... and well.. why not?
MFP on your smartphone does nice pie charts. You eat five six times a day, 2 or 3 of those meals being high protein shakes with fat free milk, 50% protein daily should be attainable. I get 45% with just two.

TavistockToad

do insanity!

if you push yourself you wont need to do any weights as well, as it includes a lot of bodyweight stuff.

Prasanp

Yep - do Insanity @ 50/30/20 macros and one gallon of water a day. Try to increase to Doubles last 20 days. You should be able to lose 10% no problem.

hendinerik

Your plan sounds great, but nutrition is also huge in that equation. Keeping your metabolism up, get plenty of protein, fiber and water, and keeping the sodium and sugar in check can also help in terms of seeing results on the scale. The sugar thing for keeping the blood sugar level balanced to help minimize cravings. I also found that for me (unlike many here) I had to keep caffeine to minimum because it would result in crazy cravings.

Finding healthy things to eat that you enjoy will also go a long way towards sustainability, so you can maintain the changes.

Rest days are also important because your body needs a chance to process the changes you are making to it.

With weights I'm sure Jillian is great - progressive increase is really important - so at some point when you are good with one weight - then increase the weight incrementally - I am assuming her program incorporates that.

For the body fat percentage test the caliper test I have found to be more accurate than the electronic handheld machine which can vary by a 4% range. Get a professional (nutritionist, some type of health center, or trainer) to measure it now and then have a plan to have it measured again in 3 months.

You also might set some goals for yourself in terms of where you want to be every month to keep yourself on track... For instance I had a recent beach vacation so I had wanted to be fit for the beach and that helped keep me motivated. Many people also like to take pictures every week.

If you do all the above I'm pretty sure you will find yourself in a great place in 3 months, whether or not it's the specific number you are looking for.


Good luck!

JAT74

How long is the Insanity program and how long are each of the workouts? I've also heard it does your knees in and I have a slight weakness in my right knee although it's been better since I started training again. Is this a good idea with bad knees?!

Luckily I live in the sun at the moment and the beach is 10 minutes drive so I have a real incentive to get there as until now I have always avoided the beach and spent most of the summer covered up. I also have a pool where I live (communal) so I can swim daily in summer but again I always avoided doing that too much because I didn't want to be seen in my swimwear.

I will do whatever it takes but I'm on a budget so it's hard to get enough lean protein in and find I'm eating a little too much fat a lot of the time although I can easily stick to 25% carbs.

Prasanp

How long is the Insanity program and how long are each of the workouts? I've also heard it does your knees in and I have a slight weakness in my right knee although it's been better since I started training again. Is this a good idea with bad knees?!

Luckily I live in the sun at the moment and the beach is 10 minutes drive so I have a real incentive to get there as until now I have always avoided the beach and spent most of the summer covered up. I also have a pool where I live (communal) so I can swim daily in summer but again I always avoided doing that too much because I didn't want to be seen in my swimwear.

I will do whatever it takes but I'm on a budget so it's hard to get enough lean protein in and find I'm eating a little too much fat a lot of the time although I can easily stick to 25% carbs.

I started with a really bad knee - actually "knees"; even now I have challenges - but just before I finished my first round combined with P90x I did 3 routines of Insanity back2back... so u will be fine. Remember, most of it is in the mind and most cases mind over matter... longest workout is 1hr tops - most about 40 mins - is very intense though.

JAT74

It does sound doable but I guess it is mostly lower body work, am I right? I haven't actually seen it I suppose if that's the case I could do some upper body weight training at the same time in short sessions twice per week, for example chest/triceps one day then back/biceps/shoulders another day.

Either that or combine it with some of the shorter P90X workouts, could someone devise a hybrid program for that, keeping it at around 45 minutes per day?

Prasanp

It does sound doable but I guess it is mostly lower body work, am I right? I haven't actually seen it I suppose if that's the case I could do some upper body weight training at the same time in short sessions twice per week, for example chest/triceps one day then back/biceps/shoulders another day.

Either that or combine it with some of the shorter P90X workouts, could someone devise a hybrid program for that, keeping it at around 45 minutes per day?

Insanity has enough of Core and Upper body pushups etc built into it.

katiedid1226

After you've calculated your intake and TDEE, the rest, well...

This one come down to your macronutrients: Protein, Carbs, Fats.

What is often called a Fat Shredder ratio is:

50/30/20

Combine this with a strenuous, advanced exercise regiment... and well.. why not?
MFP on your smartphone does nice pie charts. You eat five six times a day, 2 or 3 of those meals being high protein shakes with fat free milk, 50% protein daily should be attainable. I get 45% with just two.

Just to clarify, is this the distribution you are talking about?
50% Protein, 30% Carbs, 20% Fat?

JAT74

That would be impossible for me, I currently have my macros set to 25% carbs, 35% protein and 40% fat and I struggle to meet my protein percentage.

TavistockToad

That would be impossible for me, I currently have my macros set to 25% carbs, 35% protein and 40% fat and I struggle to meet my protein percentage.

try harder!

JAT74

Money is one of my main problems because I can't really afford to buy more protein in my weekly shop as food here is very expensive and I can't afford to have more than 1 protein shake per day either as I just haven't got the cash for it.

I am also a little worried about having too much protein as I have a history of kidney disease in my family although I haven't had any symptoms of it so far and I'm 38. I am therefore conscious of not eating too much protein and a friend of mine who is training for body building told me that she is currently eating 300g protein per day right now and was recently eating 200g per day for several months and now she has high blood pressure so it does worry me a little. I need to be a little careful about my own blood pressure so don't want to go too high.

stumblinthrulife

Whether you lose 10%, 15%, 5%, or any other number, the method you use to get there will be the same. So I say just get started and see where you are in three months. Set yourself at 20% below TDEE. Do cardio two or three times a week, and resistance training two or three times a week. Up your protein, but pay attention to any limit placed on you by your doctor regarding you kidney issues - that should take precedence.

There are limits to the average human body, and it's not smart to push them by setting overly aggressive goals in unsupervised situations. It can have negative side effects.

sigsby

I did it using MFP.

SnicciFit

Money is one of my main problems because I can't really afford to buy more protein in my weekly shop as food here is very expensive and I can't afford to have more than 1 protein shake per day either as I just haven't got the cash for it.

Three things:

First, I think 10% is totally doable!

Second, eggs are cheap protein

Third, I've found that eating a lot of fat has helped me lose fat %. I eat apprx. 65% of my calories from fat and lost 2.9% in 26 days! Not just any fat though. I eat a lot of animal fat (organic grassfed), avocado, olive oil, coconut oil and butter. I steer clear of vegetable oils and "spreads".

Tilran

10% body fat in 4 months? I am shocked at how many people are saying this is no problem. She isn't droping from 40% to 30%, she is droping from 30% to 20%, I dont see that being as east as 4 months. I can see you getting close...maybe 23-24, but 10%? wow.