Any ladies managed to get to 18-20% BF? What did you do?

SJ46 · April 2013

Heavy lifting, proper eating and some cardio. I dropped to my lowest % when I was lifting more with little cardio. Some are saying cardio, cardio, cardio blah blah blah but hours upon hours of cardio isn't always a good thing. Yea you might have a low body fat %. Congrats! But if you have a low number of lean muscle mass with it there's no point.

This, exactly.

If you want to lower your BF% lifting heavy will give you the best results.

Graelwyn75 · April 2013

I got there last year through cycling and walking on a daily basis with a rest day once a week. Threw in some running, rowing and elliptical too, but cycling was my main as I love it. I ate a pretty carb heavy Pescetarian diet too. With winter and bad weather, I switched to strength training, running, elliptical and boxfit and am still struggling to get my bodyfat back down after a major period of binge eating late last year. However, I can see my abs and muscle in my shoulders and arms, from lifting high reps, 5kg dumbbells and doing about 40-60 minutes of interval training cardio most days.

amiaow · April 2013

I have low BF%. To get there from normal body fat/undermuscled starting point, I spent 7 months eating at maintenance or slightly above while lifting heavy to build muscle and during this time I also cut a fair amount of body fat without really trying. When I was happy with the amount of muscle I'd gained I then cut 15-20% of TDEE (I aim for 20% but usually make between 15 and 20%) and dieted for 7 weeks and was done. My TDEE is around 2500.

I've done various programs but for most of this year I've been doing 4x/week as 2 rounds of push/pull split. Heavy, no cardio and have fairly active weekends at home.

It really was that simple, but IMO to look good at low body fat you need to build muscle first.

balancedbrunette · April 2013

replying to have this topic for later, very helpful tips here. also looking to cut bf% particularly around my stomach area.

OmegaAlpha007 · April 2013

Stop running Start walking

that's about it, I personally follow the Kris Gething plan say whatever you want but that's what I follow

leotardbanshee · April 2013

screw dairy and any alcohol hahahaha. I have gotten down to 21% and that's as far as I've gotten, my problem is lack of strength training and working out because of my surgery

17forbes · April 2013

Bump, I'd like to know.

HMVOL7409 · April 2013

replying to have this topic for later, very helpful tips here. also looking to cut bf% particularly around my stomach area.

Sorry, but you can't spot reduce a particular area. Reducing body fat is an overall effect.

travellingmama · April 2013

Bumping to read later.

cynthiaj777 · April 2013

I am right around 18%. Took a LONG time to get here. I do pretty heavy lifting for a woman (I think...lol), and I will continue to increase. I do low rep, medium rep and high rep (3 sets total) with decreasing weight. For example, I do 5 shoulder presses with 35 lb dumbbells, 10 shoulder presses with 30 lbs dumbbells then 15 shoulder presses with 25 lbs dumbbells. My boyfriend is quite buff, so he makes me 12 week routines based on what builds muscle the most for him.

I believe I saw you say you are eating around 50 grams of protein a day. My gym suggest 1 gram per pound for those who lift routinely and heavily. I eat a protein bar for snack mid-day, I have a protein shake after working out always, and I eat 6 oz (or more sometimes) of chicken for lunch and then again for dinner. Building muscle is quite slow for women compared to men, but the more muscle you put on replacing the fat.....well...the more fat you will lose. Eat tons of protein, a moderate amount of carbs and keep lifting...and move your weights up as you can.

I'm aiming for around 15%. Good luck!