Not much to lose/ exercise/weight loss

Are you logging your foods?

- Eat clean, less processed stuff , more whole stuff. If you can't pronounce the ingredient, then you shouldn't be eating it.
- Pick up the proteins
- Less about the weight number, more about the muscle
- Include strength training at this point, instead of cardio.
- Eat your work out calories.

I only have about 10lbs to lose. I'm 5 ft 7 and weigh 150 lbs. acoording to my scales i am 37% fat).

I have read lots of posts about losing weight loss to determine a more accurate BMR than just using the calculators but also read lots of posts about lack of weight loss ( not fat loss) due to exercise due to water retention when muscles are repairing. Because I have little to lose, inch loss isn't the great either.

How can I work out if I am eating the right amount to lose fat. Are calipers the best way to go. I have a body fat scale but have also read that these depend on hydration so can also be inaccurate.

The only real accurate test is to get your BMR tested at a lab, another accurate test would be DXA which will give you a fairly accurate RMR as well as body fat and bone density. All other measurements are merely guess work.

The most inexpensive is the hydrostatic body fat test. Last year the calipers and "send current through your body" scales told me I was at 17% but when I got the hydrostatic I was actually at 10%.

As you get leaner you do have to taper up your calories. Some of us use a special calculator that is pretty accurate, but it's not free either.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)