Lose Fat not weight?

David___D
David___D Posts: 76 Member
edited January 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello fellow fitness pals, I am after a bit of help, and how anyone who has managed to lose body fat easily.

I am really struggling to lose body fat %, I seem to be able to drop weight, but cant get my body fat under 21% despite training a lot and trying to lower my fat intake, based on what I am advised on here.

I am really starting to lose motivation.

Anyone recommend any supplements, or maybe tips on how you have achieved a low body fat percentage, or do I have to accept as I am now in my mid forties, it is just too hard?

Replies

  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    bump
  • SarahR77777
    SarahR77777 Posts: 21
    Exercise Exercise and more Exercise :)

    I would recommend weights & swimming. I'm currently @ 19% but want to get down to 15%

    Oh and up your pro intake and cut down on sodium
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    Lift weights. I'm mid 40's and losing fat while maintaining muscle by doing stronglifts 3- 4 days a week. Its a slow process but it seems to be working for me.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Hello fellow fitness pals, I am after a bit of help, and how anyone who has managed to lose body fat easily.

    I am really struggling to lose body fat %, I seem to be able to drop weight, but cant get my body fat under 21% despite training a lot and trying to lower my fat intake, based on what I am advised on here.

    I am really starting to lose motivation.

    Anyone recommend any supplements, or maybe tips on how you have achieved a low body fat percentage, or do I have to accept as I am now in my mid forties, it is just too hard?


    What weight training are you doing, and what is your calorie deficit?

    If your deficit is too large, and you aren't doing any strength training you could be losing muscle mass as you lose weight, and just be a smaller version of the current you.

    To lower the bodyfat % you need to increase your lean mass %.
  • jesz124
    jesz124 Posts: 1,004 Member
    All I do personally is weight lifting (Strong lifts) and little bit of cardio (i'm talking 10-12 minutes after weights) and try to eat at a deficit of 20% from my TDEE.

    It's not a quick process though (well for me anyway) my fat is going slowly from what I'm doing. I don't really think there is a quick fix. Obviously the more vigilant you are with sticking to your allotted deficit the quicker it should happen.
  • balancedbrunette
    balancedbrunette Posts: 530 Member
    i was wondering the exact same thing...to lower bodyfat you need to increase lean mass is strength training the only way to achieve this or can a mixture of this help such as julian michaels and such, just wondering am i wasting time doing what i'm doing..
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    Your body wants to maintain a certain amount of fat as insurance against lean times (evolution has not caught up to modern times and our overabundance of food), and it will fight to maintain this percentage if you try to reduce it too quickly. As others have said, it's a slow process, and you won't see progress overnight. Lift heavy and cut the processed foods and you'll get results.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    1. Stop avoiding fat in your diet
    2. Make sure you are progressing with your strength training
    3. Be patient
  • natini
    natini Posts: 347 Member
    Weight lifting and replenishing with the appropriate amount of protein. You should check out some of the body building websites. They have great articles that address this. You want to build muscle and increase your LBM.
  • sunlover89
    sunlover89 Posts: 436 Member
    Read the 4 hour body by tim ferriss
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    I would suggest:

    a) take two weeks off and eat calories calculated by your body weight x 16 (so if you weigh 200lbs then 3,200 calories per day)
    b) don't worry about weight gain in this time - it will be prove beneficial in the long run
    c) maintain current exercise level
    d) from there reduce calories by about 150 per week until you hit a calorie sweet spot - the highest number given your level of exercise to prompt a loss of about 0.5lb - 1lb. You may be suprised how high this actually is...
    e) ensure you are being accurate with your calories - are you weighing / measuring your food accurately?
    f) ensure you are doing resistance training following the core concepts: good form, intensity, overload, progression and periodisation at least 2 a week
    g) be patient
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
    1. Strength train

    2. Don't avoid fat in your diet (.35 grams/lb of lean body mass)

    3. Get adequate protein

    4. Maintain a reasonable deficit
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    1. Stop avoiding fat in your diet
    2. Make sure you are progressing with your strength training
    3. Be patient

    This nails it. Why are you avoiding fats? That could possible be counter productive. Adequate intake of fats in key to good hormonal balance and lack of it can cause hormonal imbalances that could effect fat loss. Fat's don't make you fat. Excess calories do.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    1. Stop avoiding fat in your diet
    2. Make sure you are progressing with your strength training
    3. Be patient

    This nails it. Why are you avoiding fats? That could possible be counter productive. Adequate intake of fats in key to good hormonal balance and lack of it can cause hormonal imbalances that could effect fat loss. Fat's don't make you fat. Excess calories do.

    ^^yes. If you lower your fats too much, one of the hormones it can impact is testosterone...not something you want.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    1. Stop avoiding fat in your diet
    2. Make sure you are progressing with your strength training
    3. Be patient

    This nails it. Why are you avoiding fats? That could possible be counter productive. Adequate intake of fats in key to good hormonal balance and lack of it can cause hormonal imbalances that could effect fat loss. Fat's don't make you fat. Excess calories do.

    ^^yes. If you lower your fats too much, one of the hormones it can impact is testosterone...not something you want.
    All of this. Fat doesn't make you fat, fat makes you able to absorb nutrients and improves the texture of your skin and hair etc.

    Want to preserve muscle mass and watch the body fat ratio improve? Lift heavier things. Muscle fibers, you keep more of them the heavier you lift.
  • BarbaraCarr1981
    BarbaraCarr1981 Posts: 903 Member
    I am glad I read this information. Im at approx 25% body fat right now which is totally considered healthy! I would love to get to 20% body fat. I actually just increased my calories so that I will only have a 400cal deficit. I lift heavy weights 3 times a week and play badminton for 1 hour once a week. I will also throw in a 30min walk and 30min on the eliptical. I may be at a plateau right now but I'm upping the cals to see what happens. Goal is to lose 5% body fat and have toned belly and thighs, arms. Everything else looks good to me.

    Please add any info to my message if you feel it's good advice for me. Thanks.

    To the main poster of this forum - sorry I don't have any advice for you. I am just getting into this myself and I just don't know. thanks
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    1. Stop avoiding fat in your diet
    2. Make sure you are progressing with your strength training
    3. Be patient

    This. At least 40% of my calories come from fat. Eating fat didn't make me fat. Eating more calories than I burned made me fat.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
    I lost 40lbs from Jan to May 2012, just by walking approx. 2.8 miles per day. Since I've started running, I'm not losing much fat anymore. So now I'm running AND walking and I'm seeing a difference after just 2 wks.
    Lifting should help too.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    i think it's 'loose' fat.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    i think it's 'loose' fat.

    We all know this, but we weren't rude enough to correct his gramner
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    LOSE
    /lo͞oz/Verb
    1.Be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something): "I've lost my appetite".
    2.Cause (someone) to fail to gain or retain (something): "you lost me my appointment at the university".

    LOOSE
    /lo͞os/Adjective
    Not firmly or tightly fixed in place; detached or able to be detached: "a loose tooth".

    Verb
    Set free; release: "the hounds have been loosed".

    Synonyms
    adjective. lax - slack - free
    verb. release - loosen - untie - unfasten - unbind - undo
  • David___D
    David___D Posts: 76 Member
    On the original question, thanks to all for taking the time to reply and I appreciate the advice, I will try to follow some of the tips.

    Also I was just about to reply to confirm to people my "grammar" was in fact correct
    Although maybe it could be a pun, i.e. loose fat, meaning quite flabby :-)

    Thanks again.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member

    Also I was just about to reply to confirm to people my "grammar" was in fact correct
    Although maybe it could be a pun, i.e. loose fat, meaning quite flabby :-)

    Thanks again.

    Nah, he was just goofing on it and how people post it wrong all the time. He was intentionally correcting you incorrectly (if that makes any sense).
  • Proyecto_AN
    Proyecto_AN Posts: 387
    I am doing a cyclical ketogenic diet (ckd), alot of cardio and weight lifting. I've managed to drop 11.8% of my initial body fat% and I've lost minimal lean body mass. I eat alot of fat and protein.

    Initial PBF = 51.4 % ; Current PBF = 39.6 %
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