Decreasing Body Fat

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jojomul
jojomul Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I got my body fat measured today, 24.2%. I want to try to get that down to between 16 - 20%. But I'm a little confused about the amount of calories that I should be in deficit. Since May of last year I have lost close to 50lbs. This was done through changing what i eat, when i eat, weight training and cardio. Then I hit a plateau with my weight loss about two months ago and i was told that I was not eating enough! So I increased my calorie intake. But after today I was told that to maintain my current status I should have a calorie intake of 1,300 per day, but if I want to loose more fat I will have to be in a deficit, so that would bring my calorie intake down to between 1,000 - 1,100. I personally think this is too low, hence my confusion!

Does anyone have any views on this or tips for what I could do to get my BF down.

*Personal Info: I'm 5'2, 30 years old and workout 6 days a week, heavy weights & 20 mins moderate to high intensity cardio on 4 of those days and just cardio on the other two. Im sitting at a desk for about 6 hours a day.

Replies

  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    how much do you weigh?

    First off, sorry you were given bad advice about your plateau. It makes absolutely no sense when you stop losing weight after losing 50 lbs to increase your calories permanently - a week or so, maybe. It sounds like you never recalculated your BMR/TDEE after losing 50 lbs, so you weren't at a deficit any more. I mean, think about it, "I stopped losing weight, so obviously, I need to eat more." That advice is SO misused on this site. It applies only to people that set unreasonable weight loss goals in the first place so they were losing weight way too fast. For most people, it does exactly what it did to you - stops your weight loss completely.

    Please post your current weight and I'll see if the numbers make sense. By the way, did you only have your %BF checked or also metabolism? How did they check it/them?
  • jojomul
    jojomul Posts: 7 Member
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    As of today I weigh 129lbs. She measured my BF by using a biofeedback unit and told be that my basic daily calorie requirement was 1,336 kcal exactly, and that I had the metabolic age of a 19 year old. She wrote down other figure for bone density and visceral fat but I don't think they would be of any use here.

    Thanks GauchoMark :)
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    OK, so you had it done using bioelectrical impedance (BIA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis
    This will get you in the ballpark, but I wouldn't get too hung up on the accuracy of it. As for the other stuff like metabolic age - pretty much BS. If you really had the metabolism of a 19 year old, you'd have a lot more calories to work with! It decreases as we age.

    So, based on your stats, your BMR is around 1360, so that is probably where the 1336 came from. BMR (basal metabolic rate) is how many calories your organs/brain needs to function without taking into account any activity - as if you were in a coma. To maintain your weight, you need to eat somewhere upwards of 1870-2100 calories a day (your TDEE). To lose weight, you need to NET less than your TDEE. A good rule of thumb is healthy weight loss is going to be netting somewhere between your BMR and TDEE.

    To hit 18%BF, your goal weight is going to be about 110-115 lbs assuming you can try to prevent muscle loss, so you really don't have that much to lose. I'd probably shoot for no more than a 0.5 lb/wk loss rate. So, I'd probably set my calorie goal at 1600 calories a day, log cardio exercise, and eat until your "calories remaining" is zero.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Just stopping in to add, GauchoMark's numbers sound reasonable, maybe even a little low for you.

    I'm 39, not quite 5' 3", 126 lbs and am losing between 0.5-1 lbs/wk eating 1500 Cals. I have a desk job, walk 30min/day and lift heavy once a week (so nowhere near as active as you). Sorry I can't be more precise on the rate of weight loss, I've hit the mark where it starts to slow down.
  • iNkedFiTmama
    iNkedFiTmama Posts: 277 Member
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    I'd start lifting weights if I were you.
  • jojomul
    jojomul Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you all for the information, I appreciated it. I am going to increase my calorie intake and go from there. I just have one last question. Should I expect to put on some weight before my body adapts and starts shedding it again. I'd just like to know so that I don't start getting frustrated and fall back into my old routine!

    Thank you again :)
  • carissar7
    carissar7 Posts: 183 Member
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    I am having the same problem, I reached and surpassed my original goal weight, but now I want to focus on shedding the last 5-10 lbs of excess body fat and get to around 15-18%. I set my calories higher as well but I'm just not sure if I'm doing the right thing or not.

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