Recalculating Calorie Deficit

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anask4
anask4 Posts: 86 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone. I am 19/male/5'7" and weigh about 139-140 lbs. I have estimated my body fat to be around 16.5% (using a caliper). Since May 2013, I have lost about 50 lbs, but I still have a high body fat percentage because at the start of my journey I had no idea what I was doing and I suspect that I had lost a lot of LBM. Currently my goal is to lower my body fat to about 10-12%. I am a college student, so during the school year I can only go to the gym 2 days a week. I run for 20 minutes and do resistance training for about an hour each time I go to the gym. I am on the SL 5x5 program but I do other lifting in addition to that, using dumbells and cables mainly. On days where I cant go the gym, I try to do 80-100 pushups at home, just to get my activity levels up.

I am trying to figure out how large my calorie deficit should be in order to cut my body fat down to 10-12% in the next 5-6 months, if possible. According to calorie calculators that take my body fat into account my TDEE is 2090 (using Heybale's spreadsheet and IIFYM calculator). Other calculators, such as Scooby tell me my TDEE is closer to about 2300.

What is the deficit I should be eating at, currently I am at 20%, and sometimes eat even lower than that. Should I stay at a 20% deficit, or maybe go down to 15% or 10% (Keep in mind that my goal is drop body fat). Also does my TDEE of 2090 seem accurate? By the way, I feel like I am stalling at the gym.

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  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I think that body fat percentage is incredibly difficult to measure and calliper estimates just don't do it

    But unless you are a bodybuilder going in for a competition or are a serious athlete isn't your target BF way low for a man?
  • anask4
    anask4 Posts: 86 Member
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    bumping for feedback
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    I think that body fat percentage is incredibly difficult to measure and calliper estimates just don't do it

    But unless you are a bodybuilder going in for a competition or are a serious athlete isn't your target BF way low for a man?

    Maybe he just wants a six pack. He might need to go lower than 10% for it.
  • anask4
    anask4 Posts: 86 Member
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    haha a six pack would be great. i plan on bulking eventually but i want to get my body fat percentage to the 10-12 range first
  • anask4
    anask4 Posts: 86 Member
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    sorry....one last bump. I basically want to know what deficit is optimal for fat loss, while maintaining LBM, 10%, 15%, or 20%? I know that I realistically wont be able to bulk until next winter.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Could the reason you feel you are stalling at the gym be because you're not eating enough to fuel your burns? How much more weight to do need to lose? Or would you be better concentrating more on what you eat rather than how much? Your current weight doesn't sound very high to me for someone so active.
  • anask4
    anask4 Posts: 86 Member
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    Over the past two months I have felt like I havent made progress at the gym but I feel like I just need to power through that, and I actually have felt a bit better at the gym recently. I am not really concerned with dropping pounds anymore, although I probably will end up losing at least a couple more pounds if I successfully lower my body fat
  • gamagem
    gamagem Posts: 87 Member
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    According to the Scooby calculator, to gain muscle and lose fat you are supposed to eat at your TDEE. I've read somewhere that if you are losing weight (eating at a deficit) you have will lose some of your muscle mass (I believe it's approximately 10%). Since you say you aren't looking to lose any more weight, just eat at your TDEE, lift and throw in a little cardio for your heart. Make sure you are eating plenty of protein to build those muscles. Good luck.

    ETA: Heres a link that should answer your question. It actually say's to eat about 10% lower then your TDEE.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/

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