Focused on Fat%, not weight

Welcome to MFP! Let's see if I can address these questions point by point.

Im_Johnny wrote: »

I want to lose weight, but I am not focused on weight but more on my fat%.

Good for you! That's the right attitude, for sure.

Currently I am 6'4 and 300 lbs., currently sitting at 28.1% Body fat.

How did you arrive at that number? Only asking because if it was based on a scale that claims to measure body fat, or based on an internet calculator, it's probably way off since those methods are notoriously inaccurate. Calipers by a trained professional can be a bit more accurate, still with a margin of error. A DEXA scan will be more accurate -- though it's really meant for bone density, it can also measure body fat percentage -- but costs money. I'm just saying to take the numbers with a grain of salt, is all, and look for relative trends as opposed to absolute measurements.

According to various calculators on the internet I've found that reaching my goal of 13/14% body fat should put me at about 250 lbs.
I'm not using the BMI because I'm not going to be a 170 lb. twig.

If you're relatively muscular, then it's fine to ignore BMI and target a certain body composition. No problem.

With my change in eating habits and diet I plan to also start working out.
Mon/Wed/Fri -Weights working the entire body Upper/Core/Lower. 45 Min Lift/15 Min Cardio
Tues/Thurs/Sat - Rest, Muscle recovery and growth.
Sunday - Cardio. 60 minutes (Possible only 30-45)

Obviously I wouldn't eat the same amount on Monday as I would on Tuesday, or would I?

If you use MFP and log your exercise, then you'll be given exercise calories to eat back based on how much you burn each day. This will mean that you'll end up having a higher calorie goal on your cardio days than you would on your weight days, since cardio burns more calories.

You can choose to average them out over the space of a week instead of a day if you prefer to eat a more consistent calorie number. But that's really up to you.

I'm not looking to transform over one night. But simply figuring out how to fuel my body through this, finding the right ratio of Protein:Fat:Carbs and the right amount of calories.
How should I go about the diet part of all of this?

Start by focusing on your calories. Enter your stats on MFP, follow the calorie goals it gives you, and eat back the exercise calories it suggests on the days you work out.

Don't worry about tweaking your macro targets until at least a few weeks into the program. It's likely you might want to increase the protein goal from the MFP default a bit, but seriously, don't worry about that just yet. Just focus on logging accurately and sticking to the plan at first.

After a few weeks, you can start making adjustments based on your training results and how you feel when you eat. But those will make more sense to you as you get further along.

There are some issues when you try to completely ignore the scale. First of all, body fat percentage is very hard to get accurately. I would say your 28.1% is probably very wrong. Unless you are a powerlifter, I would guess you fat % @300 lbs is much higher. Those online equations are one of the most inaccurate ways to determine body fat % and they get less accurate when you are very short or very tall (like you are). When I weighed 315 lbs @ 6'1 I was probably close to 40% body fat. Things like calipers, hand held devices, etc, all have pretty heavy margins of error. I understand that BMI is useless for you, it is for me too. In my profile picture I am still overweight according to the BMI scale. That doesn't mean the scale can't still be a valuable tool. If you are going to be losing fat, you will drop pounds. What I like to do is follow the scale along with several other tracking methods. I take pictures every few months, measurements, and use how my clothes fit all as markers of progress. If 2 or 3 of these things are going in the right direction, you can assume you are making progress. If 1 or none of them seem to be going in the right direction, you know something is up.

As to your question about how much to eat on particular days, I prefer to eat the same calories every day. It keeps things simple and makes it easy to adjust how much I'm eating. Your body doesn't run on a 24 hour clock where at midnight it decides to tally up how much you ate and how much you burned. It's a constant, ongoing, process. So even if you burn a little more one day, it doesn't necessary mean you need to eat more that day. Eventually it will all even out. As to calories, just pick a reasonable number to start with. Give it a few weeks. If you are making some results, keep with that number, if you aren't, reduce that number. I usually say 10 calories per lb you weigh, but at 300 lbs you could probably get away with 9 calories per lb if you want some faster results. Give it a try and adjust it based on your results. As to macro nutrients, I wouldn't worry about a ratio. I'd just focus on hitting a minimum for protein and fat say a minimum of 200 protein and 70 fat. You can go over those minimums just try not to be under. The leftover calories can go to carbs, or extra protein and fats.

Im_Johnny wrote: »

What is a better way of calculating my body fat %?
I haven't used a device to measure in about 2 years but back then it had me at 24% when I was lighter. Today I used an online calculator that used various measurements waist, hip, forearm, and wrists.

I definitely don't feel like my body is 70sum% of muscle. I feel and look like a fatass.
So I have no problem believing they are off. But I'd like to find out.

Unfortunately there is no readily available, reasonable costed way to calculate body fat percentage accurately. The gold standard for body fat testing is dexascan. It's expensive in the US and not covered by insurance. It involves x-ray so to have it done on a very regular basis is not a good idea even if you can afford it. Hydrostatic weighing is probably the next most accurate method. Again, access and cost are a barrier. Fortunately, you don't need to know your body fat percentage to lose fat. As I said before, track other things. Follow your scale weight, your measurements, take pictures, and evaluate how your clothes feel. Between those 4 things, you'll know whether or not you're making progress.

As mentioned you don't need to know you BF % to lose fat. If you live in a larger city there are most likely several places that have a Bod Pod that will test for BF % for $20-$50. Here is a location finder.
http://www.cosmed.com/en/test-site-locator

I've found the locator does not show all the locations where you can get tested. I'm pretty sure there are at least 3 of the things in my city with a population of around 150k and none of them are on the locator. I got tested at the exercise science lab of a local university.

It's not dexascan, but the NFL uses these at the Combine, so has a reputation as pretty reasonable.