Body fat percentage and weight question!

eagle31900
eagle31900 Posts: 15 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. I just wanna ask a couple of question to see if I'm right.
I started a diet and exercise 2 months ago because despite I'm pretty slim overall I had a lot of fat concentrate on my upper body specifically belly and pectoral.

Before start I went to measure my body fat with the water tank method which should be pretty accurate. I'm 26 years old male, 173 cm, and when I started my weight was 68,6 kg with 16,4 kg of body fat which is 23,9%. Really high despite my weight. Now after two months I lost 4 kg and of this 4 kg, 2 kg were body fat as I went for another measurement.

Reading some forum on the internet looks like is normal that half of weight that you lose are muscle and half is fat. I'm on high protein and low carb diet to minimise the muscle loss. And I'm taking the diet slow (2 kg per month) to minimise muscle loss.

Now my question is as I want arrive at least at 18% of body fat would mean lose another 8 kg so 4 of those would be body fat bringing the total of body fat at 10,6 kg. But it would also mean a weight of 56 kg. Isn't it too low? I mean my weight for the age and height should be between 55 and 74.
Or is it fine as once lost most of the body fat I could start to gain weight but building muscle?

Thank you everyone!

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Are you currently doing a progressive lifting program? That will help you maintain your muscle as you lose. Better yet, if you're close to the bottom on BMI, would be a body recomposition where you eat at/slightly below maintenance while lifting to lose fat.
  • eagle31900
    eagle31900 Posts: 15 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    Are you currently doing a progressive lifting program? That will help you maintain your muscle as you lose. Better yet, if you're close to the bottom on BMI, would be a body recomposition where you eat at/slightly below maintenance while lifting to lose fat.
    Hi, thank you for your reply.
    I'm doing both cardio and weight lifting at the moment. I'm just worried that this ration 50% muscle and 50% body fat, isn't right for some reason, despite I eat at least 2 gr of protein per kg everyday. Should be this ratio more in favour of body fat? Like 70/30 or is it normal?
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    You need to be following an established strength training program. And there's no need for low carb to minimize muscle loss. If you are losing that much muscle you are in too large a deficit or not strength training enough.
  • eagle31900
    eagle31900 Posts: 15 Member
    edited May 2016
    rybo wrote: »
    You need to be following an established strength training program. And there's no need for low carb to minimize muscle loss. If you are losing that much muscle you are in too large a deficit or not strength training enough.
    I usually do 15 minutes of cardio and about 45 minutes of strength training. My deficit at the moment is 500 calories. I mean i read everywhere that 0,5 kg per week it's safe to don't lose too muscle and that's what I'm doing now. Is it too much? What would be a good ratio fat/muscle loss? Thanks!
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    You can lose more than 50% fat when losing weight, yes. Just like you can add more than 50% muscle when bulking. You will lose *some* muscle as you lose weight, but it isn't always half and half.

    And remember a percentage is a relative measurement - you can drop your bodyfat percentage by adding muscle, not just by losing weight. So no you don't have to drop to 56kilos, you can work on adding some muscle, then your lean mass increases.
  • eagle31900
    eagle31900 Posts: 15 Member
    robininfl wrote: »
    You can lose more than 50% fat when losing weight, yes. Just like you can add more than 50% muscle when bulking. You will lose *some* muscle as you lose weight, but it isn't always half and half.

    And remember a percentage is a relative measurement - you can drop your bodyfat percentage by adding muscle, not just by losing weight. So no you don't have to drop to 56kilos, you can work on adding some muscle, then your lean mass increases.

    I will increase my strength training in the next month then. But can you build muscle when you on a deficit of calorie?
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    eagle31900 wrote: »
    robininfl wrote: »
    You can lose more than 50% fat when losing weight, yes. Just like you can add more than 50% muscle when bulking. You will lose *some* muscle as you lose weight, but it isn't always half and half.

    And remember a percentage is a relative measurement - you can drop your bodyfat percentage by adding muscle, not just by losing weight. So no you don't have to drop to 56kilos, you can work on adding some muscle, then your lean mass increases.

    I will increase my strength training in the next month then. But can you build muscle when you on a deficit of calorie?

    My understanding is that this is a no. You can add muscle and then lose fat, or lose fat and then build muscle but the body doesn't both shrink and grow at the same time, it can't use the fat you have to build muscles, has to do that from food, and it's difficult for it to find enough to build muscle when you are at a deficit.

    So if you are losing well, keep going for now, but at some point soon you will have to eat more to fund muscle growth.

    You can ask this question also in the thread "Relatively Lean People trying to get leaner" or "Recomposition" because your weight seems healthy right now, I think you may have to take small steps of burning fat and building muscle.
  • eagle31900
    eagle31900 Posts: 15 Member
    robininfl wrote: »
    eagle31900 wrote: »
    robininfl wrote: »
    You can lose more than 50% fat when losing weight, yes. Just like you can add more than 50% muscle when bulking. You will lose *some* muscle as you lose weight, but it isn't always half and half.

    And remember a percentage is a relative measurement - you can drop your bodyfat percentage by adding muscle, not just by losing weight. So no you don't have to drop to 56kilos, you can work on adding some muscle, then your lean mass increases.

    I will increase my strength training in the next month then. But can you build muscle when you on a deficit of calorie?

    My understanding is that this is a no. You can add muscle and then lose fat, or lose fat and then build muscle but the body doesn't both shrink and grow at the same time, it can't use the fat you have to build muscles, has to do that from food, and it's difficult for it to find enough to build muscle when you are at a deficit.

    So if you are losing well, keep going for now, but at some point soon you will have to eat more to fund muscle growth.

    You can ask this question also in the thread "Relatively Lean People trying to get leaner" or "Recomposition" because your weight seems healthy right now, I think you may have to take small steps of burning fat and building muscle.

    So, I need to arrive to a body fat percentage that satisfies me and then build muscle, right? Well I'll keep going on loosing weight for now, thanks for your advices!
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