Is it possible to drop 5% body fat in 6 weeks?
icemom011
Posts: 999 Member
There's a promotional challenge by a fitness program /club locally. The gist of it, they make you pay $500.00 deposit, and within 6 weeks you got to drop 20 or more pounds or 5% body fat if you want to see your money back. They give you meal plan and a trainer to work out for 1 hour three times a week . So this seems like a very harsh and aggressive approach to begin with, only would work if you have a lot to lose. I really don't. I'm working on recomp, technically in maintenance, but working on recomp, with the intention to drop my body fat a little lower. Right now, by the calculator, my bmi is just over 24%. I weight 147-148lbs, and I'm 5'7". So by numbers, i can lose 5% and i would like to. The question is, is it even realistic and safe to do in 6 weeks time frame? My gut feeling that it's not. What do you guys think?
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Replies
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Your BMI is 23.2. It is not a percentage, but the result of a calculation based on height and weight. As you suggest losing 20 pounds and/or 5% bodyfat in 6 weeks would not be very likely to be done in a healthy/sustainable manner, unless as you suggest the individual is well into the obese range.5
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Your weight is my goal weight at 5'7" isn't it funny how we all are different.5
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At 130 I'm 20% body fat and at 140 I'm 25.6% body fat so for me that would be the last 10 lbs I'd have to lose in 6 weeks. Considering you can safely lose 2 lbs a week it wouldn't be unheard of or necessarily unhealthy.
You are right that the higher your body fat percentage the more you could conceivably lose in 6 weeks, but by them saying 5% that pretty much takes care of that "not much to lose" category. Weight wise 5% of body fat for you given your current weight and bf% is 141 lbs so you would only be losing roughly 6-7 lbs in 6 weeks.
The more body fat you lose, the less pounds in fat it takes to lose a percentage12 -
You're confusing Body Mass Index and Body Fat %. With a BMI of just over 24, you are just barely out of the Healthy weight range, and so losing 20 pounds in 6 weeks is an overly aggressive goal for you.
Please be advised that the methods of measuring body fat % a health club would be likely to use are not considered to be accurate. I'm sure they are not going to spring for a DEXA scan, and if they plan to use a bio-impedance scale, that is easily affected by things like amount of hydration.
This contest would also run counter to your goals of recomp - in order to win, you would sacrifice lean muscle mass, which is the last thing you want to do.13 -
kshama2001 wrote: »You're confusing Body Mass Index and Body Fat %. With a BMI of just over 24, you are just barely out of the Healthy weight range, and so losing 20 pounds in 6 weeks is an overly aggressive goal for you.
Please be advised that the methods of measuring body fat % a health club would be likely to use are not considered to be accurate. I'm sure they are not going to spring for a DEXA scan, and if they plan to use a bio-impedance scale, that is easily affected by things like amount of hydration.
This contest would also run counter to your goals of recomp - in order to win, you would sacrifice lean muscle mass, which is the last thing you want to do.
The promo is 20+ lbs OR 5% body fat4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »You're confusing Body Mass Index and Body Fat %. With a BMI of just over 24, you are just barely out of the Healthy weight range, and so losing 20 pounds in 6 weeks is an overly aggressive goal for you.
Please be advised that the methods of measuring body fat % a health club would be likely to use are not considered to be accurate. I'm sure they are not going to spring for a DEXA scan, and if they plan to use a bio-impedance scale, that is easily affected by things like amount of hydration.
This contest would also run counter to your goals of recomp - in order to win, you would sacrifice lean muscle mass, which is the last thing you want to do.
The promo is 20+ lbs OR 5% body fat
With your stats you can't do either in a healthy way...20 -
5% or 20 lbs in 6 weeks doesn't seem unhealthy. Assuming, which ever is met first. Recommended, healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 1.0% per week.
For a person with your stats, but with body fat to lose, 5% would be 7.35 lbs loss over 6 weeks, or 1.23 lbs per week.
20 lbs over 6 weeks is about 3.34 lbs per week, doable for a big person that's more than 334 lbs.
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I asked how they are going to figure out the body fat percentage lost, and the answer was "measurements taken at weigh in". So no dexa. I also would like to stress out that i don't have extra 20 lbs on me to lose, maybe 7-8 max, but that's it. I think i would look awful, because right now I'm happy with the way i look, i just want to get rid of a little extra padding on my legs, so my muscles are more defined. Thank you for pointing out my mixing the bmi and body fat, you're right. And wanted to ask, when you saykshama2001 wrote: »You're confusing Body Mass Index and Body Fat %. With a BMI of just over 24, you are just barely out of the Healthy weight range
what do you mean? I checked, and it seems to place me in the middle of healthy weight.2 -
Daddy78230 wrote: »5% or 20 lbs in 6 weeks doesn't seem unhealthy. Assuming, which ever is met first. Recommended, healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 1.0% per week.
For a person with your stats, but with body fat to lose, 5% would be 7.35 lbs loss over 6 weeks, or 1.23 lbs per week.
20 lbs over 6 weeks is about 3.34 lbs per week, doable for a big person that's more than 334 lbs.
Thank you for your calculations, it helps. I was more interested in this promo for the fact that you get personal trainer to work with you, not so much for the weight loss. The body fat reduction is something i would like too, but not looking for the aggressive ways. I would be happy with 0.5 lbs a week, if it works out, and not too worried if not. So i guess, i will pass on it.
Thank you, everyone for your help to clarify this.
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Sounds to me like they are more interested in taking your money than helping you get healthy.20
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Sounds like a great way for them to make a buttload of cash.12
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For me this is flying close to the wind on being a pure, utter scam. They've set a target and a timeframe that are nearly impossible to achieve healthily.14
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Go with your gut, it's right. Spend the money something fun like vacation plans or new fitness equipment.10
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At 130 I'm 20% body fat and at 140 I'm 25.6% body fat so for me that would be the last 10 lbs I'd have to lose in 6 weeks. Considering you can safely lose 2 lbs a week it wouldn't be unheard of or necessarily unhealthy.
You are right that the higher your body fat percentage the more you could conceivably lose in 6 weeks, but by them saying 5% that pretty much takes care of that "not much to lose" category. Weight wise 5% of body fat for you given your current weight and bf% is 141 lbs so you would only be losing roughly 6-7 lbs in 6 weeks.
The more body fat you lose, the less pounds in fat it takes to lose a percentage
Wrong. You can safely lost 2 lbs per week if you have more than 75 lbs to lose. If you have only 10 lbs to lose, a healthy rate is .5 lb per week. A faster rate will cause you to lose too much muscle. Not only will that not help your body fate %, it is unhealthy.7 -
There's a promotional challenge by a fitness program /club locally. The gist of it, they make you pay $500.00 deposit, and within 6 weeks you got to drop 20 or more pounds or 5% body fat if you want to see your money back. They give you meal plan and a trainer to work out for 1 hour three times a week . So this seems like a very harsh and aggressive approach to begin with, only would work if you have a lot to lose. I really don't. I'm working on recomp, technically in maintenance, but working on recomp, with the intention to drop my body fat a little lower. Right now, by the calculator, my bmi is just over 24%. I weight 147-148lbs, and I'm 5'7". So by numbers, i can lose 5% and i would like to. The question is, is it even realistic and safe to do in 6 weeks time frame? My gut feeling that it's not. What do you guys think?
What calculator are you using?? Your BMI is 23.2.
I am 5'7", and right around 149. No way would I bet on dropping 5% BF in 6 weeks.5 -
Daddy78230 wrote: »5% or 20 lbs in 6 weeks doesn't seem unhealthy. Assuming, which ever is met first. Recommended, healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 1.0% per week.
For a person with your stats, but with body fat to lose, 5% would be 7.35 lbs loss over 6 weeks, or 1.23 lbs per week.
20 lbs over 6 weeks is about 3.34 lbs per week, doable for a big person that's more than 334 lbs.
I think BF and weight have been conDaddy78230 wrote: »5% or 20 lbs in 6 weeks doesn't seem unhealthy. Assuming, which ever is met first. Recommended, healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 1.0% per week.
For a person with your stats, but with body fat to lose, 5% would be 7.35 lbs loss over 6 weeks, or 1.23 lbs per week.
20 lbs over 6 weeks is about 3.34 lbs per week, doable for a big person that's more than 334 lbs.
Thank you for your calculations, it helps. I was more interested in this promo for the fact that you get personal trainer to work with you, not so much for the weight loss. The body fat reduction is something i would like too, but not looking for the aggressive ways. I would be happy with 0.5 lbs a week, if it works out, and not too worried if not. So i guess, i will pass on it.
Thank you, everyone for your help to clarify this.
You arent going to lose just body fat so to lose 5% BF its going to mean losing more than 7.35lbs. Adequate protein and strength training will help reduce muscle mass lost but wont eliminate it. I imagine you would probably need to lose at least 10lbs to lose 5% body fat with your numbers.1 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »There's a promotional challenge by a fitness program /club locally. The gist of it, they make you pay $500.00 deposit, and within 6 weeks you got to drop 20 or more pounds or 5% body fat if you want to see your money back. They give you meal plan and a trainer to work out for 1 hour three times a week . So this seems like a very harsh and aggressive approach to begin with, only would work if you have a lot to lose. I really don't. I'm working on recomp, technically in maintenance, but working on recomp, with the intention to drop my body fat a little lower. Right now, by the calculator, my bmi is just over 24%. I weight 147-148lbs, and I'm 5'7". So by numbers, i can lose 5% and i would like to. The question is, is it even realistic and safe to do in 6 weeks time frame? My gut feeling that it's not. What do you guys think?
What calculator are you using?? Your BMI is 23.2.
I am 5'7", and right around 149. No way would I bet on dropping 5% BF in 6 weeks.
I haven't recalculated in a while, libra shows 24,1 for my bmi. Thank you0 -
What they offering might work for some people, like some of you have mentioned, especially those with a lot to lose. They said their clients have 87% success rate, so they're definitely making some money. Clearly, not for me. I will just stick to what I'm doing, i think it's working and doesn't cost anything5
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I guess i was wrong about Libra. It says bmi 23.3 and body fat 21.6, trend 21.7. Should have paid more attention0
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I asked how they are going to figure out the body fat percentage lost, and the answer was "measurements taken at weigh in". So no dexa. I also would like to stress out that i don't have extra 20 lbs on me to lose, maybe 7-8 max, but that's it. I think i would look awful, because right now I'm happy with the way i look, i just want to get rid of a little extra padding on my legs, so my muscles are more defined. Thank you for pointing out my mixing the bmi and body fat, you're right. And wanted to ask, when you say
what do you mean? I checked, and it seems to place me in the middle of healthy weight.kshama2001 wrote: »You're confusing Body Mass Index and Body Fat %. With a BMI of just over 24, you are just barely out of the Healthy weight range
Now that I know your BMI is actually 23.3 I withdraw my comment
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What they offering might work for some people, like some of you have mentioned, especially those with a lot to lose. They said their clients have 87% success rate, so they're definitely making some money. Clearly, not for me. I will just stick to what I'm doing, i think it's working and doesn't cost anything
Yes, not for you. Good plan 0 -
I'm sure you could find a good trainer to work with for less than $500/6 weeks, if the trainer was the main incentive for you.7
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TresaAswegan wrote: »I'm sure you could find a good trainer to work with for less than $500/6 weeks, if the trainer was the main incentive for you.
This!1 -
The free part was e0
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The free part was looking really good though. Oh well
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overin2015 wrote: »Your weight is my goal weight at 5'7" isn't it funny how we all are different.
Yes, was mine as well. But seems like a good idea for me to go a little lower. We are all different, that's a great thing though0 -
I just signed up for the same exact thing, and my BMI is 32.6 which is Obese, now I'm worried do you think its feasible to lose 5% fat for me in 6 weeks?0
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...They said their clients have 87% success rate, so they're definitely making some money.
If 100% of clients succeeded they wouldn't make any money, so they do need/want some to fail.
How do they define success? Is it just the six weeks and that's it? I'd be asking how many of the clients kept that weight off vs. how many gained it all back and then some. Some folks that are obese could probably use the program as a jump start to long-term health changes, if they're motivated. However I am guessing the target clientele is this: ladies with not much to lose, a little unhappy with the soft spots, and looking for a quick way to drop those last pounds. Easy targets.The free part was looking really good though. Oh well
They have a good marketing team. You're supposed to be tempted.I just signed up for the same exact thing, and my BMI is 32.6 which is Obese, now I'm worried do you think its feasible to lose 5% fat for me in 6 weeks?
It's possible, but do consider what your plans are after that. How will you continue or maintain the loss? Are you going to change your eating and activity habits over the long haul? Are you prepared to lose the money if for whatever reason you don't reach the magic number?0 -
I just came across this article and it fits my current situation. I'm at 49% body fat according to their scales calculation. The schedule is 45 minutes of cross-fit training 3 times a week for the first 3 weeks, the following 3 weeks at least 3 times a week, can go more if desired. Follow a high protein diet. Is it possible/realistic/healthy to loose 6% body fat in 6 weeks time? Also, I'm not exactly sure how much as far as pounds that would be.2
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Whups, accidentally responded to an old thread. XD2
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