Guide: Properly lose BODY FAT % (For Women)!

Sigh...

An "overdose of carbs" that would "readily be stored as fat" would typically have to be around 800 grams a day. The only thing cutting carbs does is shift water weight around by reducing glycogen stores. It has absolutely nothing to do with fat loss.

You might want to spend more time researching medical journals, and less time researching a bodybuilding forum.

I dont reaserch medical journals but my cloths dont lie and when I eat under 80 carbs a day and those carbs are coming from fruits vegitables and nuts my belly looks a heck of a lot different than it does when i eat carbs.. so to each there own

So what are your suggestions? Help us out.

Seriously bro, eating are your bmr while burning that much daily is horrible advice. She burns as much as me in a day. She will lose muscle mass by eating that little. She needs to be eating 2400-2600 calories a day.

She already takes 1700 calories a day, I asked her if she was fine with that (which seems very low to me for what she posted) but your BMR and TDEE are both estimates based on a webpage; everyone has different metabolism rates...

1) Your age. Your metabolism may slow down about 5% per decade after age 40 if you are sedentary.
2) Gender. Men generally burn more calories at rest than women.
3) Your proportion of lean muscle mass to fat mass. The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be.
4) Heredity also plays a part in your body’s rate of metabolism.
5) Thyroid problems may also cause your metabolism to slow down.
http://www.thefitnesspersonals.com/blog/?p=167

I made a suggestion that she needs to up her calorie intake, HOW IS THAT BAD ADVICE? I told her it was ultimately her to decide and that her intake seemed very low to me at the moment.

Almost everything in fitness has to do with research because YOU have to decide what's good and bad for you, keep an open mind because what may work for me won't always work for you. RESEARCH RESEARCH and RESEARCH, it's not up to me to decide how many calories you need to take in and vice-versa,

Yes, I understand the variables in metabolic rates. I understand that your metabolism slows down when you age and it does that because your body loses muscle mass as you age. But TDEE is always TDEE. I don't have to exercise or have as active of a lifestyle to burn 3000 calories. And my BMR is 300 calories more than hers. But if she workouts out for 2 hours or has a very active lifestyle, it doesn't take away from the fact that our TDEE's are about the same. Which means, our caloric requirements are very similar.

Another thing you have to consider is creating large deficits is a equation to maintain body fat and not lean muscle mass. Its good that you said she should increase calories, as I agree, but to the extent is where I disagreed. It's still always better to take 20% off of TDEE (as you or dan noted on the next page). This applies to all ages. I have used this method with 18 year olds and 40 year old women with the same result. They cut body fat and didn't lose any lean muscle mass. A combination of adequate protein and heavy weight lifting along with a 20% reduction from TDEE is a successful key to losing fat and maintaining lean muscle mass. But burning 3000 calories and eat 2000, even if your BMR is 1700, is a key to maintain body fat and lose more muscle. That is what I was trying to say.

You're right, I agree with you 100%.

However, with TDEE you HAVE to exercise the way you set it up. So If you calculated with 0 days of exercising - you have to take calories off from the days you did and if you calculated with 5 days of exercising - you CANNOT just skip a day...you have to be consistent with both your diet (caloric intake) and activity.

That's the only problem with TDEE.

This is the reason most FAT people give up. You are making it too difficult.

PLEASE NEXT TIME YOU TITLE THIS FOR WOMEN USE FEMALE EXAMPLES. Women are totally different, we have different needs and our bodies work differently!! This is more harmful than good!!!

1. Eat healthy. Fresh fruit. Fresh Veggies. Limit Oils/Fats/Sweets. Eat lean meats/remove skin.
2. Portion your food. Use your hand/palm as a guide. Most restaurants will give you a double portion. When I eat out I eat half or a third.
3. Exercise. Opt for higher output to longer lengths. 15 minutes at high intensity is way better than 1 hour low intensity.
4. Believe in yourself. Tell yourself I CAN instead of saying i CANT


Do not focus on numbers focus on your effort. Effort will get you there.

Listen to your own body, push when you can -- stop when you cant go further.

Focus on good fuel (not just calories) stop eating junk food or prepared foods.

This is the reason most FAT people give up. You are making it too difficult.

PLEASE NEXT TIME YOU TITLE THIS FOR WOMEN USE FEMALE EXAMPLES. Women are totally different, we have different needs and our bodies work differently!! This is more harmful than good!!!

1. Eat healthy. Fresh fruit. Fresh Veggies. Limit Oils/Fats/Sweets. Eat lean meats/remove skin.
2. Portion your food. Use your hand/palm as a guide. Most restaurants will give you a double portion. When I eat out I eat half or a third.
3. Exercise. Opt for higher output to longer lengths. 15 minutes at high intensity is way better than 1 hour low intensity.
4. Believe in yourself. Tell yourself I CAN instead of saying i CANT


Do not focus on numbers focus on your effort. Effort will get you there.

Listen to your own body, push when you can -- stop when you cant go further.

Focus on good fuel (not just calories) stop eating junk food or prepared foods.

Women are NOT different than men when it comes to weight loss or burning fat. The are only medical variables. We all have a metabolic rate, we all have a TDEE and a deficit is the item that makes us lose. If you have an intolerance to carbs or a thyroid issue, then you have to make minor tweaks. I have seen women lose on less than 100g of carbs or over 200g of carbs.


From personal experience with working with hundreds of people on here, if you do heavy weight lifting, eat below your TDEE by 20% and have moderate macro's of carbs/protein/fats, it is a recipe for success. I have used the same techniques with men with the same success. The biggest variables with women is mental blocks. Men don't have as many issues as working with higher calories but women fear food (in many cases).

If you can explain to me how women are different, I would be willing to change my view, but I haven't seen any data that suggest they are.


ps- the only difference is men typically have greater lean muscle mass, but you account for that in your metabolic rate.

You are making this WAY too complicated for every. Here is the simplest way to cut body fat"

1. Figure out BMR
2. Figure out TDEE (include exercise into your TDEE, so you don't need to eat back exercise calories)
3. Cut 20% from your TDEE


Here is the results:

"I just wanted to thank you for your help. You helped me a few months back and I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. 12 weeks ago I started at 154 and 28% bf. I got my bf remeasured last Friday and it was 24%. But I only lost 1 pound. It is crazy to me but I have learned to ignore the scale. You were right that keeping consistent and not giving up my body would finally adjust.

Thanks again for your help!

Stephanie"

Hi psulemon...

Okay, so I'm trying to ignore the scale and rely on measurements, but I still want to understand. Here is the way I'm interpreting what I've read so far.

My BMR is 1,740. According to this site: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html my TDEE, NOT including exercise, is 2114, but it's 2730 including moderate exercise (I'm currently doing 30-60 min of various types of exercise 5 days a week). Calculating a deficit at 20% of 2114 is 422.8, and 20% of 2730 is 546. If I quit logging exercise and use the higher TDEE, these numbers suggest I should eat 2184 calories a day (2730 - 546 = 2184).

My current MFP allowance is 1,680 calories/day and I am supposed to log and eat back my exercise calories. However, the most I've ever logged in a day is 2186 and most of the time I'm under 1700 (including eating back all the exercise cals I can manage to eat).

Background: I plateaued for a few weeks and finally, last week, broke through with a .9 lb loss. However, I am steadily losing inches. I've dropped 1 pants size and 1.5 bra band sizes. I have been interpreting this to mean I am losing body fat.

What's your recommendation? Thanks in advance!

My recommendation is this, eat 2100-2200 calories a day. Do that for a month and monitor the difference. Try to set your carbs at 40%, protein at 40% and fats at 20%. This should help level out some of the water weight. Also, I dont know what you do for exercise, but try to do 3 days of weight training and 2 days of cardio. This should help with muscle retention. Also, lift heavy. Meaning, you should fail at 8-12 reps.

You are making this WAY too complicated for every. Here is the simplest way to cut body fat"

1. Figure out BMR
2. Figure out TDEE (include exercise into your TDEE, so you don't need to eat back exercise calories)
3. Cut 20% from your TDEE


Here is the results:

"I just wanted to thank you for your help. You helped me a few months back and I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. 12 weeks ago I started at 154 and 28% bf. I got my bf remeasured last Friday and it was 24%. But I only lost 1 pound. It is crazy to me but I have learned to ignore the scale. You were right that keeping consistent and not giving up my body would finally adjust.

Thanks again for your help!

Stephanie"

SO tempted to start doing this. Ive worked out through fat2fit radio that my tdee is 2294 (i go to the gym 4 times a week but have a sit down job.. i work in a call centre) and 20% cut of this is 1835.

IS this right? I can eat this? But then not eat back my exercise calories?

Atm i am on 1lb loss per week at 1410. and eat back my exercise cals. Half the time i am actually eating 1800 cals by the end of the day. So really its the same sort of thing :@ x

SO tempted to start doing this. Ive worked out through fat2fit radio that my tdee is 2294 (i go to the gym 4 times a week but have a sit down job.. i work in a call centre) and 20% cut of this is 1835.

IS this right? I can eat this? But then not eat back my exercise calories?

Atm i am on 1lb loss per week at 1410. and eat back my exercise cals. Half the time i am actually eating 1800 cals by the end of the day. So really its the same sort of thing :@ x

So using fat2fit method read the paragraph above the chart - that is goal weight TDEE and NOT current weight, and you do NOT cut 20% off. It already is lower than TDEE. Any further cut and you are back an unwise level for losing bodyfat probably.

So you eat 2300 every day, and exercise is already included in there, no eat back.

And the intent here you can confirm, if you took 2300 minus normal exercise calorie burn, you should end up netting slightly above current BMR that fat2fit told you.

Compared to current method, is the 1410 actually below current BMR by about 200? Actually could see 1 lb loss goal keeping you safe, and if eating back your exercise, you are obtaining this effect already at least.
Good for you making wise goal.

This suggestion is for all those eating below their BMR by 200-400, and not eating back exercise calories, double-bad-whammy.

Yes my BMR is just over 1500.

So what im doing atm is good then? and no need for change?

I usually burn about 400cals a time at the gym 4 times a week and then eat the majority of them back. So i eat about 1800-1900 cals on workout days and normal 1410cals on non-exercise days. Unless im saving exercise cals for the day after when i dont work out if i have something planned.. ie. night out meal out.

Am i a-okay?