Body Fat

[sparrow]

I feel like I should know this and I'm sure there is no hard fast rule to it. But generally speaking if someone did everything "right", how quickly can body fat % be reduced? Once you're at that leaner number and still trying to get lower how much does that rate slow?

Here's me as the example. I'm 5'6 130-132 and started my weight lifting program with 18% BF after a heavy tri season of low to no weight lifting (I was 15.8% before the season when I was lifting) I have been lifting full body workouts only 2 days a week for 7 weeks with approx 4-5 hrs of organized cardio a week. I do my cardio after my weights. My diet is about 80% clean. the calipers show a .1% change, which is basically no change. What should my expectations be?

 

[bipennate]

I feel like I should know this and I'm sure there is no hard fast rule to it. But generally speaking if someone did everything "right", how quickly can body fat % be reduced? Once you're at that leaner number and still trying to get lower how much does that rate slow?

Here's me as the example. I'm 5'6 130-132 and started my weight lifting program with 18% BF after a heavy tri season of low to no weight lifting (I was 15.8% before the season when I was lifting) I have been lifting full body workouts only 2 days a week for 7 weeks with approx 4-5 hrs of organized cardio a week. I do my cardio after my weights. My diet is about 80% clean. the calipers show a .1% change, which is basically no change. What should my expectations be?

Well, technically bodyfat can be lost very quickly, but those techniques will often take a great amount of lean tissue with it too or not be sustainable. For the most part, "good" bodyfat loss is around 1-2% of total weight/week.

Of course, calipers are notoriously poor: have you been taking body measurements? What has the scale said? Do you see any difference in your body? Have your weights moved steadily upwards? Have your runs gotten faster?

 

[sparrow]

Well, technically bodyfat can be lost very quickly, but those techniques will often take a great amount of lean tissue with it too or not be sustainable. For the most part, "good" bodyfat loss is around 1-2% of total weight/week.

Of course, calipers are notoriously poor: have you been taking body measurements? What has the scale said? Do you see any difference in your body? Have your weights moved steadily upwards? Have your runs gotten faster?

Wow, well thats faster than I thought. I have measured with calipers and the bioimpedance hand held machine and I know each have a rather large margin of error. Both read around 17-18% currently. I'd love to do hydrostatic weighing, but its really expensive, even through a college.

The scale has gone down about 1-1.5 pounds since starting. I can see a minor difference in my body but not as much as I thought I might. I've been lifting steadily more each session since we've started and yes, my runs seem to be faster and much more powerful. My measurement changes are miniscule except for my hips. I have almost a whole inch difference since starting. My arm, chest and leg measurements have increased very slightly and my waist has lowered about half an inch. To get to 15-16% last time my diet was especially clean and I was trying to get out of "starvation mode" so I was increasing calories about 100cal a week. I was training for a half marathon and had a 3-4 day a week lifting schedule. It made me more muscular than I cared for and I gained 5 pounds, but I was very lean. Tt took a lot of effort to get there, about 16 weeks. I also felt like the extra muscle interfered with my running performance. I just wanted to know how fast I could expect those last few to go. I suspect I'll need to clean up the diet more and probably do less cardio.