Body Fat %

CornwallCat

Central Defender
Measured my BF% on the new machine at the Gym last week and it said 23% (roughly what I expected). I’m 5’11 and 83kg.

Want to try and get down to somewhere around 15% before my holiday in August - reckon that’s possible? Been lifting 4/5x a week since consistently since January with 2x swims a week but I think I need to improve my diet to shift the fat now. Any tips?

Cheers
 


Losing fat is simple. Eat less calories than you burn. To maintain your muscle mass as much as possible eat a high protein diet (in the thread starters case about 160 grams per day) and do resistance training.

Basically @CornwallCat has about 16 weeks to drop 8% of body fat.
Currently you body fat weighs roughly 19kg.
To be 15% at your current weight you need to lose about 7kg of pure fat, whilst adding the same in muscle. That's just not going to happen without steroids.
So you need to lose weight to get your fat down to 15%.
If you were to lose pure fat, then you'd need to drop 8 kg to get to 15% body fat. But again that isn't going to happen is you are bound to lose some muscle.
So let's say you will also lose 2 kg of muscle. That means you've got to drop 10kg, of which we hope 8kg is fat and 2 kg is muscle (it wont be, as there is water weight etc, but this is just a guide).
By dropping 10 kg you'll weight 73 kg and if roughly 8 of those kg lost are fat, then you'll have about 11 kg of fat left.
11 (remaining fat in KG) divided by 73 (weight in KG after 16 weeks) is about 15%, which is your target fat %.
So you need to lose 10 kg or 22 lbs in 16 weeks.
22 divided by 16 is about 1.4.
So you need to target losing about 1.4 Ibs per week.
There are roughly 3500 calories that need to be burned to drop 1 lb in weight.
So to drop 1.4 lbs per week, you need to lose 1.4 x 3500 = 4,900.
So to find out what you need to drop your daily calories by just divide 4,900 by 7 = 700.
So, to achieve your goal by August, you should be trying to eat 700 calories less than you burn, whilst eating about 2 grams of protein per kg.
Next step is to find a calorie calculator to give yourself a good idea of what you need to be eating to maintain your current weight given your activity level etc.
Once you've done that minus the 700 and that is what you should eat per day. At least 10% should be fats, 640 calories worth should be protein and the rest carbs.
 
The mirror best way to gauge your body fat imo. According to machine at gym I’m 6ft 2, 14 stone and 13% body fat. How accurate that is in terms of fat I’m not sure but as some said on this thread it’s all about calorie deficit if you want to lose fat.
 
Losing fat is simple. Eat less calories than you burn. To maintain your muscle mass as much as possible eat a high protein diet (in the thread starters case about 160 grams per day) and do resistance training.

Basically @CornwallCat has about 16 weeks to drop 8% of body fat.
Currently you body fat weighs roughly 19kg.
To be 15% at your current weight you need to lose about 7kg of pure fat, whilst adding the same in muscle. That's just not going to happen without steroids.
So you need to lose weight to get your fat down to 15%.
If you were to lose pure fat, then you'd need to drop 8 kg to get to 15% body fat. But again that isn't going to happen is you are bound to lose some muscle.
So let's say you will also lose 2 kg of muscle. That means you've got to drop 10kg, of which we hope 8kg is fat and 2 kg is muscle (it wont be, as there is water weight etc, but this is just a guide).
By dropping 10 kg you'll weight 73 kg and if roughly 8 of those kg lost are fat, then you'll have about 11 kg of fat left.
11 (remaining fat in KG) divided by 73 (weight in KG after 16 weeks) is about 15%, which is your target fat %.
So you need to lose 10 kg or 22 lbs in 16 weeks.
22 divided by 16 is about 1.4.
So you need to target losing about 1.4 Ibs per week.
There are roughly 3500 calories that need to be burned to drop 1 lb in weight.
So to drop 1.4 lbs per week, you need to lose 1.4 x 3500 = 4,900.
So to find out what you need to drop your daily calories by just divide 4,900 by 7 = 700.
So, to achieve your goal by August, you should be trying to eat 700 calories less than you burn, whilst eating about 2 grams of protein per kg.
Next step is to find a calorie calculator to give yourself a good idea of what you need to be eating to maintain your current weight given your activity level etc.
Once you've done that minus the 700 and that is what you should eat per day. At least 10% should be fats, 640 calories worth should be protein and the rest carbs.
Cheers mate! That must've taken some time...

Cardio might well be my friend then to ensure a deficit each week
 
I've always struggled to shift belly fat - I just find the more I exercise, the hungrier I get.

The most effective weight loss I had was one summer doing intensive DIY in the evening (after having my tea). For some reason I shed half a stone in no time.
 
I've always struggled to shift belly fat - I just find the more I exercise, the hungrier I get.

The most effective weight loss I had was one summer doing intensive DIY in the evening (after having my tea). For some reason I shed half a stone in no time.
Little and often is how I managed to cut.
My diet for last few months has been this.

Breakfast - zero fat yoghurt, protein powder, mixed berries smoothie.

8am - 3 boiled eggs

10am - Tin of tuna

12am - 5 slices of ham

2pm - pack of mussels

4pm - chicken breast

6pm - evening meal- steak, lean mince, chicken etc with brown rice or sweet potatoes and cottage cheese

8pm - coffee and protein bar.

That’s usually around 2000 calories and about 200g of protein. I’m in canny nick at minute doing that and don’t really find it a struggle.
 
Little and often is how I managed to cut.
My diet for last few months has been this.

Breakfast - zero fat yoghurt, protein powder, mixed berries smoothie.

8am - 3 boiled eggs

10am - Tin of tuna

12am - 5 slices of ham

2pm - pack of mussels

4pm - chicken breast

6pm - evening meal- steak, lean mince, chicken etc with brown rice or sweet potatoes and cottage cheese

8pm - coffee and protein bar.

That’s usually around 2000 calories and about 200g of protein. I’m in canny nick at minute doing that and don’t really find it a struggle.

Go to Aldi and buy zero fat Greek yoghurt and then you don't need to use the protein powder, which is pretty expensive. You get 10 grams of protein per 100g of yoghurt and it's just 50 calories per 100g. A 500 gram tub is just £1.20 I think. That makes it cheaper than even budget protein powders such as the stuff from Bulkpowders, plus you don't have to buy the yoghurt you currently are.
 
The mirror best way to gauge your body fat imo. According to machine at gym I’m 6ft 2, 14 stone and 13% body fat. How accurate that is in terms of fat I’m not sure but as some said on this thread it’s all about calorie deficit if you want to lose fat.

As far as I know they’re not great. Calipers are the most accurate way that you can do at home if you’re actually bothered.

Little and often is how I managed to cut.
My diet for last few months has been this.

Breakfast - zero fat yoghurt, protein powder, mixed berries smoothie.

8am - 3 boiled eggs

10am - Tin of tuna

12am - 5 slices of ham

2pm - pack of mussels

4pm - chicken breast

6pm - evening meal- steak, lean mince, chicken etc with brown rice or sweet potatoes and cottage cheese

8pm - coffee and protein bar.

That’s usually around 2000 calories and about 200g of protein. I’m in canny nick at minute doing that and don’t really find it a struggle.

Do you eat any greens mate? Sounds constipating that :lol:

Stuff the coffee at 8pm anarl!
 
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As far as I know they’re not great. Calipers are the most accurate way that you can do at home if you’re actually bothered.



Do you eat any greens mate? Sounds constipating that :lol:

Stuff the coffee at 8pm anarl!
Yeah I agree. Wouldn’t take too much notice if those machines. Don’t think I’ll ever lose the bit fat around my lower abs although top ones aren’t bad for a 38 year old.

Yeah I have green beans, peas, asparagus etc with evening meal. The coffee is a must Man. :lol:
 

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