# NooB ?. Re:Fat Loss Speed.



## Big G (Jan 25, 2007)

Hi all! Got a minute to give a noobie a little advice? Please give me a minute to explain...

I'm 33, in fairly good shape, 6'2" and 182-194lb (Approx 14% body fat). I joined a gym 2½months ago and got immediately into it. I've read 375ish pages of BurnTheFat-FeedTheMuscle, Men's Health:Book of Muscle and several other body building books. I've got my diet completely under control; I'm eating six small meals daily with a lean protein and natural carbohydrate with each. They total damn near exactly 2200 calories a day and comprise of 35-40%protein 50-55%carbs & 10% or less fat. I use no fat whatsoever: fat free milk, yogurt, cottage cheese... I take a multi-vitiman and an Omega3,6&9 oil supplement. I'm lifting weights 3-4 days a week, doing an hour of cardio keeping my heart rate at 122-135 (my "ideal" according to the O2 MAP test I took at the gym). 

My goal is to get my body fat down to around 8% (just to see if I can). Once I've acheived that I plan to change my diet to somewhere near 4000-4500 calories a day, do less cardio, heavier weights and try and build muscle. Right now though, it's all about fat loss.

Here's the problem. Eating perfectly, working out loyally, drinking plenty of water is moving the scale in the weirest way. Day 1 at the gym I was 182lb. A month later I was 192lb (on the same scale). Now I'm 189lb.

I've heard that I should be able to lose about 2lb per week. I've also heard that I need a colorie surplus if I'm going to build muscle. How can I be going up and down 5lb here, 10lb there and still be 7lb heavier than I was on day 1 at the gym?

My body is harder. My wife's getting kicks out of the way my back looks. But, I don't notice anything significant fat loss occuring around my mid-section. Plus the scale is telling me one the one day and another thing the next. 

What's going on!?


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## Double D (Jan 25, 2007)

Sounds like to me your putting on some lean body mass, which is excellent. I wouldnt worry about what the scales say, I would be more enthused at what you look like.


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## Arnold (Jan 26, 2007)

GaryHugo welcome to IM!


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## ABCs (Jan 26, 2007)

Double D said:


> Sounds like to me your putting on some lean body mass, which is excellent. I wouldnt worry about what the scales say, I would be more enthused at what you look like.



^What he said. Use the mirror and your wife to see results. Since she sees you every day, she will be prone to noticing results on you. Seems like you are losing the bodyfat and replacing it with lean muscle so like DD said, don't worry. Keep at it, seems like your headed in an extremely good direction. Also, don't be afraid to tweak your diet and training. Small tweaks and changes can really help move results along nicely.


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## Big G (Jan 31, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback guys. Much appreciated. 

I'm happy to report that I put my training pants down, put on some jeans and they were actually too big for me. They fit just fine a couple of months back, so clearly I am actually losing body fat around the middle. I haven't jumped on a scale since last week, but I'm sticking rigidly to my 2200 calorie "diet" (I hate that word. I usually use "nutritional plan").

I've also scheduled a body fat dunk test. They're actually doing three tests; A Bod Pod (test fat via electric flow/current resistance), an underwater dunk test (The Gold Standard in body fat testing, apparently) and a caliper pinch test. It's only $20 for all three tests (Not $20each. $20 total). I'm looking forward to knowing exactly where I stand. I'm going to repeat the testing monthly to help monitor my progress. 

As far as "tweaking my diet", I'm not sure where to begin. 2200 calories is presumably low enough. With cardio, weights and my lifestyle I burn 4000+ daily. Intaking any less that 2200 calories would surely slow down my metabolism (something I definitely don't want!).

I take a multi-vitamin and an Omega3,6&9 oil supplement. My daily fat intake is 7-13% of my calories which is as low as I can go without relying on fat free dairy for all my protein. What more can I do?!

I'm going to spend the next week or two designing a workout program. Well, actually, I'm just going to do whatever it says in my "Men's Health:Book of Muscle" but I'll be reading for another week-or-so before I get to that chapter! From the workout I've been doing for the past few weeks I have noticed some strength improvement. I'm certainly doing more reps than I was a few weeks ago. If not, I'm using bigger weights with the same reps. Like I said though, it's all about fat loss for now.

I think my body fat is somewhere between 11% and 12% at the moment. Should I be able to see my abs clearly when it reaches between 7% and 8%? I hope so. I don't want to have to go all the way to 3 or 4% before changing my nutritional plan to 4000+ calories and abandoning cardio in favor of weights and muscle growth thereafter.

I'll post more here as time permits. I need to play around in this site a little more. Plus, my website, hugo.us.com, needs updating too. I should have some pictures loaded. My wife lost 315lb after her gastric bypass so it's all been about her on our website for too long!


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## Double D (Jan 31, 2007)

Awesome keep us posted. I have faith in ya. Hey I dont know if you have yet or not, but start a journal and record progress. I would love to know what your doing and how things are going. Best of luck.


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## Double D (Jan 31, 2007)

And and 3-4% is probably not going to happen without the help of drugs. I did say probably, I didnt say it couldnt. But around 8-10 is pretty darn healthy.

Men in American average bf is around 20%!

Women are around 26%! 

I personally think it has to be higher.


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## Big G (Jan 31, 2007)

*7-8%?*

But will my abs be visible at around 7-8%?

I'd like to have a skinny "Before" picture to go with the muscular "After" picture I plan to take this time next year!


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## Double D (Jan 31, 2007)

May want to ask around but I think you should start to see your abs around 12 or so. Depending on who you are. I maybe wrong though. But at 7 or 8 YES you will definitly see em. I dont think you realize how lean that is.


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## Big G (Jan 31, 2007)

Awesome! 

You're probably right about me not fully realizing how lean that is, but if I've made it from 19% to 12% I'm certainly hopeful about making it down a bit further. It certainly would be nice to have a picture of me leaner than I've ever been in my life, aged 33, before I start the muscle-building part of my program.

Is it reasonable for me to expect to drop from 12% to 7-8% by the end of March, or is that too soon?


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## Big G (Jan 31, 2007)

*Cardinal?*

So does that Cardinal mean that you are an Ohio resident?


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## Double D (Jan 31, 2007)

I am from Illinois, I did live in St.Louis for 2 years. 

I think its possible to get to that bf by March, but probably end of march. I would be concerned so much with numbers as I would with the overall look.


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## tucker01 (Jan 31, 2007)

8 weeks is pretty tight to drop that much bf in my opinion. I would aim for 12 weeks, try and retain some of the lean mass you have.  Either way you would have to be extremely strict with your diet and training to achieve that goal.


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## Double D (Jan 31, 2007)

I was kinda thinkin it would be tough. And much tougher to hold onto that lbm.


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## Big G (Jan 31, 2007)

Sorry to be numbers-fixated. I'm an accountant! What can I do!? 

Let me recap here for a minute...

I'm 190lb and I have 12% bf. i.e. 167.2lb LBM, 22.8lb fat.

If my LBM didn't change, bf would need to decrease to 12.6lb to equate to 7%. This is a 10.2lb loss. Over 8 weeks is that really so unrealistic?

I intake 2200 calories each day (almost exactly). My basal metabolic rate plus lifestyle plus excercise burns 4000+ calories every day. If I continue to intake 200 grams of protein every day via 6 small meals, 3 hours apart, shouldn't I be able to protect my LBM and still drop a pound a week?


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## Double D (Jan 31, 2007)

Just depends really. Depending if your body is only burning fat and not lbm. It is very hard to lose fat and not some lbm. So 10lbs in 2 months is easy, but will it all be fat is the question?


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## Big G (Feb 5, 2007)

No thoughts?

What is a realistic fat loss per week then?


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