Dropping into single digit fat %

[franks2089]

As of right now I want to begin the long journey to get into single digit body fat %. I have 2.5 months to get from 12-13% down to hopefully 9% without losing the muscle I have gained this fall and winter. I have lacrosse which will provide all the cardio I need. I will begin eating 6 smaller evenly spaced meals to help rev up my metabolism. I'm going to eat clean and healthy. Is there any other advice you can give me to help this goal be sucessful.

[wwallace92]

run every day like 2 miles thats what my friend and I did

[Viperlaxer132]

Sounds like what you're planning on doing will be just fine. Don't forget to drink tons of water, I always feel like that helps. Also don't completely avoid fats, it'll make you feel awful. Eat pb and flax and stuff. Why do you want to cut? Just to look good during summer?

[franks2089]

Just to look good during summer?
Bingo I went from 132 to 150 this year while remaining under 13% bodyfat so I'm expecting good things once I get into the single digits.

[nylax90]

i don't know much on this subject, but what i do know is that you should keep lifting so you don't loose your muscle as you lose body fat

[franks2089]

i don't know much on this subject, but what i do know is that you should keep lifting so you don't loose your muscle as you lose body fat
I am. Keeping the weight as high as possible, while doing lacrose and eating right should do it.

[AttackMan17]

Eat healthy, run a few miles a day, and drink water.
PS, somehow i only have 7-8 percent body fat. :) Not that you would care.

[nylax90]

i did a little bit of calculations for you. since you are 150lbs and have 13% body fat you have 19lbs of body fat so you should either gain more muscle or loose about 6lbs.

[jrmelax16]

Eat healthy, run a few miles a day, and drink water.
PS, somehow i only have 7-8 percent body fat. :) Not that you would care.


probly because you are 13 and still have high metabolism :)

[franks2089]

i did a little bit of calculations for you. since you are 150lbs and have 13% body fat you have 19lbs of body fat so you should either gain more muscle or loose about 6lbs.
I'm not exactly sure on my body fat % because its based of my bathroom scale but I can cleary see my abs when flexed which leads me to believe thats about where im at.

Cbury, Diesel, Bigdman try to get in here.

[AttackMan17]

probly because you are 13 and still have high metabolism :)

I'd assume so. :chuckle:

[franks2089]

I'd assume so. :chuckle:
But you are probably extremely skinny and minimal muscle at your age if you havnet been working out.

[Diesel4958]

Franks getting down really low in bf% without loosing some muscle is hard, but can be done. If I were you I would recommend doing a circuit workout during the day and at night hit some cardio about three days a week, eat cleanly, and cut put excess calories. You are in the "athlete" zone for bf%, I was 13% during competition. I dropped about 8 lbs in a week or two for my comp by switching up my diet and training. It will be hard but you can do it.

[franks2089]

Franks getting down really low in bf% without loosing some muscle is hard, but can be done. If I were you I would recommend doing a circuit workout during the day and at night hit some cardio about three days a week, eat cleanly, and cut put excess calories. You are in the "athlete" zone for bf%, I was 13% during competition. I dropped about 8 lbs in a week or two for my comp by switching up my diet and training. It will be hard but you can do it.
Does lacrosse practice count as cardio or do I need to do more.

[AttackMan17]

But you are probably extremely skinny and minimal muscle at your age if you havnet been working out.

Actually i have been working out, and have a good bit of muscle. I have a sixpack and can bench a pretty good bit.

[fallingupstairs]

yes it does cause when we have lax practice were movin the whole entire time so iw ould count it

[fallingupstairs]

ok sorry ill re type it and its not like u didnt get it so here it is in correct way
Yes lacrosse practice would count as cardio becuase when you have lacrosse practice you mostly run the entire time so yes i would count it as cardio exersize
would you like some tea with that eclipse

[bigDman]

Make sure you drink a gallon of water a day preferably a gallon and a half
Lift heavy and lift hard to keep your musle
split up to 6-8 meals a day
No carbs after 5 unless post workout
Get protein in every meal
get veggies every meal
If you really want to get into it
Have your first 3 meals be carbs and protien meals(no more hten 5 grams of fat) and your last three meals be fat and protein meals(no more then 10 grams of carbs)

[franks2089]

How long should I expect this to take if I adhere to my diet very well? Will I be able to do this in my 2.5 month goal?

[franks2089]

First thing when you wake up in the morning, doesn't have to be immediately...only before you eat something. Get on a treadmill set at about 4mph and walk for 45 - 60 minutes on a low incline level. It feels weird at first because you're not sweating or breathing hard but it works...trust me. I'd go 5 days a week, while still practicing and lifting hard. Those two together, plus about a gallon of water a day, and 6 mini-meals a day all containing high amounts of protein will really kick up metabolism to a good level.
What can I do if I can't make it to the gym until after I eat something like in the afternoon.

[spartacus9]

During cross country season sometimes I get down into 4 and 5% body fat but during lax I go up to about 8 or 9%. I weigh around 125.

[the wister]

What up franks. Ok, I'm guessing you're pretty serious about this goal, but not like, drop-everything-now-change-my-life-serious. First off, your bathroom scale has got to be off by who knows how much, it could be right, but probably not. Second, unless you're planning on making some really drastic changes, it's gonna be hard to keep it in the single digits for, say, a month. But I'm sure you can get there and if not, still look good.

K, um, water water water, very good advice. Break up your meals as much as you can. If you try to eat like your on the Atkins or South Beach Diet, that will help too. Protein makes you full faster, I'm sure you've heard that. Also, spend about 2-3 hours working out. Practice is probably two hours then try getting into the weight room for an hour afterwards. If you're that serious about this you will need to go to the gym 6 days a week, which is probably a little hard, are you in high school right now?

Just to give you a hint, I would work for an hour right before practice and then play, 5 days a week with games on saturday and I don't think I ever made it to single digits, that's really low, but then agian i never got myself checked. Well, good luck, hope any of this was useful

[Diesel4958]

The Wister, a possibilty why some may not hit single digits, could be well, genetics. Harder for others...

[the wister]

True True. I still maintain that if you have the grit to get it done, you can do it. I just didn't work quite that hard. But yeah, I'm a big believer of genetics

[franks2089]

What up franks. Ok, I'm guessing you're pretty serious about this goal, but not like, drop-everything-now-change-my-life-serious. First off, your bathroom scale has got to be off by who knows how much, it could be right, but probably not. Second, unless you're planning on making some really drastic changes, it's gonna be hard to keep it in the single digits for, say, a month. But I'm sure you can get there and if not, still look good.

K, um, water water water, very good advice. Break up your meals as much as you can. If you try to eat like your on the Atkins or South Beach Diet, that will help too. Protein makes you full faster, I'm sure you've heard that. Also, spend about 2-3 hours working out. Practice is probably two hours then try getting into the weight room for an hour afterwards. If you're that serious about this you will need to go to the gym 6 days a week, which is probably a little hard, are you in high school right now?

Just to give you a hint, I would work for an hour right before practice and then play, 5 days a week with games on saturday and I don't think I ever made it to single digits, that's really low, but then agian i never got myself checked. Well, good luck, hope any of this was useful

Good to see you back here wister.

Today I lifted weights and jogged for an hour, ate 6 meals that were clean and balanced, and drank 1.5 gallons of water.

Hopefully I can keep this up. I'm trying to get as low as possible if I dont make it into the single digits but I'm ripped I will be happy.

[RichWutLax]

[QUOTE=franks2089]Good to see you back here wister.

Today I lifted weights and jogged for an hour, ate 6 meals that were clean and balanced, and drank 1.5 gallons of water.

if u dont mind me asking what were your 6 meals ... ?

[franks2089]

[QUOTE=franks2089]Good to see you back here wister.

Today I lifted weights and jogged for an hour, ate 6 meals that were clean and balanced, and drank 1.5 gallons of water.

if u dont mind me asking what were your 6 meals ... ?
Don't remember exactly what I had for each, but I ate a ton of vegetables, 95% lean ground beef, fruit, and went easy on carbs in white breads, white rice,etc

[stinisonfire]

You can't drop weight and not lose muscle mass. It just isn't possible.

Keep in mind that for every pound of muscle you gain, you will also gain a pound of fat.

[bigDman]

You can't drop weight and not lose muscle mass. It just isn't possible.

Keep in mind that for every pound of muscle you gain, you will also gain a pound of fat.


i disagree with both of those statments



also another hint for feeling full is eat your protein first then your vegtibles

[smooth87]

And another hint for feeling full is to drink 2 glasses of water before your meal. I heard, too that if you drinnk cold water your body burns 300 cals, by bringing it down to body temp.

[ben1113]

And another hint for feeling full is to drink 2 glasses of water before your meal. I heard, too that if you drinnk cold water your body burns 300 cals, by bringing it down to body temp.

300 calories is if you drink a gallon of water chilled to near freezing. So, throughout a day you might get this, but its not like drinking a glass of water is going to reverse the burger you just ate...

[mikecoyle]

As of right now I want to begin the long journey to get into single digit body fat %. I have 2.5 months to get from 12-13% down to hopefully 9% without losing the muscle I have gained this fall and winter. I have lacrosse which will provide all the cardio I need. I will begin eating 6 smaller evenly spaced meals to help rev up my metabolism. I'm going to eat clean and healthy. Is there any other advice you can give me to help this goal be sucessful.
Water then some more water and when youre done ,drink some more water.

[BuckWyld]

For most people the amount of cardio you do is not the most important thing, because it only makes up a fraction of the calories burned during the day, diet is really where you can make changes to your bf%. Don't make the diet so strict you can not follwo it, especially at firts. What I would do is start out by trying to find out about how many calories you take in now everyday. Then I would remove all the junk, that you eat and see how many calories you are left with. If the difference between the two is more than ~250 calories a day, I would add somemore healthy food to the plan, re-evalueate after a few weeks. If the difference is between ~100 and 300 calories per day just leave it for a few weeks then re-evalueate. If the difference is less than ~100 calories a day try to remove another 100 - 150 calories per day and re-evalueate after a couple of weeks.


Assuming your weight is 150lbs like you said earlier in the thread, your body fat is 13%, and no loss of muscle %9bf for you is just over 142lbs. So you would need to loose 8lbs, you should give yourself at least one month. I would suggest using longer than that if possible to preserve muscle, and since you are new to it work your way in to learn what works for you.

[IggyLacrosse21]

your gonna wanta start eating more meats before and after workouts, however dont pound down too much because you wont work it all off. Also drink plenty of water. Ifyour going to be doing as much running as you say I suggest at least 1 gallon a day. Keep the weights going but dont over train. If you over train you will actually get sick and lose alort of weight which isnt good. Running by the way actually breaks down muscle so after you run try drinking protein shakes or something with alot of protein in it (same with after you lift). Most people sy work out hard every day... Dont. It f***s you up actually breaking down muscle take it back forth mix it up with different lifts at different weights this keeps the nervous system alert and alive. Also, don't work out more then 3 one hour periods a day, and 6 tiems a week because you will get burnt out and hit a platou where all you can do is stay even of start avalanging down.

[dcarp407]

go on the water diet

no coffe no soda no milk no nuthin jsut water with meals


also run and keep liften

protien drinnks r ok but not to many :chuckle:

[WHEELAX2]

since muscle contains fat, you will see a decrease in muscle mass..

[KnightsLAXDad]

On paper it is relatively simple.

1lb of fat is ~3300 calories of energy, so in order to lose 1lb of fat, you have to expend (aerobic exercise) 3300 calories more energy than you take in by eating.

There are a lot of opinions out there on what works and what doesn't. Opinions, are like, well you know, and everyone has one. Basically "diets" like South Beach and Atkins , while they can be effective, actually deprive your body of certain things, and are not suitable for the long term, nor for someone who is active. Carbs are not "bad" if you are active, because carbs are fuel. No carbs = empty tank. There are, however, carbs that are better for you (fruits and veggies) than others (refined sugars). Fats are nearly impossible to eliminate from your diet unless you are a strict vegan and do not eat/cook with oils. They should be kept to a minimum though. You can't just cut out an one or two food types. You need balance.

There are plenty or online resources for both determing food calorie content, and calories burned per exercise. Do some googling for "G.I. Diet" for carbs, and "food exchange program" by the Diabetes Society. Then come up with a workout plan that burns 600-800 calories more than you are taking in and a balanced diet that gets most of the calories fron furit and bveggies, then protien, then dairy , and lastly fat. Work out 4-5 times per week (remember that you need at least one day of complete rest per week) and balance hard exercise days with recovery (or you'll burn out from lactic acid build up). At that rate, you can reasonable lose 1-1.5lbs per week or so. In 2.5 months you can lose 10-12lbs of fat.

Be realistic though. It takes time and hard work, and it takes a lot of discipline. The first few will go quicker than the last few, and you may never reach your target because that's the way your are made.

[ben1113]

i thought for some reason that a pound of fat was 3600? anyway, i've heard that when you eat less, whether its spread out or not, your body slows the metabolism down, and when you eat more your body speeds it up, so wouldn't you cutting out say 300 calories a day not equal 300 less? because then your body would slow down and only burn say 250? or did i get caught up in hearsay and not really facts....

By the way, im thinking of the zigzag diet where you go maybe 2200 calories, then 1800, then back up, down.... to keep your body guessing.

[KnightsLAXDad]

3300, 3600 somewhere around there anyways.

Yes and no. From what I understand, when you "starve" yourself, diet or otherwise, the body goes into a sort of survival mode and your metabolism slows, and actually tries to preserve fat as a last resort. As you increase your lean body mass, you actually burn more energy, even at rest. Another reason why unbalanced diets or diets without exercise don't work.