I know that a realistic amount of "weight" to lose in a week is 1 to 2 pounds, which equals roughly 4 to 8 pounds in a month. My question is what percentage of body fat can I realisitcally aim for in a month.

The reason I ask is because I finally got my BF tested yesterday, 34% :( :o

My ultimate goal is to get to 19%. I know this is at least going to take 6 months....so I am trying to set some mini goals until I reach the big one...

thanks,

funky

Several of us here believe you could reasonably lose 1% of your total body weight in fat per week.

So you can take your weight and in Excel make a sheet to "waterfall down" your fat loss based on 1% of a given week's total body weight and see approximately what body fat percentage you're at after X number of weeks.

Treat this as a marathon and not a sprint. You can easily get to 19% with consistent clean eating, heavy lifting - using the right exercises, and generous amounts of cardio (I suggest 4-5 days a week of LISS if you're just starting out!)

Read those stickies and get a good plan in order, then execute!

Good luck!

i really think the max a person could go for is 1.5 to 2 percent a week

A regime would look like this...

7 days LISS cardio in the morning (45 min to 1 hour)

4x a week lifting (heavy weights... squats/deadlifts/bench for 45 min) followed by cardio (LISS for 45 to 60 min)

On non lifting days, 45-1hour cardio

Carbs on lifting days, protein + fat ONLY on nonlifting days

Warning: This is as severe a fat loss diet there is... obviously, you will get burned out so proceed at your own risk

My BF loss during my 3-month cut was pretty consistent at about .5 % a week. This was with a 500 calorie deficit, cardio 4x a week, weights 2x a week.

Realistically you can plan on 1-2 pounds per week, assuming 500 calorie/day deficit and 500 calories worth of cardio.

I like this simple approach to planning because it illustrates the laws of thermodynamics. Energy in, energy out. We know that a pound of bodyfat contains the same energy as 3500 food calories. Create a caloric deficit of 3500 per week - then you lose a pound of fat. Add 3500 calories of extra "work", thats the other pound. This of course assumes that the body is going to burn stored bodyfat for the extra fuel, so you'll need to exercise smart and eat clean for that to work.

This of course is subject to flucuations in hormones, type of exercise, type of food, etc... but in the long run, the averages HAVE to even out. Its the first law of thermodynamics! :)

So I'm not sure about the idea of going by percentage. To me its more of an absolute numbers game. Hmmm. All sorts of dynamics can obscure the actual issue, but in my fat loss experience, following 500/day deficit and 30 minutes cardio per day, the fat loss was astoundingly uniform. 1-2 pounds every week. I had even

I was only losing 15 pounds though, so results may vary.

Check out my fat loss estimator (http://www.bironology.org/fittools/) now that you know your current bf %

Check out my fat loss estimator (http://www.bironology.org/fittools/) now that you know your current bf %

Thanks. Today, I came across your fittools on another thread. Thanks for the great tool!!!!