Hello! At the moment I am 5'7", 170 lbs, at 24% bf. I'm very muscular for a female, but I do have some extra baggage xD.

So, my goal is to go down to 18% bf. Probably around 145 lbs?

I just started a diet a week ago today. Here is an example of it. [Eating at 2-3 hour intervals.]

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ strawberries, large black coffee 21 g of whey protein mixed in, water.

Snack: 21 g of whey protein, 2 cups low fat soy milk, half banana.

Lunch: Tuna sandwich on whole wheat, handful of carrots, water.

Snack: 1 cup low fat cottage cheese with 12 nuts mixed in.

Dinner: Chicken breast, lots of vegetables, water.

Is that enough calories? I am hungry a lot and I'm not sure if that's something that will go away as I get used to the small portions?

Also: I wake up at 5 am every morning; doing Cardio 4 days per week either on days that I don't do weight resistance or afterwards. Is that enough cardio?

I do heavy weight resistance, about 4 days a week. However I do split up lower and upper body into different days, so I can recover really well.

Should I change anything? Or am I on the right course??

Hi there,

at the top of the beginners section there are a bunch of stickies. I suggest you begin by reading gravityhomer's. there you will find a formula to calculate how much you need to eat to say lose 1lbs a week, which is realistic. it will give you lots more tips too. For a while isuggest you weigh everything and track you food on www;fitday.com until you get a good handle on it. Your food choices seem pretty good to me. I would personally start with your 4 days of lifting, alternating upper and lower (using free wts where possible and compound lifts) and would do 2 days of cardio and have one rest day per weeK. Always start with less and higher cals so you have things you can add and decrease ;)

Thank you for the advice! :). I checked out the sticky and it gave me some helfpul information...

Question: I'm not too worried about muscle loss..because I could actually do with losing some bulk. I'm naturally very...boxy..I guess. A mesomorph with some endomorph qualities, if that's possible....Anyways, I just want to lose the fat fast! So, wouldn't more than 2 sessions of cardio per week be my best bet? I was thinking of doing cardio every day, except for my rest day, right after my workouts...or early in the morning on an empty stomach. Is this too much?

Thanks again!

Jedi has given some pretty good advice, all I can say is good luck on your journey and I wish you well

Thank you for the advice! :). I checked out the sticky and it gave me some helfpul information...

Question: I'm not too worried about muscle loss..because I could actually do with losing some bulk. I'm naturally very...boxy..I guess. A mesomorph with some endomorph qualities, if that's possible....Anyways, I just want to lose the fat fast! So, wouldn't more than 2 sessions of cardio per week be my best bet? I was thinking of doing cardio every day, except for my rest day, right after my workouts...or early in the morning on an empty stomach. Is this too much?

Thanks again!

sure you can go ahead and do maybe 4 or 5 cardio sessions per week. it is simply that if you start off pretty agressive lowering calories and lots of exercise and you hit a plateau, getting over it becomes more difficult. You can try, we are also all very different in how much exercise and rest we need. try and see. It also depends a lot on the intensity of your cardio ;) The most important thing for fat loss is your nutrition. You shouldn't lose muscle mass if you get enough protein, enough rest and you are lifting heavy weighs.

Okay, thanks again. So with a good diet of about 1,500 calories per day...burning about 3,000 calories...not including my rest day...I should lose about 20 lbs in 3 months, correct?

Okay, thanks again. So with a good diet of about 1,500 calories per day...burning about 3,000 calories...not including my rest day...I should lose about 20 lbs in 3 months, correct?

in THEORY, yes. In practise, some people don't do so well on cutting calories by half, ie prettty agressively, as you plan to do. You will just have to see.

I would eat slightly more calories, only slightly, but a little more, and I would say not to make it a race against time from the start, as usually that leads to problems, you never know what your body will do when cutting, sometimes it stalls etc, and it can be tempting to take poor action to try and get back on track.

Cardio whenever you want is great. Its much better to eat more and get your deficit from excersize.

Good luck.