Hello everyone,
I’m taking fat loss seriously after being overweight for years.
Current stats (6’0"):
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Started at ~32% BF, 229 lbs, 39.5" waist in August
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Now ~27% BF, 203 lbs, 37" waist
I’m happy with my progress, but I’d like to continue as one focused cut to get truly lean before I switch to maintenance and then long-term lean bulking. My rough target is 155–165 lbs at ~10% BF.
Reasons:
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Maximize the amount of time I can slowly bulk before I hit the recommended 35” waist upper limit
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See whether I’ll have loose skin once I’m actually lean
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Honestly just want to experience being legitimately lean once in my life and I want to see how my face looks and where my stubborn fat settles
Two main questions:
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Is 155–165 lbs at ~10% realistic for someone with only ~1.5 years of cumulative training? I’ve heard that less experienced lifters have a more difficult time reaching that level of leanness due to low lean body mass in addition to the behavioral shenanigans the body pulls when losing weight long-term
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Is this whole plan a bad idea in general?
Would a 33” waist target be a better goal for me to settle for? Or am I way off in general?
Any thought or input is very much appreciated,
Thank you!
2 Likes
Fhaolain,
Nice job on your weight loss so far. Pretty epic stuff. I would’ve expected more of a waist reduction with that amount of weight loss, so I’m wondering about dietary approach (e.g. how big of a deficit, are you doing low carb), training program (low volume, HIIT based), and so on. Provided you’re following a modest deficit, not doing a low carb diet, and training with a good program, I have few concerns about your plan here.
It does seem likely that ~ 10% body fat would be in the 150-60’s for you right now. Whether you prefer that look is personal preference, but I don’t think loose skin is going to be a problem, and I wouldn’t use that to make a decision here.
If it were me, I’d probably favor more maintenance right now, training hard on a good program, eating well, sleeping well, and doing your conditioning. I suspect your waist should continue to come down further with this approach, as you build some muscle. Then, you can decide if you want to go all-in on being lean. I agree that I wouldn’t intentionally bulk at this time.
3 Likes
Thank you, doctor.
I’ll speak on what I did to get to this point. I roughly calculated my TDEE to Be 3050 from your calculator, and aimed for an aggressive 1000 calorie deficit. I figured I’d reassess once I got to 37”. Sleep is okay at 7ish hours, but could be better. I was running the beginner template phases one and two. A lot of my cardio was LISS cardio walking my toddler in his stroller and getting in more steps. I was aiming for minimum roughly-
150 Protein
175-200 Carbs
55 Fat
Adding carbs or fat to roughly get 2000-2100 cals per day.
With it getting too cold to walk my son, I’ve settled for a roughly 500 Calorie deficit. I could make conditioning more of a priority, just difficult with son, wife, job, training sessions etc. I’m going to be going into Week 9 for the beginner template. Once that phase is complete, I plan on getting and starting a hypertrophy-centric program like Hypertrophy 1 or BB 1.
Long term Goals would be primarily hypertrophy, but wouldn’t mind doing something like your power building program once muscle gains slow down considerably. I didn’t plan on staying at 10% unless it’s something that my wife or I really got a kick out of. Otherwise I’m comfortable being a bit fluffier on average, but still below 35”.
Thank you.
Yep, I’d plan on going to the hypertrophy or bodybuilding 1 programs and I’d increase protein to 180g/day for you.
I’d favor more maintenance/slow weight loss (if any) personally, but that’s just me.
Thank you, Dr. Feigenbaum. Enjoy your thanksgiving.