body fat percentage (female)?!
Question: i have been going hardcore to the gym since february and i have one of those electronic impedence scales that show body fat percentage. I have lost probably 15 lbs since january. I have been eating VERY well, weight training and doing HIIT cardio. Everyone says i they can't believe how disciplined i have been. HOWEVER..my scale says i have only lost a little over 2% body fat (i'm down in the 27% range) I also take the EC stack 2x a day, multi vitamin, calcium, lots of protein to make for muscle regrowth (this includes whey). OK so my question is..WHY have i ONLY lost 2% in like 4 months? This is getting VERY frustrating. I know i'm eating an acceptable range of calories (around 1400-1600 a day) and am in that damn gym 5 to 6 days a week. How much is a normal fat loss percentage in what period of time? HELP!!
Answers:
Women have a much harder time reducing their body fat percentage, it is how nature intended. That's the bad part but the good part is that you may be able to achieve a better distribution of body fat if you take Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) regularly. CLA may even decrease your body fat percentage by another 2% but the main thing is that if you have some fat on your stomach that's not shifting then CLA may re-distribute that fat to other areas where you'd welcome the extra fat (chest). But then again, if you just keep at it in the gym and diet even harder then you may loose even more body fat.
Other Answers:
That varies widely between people. What you need to worry about is inches and how your clothes fit and how your body looks not that % of fat or the lbs. Those #'s don't mean much. I can have 5% bodyfat and someone else have 10% and look better than me. Don't worry about the #'s so much!
those home fat monitors are not very accurate..you hafta go under water to get the most accurate, but expensive. 27 is a little high for the average female. im thinking sub-20s and your good, im a cyclist and am at about 5%, but the cheap monitors/scales tell me i'm 12%. totally wrong
remember you hafta chek yourself in the morning. if you eat, sweat, drink, what ever, the scale will be more innaccurate.
if youre eating well, drop the protien shakes. chances are your are not working out hard enough/tearing down muscles enough to make protien shkes worth your while. remember excess carbs and protiens store as fat at the end of the day.
cardio is key. 75% or max heart rate is most efficient for fat burning. im talking 2+ hours day 5x week. you can even drop your gym weight traing and focus on cardio for results if time is limited.
it will take years not months to be cut cut cut.
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