Hey Coach
I’m 7 weeks into my diet, I’ve dropped 7kg
Height 5’9"
Starting weight: 90kg
Current weight: 83
Goal weight: 80
aesthetic goal: “beach” or “Hollywood” lean
I thought I was maybe 20%bf when I starting. Meaning that if I dropped 10kg down to 80 I’d be at my aesthetic goal. He’res my progress photo with “only 3kgs” left to go before I hit my goal weight. I think I’m further than I thought. What’s your best guess as to the weight I need to hit before I’m at my goal of 10-12%bf
Here’s the thing: unless they have dieted down to very lean levels, pretty much everybody underestimate how much weight they need to lose to look lean.
The first reason is that they underestimate how much fat they carry but the main reason is that they also underestimate the “non-fat” component of weight loss.
First, right off the bat we can assume an initial 2ish kg weight loss from fluids and glycogen. So when you think you need to lose 10kg, you really need to lose at least 12-13kg.
Then for every kg of fat you lose, you will lose around 0.25kg from “other components” (minerals, water, intramuscular fat, maybe even some muscle tissue).
So the initial 10kg, put in that light is more like 12.5-13kg… we are now talking about a total loss of 15-16kg instead of the 10kg you had originally planned.
So, assuming that your bodyfat estimation was correct you would need to go down to 74-75kg instead of the 80kg you originally thought. Which, based on your pic, makes more sense.
Great. Thanks a lot for the advice. Having a realistic target to hit allows me to be diligent and really go for it. Floating around without a specific goal make it harder to keep going. So my new goal is 75kg. 8 more to go. If my diet keep going according to plan then that’s a 16 week diet going from 20% to 10%. Seem pretty good to me.
I do have another question though if I can. Once I hit my then what the hell do I do? It’s not something I’ve ever needed to consider as I’ve pretty much never been leaner than I am in that picture. I’ve gotten here several times but always loose motivation and quit.
Well, the longer you stay lean, the easier it is to stay there and the less likely you are to balloon up. That’s called changing your setpoint.
I recently had a client drop 20kg (powerlifter) and now the goal is to build muscle while avoiding putting too much fat back on. So we are are gradually adjusting caloric intake so that he gains around 2kg every 3 weeks. Anything more than that will result in too much fat gain.
But it’s up to you. Is your goal to stay lean? Is it to build back up? Is it strength? What you do next has to do with your end game and what you are willing to do.
My goal is to remain lean while building up.
A good short-term goal might be to get to a lean 80.
How can I know what calorie range that is? For instance I began my weightloss at bodyweight x11. Which was 2,200 calories. That allowed for about 6 weeks of loosing 1kg a week with no cardio. I’ve just recently dropped to a factor of 10 putting me at 2000, I’ll do that until it’s slows down and I’ll add cardio.
Do I take my lean new weight x13 or 14 or something like that?
Does any of this information give any indication as to what my calorie intake might be when I’m looking to gain 2kg every 3 weeks? Assuming I am about 12%bf @ around 75kg. Or is it just too early to tell?
It’s normally a titrating process. In your case you could start at 2500 calories and see how weight changed over 7 days. Then make adjustments from there.
For example, the powerlifter client of mine ended his diet with around 3200 kcals per day. So we bumped it up to 3700 kcals per day and he still lost 0.7kg that week. So we bumped it up to 4000 kcals and his weight didn’t change. We then increased it to 4250 this week.
Would you do that the next day or gradually over days or a couple of weeks go up to 2500?
Let’s say that you start at 2500… that’s your daily number for the week. There can be some fluctuation, but I want the daily average for the week to be at that level.
If there is a need to increase calories because you dropped weight, we increase by 250kcals/day so 2750/day…we go like this until we find level that is appropriate.
And if you find yourself adding weight too fast what you can do is lower the daily average by lowering calories on some days. For example, if at 2500 you lose a bit of weight but at 3000 you gain weight too fast you could lower the calories down to 2500 on your off days and 2750 on the less demanding workouts.
For example, using my omni-contraction system:
Monday (whole body eccentric): 3000
Tuesday (off): 2500
Wednesday (whole body isometric): 3000
Thursday (off): 2500
Friday (whole body concentric): 3000
Saturday (gap workout): 2750
Sunday (off) : 2500
That’s great. I really appreciate that information. It makes sense and I’ll put it into practice as soon as I’ve dropped this weight. When I’ve reached my weight loss goal I’ll post up an after picture as sort of weird way of saying thank you. I’ve followed you for years and your programs and advice have always produced results. You’re a super humble guy and it says a lot about your character the amount of time and energy you pour into the fitness community. Us tnation regulars are definitely better for it.
The last 20 days have been a little disappointing. I started at 2200 cal weeks one and it just melted off for about 6-7 weeks. August 4 I dropped to 2000 calories and it all seems to slow way down. I’ve added more cardio last week and still nothing. I know the simple answer is to drop calories again to about 1800. But I would really have thought the second drop down to 2000 would have done more than only 2kg. Suggestions?
Here is my weightloss graph since the drop from 22 to 2000 cal.
Here is the graph since the beginning
Hey,
Seems legit that your weightloss slow down a little since you start to be lean. There’s obvious progress between this pics and the last one. If your weight is still going down, maybe delay the next drop for one or two weeks ?
good progress. yeah Id stay at 2k for a bit longer. think its better to add more movement/cardio vs cutting calories too quickly.
How much do you weigh now?
I’d definitely keep calories there as long as you’re making some progress, but, unfortunately, you’re really not crazy low yet. It’s not weird at all to have to get to 10kcal per lbs., even when not getting to contest-level lean.
If you haven’t tried increasing activity, now might be a good time to do that. Alternating adding 10% cardio with reducing 10% kcal when you stall seems to be pretty effective, and at least doesn’t have you doing hours of cardio along with crashed calories all at once.
2kgs per month is a good, steady, maintainable fat loss. If you want it to be faster then yeah go lower and move more, but it might have undesirable side effects. What’s your BF or weight endgoal?
But it’s true that 2000 is already low… What’s your energy expenditure, daily activity like? Sleep? I’m barely heavier than you (87) and I lost 2kgs in a week by dropping to 2800 ahah
Well I’m a desk jockey. I train 5-6 days a week for 1-1.5 hrs. Around 100 min of cardio a week (medium to low intensity on my spin bike).
I could add another 30 min cardio session on there.
I’ve been here before when dieing. I’ve done everything “right” so this time I thought would be different. This is usually around the the time I give up. Ima keep plugging away. Just looking for ideas to break the dam
I’m thinking 75kg will have me around 11-12% bf which is the goal I’m after. Nice and lean but sustainable to keep
Are you doing any cheat meals or refeeds?
