Want to lose body fat not weight?

[krupt]

Hi there,

I'm 20 years old and have been trying to lose weight for a few years now, since being overweight has massively affected my confidence, and has meant I've not socialised as much as I would have otherwise at university!

However, reading 4HB had inspired me to take action and sort my fitness out finally, but I'm just confused about how it would work for me...

I started on Monday morning with the SCD, and weighed in at 173lbs. The ideal weight for a guy at my height, age, and weight is something like 159lbs. However, after only 4 days, on Thursday morning, I just weighed in at 159lbs.

For me to get to my ideal weight I only need to lose another 14 lbs. Even if the weight loss considerably slowed down, which is possible, I imagine I could easily lose 14 lbs within 7 weeks, but probably considerably sooner.

Yet, I just can't imagine that I'd lose all my excess fat in such a short time too... My body fat is over about 34%, and i have a LOT of flab and fat. It just doesn't seem possible to lose that all in such a short time...

Therefore I'm confused about what would happen when I reach the point where I've lost a stone and am at my ideal weight, but still have a lot of excess body fat? Because the aim for me is to lose my body fat, I'm not fussed about what I way!

Could someone please help me out here? Have I misunderstood something? Or is it just that 4HB is suited to people looking to lose weight, and not burn fat like me?

Thank you!

[justhamade]

I am a bit confused by your post. You lost 14lbs in 4 days?

To address your questions, yes the 4HB is for people that are looking to burn fat. What you are actually looking to do is called body recomposition. In simple terms means gaining muscle and losing fat.

You are going to need to piece together a couple different parts of the book. I will try to break it down for you, feel free to contact me if you want more info.

1. Set you goals and chart it down, and track you progress.
2. Slow carb or low carb diet and 9+ hours of sleep per night for fat loss. You burn the most fat when you are sleeping.
3. HIIT Training 1-2 times per week. I think the kiwi workout (or something similar) is best, if you want to just do kettlebell swings for 10-15 mins that will work too
4. 'Lift heavy things' weight training 1-2 times a week. Occam's protocol from the 4hb is OK, similar programs are http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/ ... r_Programs and http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5- ... g-program/ just pick one of those.

It took me a few months take a look at my results Can you drop more fat in 7 weeks, probably but it would mean an extreme lifestyle change that not many people could do.

[krupt]

I am a bit confused by your post. You lost 14lbs in 4 days?

To address your questions, yes the 4HB is for people that are looking to burn fat. What you are actually looking to do is called body recomposition. In simple terms means gaining muscle and losing fat.

You are going to need to piece together a couple different parts of the book. I will try to break it down for you, feel free to contact me if you want more info.

1. Set you goals and chart it down, and track you progress.
2. Slow carb or low carb diet and 9+ hours of sleep per night for fat loss. You burn the most fat when you are sleeping.
3. HIIT Training 1-2 times per week. I think the kiwi workout (or something similar) is best, if you want to just do kettlebell swings for 10-15 mins that will work too
4. 'Lift heavy things' weight training 1-2 times a week. Occam's protocol from the 4hb is OK, similar programs are http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/ ... r_Programs and http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5- ... g-program/ just pick one of those.

It took me a few months take a look at my results Can you drop more fat in 7 weeks, probably but it would mean an extreme lifestyle change that not many people could do.

Firstly, thanks for your reply. It's great to hear from someone who has used the program and had such incredible progress! What you've achieved is really inspirational.

To clarify though, no I just started SCD on Monday, and have already lost 4lbs. I know that that will drastically slow down, but what I'm trying to say is that my actual "weight" isn't too much over what it should be, I'm only about a 14lbs overweight for someone of my height/age/weight. However, my body fat is high and I have a LOT of fat around my body.

My aim isn't to bulk up, I just want to burn the fat and be in good shape. However to get into good shape I'm going to need to lose the body fat. I imagine that by doing the SCB I could easily lose 14 lbs within a month of SBC, because the new diet is such an improvement on how I used to eat. But surely it will take much longer than that to actually get rid of the body fat?

Does that mean I would have to keep losing weight in order to lose my body fat? Or would my body kind of recognize that I'm at a healthy weight and then I could carry on with the SCD and my body fat will go down too...

I hope that makes sense!

[Punchy]

I recommend having your BF checked properly. The cheapest way to be sure is to find a university/college that has a dunk tank to measure BF.

Here near Los Angeles, Mt San Antonio College has a wellness center that for $20 will dunk you and measure your BF

[justhamade]

Firstly, thanks for your reply. It's great to hear from someone who has used the program and had such incredible progress! What you've achieved is really inspirational.

To clarify though, no I just started SCD on Monday, and have already lost 4lbs. I know that that will drastically slow down, but what I'm trying to say is that my actual "weight" isn't too much over what it should be, I'm only about a 14lbs overweight for someone of my height/age/weight. However, my body fat is high and I have a LOT of fat around my body.

My aim isn't to bulk up, I just want to burn the fat and be in good shape. However to get into good shape I'm going to need to lose the body fat. I imagine that by doing the SCB I could easily lose 14 lbs within a month of SBC, because the new diet is such an improvement on how I used to eat. But surely it will take much longer than that to actually get rid of the body fat?

Does that mean I would have to keep losing weight in order to lose my body fat? Or would my body kind of recognize that I'm at a healthy weight and then I could carry on with the SCD and my body fat will go down too...

I hope that makes sense!

I think you are getting a bit confused by weight and fat.
When you lose 'weight' usually it is water first, then some fat, and then possible some muscle or other lean tissue.

The key is to retain as much muscle as you can and lose as much fat.

Doing the exercises I mentioned will not make you bulk up. It is very, very hard to add a lot of lean mass. But you will want to do some exercise so you don't lose any muscle, and so you optimize your endocrine system (hormones) so you lose as much fat as possible.

You could easily lose 14lbs of fat in a month with the SCD. You will hopefully also gain some muscle, which is why punchy's point is important, get your bf% measured and not with bio-metric impedance, it is very inaccurate.

[johnshade]

"ideal" bodyweights are somewhat arbitrary. There are NFL running backs who are 5'9 and weight 220lbs, there are also 5'9 people with zero muscle definition who weigh 159lbs and still look skinny fat. What you're seeking is called body recomposition. To give you an example years ago when I committed to barbell training and gave up long distance running, I gained 10 lbs but lost two pants sizes. You want to build muscle and burn fat...at some point further down the road it can become more complicated as you approach sub 10% bodyfat and you have to tweak things more but for now that is not your concern.

[Opticks]

As a beginner, stick to the book and post here with questions.

Once a week, in the mirror, take a picture of yourself after you have just exhaled (not flexing), and then another pic with your arm curled (easier to distinguish), while flexing.

These pictures, and daily + weekly weight/wasit measurements will be a great guide to use for comparison along your journey.

This stuff actually works, so stick with it and don't give up!