these darned few pounds to go!!

[AlfaPaolo]

Same old story! Follow the suggested amount of intake calories and get fat, go below and couches start mentioning starvation. I do a lot of activity gardening, fishing, walking, play with my 7y/o daughter(tougher than Insanity), Insanity, p90x and more but i cannot break through the last few Kg!! I stopped smoking cigarettes 8 years ago and reached 85Kg body weight from 70Kg, occasionally smoke marijuana, do not drink spirits or beer, anybody can see my tracking ( food is on myfitnesspal) HEEEEEEP me somebody help! I really want get close to 10% body fat; or at 51 it's only a dream? Ready and open to suggestions

thanks in advance,

P.

[Maxit]

First of all, you are within normal BMI for your height and weight, with the low end being around 17% BMI (so is 10% at all realistic?). Secondly, the table is not terribly accurate for men to begin with since it does not discriminate between fat pounds and muscle pounds and may over estimate BMI because of this - so you may not infact have a BMI of 24.7.  

Secondly, given your weight and height, and using the standardized tables, it takes 1635 calories to keep you alive (without added activity).  Your profile indicates you are averaging very little more than that amount of intake daily.  With the daily burn rate reported, you are consuming only about 60% of what your body is using.  Most experts would suggest that is far too low.  

My suggestions?  Get more sleep more consistently.  Eat more - but eat in a targeted way - go to http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ and do some calcuations about the amount of protein, carbs, fat, fiber you need.   Finally ... forget about BMI of 10% as a target.  Good luck!

[AlfaPaolo]

thanks Maxit,

All you say makes sense  to me,I'll treasure your suggestion.And thank you very much for the webpage...I like it a lot.

[whome]

Did I miss something somewhere? Was there a reason I didn't see for @Maxit to be refering to a BMI of 10% when you where talking about wanting a body fat percentage of 10% in your original post?

Good luck

[Maxit]

Because the OP listed his BMI and typically  people do not have an actual measure & use BMI.  "Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women."  

[AlfaPaolo]

little confusion between body fat % and BMI. My target was 10% body fat  ranging now at 15.9%and not BMI.

[josephz2va]

Your weight is ideal for the most part. It's the body composition you're aiming for. I suggest having your food diary analyzed by a nutritionist to see if any adjustments are necessary for body fat reduction.

If your Steps, Mileage, and Active Minutes are set to default, I'd suggest upping them. I generally do 20,000 Steps, 90 Active Minutes Maximum, and a distance of 16 KM. You also should look into weight training. Insanity and P90X are a good start, but body only exercises don't have enough resistance to build muscle tone and shred fat.

I generally do a full 7 days of isolated muscle weight lifting with abs in the AM and HR interval training in the PM for up to 30 minutes maximum and/or light cardio up to 90 minutes.

[robbackatya]

Pro Athletes (men) range between 6-13% BFP. That is low but it is doable. The few people I know in that BFP range (I am not one of them)  know thier nubmers inside and out. It might be easier if you build more muscle mass. If you do a search in google search for picture of people at the level you want to be at.

[AlfaPaolo]

Joseph You rock! it seams you are pushing like a locomotive 🙂 thanks for the tips, apreciate your help.

[AlfaPaolo]

Hi Robbackatya, what you say are words of wisdom. Personally I would love to but some enemies on the path....in the past I broke my femur in two, had to rebuild the cross ligament too, and recently a laceration on the deltoids both tendon and muscle. I will increase muscle and strength training but I have to go easy. Thanks so much for the good tips, they will surely help me to get on the right track.

[Dominique]

OK, I had a look at one of your profile photos:

 

In it, you look in better shape than 99% of men in your age bracket, so the question is: why do you need/want to reach 10% body fat? Do you want to make the cover of the next issue of Men's Health?

Even with 10% body fat and the perfect six-pack, they would deem you too old 

Here are a couple of blog posts by a doctor/body builder that may make you think twice about bringing your body fat % down:

http://drspencer.com/is-natural-bodybuilding-basically-castration/

http://drspencer.com/how-dr-spencer-got-his-groove-back-best-weight-vs-ideal-weight/

Bear in mind he's probably 15 years younger than you, so the hormonal change could have an even more dramatic impact on you.

Try not to spend too much time bare-chested under the Jamaican sun (skin cancer)!

[AlfaPaolo]

You 've just nailed me! By the way, what's wrong with the cover page of a magazine......

I am putting a lot of energy, sweat and determination into this so results could be gratifying. I put 10% body fat as an extreme dream but all i would like to achieve is a good muscle definition. All this work is for me, and my family. I live in a little fishermen village, here if I wake up with 30 Lb. more no one will notice or care except me of course. Thank you so much for the articles, I am gonna go read them right now.

All the best 2 u Dominique