Going from 13-14% bodyfat to 9%

I've recently lost some weight through watching my diet and doing about ten hours of bjj a week. In total, I've lost 20lbs in about 4 months and now I'm looking to get this last ten pounds of fat off.

I currently weigh 177 and want to get down to about 167. My diet is pretty good (under 2000 calories a day). I have a couple of cheater meals a week (usually 3) but other than that, it's a wheat bagel in the am, fish or chicken and veggies at lunch, and usually the same for dinner. I can clean up the diet a little but I think it's pretty much where it needs to be. My question is this.... What excercises outside of BJJ should I be doing to get this last big of fat off?

I've been thinking of adding wind sprints and bodyweight excercises (burpees, pushups, pullups and core excercises) to my routine, 3 days a week. Any advice on specific routines I can use to get this last ten pounds off are greatly appreciated. I'd like to accomplish this goal (or at least get very close) within the next 6 weeks.

 

You will have better success asking at a bodybuilding forum.

 

or the D&S forum.

The first obvious thing is to reduce the cheat meals. It also sounds like your diet sucks. All you eat is a bagel, two pieces of fish/chicken and veggies?

 

I was thinking about posting it in the D&S forum but it's really more about what routines I should be adding rather than my diet.

My diet's a little better than I indicated, that was the extreme cliff notes. It varies but usually I have a wheat bagel in the morning.. Lunch is either two vegetables a little brown rice and either salmon or chicken breast. Sometimes I'll get a burrito bowl and just eat the chicken and the corn and salsa with very little white rice.

Dinner is usually something simple a couple of pieces of sashimi and a miso soup. Or a six inch chicken breast sandwich from subway with multi grain bread and veggies (no mayo or other sauce). I usually eat out but generally I keep the last meal of the day as healthy as possible. I may start cooking at home more but I usually get home pretty late and cooking is the last thing I want to do.

Anyway, let me know if you guys have any tips on good routines to lose that last bit of fat. Thanks!

 

That's a shame. Losing bodyfat to weigh in at a lower weight class, whilst at a similiar strength level has obvious benefits for fighters, strength athletes etc.

If you think your diet is in order (check D&S sub forum) and you want to add some sort of conditioning work to shed some more fat most people would assume a strength and conditioning would be quite helpful...

Jim Wendler said hill sprints were useful in him losing bodyfat, I'd ease into it though. If you are currently lifting/participating in sports then I think you'd be surprised how much hard interval work can dampen your recovery. I'd start doing hill sprints twice a week, positioned ideally not before leg workouts/hard sport sessions.

 

Here's my weekly diet

Breakfast Shake(Milk, almond oil, Whey protein, strawberries, banana)

Fish Oil Multi Vitamin

Tuna with Wheat Thins

Pre-workout PB&J Sandwich

Post Workout Protein Shake

Two Chickenbreasts and 2 servings of Green Beans

I had a bad accident, broken clavicle and I ballooned up to 187 lbs. I went on this diet along with a strength(wrestling) program and cut down to 163 for a freestyle wrestling tournament in less than 3 1/2 months, then I had to cut to 160 for a Judo tournament a week later.

My strength routine has been outlined here before, I worked with Broz to tweak it, in addition I do daily swimming/rowing exercises along with teaching a Judo class and competing in an offseason wrestling program

BTW I went from somewhere around 20% BF in my worst shape after the accident to around 11% right before my first tournament.

PS What do you mean by cheat meals? do you still meet your caloric requirements for the day or do you do whole cheat days?

 

Losing weight is a function of diet. I think it makes perfect sense to lift while your cuttting to try to neutralize the strength lossed. RCKVL is right this really does come off as a bodybuilder question especially since you didn't state why you wanted to and posted your BF%. So why are you trying to lose weight.

 

Thanks man...I may cut out the bagel in the morning and swith to the shakes. That sounds like a good idea.

I give myself three cheater meals a week where i basically just order whatever I want for that meal. It's usually a burger and fries or some fried chicken - I'm probably still hovering around the 2000 calorie mark even on days when I have the cheater meal.

 

I'm going to start mixing in a lot of pushups, squats, dips, pullups, and burpees - I'm hoping that helps me keep my strength while I'm dropping the weight. I don't feel like I've lost any strength in the past couple of month but I'd definitely like to increase my strength a bit.

I'd like to compete at a lower weight class, that's my primary motivation. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see some asthetic changes as well but the primary motivation is for competition and performance.

 

Do you have access to a gym? Every athlete would benefit from good ol weightlifting. Muscle increases your metabolism, athletic performance and makes you look better. Pushups, pullups, dips and bodyweight squats are great exercises to start with. Just make sure to add weight once you can complete 10-15 reps. A backpack full of weights/items is a good option for adding weight. Also make sure to use a schedule so that you workout regularly and have adequate time to recover. Pick 2-3 non-consecutive days of the week to dedicate to strength training and do the exercises you listed for a few sets each, weighted if possible.

 

Losing bodyfat is dependent on taking in less calories than is required for maintenance.

Obviously a conditioning routine is one way of increasing the number of calories required for maintenance thus increasing the defecit between calories eaten and calories required for maintenance (increased weight loss). It is erroneous to suggest that losing weight is purely a function of diet, though of course it is very important.

You honestly don't see how an athlete, particularly one with weight classes could benefit from losing bodyfat (i.e. same strength at lower weight), or even the improvement being leaner has on one's general health?

 

do you plan on competing in bjj? if you lose that 10 lbs you might be in between weight classes so you'll either have to cut a lot of extra weight to make a lower weight class or stay at 167 and be smaller than the other guys in the next class up. just something else to think about.

 

I wanted to shoot for 167 because I don't really like the idea of cutting weight - I know a lot of competitions make you weigh in with the gi on so I'm compensating with losing a few pounds below the 169 lb limit for my class. I'll probably have to drop a pound or two to be on the safe side but I think 167 is probably the lowest I could get to.

 

Have you actually had your body fat measured? If you're not heavily muscled it will look like you have some extra fat to get rid of, when in reality you dont. You should probably be eating more than 2000 calories a day. Im pretty sure eating like a bird and doing only conditioning and cardio makes your body want to store whatever fat it has.

 

I have in the past but it's been a while. I should probably take another test to find out. Does anyone know how accurate those hand held body fat devices are?

 

Squat, deadlift, bench press and overhead press while losing weight. Your mma muscles will thank you.

 

I'd really love to start lifting again... When I get the rest of this weight off, I'm gonna start hitting the weights pretty hard again. I kind of have to decide right now between lifting or doing the cardio and bodyweight stuff - I'm working two jobs plus doing about ten hours of bjj a week so I have very limited time.

 

Do 5/3/1, and finish with some kind of conditioning. Trying to lose weight without doing some kind of strength training is dumb. Especially in your case because your bodyfat % is already relatively low, you'll end up losing muscle and not fat.

 

Thats what I just said. How is that not a function of diet?

It is not erroneous to suggest that you can just eat less.

Never said that, I said he never stated why he wanted to lose weight.

Maybe instead of trying to be the champion for cardio and weight loss you can work on reading comprehension.

 

I can only say that for me lifting regularly did way more for losing fat than any cardio ever did.

Seriously, do some squats at least and power cleans if nothing else.