Lose 4% BF in 1 month......Possible?

[Sonicpilz]

Hey guys its Sept 25th and my goal is to drop at least 4% body fat before Halloween. Ha ha I know this sounds weird but I plan on dressing up like one of the soldiers from the movie 300 and I'd like to be in half way good shape. I know I'll never look like those guys but I'd like to be at least below 10% body fat.

Stats right now are 6'1 180 at about 13% body fat. I've never cut before because its always been hard for me to gain weight. I can eventually gain but for some reason no matter what I do I always stay at a solid 13% body fat.

Any suggestions that you guys think could help me reach my goals or is it even possible??

[blueguitar322]

If it's for a 1-night thing, I'd advise studying up on what bodybuilders do for the last 4 weeks before contest time - including all of the dehydration tricks that help their muscles pop a little better.

But honestly, losing fat at 300lb is the same physiological process as losing fat at 180lb. It's somewhat harder (less fat to lose, more likely to lose muscle, etc) but all of the typical components in fat loss (cardio, lifting to maintain muscle, clean diet, burn more cals than you eat, etc) will be there.

[Sonicpilz]

My normal workout is about 5-6 days per week and only 1-2 muscles per day. I work about 1-1.5 hours per day usually doing about 6-8 different excercises at about 3-4 reps of 6-10. Chest one day, legs, arms, back, etc.

Right now I do absolutely NO cardio at all. I have been working out about 8 months now and went from 23% BF to around 13-14% in the first 2 months and have been there every since. I have gained about 15 lbs of muscle but my body fat stays the same.

I've got 5 weeks to loose about another 4% at least. I do know the whole calorie in = calorie out deal but is it a good idea to eat a lot less calories? I don't want to lose much muscle.

Its about time for me to cut anyway because I think i'm starting to put on as much fat as muscle at this point. I wanna cut to 10% and then bulk again for more clean muscle gains.

I would just like to get it done a little faster than normal for HALLOWEEN!!!

[WetSock52]

If you are 172lbs and 13% BF you have 22.36lbs of fat.

The body can safely lose about 1-2lbs of fat per week. Over 4 weeks, that would equate to a max of 8lbs lost.

22.36 - 8 = 14.36lbs of fat. Your body weight would be 172 - 8 = 164lbs.

So 14.36/164 = about 9% BF.

But.... You have a LOT working against you. First, it's extremely difficult to achieve 2lbs of pure fat loss per week without the loss of muscle. Losing muscle will cause the drop in BF% to be slowed. Second, as you get lower BF% it becomes increasingly more difficult to lose fat as your fat stores are in limited supply.

I think it's possible but not probable.

-Dan

[WetSock52]

My normal workout is about 5-6 days per week and only 1-2 muscles per day. I work about 1-1.5 hours per day usually doing about 6-8 different excercises at about 3-4 reps of 6-10. Chest one day, legs, arms, back, etc.

Right now I do absolutely NO cardio at all. I have been working out about 8 months now and went from 23% BF to around 13-14% in the first 2 months and have been there every since. I have gained about 15 lbs of muscle but my body fat stays the same.

I've got 5 weeks to loose about another 4% at least. I do know the whole calorie in = calorie out deal but is it a good idea to eat a lot less calories? I don't want to lose much muscle.

Its about time for me to cut anyway because I think i'm starting to put on as much fat as muscle at this point. I wanna cut to 10% and then bulk again for more clean muscle gains.

I would just like to get it done a little faster than normal for HALLOWEEN!!!

First of all, when cutting you should be hitting the cardio hard. I mean like 4-5 days a week of mixed intensity cardio (some low, some medium, some high). In addition, you need to lift heavy weights to convince your body that the muscle is still required and not to burn the it for fuel.

Avoid very low calorie intake as you would guarantee yourself that your body will burn muscle. Muscle takes a lot of energy to maintain; you need to fuel it appropriately.

A general rule is to zig-zag calorie intake to keep your metabolism high. During a week you'll have 4-5 days of reduced calories and 2-3 of increased calories. Your reduced amount shouldn't go below: ABMR - (4 x body weight). By "ABMR" I mean your BMR with your activity level included. On increased days your calorie intake shouldn't exceed: ABMR + (2 x body weight).

Also, while cutting it's important that you reduce your starchy complex carb intake. Try to cut out pastas, rices, breads, etc. Replace that with fibrous complex carbs such as asparagus, broccoli, etc. Cut out or limit all simple carbs (sport drinks, soda, fruit, etc). Since you'll be doing more cardio you can increase your fat intake to about 20% your calorie intake.

-Dan