Need advice on lowering body fat

[timmahtee]

Right now I am currently 5'5 142 pounds and trying to lower my body fat to anywhere from 10-12%. When i started working out 2 and 1/2 years ago I dropped somewhere from 19% body fat to roughly high 13%. I aimed to bulk up a bit and now i maintain a semi-muscular build. However i want to cut off all extra body fat i have to get visiable abs. Currently doing 4 sets of 8 for pretty much all my exercises which include benching, squats, and deadlifts. Should i aim to bulk up or cut to lower my body fat even more? Also I currently do cardio before i lift and do abs after i lift. Workout from 3-4 days a week. Any advice on how i should change my routine (increase reps and or lower weights etc) ?

[zaidiraqii]

bro first of all, you need to make a schedule. organize your workout. what i do is that i lift on 1 DAY and do cardio on the next. if you do cardio and lift on the same day you're gonna f*** up your results. do 20-30 mins cardio around 6-9 pm ( best time for me) and do very high intensity so you would be sweating as hell. and also watch your diet. make sure you cut all the extra sugars and carbs at night. stop drinkin coke and mcdonalds. and be patient. GOOD LUCK bro!

[DDon1996]

bro first of all, you need to make a schedule. organize your workout. what i do is that i lift on 1 DAY and do cardio on the next. if you do cardio and lift on the same day you're gonna f*** up your results. do 20-30 mins cardio around 6-9 pm ( best time for me) and do very high intensity so you would be sweating as hell. and also watch your diet. make sure you cut all the extra sugars and carbs at night. stop drinkin coke and mcdonalds. and be patient. GOOD LUCK bro!

Ignore this.

[7399martyn]

Find a way to have a calorie deficit.

This usually means you exercise more and eat less and healthy.

[Amriacle]

Losing body fat is just basically eating under your calorie intake it doesn't matter if you do cardio or not if you are eating under your limit of calorie intake you will lose fat but don't over do it do a 500 calorie deficit ,keep your proteins high,i am not saying Cardio is useless but you can choose not to do it, but i would suggest you have a deficit a small one and you add in some cardio it takes Patience but you'll get there

[ErikTheElectric]

If you want to lower body fat, it's all pretty much your diet. Just focus on eating in a deficit and lifting heavy.

[timmahtee]

Yes recently have been dieting a lot more strictly and I lowered my carb intake as well... See my stomache get slightly slimmer but I feel like im using a bit of mass too. The biggest issue i have is lowering my calorie intake because often times I get hungry. I usually only eat 3 meals a day with 1-2 snacks like a fruit or something. So should i do cardio after lifting? I usually do cardio-> lift 2 body parts-> abs in a day because I can only manage 3-4 days a week of gym time. Should i continue on keeping 4 sets and 8 reps as a good amount when i lift?

[ErikTheElectric]

Yes recently have been dieting a lot more strictly and I lowered my carb intake as well... See my stomache get slightly slimmer but I feel like im using a bit of mass too. The biggest issue i have is lowering my calorie intake because often times I get hungry. I usually only eat 3 meals a day with 1-2 snacks like a fruit or something. So should i do cardio after lifting? I usually do cardio-> lift 2 body parts-> abs in a day because I can only manage 3-4 days a week of gym time. Should i continue on keeping 4 sets and 8 reps as a good amount when i lift?

It doesn't matter when you do your cardio. Before or after your workout.

Doesn't matter ow many times you eat per day.

All that matters are your total kcals at the end of the day and whether your in a deficit or not.

[Jordybeast]

just eat at a 500 cal deficit per day and you will lose weight

[timmahtee]

Alright so if anything I just have to work more on my diet. How can one accurately calculate their own calories ? I commute to college during the weekdays where I usually eat cereal for breakfast, a sandwhich that consists of ham or turkey with lettuce and cheese and white bread with a fruit as a snack. For dinner I usually eat a small bowl of rice with veggies while trying to eat lean meats such as chicken or beef. What calorie intake range should I be shooting for?

[ErikTheElectric]

Alright so if anything I just have to work more on my diet. How can one accurately calculate their own calories ? I commute to college during the weekdays where I usually eat cereal for breakfast, a sandwhich that consists of ham or turkey with lettuce and cheese and white bread with a fruit as a snack. For dinner I usually eat a small bowl of rice with veggies while trying to eat lean meats such as chicken or beef. What calorie intake range should I be shooting for?

That's impossible for us to tell you. Since I assume you have different activity levels each day.

Your best bet is to eat at set amount of kcals for a few days, and see if you gained/lost and adjust from there.

[timmahtee]

Alright thanks for the feed back everyone. Does anybody have any recommendations on how to calculate the calories you eat? Especially from things then aren't labeled?

[ErikTheElectric]

Alright thanks for the feed back everyone. Does anybody have any recommendations on how to calculate the calories you eat? Especially from things then aren't labeled?

Look it up online. Most foods ARE labeled and are pretty easy to get kcal info from though.


Good luck.

[CMojo]

Alright thanks for the feed back everyone. Does anybody have any recommendations on how to calculate the calories you eat? Especially from things then aren't labeled?

I use fitday.com to calculate my intakes.

[alsoyoutube]

Yes recently have been dieting a lot more strictly and I lowered my carb intake as well... See my stomache get slightly slimmer but I feel like im using a bit of mass too. The biggest issue i have is lowering my calorie intake because often times I get hungry. I usually only eat 3 meals a day with 1-2 snacks like a fruit or something. So should i do cardio after lifting? I usually do cardio-> lift 2 body parts-> abs in a day because I can only manage 3-4 days a week of gym time. Should i continue on keeping 4 sets and 8 reps as a good amount when i lift?

take enough protein and make sure you take in protein during morning time