Shredding estimates please

[Seqhael]

Hey, I'm 24, 6'1 and 240lbs at about 16-18% body fat.

I've been training for around 5 years but only to bulk up, now I feel I am big enough and want to cut all my fat away.
My question is what is a reasonable weight over 6 months to cut down to 7%? Is it possible to drop to 200lbs at 7% bf? or would I have to lose more weight to hit 7?

Cheers

[Rychilol]

Probably, I dont know how much you need to maintain weight, but cut that by 300-500 and add some walking 5-6 days a week. And your gonna loose all kinds of fat.

[ScrawnyMcBrawny]

240lbs and 17% fat = 40.8lbs fat 199.2lbs lean body mass.
You would be 7% with 15lbs fat if you retained all of your lean body mass while cutting.
40.8 - 15 = 25.8lbs fat to lose

I have heard it recommended that someone aim for no more than 1lb of fat loss per week if their goal is to retain that lean body mass while cutting. There are 24 weeks in 6 months...

I would say that 7% in 6 months is quite a reasonable goal.

I am a noob though, I'm just recycling info I've read on here - it may pay to check both my math and my logic for yourself. Best of luck!

[OzChops]

6'1" at 240 and high teens BF is a TANK.

There is a reasonable chance you are underestimating the amount of bodyfat you are carrying.

Regardless of how far down you want to cut, the process is the same.

If you did want to drop 40lbs, then 6 months is a reasonable time frame if you really want it - I'd probably allow myself longer than that though (8-9 months) if you are in fact as lean as your post suggests.

[Seqhael]

240lbs and 17% fat = 40.8lbs fat 199.2lbs lean body mass.
You would be 7% with 15lbs fat if you retained all of your lean body mass while cutting.
40.8 - 15 = 25.8lbs fat to lose

I have heard it recommended that someone aim for no more than 1lb of fat loss per week if their goal is to retain that lean body mass while cutting. There are 24 weeks in 6 months...

I would say that 7% in 6 months is quite a reasonable goal.

I am a noob though, I'm just recycling info I've read on here - it may pay to check both my math and my logic for yourself. Best of luck!

Ozchops I believe these figures are accurate, I have been caliper tested to 15% but feel its unreliable so am adding an extra 3% (a friend of mine has been laser scanned and he came out higher than the caliper test also) but I too will look at getting laser scanned next month to get a more pinpoint figure. If I am higher than 18% then I guess I will just have to cut for longer.

ScrawnyMcBrawny thanks for the math haha, I work in kilograms so I figure that's about 12kg of fat to lose, though I literally have NO idea how to lose fat without losing muscle, and the more muscle I lose, the more weight ill drop to hit 7%. If anyone knows a good article on how to maintain muscle over 6 months of cutting then I really need to read it! PLEASE!

[ScrawnyMcBrawny]

Happy to help!

You are unlikely to be able to do the same total workout volume as you would when at a caloric surplus, but keep lifting heavy weights even if it's not for as many sets - I think the lower rep range is better for this too? I could easily be wrong. This plus losing the weight slowly (I see 1lb per week around a lot as the recommended amount) should limit the amount of muscle you may lose. I believe 1lb of fat per week works out to about a ~500 calorie per day deficit?

Also, do some research on ketogenic diets - I have heard of people on keto diets getting an injury and stopping exercise entirely for a decently long time and finding themselves to have lost almost no muscle! YMMV but that's a good sign, right? Keto diets are not for everyone though, you will feel like **** for a little while after starting (it's known as the keto flu) and some people continue to feel like **** so long as they're on the diet. I on the other hand function much better on a keto diet.

Same disclaimer applies to this post - I advise you to research my advice before taking it as I am a noob and am admittedly giving advice that is out of my depth.

[n0useforaname]

Pics? If you want to retain muscle mass, stick to a smaller deficit to yield a 1LB a week loss.

[ChrisVigor]

Post pics