Let’s be honest, the only reason why anyone would want to lose weight and retain muscle is to have a physique they can be proud of either for their own enjoyment or for the enjoyment of others. But before we begin setting our goals, I need to address a common misconception, and that is: If you workout a specific part of your body, then you can target that area to lose fat. Unfortunately this simply is not true, you have no say where fat loss will occur; your body decides for you. That being said, let’s begin.
Below are the most accurate (for men) photos I could find online that depict physiques at various body fat percentages. I can’t comment on the accuracy of the photos for women, but I’ve provided images from the same source as a reference.
So comparing my physique at 165lbs with those in the images above, I estimated my starting body fat percentage to be around 25%, which meant I had 41lbs of fat on me. To target the definition at 12%, I would then need to lose 24lbs using the following equation:
Weight Loss Goal = [(Starting Fat %)-(Target Fat %)]*(Current Weight)/[1-(Target Fat %)]
Weight Loss Goal = [(0.25)-(0.12)]*(165)/[1.00-(0.12)] = 24.4lbs
Since the average male has a metabolic requirement of 2,500 calories (more on this topic), when following the diet regime as listed in the Nutrition tab on this blog, the caloric deficit resulting from consuming only 971 calories per day would yield a loss of roughly 3.3lbs per week. This is based on the approximation of 3,200 calories of energy in 1lb of fat.
Men: Days on Diet = 7*(Weight Loss Goal)/(Weekly Weight Loss)
Men: Days on Diet = 7*(24.4)/(3.3) = 52days
Therefore, once you know your “Weight Loss Goal” and that the rate of weight loss will be roughly 3.3lbs per week if you stick strictly to the diet regime, you’ll know approximately how long you’ll need to be on the diet. And from my experience, this approximation is fairly accurate. It took me 8 weeks (56 days to be exact) to hit my 24lbs weight loss goal.
As a 35 year old Asian male carrying 41lbs of fat, most of it was evenly distributed around my body, with an excess localized deep in my belly. This is the kind of fat you can’t pinch, but if you relax your tummy, your belly inflates like you’re pregnant. So my observations of where my body (this could vary from person to person) preferentially burned fat as I lost weight is listed in the following order: (1) deep belly fat, (2) shoulders, (3) arms, (4) upper abs, (5) thighs, (6) lower abs, and finally (7) lower pecs. Since I started with a LOT of (1) deep belly fat and this fat was hidden, the first 10lbs I lost didn’t result in any noticeable difference in muscle definition and was quite discouraging at times. Unfortunately, areas I wanted to lose fat in (6) lower abs and (7) lower pecs didn’t start dwindling until the last 5 pounds. So the key is persistence.