Measuring Fat Loss Progress

[konkoba98]

It's easy to know if you are progressing the lifts with SS but I'm having trouble knowing if I'm progressing in the fat loss that I badly need. I did a crash diet and loads of hiking a few years ago and went from 265 to 180 in a matter of a few months. I lost all my muscle and kept some of the fat. When I quite hiking and eating like a rabbit, well you know what happens. My point though, is that I was/am used to seeing the scale change quickly and there is no question of what is happening.

Now I'm doing SS and trying to lose weight slowly. I weigh 1st thing in the morning, empty and dry, and also measure my waist at belly button. The first 10 days this year I lost a lot, most probably being non fat, from 284 to 273. The next 21 days my weight has fluctuated from 271-277 but mostly 273-275. My waist is pretty much the same everyday, maybe a small loss but I can just suck in a bit and change the number so it may be a poor measure.

My question is: with regular fluctuations in weight that are significantly bigger than 1lb, how can one see if they are losing that 1 lb /week. Thinking statistically, one would have to wait several weeks before determining if they are making progress or not, depending on how big of fluctuations they are seeing. My goal is 220-230lb this year and respectable lifts to match. I can't waste several weeks at a time guessing if I'm doing the right things or not.

If it is relevant, the last 2 weeks I've counted macros and I'm getting 210-230g prot most days, average of 3000 cals, and I'm eating >100g fat and carbs each day, no low carb right now. I'm squatting 275, benching 207, deadlfting 295, pressing 135. OHP and deadlift are heavy (very short arms), I've got plenty more in the squat. I'm doing 8-10 reps of 20sec intervals, 1:40 rest twice weekly.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I think you really goofed your metabolism in the past, but that you're going to be fine if you keep doing what you're doing, i.e. counting macros, tracking, etc. I go by pics/waist measurement/weight (in that order of importance). At this point, however, your weight should be moving down consistently as long as your water/salt/meal timing isn't too different each day. What I mean by meal timing is that if you normally eat at 8pm your last meal of the day, but one day you have it at 11pm (this isn't a problem) then you might be heavier the next day with a fluctuation.

At any rate I am very reticent to change macros quickly, and I do it when weight loss/gain stalls and the waist measurement isn't moving/pics look the same. Your macros don't add up tho, 230g of protein= 920kCal, 100g Carb= 400kCal, and 100g fat= 900kCal= 2220kCal. How does that average 3000?

I think adding another day of intervals (6-7 rounds) is a good idea, nailing your macros, and just wrapping your brain around the fact that this is going to take you a good 9-10months of being 95% committed 100% of the time to get where you want to be.

[konkoba98]

I'm getting greater than 100g fat and greater than 100g carbs daily. I just meant that I'm not doing low fat or low carb, but I'm also not hitting any specific number of fat and carbs daily, just whatever it takes to get 3000cal and 220ish g prot. Here are my actual #'s from the past 2 weeks.
prot/fat/carb
262 193 97 3280
205 130 230 2930
217 187 124 3050
200 150 220 3040
240 145 158 2910
196 156 260 3090
228 155 225 3159
240 160 136 2850
242 178 180 3300
200 160 184 2770
216 166 189 3171

I'm doing intervals twice weekly, up to 0:20/1:40 x 8 at the moment. I was going to stop adding reps at 10. You think I should do 3 sessions, fewer rounds?


So you are saying

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I'm doing intervals twice weekly, up to 0:20/1:40 x 8 at the moment. I was going to stop adding reps at 10. You think I should do 3 sessions, fewer rounds?

First, I would tighten up the nutrition before adding more conditioning. Set your protein at 275, carbs at 200, and fat at 100 everyday. Do it for a week with 2x conditioning. You can't start adjusting variables and expect to have any sort of long term success when you're all over the place. You're fat intake is much too high IMO for anything but a keto diet or a person who's really dialed in their macros and has slowly titrated themselves up to gain weight.

You'll lose bodyfat this way.

[konkoba98]

I was thinking that as long as my calories were close to 3000 and my protein adequate that it didn't matter much what my ratio of carbs and fat was, as long as I got an adequate amount of each, but I get it. I'll go 275/200/100.

Question: I've been doing a lot of salads, peas, broccoli, and some chipotle - If my fiber is 50-60g/day, should I be discounting some of the carbs due to the insoluble fiber content? I don't have a gall bladder and the fiber helps quite a bit.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

It doesn't matter what the ratio of carbs to fat is per se, but people tend to feel better and do better when they stick with either a low carb, higher fat or higher carb, lower fat (all relative numbers) rather than shifting back and forth.

I think 50-60g of fiber/day is about the max I'd like to see. Count the fiber, soluble or insoluble, as a carbohydrate either way. I think you may also get some mileage out of steering clear of wheat/gluten products.