Setting realistic goals

I had the hydro test done today. FYI - I'm a 26 yr old female 5'2' 130 lbs. The test indicated that I am 101 lbs lean, and 29 lbs fat, for a bf% of 22-23%.

If I want to get down to 18%, by gaining 2-3 lbs of muscle and losing 6-7lbs of fat, what would be a realistic time frame to do this? I'm currently doing a 3 day split twice a week, maximum effort. I'm still a newbie. I also do cardio about 4 times per week. I was thinking 3 months should give me time to achieve this.

Any opinions?

You're very optimistic.

Let's say you have a decent bulking period. Let's say you gain 1 pound of fat for every 2 pounds of lean mass. Then let's say you gain 4 pounds of lean mass and 2 pounds of fat. And then let's say you have a decent cutting period and lose 2 pounds of fat for every pound of lean ass and that you lose a total of 12 pounds (4 lean, 8 fat).

If we then assume that each pound lost or gained takes a week, that's a total of 18 weeks... or a little over 4 months. That will put you at 18.5% bodyfat and 6 pounds lighter instead of the 4-5 pounds lighter and 18% that you were shooting for.

And that's assuming that the dieting goes well.

I'd make it a 6 month goal.

Then again, I've never been the world's greatest dieter, either.

Watson (the pencil neck) Davis

I just want to give myself enough time, so that I'm not devastated when I get to the end of 3 months and I'm not at goal. This is the first time in my life where bodyfat % was my main goal, rather than scale weight. AND it's the first time in my life I took weight lifting seriously.

Thanks for the info...

Hmmm, that will be hard.

That will be easy.

What I would do, if I were you, is achieve my desired bf% first. Then, I would allow myself to gain some more mass. See, if you try to gain mass now, you're going to gain fat along with it, and since you're far enough away from your goal bf% that it's an issue, it'll just be even more of an ordeal to get down once you've finished gaining.

So, what I would do is take 2-3 months and get the bodyfat down. Then I would re-assess. Losing is easy (well, relatively). Gaining is harder and comes with more bodyfat.

And then let's say you

Some of us would rather she didn't lose any lean ass, Watson.

She's trying to set realistic goals. And when you diet, you lose lean ass.

atson (he encil eck) avis

h.