Am I doing more harm then good

benverner said:

I'm at 19% body fat now, can I continue on my current schedule down to 15% without being counterproductive in my lifting or do I need to up my calories?

People lose bodyfat at different rates so it's not just hard to tell, it's impossible to tell. The only way to know is if you had performed these exact steps at some point in the past and had similar results because to compare your body's reaction to exercise to my body's (or anyone else's body) reaction to exercise just ain't possible - unless you're comparing identical twins!

Quoted post said:

So far I've lost 6% body fat and have kept my weight flat and have actually gained a few lbs, how long can I expect this to continue until I need to ramp up my calories to be able to gain muscle at a reasonable rate.

Again, no way to really tell. Anybody that gives you numbers and says "you can do this and this in this amount of time because I did it and it worked for me" is full of [censored]. They ain't you!

But what you are doing is working because you got off the couch. You're forcing your body to adapt to new stresses and that is causing a change in body composition. At some point in time (again, different for everybody) your body will adapt to these new stresses and will cease to change.

The body has a very strong desire, if you will, to maintain homeostasis. You maintained that when you were a couch potato but when you got off the couch and started exercising you threw a wrench into the homeostasis machine and mixed things up.

Quoted post said:

I know I will gain at a reduced rate then I have seen in the past, but at what point will a 1000 calorie a day defecit begin to take it's toll on my gains.

When it happens. You may be able to continue for serveral weeks or you may plateau tomorrow. What I can tell you is that at some point your body will at some point react more slowly to the stimulus you are providing it. After that it will probably stop reacting altogether. That's when you're going to have problems as what has worked in the past won't work anymore. Your body has adapted to the imposed demands and is now in it's new equilibrium. Chances are cutting back on calories at this point will be counter productive as well as it will cause your metabolism to slow down, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen.

Quoted post said:

I guess I'm looking for a bady fat % to change my diet at if any one has a working knowledge.

If not I'll just keep on trucking unitl I see a body fat % loss and a weight loss for consectuive weeks.

Since you are new to this you are able to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. In trained people this isn't going to happen. You'll eventually have to chose a priority as a calorie deficit won't produce lean muscle gains for very long unless you are taking an anabolic agent. This is why most diets fail. And most people when faced with slowing weight losses people tend to diet MORE, which is only going to hurt them more.