BF % and Belly Fat

I have been on CC since Feb and have gone from 224 to 212. I am actually down from 244 from one year ago! I am 5' 10" 212 lbs with a large frame (Chest is 46"). I have cut calories to about 1900 a day sometimes less. I do about 3 days of Cardio (HIIT and Biking) and 3 days of strength training. I have seen changes in clothing fit, overall body image and inches in certain areas.

My question is when does Body Fat % change??? Mine is and has been steady at 30% give or take a percent. What can you do physically and nutritionally to reduce body fat %?

In addition, is there a way to reduce belly fat? I know you cannot "spot" reduce and this is not what I am talking about, but more so getting the belly fat to reduce in the midsection.  

*** anyone ***

At 244 lbs. your BMI was about 35.

At 212 lbs. your GMI is around 31.

So that's quite a big change!

I think we lose fat all over our bodies and the places where we have the most fat are the last places to still have fat left to lose?

I'm not an expert on this, but it makes sense, doesn't it?

Gmp55 is correct with the weight you’ve already lost you probably lost a few % already, it’s hard to tell how much because i don’t know what muscle etc you’ve gained or lost in that time.

Body fat rating is all about your body composition, your ratio of fat to muscle ... the more muscle and less fat you have the lower your rating.

Generally though as you lose weight you’ll find your body fat % comes down naturally, the only way that doesn’t tend to happen is if you’re losing an equal amount of muscle and fat as you lose weight which is actually pretty hard to do if your dieting in a healthy manner.

The best way of bringing your body fat down is to diet/loose fat while actively trying to maintain your muscle mass by avoiding muscle wasting activity’s (like excessive cardio) and actively weight training, it’s tough to gain muscle while dieting but it is possible to use the weight training to maintain and preserve the mass you currently have.  

You can even alter your ratio without actually losing any weight, ive actually bought my body fat rating down from 27% to 22% in the last 8 weeks while only actually losing 4lb’s in weight, simply by improving my diet and weight training.

From what i know about body fat i begins to come down quicker the closer to your goal weight you become, i worked out the other day that to get my body fat down to the rating im aiming for 6% if i keep my current muscle mass i only actually need to lose 6lbs... While i know some people with alot to lose who need to lose 10lbs just to lose 1% body fat.

Lastly ... belly fat ... belly fat is evil it’s pretty much all i have left, because it’s the most stubborn of all fat for many people it’s the last to go,  so keep on working it sounds like you’re doing GREAT!!!  When you have no fat left to lose anywhere else the belly fat will be eventually forced to follow.

leiela: thanks for your insight! I really appreciate it and agree with your comments. My BF% went down from 38% to 28 - 30% now. However, the scale has not moved down too much, so neither has the BF%. I do weight training 3 days a week and the other days I do mountain biking and HIIT on the treadmill. I guess as the scale hopefully heads south again, the BF% will shortly follow. I still wouldn't mind swapping an even 5 lbs of muscle with 5 lbs of fat either.

Sometimes I do feel like my body composition WANTS me to be 215 forever, because this is where it likes to be. I think I read somewhere one time that there is a "comfort" level the body holds onto when we wreak havoc on it trying to lose weight.