Trying to lose fat

I am currently around 28% body fat and would like to get down to 22%. I was doing a lot of cardio thinking that would help burn the fat. I was also doing weights (Hi reps with less weight). Doing this I noticed I was losing weight but not fat.

What is the best way to lose fat not muscle?

Cardio. run, run, run like there's no tomorrow!

buy a heart rate monitor to make sure you are in the right heart weight zone to just burn fat and not sugars.

Original Post by mortalmonkey:

Cardio. run, run, run like there's no tomorrow!

 Excessive cardio will result in a loss of fat AND muscle and can actually increase your body fat percentage.  Heavy weight lifting while maintaining a calorie deficit is the more efficient way of burning fat (and minimizing muscle loss).  Read this article for an explanation.

The best way to loss fat is weight lifting, lift the heaviest wieghts you can for a small number of reps 5-10 for a few sets.

Doing this on a calorie deficit you won't gain muscle but you will maintain the muscle you have and burn a shed load of fat. After the recomondations of CC member ive been doing it for the last month and even though i havn't lost much wiehgt i have lost an inch on my hips and tummy, and i've lost 2% fat already and look sooo much better for it

Cardio burns fat and muscle at the same time and losing muscle can make you look gaunt ... you don't need to lose tons of wieght just tone up. Thats best  done by losing the fat and keeping the muscle.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by mortalmonkey:

Cardio. run, run, run like there's no tomorrow!

 Excessive cardio will result in a loss of fat AND muscle and can actually increase your body fat percentage.  Heavy weight lifting while maintaining a calorie deficit is the more efficient way of burning fat (and minimizing muscle loss).  Read this article for an explanation.

 Doh .... blast you sully you got there before me haha ... i bet you get really sick of linking that article don't you???

p.s ...for the rest of you READ it ... seriously good stuff and it works.

You're gonna have to change the way you eat as well. 

Thanks so much for the info.

i'm surprised that nobody has mentioned high intensity interval training (hiit): http://www.myfit.ca/archives/viewanarticle.as p?table=fitness&ID=55

"Some studies, such as one by Laval University, state that HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio helps subjects lose/burn nine times more fat than those who trained the traditional way. It makes you wonder why anyone told you to train at a slow pace for a long period of time!"

try it.

also, lifting high reps and low weights is practically useless:

"Unfortunately, most bodybuilders and powerlifters perform far too many sets and reps. When you lift with high sets and high reps, you are asking for trouble. Such training does at times produce a large amount of muscle mass, especially in steroid users, but the mass never develops in proportion to strength, and muscle without strength is nothing but a joke. As for drug-free lifters, high -set, high-rep training can wreak on cortisol level, which is definitely not what you want if you plan on ever putting an ounce of muscle on your frame."

source: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/luis25.htm

Original Post by highmeh:

i'm surprised that nobody has mentioned high intensity interval training (hiit): http://www.myfit.ca/archives/viewanarticle.as p?table=fitness&ID=55

HIIT is mentioned in the article I linked to, it's much more effective than steady-state cardio, but much less effective then weight lifting. 

90% diet, 10% exercise. Exercise all you can but ultimately if you want to lose fat percentage specifically, you'll need to really "clean" up your diet. If you haven't already, you need to cut out alcohol, fatty foods, added sugars, processed foods, and watch, with an eagle-eye, your portions of fat/ protein/ carbs. The timing of your meals are also very essential. Sounds like you want to get down to, or very near to, athletic fitness level. If you do, you gotta eat like an athlete. Eat only to fuel your body to its utmost potential. This is very hard but if you are serious, cleaning up your diet will do your body wonders. A great exercise routine will only get you so far. Good luck with your efforts and keep us updated on how you're doing!

diet. and make sure your eating enough protein so you don't loose muscle- if your very active get at least 100 grams