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I am a 30 year old female and I work out 5-6 days a week cardio and weights. My body fat % does not seem to be going down . What is the best way to lower it?

more info needed:

Age
Weight
Current BF%
What does your current routine consist of (weights but what are you doing with them?)
What is your current diet?

I am 95% certain that the answer lies in your diet. Do you keep a food log? Tell us what a typical day or two might look like.

Several thoughts here:

1- How's your diet?

No exercise program can compensate for a bad diet

2 - How much cardio are you doing?

Doing too much cardio will inhibit muscle growth. This is especially true for women, since they don't produce as much testosterone as men.

3 - Are you lifting challenging weights?

If you lift too light, no growth will take place

4 - Are you getting enough rest?

Overtraining raises cortisol levels, which stunts muscle growth and promotes fat storage.

My current weight is 150
my BF% is 29
I do cardio 3 days week 30 min -1 hour at a moderate intensity
I do weights 3 days week
Monday full upper body
Tuesday cardio
Wednesday full lower body
Thursday cardio
Friday full upper
Saturday cardio
Sunday rest
rotate schedule the next week

I try to eat healthy complex cards, lower fat , and protein. I drink a protein shake 1-2 times a day. I watch my caloric intake. Not sure how many calories I need.

A good friend of mine (an ex-gf) was making very healthy food choices and exercising properly but saw no fat loss. Part of the reason was because she was already lean and trying to get a 6-pack (jsut for fun) and the less fat you have the harder it is to loose it.

The other part was that her caloric intake was simply too high. She had start COUNTING calories and keeping a food log. That means you need a kitchen scale and most of your food has to be home cooked so you can controll tha calories.

As a rough estimate start at 12 times bodyweight (12x150=1800 for you). If no progress after 2 weeks got to 11xBW. If you reach 8xBW and still see no fat loss, your intake is higher then you think.

Another suggestion is to switch fro msteady state cardio to interval training. You will spend less time doing it and it will be more effective for fat loss. THe downside? It's hard. Do 2 minutes at low intensity then 1 minute at highest intensity you can sustain for that minute. Repeat this 5 times. Next session 6 times etc.

I'd second the switch the HIIT vs. Straight Cardio. I currently do about 15 minutes of straight moderate intensity cardio followed immediately by a HIIT session, then a 10 minute cooldown.

I'll also second keeping the food log so you KNOW where you are in the nutrition dept. The cleaner and closer to natural your food sources are the more effeciently your body will handle them so stay away from heavily processed foods if at all possible. Also try to focus the majority of your carb intake to right after your workout. This is when your body handles them best. Watch your fats and try to make 90% of your fat intake (which should be 15-30% of your total caloric intake) Saturated, Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated (LITTLE TO NO TRANS FATS) in as close to a 1:1:1 ratio as possible. Getting the right fats aids in fat burning, ironic aint it.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts.

Thanks I will give all of this a try.

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