FITBODY Success Story · How to Lose 10% Body Fat
How to Lose 10% Body Fat: What 25% to 15% Looks Like at 40
Deena lost 12 pounds. That is the least interesting number on this page. She also went from 25 percent body fat to 15 percent in just under 6 months, ate more food than she thought possible doing it, and built a body she still recognizes years later. This is what happens when the scale stops being the goal.
“I had a hard time believing that I could ever look like any of these amazing women. It was so inspirational to see that many of them started out just like me!”
Deena Gindling, Lawrenceburg, IndianaDeena at a Glance
She Was Sitting Where You Are Right Now
Before I tell you what Deena did, I want to tell you what she was doing the autumn before she started.
She was reading pages exactly like this one. Scrolling through my success stories, looking at other women’s photos, and quietly deciding that those women were built differently than she was. She had been going to the gym her whole adult life. She was not lazy and she was not starting from nothing. She just could not see a path from her body to theirs.
“Last fall, as I was contemplating contacting Julie Lohre, I read many of the other success stories and testimonials on her website. I had a hard time believing that I could ever look like any of these amazing women. It was so inspirational to see that many of them started out just like me! I’m so happy I took the leap & contacted Julie Lohre.”
Deena Gindling
If that is the thought you are having as you look at her photos, I want you to sit with the fact that she had it too, about someone else, on this same website, six months before she became the woman in the picture. The gap between those two women was not genetics. It was a plan and about 24 weeks.
12 Pounds on the Scale, 10 Points of Body Fat
Here is the number that matters, and it is not the 12 pounds.
Deena started at 25 percent body fat and finished at 15 percent. On the American Council on Exercise body fat categories for women, 25 to 31 percent is the average range and 14 to 20 percent is the athlete range. She started at the very bottom of average and finished inside athlete. She crossed two full categories in just under 6 months.
And the scale moved 12 pounds.
Think about what that arithmetic actually requires. If she only weighed 12 pounds less at the end but was carrying 10 percentage points less fat, then she lost considerably more than 12 pounds of fat and put muscle back on in its place. The scale netted the two changes against each other and reported almost nothing. That is body recomposition, and it is the entire reason I stopped letting the scale run my clients’ lives.
This is not a trick and it is not my opinion. A 2020 review in the Strength and Conditioning Journal found that simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss is well documented across multiple populations, and that the two factors driving it are progressive resistance training and evidence-based nutrition, protein above all. Deena had both. What she did not have, until she asked for it, was someone to build them for her.
If you are training consistently and the scale has not moved in months, please read that paragraph again. There is a real possibility that your body is already doing this and you are the last to know, because you are measuring it with the one tool that cannot see it.
A Labor and Delivery Nurse With Two Kids and No Spare Time
Deena is a mother of two, Paige and Blake, and had been married to her husband Greg for almost 18 years when she started. She is a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery, and she loves her job.
I want to be blunt about why that detail is on this page. Labor and delivery is not a job with a predictable week. Babies do not schedule themselves around your leg day. If there is a category of woman who has a legitimate excuse to say that a structured plan will not survive contact with her real life, it is a shift working L and D nurse with an 11 year old and a 14 year old at home.
She did it anyway. Not because she found more willpower than you have, but because she stopped relying on willpower altogether.
The Sunday Habit That Did Most of the Work
When I ask Deena what actually moved the needle, she does not say anything about a workout or a supplement. She says Sunday.
“I think what has been most effective for me is planning ahead & food preparation. On Sundays, I look at my work schedule & the kids’ activities for the week and decide then which days will be weightlifting, cardio, & rest days. Once its on the calendar, I treat my workouts like any other important appointment. I also spend time once or twice a week preparing food in bulk: grilling chicken breasts, roasting veggies, steaming rice, chopping veggies for omelets, etc… Its so much easier to make a healthy choice when the good stuff is right there, ready to be eaten!”
Deena Gindling
Read that again and notice what is missing. No motivation. No discipline. No talk of wanting it badly enough.
What she built was a system where the decision gets made once, on Sunday, by a calm and rested version of herself, and then her tired Thursday self just executes it. Her tired Thursday self does not have to be strong. It just has to open the fridge and find grilled chicken already sitting there.
That is the difference between women who last six months and women who last three weeks, and it has nothing to do with character.
She Ate More Than She Thought Was Possible
Deena came in expecting to be put on very little food. That is what almost every woman expects, because it is what almost every plan she has been sold has done to her.
Instead she ate more. Enough protein to actually hold on to muscle while the fat came off, enough carbohydrate to train hard on, and enough total calories that her metabolism had no reason to defend itself. That is why 12 pounds and 10 points of body fat happened at the same time rather than 20 pounds and a smaller, softer version of the same body.
Her plan is not a secret. I published the whole thing as the No Skinny Fat Bikini Diet Plan for Women, and you are welcome to read exactly what she ate.
Her own favourite, for the record, is peanut butter and jelly. Natural peanut butter, sugar free jelly, two slices of 35 calorie whole wheat bread. That is a woman who dropped into the athlete range on a plan that still had a PB and J in it.
Somewhere Along the Way She Fell in Love With Lifting
This is the part that surprises women most, and it is the part I have come to expect. Deena did not arrive as someone who liked weights. She left as someone who looks forward to them.
“I have grown to really enjoy weightlifting. I actually look forward to it! It feels so empowering to be a strong, confident, healthy woman! And the big muscle pump after lifting–I’ll never get tired of that!”
Deena Gindling
What actually changed her body was not enjoying it, though that helps. It was progressive overload, asking a little more of the muscle than it was comfortable giving, in four week blocks, over and over. Her favourite exercise is the front squat, which tells you a fair amount about where she ended up, and it is a compound movement, which is why it works. If you have never met a movement in one of my plans, it is in my exercise library with a demo, because I would rather you look it up than guess at it.
“While I love the compliments that my physical transformation has elicited, for me its really all about my health! I may not be able to control my genetics, but I can certainly control how I treat my body with diet & exercise!”
Deena Gindling, 40, Lawrenceburg, IndianaAnd Then, Almost as an Afterthought, She Competed
Deena did step on stage that spring, twice, and she did well. I am putting it here, this far down, on purpose.
She did not get in shape because she was competing. She got in shape because she wanted to look and feel a particular way, and then, once she was already there, she decided to see what would happen if she took it to a stage. The competition was a consequence of the transformation, not the cause of it. That order matters more than anything else on this page.
If you want the physique and have no interest whatsoever in the stage, good. That is most of the women I coach, and I wrote a free guide for exactly that: the fit model look without competing. Same training, same food, none of the tan.
- NANBF Northeast/Southwest Classic: 1st place Masters Bikini, 3rd place Open Bikini Tall, 3rd place Novice Bikini Tall
- NPC Natural Indiana: 7th place Masters Bikini, 10th place Open Bikini Class D
She was also a cover model for FITBODY Magazine, which she will tell you she found faintly ridiculous and completely delightful.
What She Kept After the Trophies Went in a Box
Here is the part I want you to take away, and it is the part almost no coach will say out loud.
Fifteen percent body fat was peak condition. It was where Deena arrived in the run up to a stage in the spring, and it was never meant to be where she lived. Women need meaningfully more essential fat than men do, and holding the low end of the athlete range year round has a real cost to hormones, cycles, and bone density. If a coach tells you otherwise, walk away.
So no, she is not sitting at 15 percent today, and I would not want her to be. What she kept is everything underneath it. The muscle. The strength. The Sunday planning. Knowing what to eat without thinking about it. The look she built to get to that stage is a look she has carried long past it, because it was never the tan or the trophies holding it up. It was the training and the food, and those did not expire when the season ended.
That is the whole argument for doing this properly, and it is why I coach body recomposition rather than weight loss. A crash diet gives you a photo. A rebuilt body gives you the next twenty years.
What It Is Like Working With Me
“I love that Julie Lohre personalizes my exercise & nutrition plans so specifically just for me! I feel like she knows my body better than I do! She always asks me if I have enough to eat, if I have enough energy, etc… Her reassurance & encouragement that I was on the right track would boost me up every time I started to worry that I wouldn’t be stage-ready in time.”
Deena Gindling
Asked for the worst part of working with me, Deena said: “That I do not get too see her everyday!” I will take it.
Knowing what works and executing it every week while real life happens are two entirely different problems. Coaching closes that second gap. Here is how I build a body fat transformation like Deena’s.
- It starts with your real data. Detailed intake, photos, and a live phone consultation before I write a single thing, so the plan fits your body, your history, and your actual schedule.
- Calories are placed to fuel results, not to punish you. Very low calorie plans are never the strategy. Like Deena, most women are startled to find they get to eat more.
- Strength leads, in focused four week blocks. Three to five sessions a week, built to progress and then change completely, so your body never gets comfortable enough to stall.
- Progress is read the right way. Photos first, then measurements, then strength, then the scale. Deena’s story is the clearest example I have of why the scale goes last.
- The plan evolves on a schedule. Nutrition reviewed every two weeks, training every four, with small adjustments based on trends and never a reaction to one bad day.
- You work directly with me. Every check in, every question, answered by me. Never an assistant, never an app.
Your Questions Answered
What does losing 10 percent body fat actually look like?
Losing 10 percentage points of body fat looks like a completely different body at almost the same weight. Deena went from 25 percent body fat to 15 percent in just under 6 months and the scale only moved 12 pounds. Using the American Council on Exercise body fat categories for women, she started at the very bottom of the average range, 25 to 31 percent, and finished inside the athlete range, 14 to 20 percent. She crossed two full categories. That is why the before and after photos look like two different women even though the scale barely budged, and it is the single best argument I can give you for tracking body fat instead of body weight.
How long does it take to lose 10% body fat?
For Deena it took just under 6 months of consistent strength training and structured nutrition, which is a realistic pace rather than a fast one. A sensible rate of fat loss is roughly half a pound to one percent of your body weight per week, and going faster than that costs you the muscle you are trying to keep. The honest answer is that the timeline depends on where you start, how much muscle you already carry, and how consistent you are across the whole week rather than on your best three days. Deena did not do anything dramatic. She planned her week every Sunday and then executed it.
Can you lose body fat without losing much weight?
Yes, and it is often the goal rather than a consolation prize. This is body recomposition, losing fat while building or holding muscle, so the two changes partly cancel each other out on the scale. Deena lost only 12 pounds while dropping 10 percentage points of body fat, which means she lost considerably more fat than 12 pounds and put muscle back on in its place. A 2020 review in the Strength and Conditioning Journal confirms that recomposition is well documented in the research, and that the two things driving it are progressive resistance training and adequate protein. If you are training hard and the scale is stuck, this is very often what is actually happening.
Is 15 percent body fat healthy for a 40 year old woman?
As a peak, yes. As a permanent address, no, and I want to be direct about that. Fifteen percent sits in the athlete range for women, and Deena reached it in the run up to competing that spring. It is not where she was meant to live and it is not what I would put any woman on a plan to hold year round. Women need meaningfully more essential fat than men, and sustained time at the low end of the athlete range carries real cost to hormones, cycles, and bone density. The lasting result here is not the number. It is the muscle, the strength, and the habits underneath it, which she kept long after the trophies went in a box.
Do you have to compete to get this lean?
No. Deena competed, and I am glad she did, but that is the least important part of her story. She did not get in shape because she was competing. She competed because she got in shape and wanted to see what was possible. The training and the nutrition that took her from 25 percent to 15 percent body fat are the same training and nutrition I use with women who will never step on a stage and have no interest in it. You can build the lean, defined look without judges, without a tan, and without a single comparison round. Most of the women I coach do exactly that.
How do you lose body fat when you work shifts and have kids?
You stop relying on motivation and start relying on your calendar. Deena is a labor and delivery nurse with two children, which means her weeks were unpredictable and long. What made it work was that every Sunday she looked at her shifts and her kids’ activities, decided then which days were lifting, cardio, and rest, and treated each one like an appointment she could not move. Then she cooked in bulk once or twice a week so the right choice was already made and waiting. None of that requires more willpower. It requires deciding in advance, when you are calm, what your tired self will do.
Can you build muscle and lose fat at the same time after 40?
Yes. Deena did it at 40, and the research supports it. A 2020 review in the Strength and Conditioning Journal found that simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss is well documented across multiple populations, and that the two factors that drive it are progressive resistance training and evidence-based nutrition, protein especially. A large 2018 meta analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that the benefit of added protein for muscle and strength plateaus around 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, and I break down what that means for women over 40 in my guide on how much protein you need to body recomp. What you cannot do is get there by eating less and doing more cardio, which is exactly what most women try first.
What is my FITBODY Recomposition System™ and how is it different?
My FITBODY Recomposition System™ is the method I use inside my FITBODY Lifestyle Coaching®, and it is built to change your body composition rather than just make you smaller. Every client starts with detailed intake, photos, and a live phone consultation, so calories are placed to fuel results instead of starving you. Strength training leads in focused four week blocks that change completely once your body adapts. Nutrition is reviewed every two weeks and training every four, with small adjustments based on real trends rather than one bad day. Photos come first, then measurements, then the scale, which is the metric least equipped to show you a recomposition. And you work directly with me every single time, never an assistant and never an app.
Research Behind Body Recomposition and Body Fat Percentage
- American Council on Exercise. “Percent Body Fat Norms for Men and Women.” ACE Fitness. Categories for women: essential fat 10 to 13 percent, athletes 14 to 20 percent, fitness 21 to 24 percent, average 25 to 31 percent, obese 32 percent and above.
- Barakat, Christopher, et al. “Body Recomposition: Can Trained Individuals Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?” Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 42, no. 5, 2020, pp. 7–21. doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0000000000000584.
- Morton, Robert W., et al. “A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression of the Effect of Protein Supplementation on Resistance Training-Induced Gains in Muscle Mass and Strength in Healthy Adults.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 52, no. 6, 2018, pp. 376–384. doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608.
Your Story Could Be Next
Ready to Find Out What Your Body Fat Number Could Be?
I’m Julie Lohre, an IFBB Fitness Pro, Certified Personal Trainer, and Certified Nutrition Specialist. For more than 20 years I have coached women over 40 to lose fat, build lean muscle, and reshape their bodies through my FITBODY Recomposition System™, the method inside my FITBODY Lifestyle Coaching®. If you are training hard and the scale is refusing to tell you the truth, I would love to show you what is actually happening.