Losing Body Fat

EXACTLY. What percentage of the population could go out and run 9 miles? I'm guess 5%?

WAY to go, you!

~Peri

Thanks, Peri. I was bummed all day yesterday, but I know I'm fit. It's stupid that those labels get to you sometimes.

Like you, I started out obese and overweight was a big accomplishment, then healthy was another victory. I run 30-40 miles a week. I lift weights (not as regularly as I should, but I'm working on it!). I'm also in training for a half marathon. Heck, today I ran 9 miles! I ran NINE freaking MILES, with a jogging stroller! Of course I'm fit and the chart is wrong.

It's just how it fit with how I still see myself. I have to check myself every day. I am always thinking, "I've got 50 lbs to lose. I've got at least 30 lbs to lose." No, self you don't... I have like 10-12 lbs to lose and that's negotiable. It was reinforcing my negative self image! But, today is a new day and I will keep on, keeping on. NINE FREAKING MILES.

I would take those Body Fat charts with a grain of salt. They've got "athletes," "fitness," "acceptable," and "obese" as the possible categories. Umm, hello, isn't there something between acceptable and obese? And I know obese doesn't start at 33%. It may be overweight, but at least on the BMI charts there's a distinction between overweight and obese. And I should know because I was obese and it was a major accomplishment when I made it to "overweight."

Also, I am not sure how they are figuring the cut off for these categories. My 29% body fat puts me in the acceptable category but not "fitness." Well, I run 20 miles a week and lift weights and am training for a half marathon. How am I not "fit"? I think it's best not to get too hung up on categories, especially if they drag you down.

~Peri

Wow... I'm around 145 these days. I know I still have fat to lose, because I don't fit in my skinny jeans. But, I really thought I was doing a whole heck of a lot better than that. I used the link that was posted and got that I'm still obese with BF%. I'm either 32.2% BF or 35.5% depending on waist measurement (natural waist or belly button? I never know. I've got a very high natural waist so I feel strange taking my measurements there so I always go with belly button).

It's a bit depressing actually. I knew I needed to get to 130-135 and I do. 133 and my pre-baby measurements will get me back to barely into "fitness" ranges. Okay. I can do this. My goal was correct. I can handle that. Bah. Stupid body fat.

I just used that link that Marki just posted, and I got almost the exact result that I've got elsewhere. I'm about 31% body fat.

I need to lose at least ten more pounds.

Apparently, when I'm at around 25% body fat, I'll still have an overweight BMI. Goes to show you that the BMI is a little skewed.

I have one of those Omron body fat monitors, and the margin of error isn't as wide as I'd expect. Comparing it to actual body fat tests I've taken, it seems to run about 3% lower than my actual body fat percent. Right now, it tells me I'm at 29.2%, so I take that to mean I'm really at 32.2%, approximately. :)

I did the math for you because I love doing stuff like this.



You are 133.5 lbs and 29.5% body fat. That means that you have 39.4 lbs of fat on your body (I rounded the number to the first decimal point).

That means that you are 94.1 lbs of lean mass (bones, muscle, organs, etc). If you were to not change that number at all (which, let's face it -- that's unlikely...your lean mass will go up and down but hypothetically...) then we want to calculate what your total weight would be if 94.1 was 75% of your lean mass (meaning 25% fat). For 25% body fat, your goal weight would be 125.5 lbs. For 24% body fat, your goal weight would be 123.8 lbs.

Basically what I did was I made fractions, with the unknown goal weights as X. So, 94.1/x = 75/100 and 94.1/x = 76/100, respectively.

Congrats and good luck!! :D I just started a weight loss challenge at work that is measured in BF% loss instead of weight, so I have some of the same questions. ;)

Congratulations on your weight loss!

Most of the information I've found says women have 10-15 percent essential fat and their ideal range is 18-28 percent BF with clinical obesity starting at 33 percent.

Here's a link to website I've used to help me determine my body fat percentage (I have a scale that's suppose to do it but it's not very accurate)
www.linear-software.com/online.html
The website has a few different methods, I luse the tape measurer method. The best part is you put in your measurements and it does the math for you. Of course it's not 100 percent accurate either, but it really isn't that far off from the results I recently received when I bought a Groupon to a place that weighs you using one of those AMAZING InBody 520s Here's a link to site that has some info on the InBody 520
www.3000health.com/index.php/health-
al
erts/188-body-composition-what-are-yR>ou-made-of
If you ever get the chance to weigh in on one of those, you should do it. It's suppose to be 98% accurate and gives you so much information about your body composition and how much muscle weight you need to add and pounds of fat you need to lose.

I wish I knew how much fat it's possible to lose in a week, but I have no idea. The KoKo FitClub I belong to is getting an InBody 520 so I'll be able to weigh in for free each week soon. I can't wait. Good luck!

First off just let me say on your weight loss. As your goal weight. If your using a body fat calculator your weight could go up but your body fat% will go down as you gain muscle your at a Great weight so I wouldn't worrie about the scale, just focus on your BF %. I'm not sure how much you can drop in a month hopefully someone else can chime in on that one

I'm getting toward the end of my weight loss journey (down from 196.5 to 133.5--woo hoo!). I am now starting to transition from a goal of losing weight to losing body fat. I just got a body fat measuring gizmo (which I know has a wide margin of error!) but I'm new to using body fat as a measure of progress. I've never used body fat as a measurement before and have a couple of questions:

1. How much body fat is realistic to lose in one month? I know that it's realistic to lose 1-2 pounds per week of weight, but I have no idea how that translates into body fat. I am quite active and eating healthfully, and have been regularly losing a couple pounds a week. I just added strength training to my program and am currently training for a half marathon. Now that I'm getting closer to maintenance, though, I want to transition to getting leaner rather than weighing less. I don't know what to expect, realistically, though.

2. How can I use body fat % to calculate my goal weight? I know there's got to be a way, but I'm mathematically challenged, LOL! I am currently at 133.5 and 29.5% body fat. I want to be at about 24-25% body fat. Is there a way to figure out what weight that would roughly translate to?

Thanks in advance for the help!

~Peri

Edited by: PERIWINKLE88 at: 9/3/2012 (18:41)