[msgypsylee]

I just joined my local Curves for women Gym and on the first day they do a body fat percentage. I weighed in at 262 and my BFP was 45.7%. I would like to get to a healthy 20% or so so I did a little math to see what 20% plus my lean body mass would be(Lean body mass =weight-BFP in pounds). According to that I have 142 =lbs of lean body mass already plus 120 lbs of body fat. If I were to get down to 20% body fat that would put me at 194lbs!!! Can that be right. Does anyone understand how this works?

Sarah

[nelie]

If you lost NO lean mass at all, then at 178 lbs you would have 20% body fat.

You will lose some lean mass, especially as you drop weight, it will be easier for your body to carry you around and you will lose some lean mass there. Also from dieting you are bound to lose some lean mass. So once you get closer to the 180 range or so, you would need to redo a body fat test to see where you are at.

[MzPen]

Plus, most body fat measurements are usually a bit inaccurate - from what I understand, the only truly accurate method is the body immersement method ... of course, I don't know what this means with regards to your question, but I thought I'd mention it! I suppose whatever method you use is valuable in terms of measuring your progress.

[msgypsylee]

Thanks for the info

Sarah

[nasus40]

let me add that because of your stature your body has very big muscles to carry the weight you will lose some of the muscle to a nice size as you lose the weight you just need to keep them toned!!! and tight and solid muscle not laced with fatty tissue. but way to go. i started at about 60% body fat at 235. whcih ment i was only 90lbs of non fat!! how flabby is that?

[msgypsylee]

Sue, When a body fat analysis is done, does it take into account fat within muscle or is that just seen as lean body mass too?