Well I've been on the weight loss train for about 2 months now, and I've lost 8 lbs. I see some physical differences, but mostly fitness improvements. I know however that despite my progress and how little weight I have left to lose, I still look just as 'over-fat' as I did when I started. I know online calculators are the worst but not one puts me at a body fat % under 26, most of them put me at 30, when I'd much rather be at 22-25%.

For those who track theirs, how long did it take you to get there and how did you do it? I do 30 day shred and run 30 mins 4-5days per week. I always stay at 1200 caps or 1500 when I work out.

Feeling discouraged.

Thanks, guys

Congrats on your weight loss so far!

Two words: weight training. Good old-fashioned weight training. With weights.

All else being equal, gaining muscle will reduce body fat percentage by definition, if you'll pardon the pun:
fat % / 100 = fat weight / total weight
= (total weight - (muscle, water, skeletal, connective tissue weight))/total weight * 100

More importantly, weight training -- if done properly -- will make you look fit rather than skinny-fat. It also lowers your risk of osteoporosis, enhances your performance in most sports and daily activities, and has a bunch of other health benefits.

I think I dropped below 20% BF the first time (i.e., Before Kid) after about a year of lifting, maybe two. But, it's going to depend a lot on your starting point (a bit higher BF% than me), your diet during that time, and your training program.

BTW, the online calculators are pretty terrible, as you say, and the Tanita scales (BIA method) are even worse. You may not be as high as you think. You might invest in a caliper test at your local gym, if it isn't free with membership, as a more accurate measure of where you are now.

Or, if you're good at self-assessment, Leigh Peele has an article on estimating BF percentages for men and women with pictures for comparison (all work-friendly). Or, go to the body fat estimation thread on Lyle McDonald's forum (forum.lylemcdonald.com, first "stickied" thread under General Diet Questions) and see if you can find pics + estimates for a woman who has a similar body type as yours.

//bstrong

First off, congrats on the pounds lost!!

I'm currently at 17.5% BF. I started this journey above 25%. What helped me was running and weight training. I dropped the roughly eight percent over like an 8 month period. I have a trainer friend do mine like every four weeks or so. I too, looked at Leigh Peele's picture comparison and it was dead-on to what I look like now. I was pretty surprised to learn that most models and actresses aren't as low in the BF department as I previously thought, lol. Also, my trainer friend told me (most) women don't see any ab definition until they are below 20% BF and I started seeing faint outlines of obliques, etc. at about 19% so that was a good indicator of where I was at. I also found out that I have roughly 97 lbs. of lean muscle mass and the rest is "fat" which includes your tissues, organs, bone, blood, water, etc. I'm 117 lbs. so that's about 20 lbs. That's helpful to know as well.

Also, keep in mind your body type too. I'm built like a ruler i.e. Gwyneth Paltrow (lol) so I don't know if I could feasibly reduce my body fat to say like 13% b/c I'd be a walking stick. I feel that being between 16-17% is realistic for me and my boyish physique and doable over the long haul. Everyone's different. I mean Kim Kardashian is beautiful IMO and I heard her body fat is well over 20% with little ab definition to speak of and men go gaga over her. It's what works for you, that's all.

You also have to eat really cleanly too if you aren't already doing so. I went onto a ton of bodybuilding sites and read what they ate: tuna, chicken, egg whites, cottage cheese, lots of water, etc., etc. and followed suit. My journey started with me wanting some sort of a six-pack (it's sounds so vain, I know, lol) but ended up with me wanting to just lean out all over for various reasons.

You have to be patient, it'll happen. I have two kids and I weigh less now than I did in high school and my stomach looks not that bad for having giving birth twice and being almost 40 IMO.

Good luck and I feel your pain.

thanks for your advice guys! I checked out Leigh Peele's site and I'm a dead ringer for her pic at 25% body fat, except that I have a teeny bit more tone in that my arms and thighs don't take on quite that shape (the totally unflattering bottoms she's wearing probably are to blame there) and I have two distinct lines down either side of my tummy. I think If I can hit 20% it'd be perfect!

It's weird that you say you typically don't see any stomach definition until 20%, fitmom, because right now my obliques are extremely toned and smooth, I have that strip of lumpy pudge right down the middle (over the rectus abdominus) and it sticks out very distinctly from my obliques. I probably have more lean body mass--at least at my core--than the model in the picture I was seeing. My stomach really looks ridiculous! When I'm working out in a sports bra and breathing I can see my ribs from the oblique line to my back, but the middle still jiggles. I'm happy to SEE my obliques but not thrilled with the rest!

Where do bone and blood/water calculate into that?

MariaMaria: Quite a bit, I was given the breakdown but I forgot what it was, sorry. There's your organs, tissues, blood, bone, water, etc. that go into that calculation as well. I should've worded it better.

mimi86: That Leigh Peele site is very eye-opening, I agree. I'm a dead ringer for the model at 18% except my abs are a tiny bit more well-defined. I know what you mean about your stomach taking shape, it came in dribs and drabs for me, lol. The obliques were first, then the upper abs, the linea alba (the line that runs down the middle of your torso), the lower abs just above your groin and then the v-cuts came in. The only "fat" I have left is directly below my navel - like a three-inch span. That's where it was stretched out the most with both my pregnancies. When I bend over now, there's only that little section which hangs forward, the rest is taut and smooth. It's weird how it comes in sections and not all at once. I think you'll be perfect at 20%.

Ugh I don't even wanna TALK about what hangs out when I bend over (or do planks, in particular)

Looks like I really need to buy a gym membership so that I can start lifting heavier, I don't think 30 day shred is going to cut it...its already very easy for me to get through it...

Should I hit my goal weight of 115 before I start lifting heavier? Get all the cardio done and be able to cut back on it so it's not chewing up my muscles while I'm trying to gain some mass?

Ugh I don't even wanna TALK about what hangs out when I bend over (or do planks, in particular)

Looks like I really need to buy a gym membership so that I can start lifting heavier, I don't think 30 day shred is going to cut it...its already very easy for me to get through it...

Should I hit my goal weight of 115 before I start lifting heavier? Get all the cardio done and be able to cut back on it so it's not chewing up my muscles while I'm trying to gain some mass?[/QUOTE]


OMG, the planks!! LOL. That's also where I notice it hangs down then when I stand back up, it snaps back into place. I don't think you'd need to hit your goal weight before starting to lift heavier IMO. Just do what you think you can in terms of pushing yourself a little more. I do my cardio 4x/week and weight lifting 2x/week, alternating days, obviously. Like tonight is my weight lifting - I do 45 minutes of kettlebells plus core work. It's like 30 min. of weights to 15 min. of core work.

Remember to mix up the workouts to keep your body guessing thus eliminating any plateaus and lifting weights helps to tighten you up as the cardio slims you down so they do kind of go together.

Good luck and keep us posted.

The Leigh Peele website was really interesting, thanks for that! I would say I'm between the 20-25%, which is about right because my calipers have me at 24%. I would ideally like to be the same as that 20% picture, maybe 19%, but the 18% is too extreme for me I think. I'll get my fat measured at the gym when I join in September!

yeah, those pictures were really useful. I think I'm right in between 25 and 30, unfortunately. Room for improvement, but I knew that.

From what I've read, I'd say no, lift now. It is easier to preserve muscle mass than to build it. I don't think that the amount of cardio you do now is likely to give you any significant muscle loss. Keep your protein relatively high if you can, to help prevent muscle loss (1 gram per pound of lean body mass is what they say).