Can someone please talk to me about lean body mass? I did a calculation and found out mine is 137lbs, I understand that this is not my ideal weight as it would be how much my body weighs without any fat on it, correct?

Is this a number I can base my weight loss goals off of? If so, how would I go about doing that? Is it say 10lbs over that number? Is that just a random number that really has no meaning or baring on my weight loss goals?

lean body mass is basically everything that is not fat. You probably got a fat % number. too.

But if you didn't, i calculated it to be 63 lbs which a is a body fat % of 31.5.

You do not necessarily want to lose 63 lbs. You need 10-12% body fat just to survive. 21-24% is considered fit for a woman.

So you have your LBM. Let's say you have a goal of 145. Your LBM is 137. That would be only 5lbs of fat! So way too low.

Let's talk 170 lbs. take 170-137 = 33 lbs. 33/170=.19 a little low, but not for an athlete.

175 lbs? = 175-137 = 38 lbs fat. 38/175 = 22% body fat. Yes. That is a good goal.

So regardless of what everyone thinks. If you weighed 175 lbs. And you did NOT lose a significant amount of lean muscle or other lbm- you would be 22% body fat and considered fit.

I hope this helps. Here is a link for you! http://www.healthchecksystems.com/bodyfat.htm

***oh one thing, it may be that as you lose weight you will lose some lean body mass--it is ok to tweak your weight loss according to that. ***

Jendiet, thanks for that page link. I enjoyed reading it.

silver, you are welcome.

ok, i asked people in the know..and you can expect to lose 25% of LBM without any weight training. If you weight train--then you are looking at 15% .

So I picked 20% to evaluate my goal of 140 lbs. At 22% body fat with 20% loss of current LBM i calculate a goal weight of 137.

So for you. You would lose 27.4 lbs. And you would have a lean body mass of 109 lbs. 109 +38 = 147 to be 22% body fat.

Keep in mind, that as you near your goal, check your bf% and if your lbm is higher than you need to adjust your goal.

Wow thanks, that's pretty much exactly the information I was looking for. I really appreciate it.

you are very welcome audrina!