I started off at 50% (kid you not) and a couple of years ago, posting to the WebMD Reg. Dietician/Nutritionist expert on a forum there, she recommended I shoot for a goal of 25% bodyfat. She told me at that time it may seem really low (it didn't) or unachievable from where I was, but that was really what she recommended to achieve health. Does this seem reasonable? I'm not trying to be come super lean, just healthy and "fit". If I get bored there and need to set a new challenge for myself, sure, I may try to lean myself out and take off another 5%, but right now that's not the goal. I ask because that is really the basis of my plan. I don't go so much by a scale number or BMI, or a clothing size. I know the math of trying to get to a healthy % of bodyfat, and from there, I can figure everything else out. It seems like I am about 1/2 way there now, at about 37% or so, and 27 lbs down. So with a goal of 25% bf, I am guessing about another 30 lbs. I'm sure it's not completely linear and what happened in the first half of my plan cannot just be mirrored to the second half (or can it?), but I just use this as numbers to bounce around in my brain.....number cruncher that I am. Thanks! Oh, I am 42, bc I think that makes a difference, right?

I would say 25% sounds about a nice figure. I'm 25ish right now and I'm fairly happy with the way I look day to day, but I'm trying to get a bit more ripped and scary looking.

Fran, Do you realize just how incredible your achievements have been?!?

While losing a great deal of body weight, you have managed to increase your lean mass by 14lbs!!!!!!!! That is truly amazing!!!!!!!

The bad news of that, of course, is that it is less likely (but not impossible) that the second half toward your goal will mirror the 1st. However, the best news is it really doesn't have to for your numbers to be close. If you just maintain your current lean mass, you would hit 25% bf at 179lbs, so your ~30lb estimate is right in the ballpark.

While maintaining all of your lean mass while on a weight loss program is not an easy task, considering what you have done so far building up your lean mass, it is most certainly achievable or surpassable.

Fran, I thin 25% at your age is a great goal- ACE defines it as "normal". Congratulations on your progress so far. As Depalma said, that's incredible and you've a fantastic job at buiding muscle while burning fat and losing weight. Not an easy task!

I think the second half of your journey is going to be a little different, however. In my experience (and Meg's- she has endless spreadsheet notations on her weight vs. bodyfat as she lost) the closer you get to goal the harder it is to lose 100 % fat. Basically, just keep doing what you are doig, but don't be surprised if some of that muscle goes too. That's not necessarily a bad thing for a 5'6" woman.

Mel

I don't know if this is a silly question but how do you get tested for body fat percentage?

I'd love to know mine so I could track my progress as well (especially when the scale doesn't move!).

This topic was just on my mind yesterday. Just yesterday my bodyfat % was 36.2%, down from 49%. Actually that 49% was taken when I wasn't even at my highest, it was taken when I weighed 244lbs. on October 30, 06'. And I have so much more weight to lose, so I was thinking wow, I can really get my % down low when I lose all the weight I want. But now that you say as I get closer to goal it will be harder to lose 100% fat - I guess I won't necessarily get my body fat percentage down so low. Oh well. So Mel, can I ask you - is this number a good number that I'm at according to my weightloss. Do you think that I've perhaps gained some muscle or is it that I haven't loss much muscle or what?

Robin, I'm not Mel but can try to help you with your numbers.

If you were 49% BF when you weighed 244 pounds, that means you had 119.5 pounds of fat and 124.5 pounds of lean body mass (LBM). LBM is everything in your body that isn't fat, so it's muscle, bone, skin, hair and water. Muscle is the part of LBM that we care about.

Now you have 36% BF at 206 pounds (I'm taking your current weight from the stats under your name - hopefully that's correct?). That means you now have 74 pounds of fat and 132 pounds of LBM.

When you do the math, you'll see that you've lost 38 pounds of scale weight. But the scale doesn't tell the whole story - in reality, you lost 45.5 pounds of fat and gained 7.5 pounds of LBM. Most probably the 7.5 pounds of LBM that you added are muscle.

Those are fabulous results! In 2 1/2 months, you've lost 45.5 pounds of fat AND built muscle at the same time!!! It really doesn't get any better than that!

Keep on doing what you're doing ... it's obviously working well for you!

PS - to figure out your fat pounds and LBM, take your current weight and multiply it times your BF %. That gives you fat pounds. Then subract your fat pounds from your total weight and you get LBM.

There are several ways to check your BF. The most accurate but hardest for most of us to access is underwater testing. Some universities do this. There's also a company called BodPod that does something similar and I think they have a web site.

If you belong to a gym, you could ask one of the trainers to use calipers to check your BF. Keep in mind that accuracy with this method depends on the skill of the person testing you and it's good to go back to the same person to be re-checked. A nine site test is more accurate than three or four sites.

The easiest (but least reliable) method is bioelectrical impedance. That's what scales like Tanita and handheld devices like the Omron use. They can read high for a lot of people (especially if you're older), so if you use one of those, think of it as a way to track trends over time rather than as an absolutely accurate number. Use it at the same time of day because it will fluctuate depending on your degree of hydration. Most people get the lowest number in the afternoon. If the number is going down, you know you're on the right track!

Some people use on-line sites that use body measurements to try to guess BF but they're useless, IMO. I played around with one and told it my waist measurement was 15 inches and it still refused to go under 20% due to my age.

Hope that helps.

Fran, based on what happened with my weight loss, I have to agree with Mel. Part 2 of your weight loss is probably is going to be a whole lot different for you than Part 1. Yep, I have endless charts and graphs since I tracked everything and they show me gaining muscle in the first six months and losing it in the second six months. When I got down to the last fifteen pounds, I lost about 1/3 muscle and 2/3 fat - it was like prying off each individual ounce of fat with a toothpick. And I was doing all the right things with protein intake and lifting heavy.

I think you'll know the right BF for you when you get there. But none of us can predict what weight you'll be then.

One thing I thought of is if you tested your body fat a certain way, would it be smart to keep testing it that way? I don't know because I know we lose fat all over. When I was near my highest weight (around 350), I used one of those electrical impedance machines and it said 49%. A few months ago at around 270, I got tested again with an electrical impedance machine and it said 38%. I'd like to get an accurate water measurement one day just for curiosity but I figure if I keep losing then I'm ok for now.

Meg, you've made my day!!!! I think I love you!!! Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!! I will jot down the "recipe" that you gave me and use it in the future.

And by the way I have a Tanita scale and weigh myself in the morning, yesterday morning is when I last weighed, BF and actual weight.

So, my exercise is really working!!! Wow!!! But I'm assuming like you told Fran, I can expect to lose more LBM as I get closer to goal, but at least now I have a few pounds of the stuff to play around with.

Can I be so bold as to ask yet another question? I haven't done any work with weights and would like to start. I'm doing this all at home, do you have any suggestions? I'm assuming just to start with like 2 lb weights and do some arm and leg work.

Robin, join us

There are some stickies that will help. The basic bodybuilding sticky is pretty informative. We all recommend perusing Krista's site: http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

I'd recommend getting a set of various weights - 2 lbs or 3 lbs, 5 lbs, 8 lbs, 10 lbs, etc. Body for Life provides a home workout with weights if you are interested in looking at that book.

Basically read through the stickies, look at Krista's site and let us know when you have questions

Robin, when you start with weights (outstanding idea, BTW!) you will want to do exercises for ALL your muscle groups. Otherwise you're going to strengthen some muscles and not the opposing muscles, which results in muscle imbalance and injury. So you want to target your back, chest, shoulders, abs, legs (quads, hamstrings, and calves), biceps, and triceps.

A good place to start is with full-body workouts three times a week (like M, W, and F). Pick an exercise for each muscle group and pick a weight that lets you do 12 - 15 reps. If you can only do 8 reps, the weight you picked is too heavy and you need to lighten up. But if you get to 15 reps and can keep going, you need to raise the weight next set. If somewhere between 12 and 15 reps, it becomes hard (or impossible) to do another rep, you know that's the right weight for you.

Do two sets of each exercise. Start with your large muscle groups and work to the small ones: legs, back, chest, shoulders, bi's, tri's and abs.

Check out the stickys in the LWL forum for ideas about what exercises to do. Exrx.net is also a great resource and has some workouts for beginners. And you'll have hours of fun checking out Stumptuous.com.

Meg - I thought the underwater method was the most reliable but, for now, I don't know that I want to even try to find out where/how to do that. I should ask at my gym for the caliper test. I also thought it was only so reliable but it's a good place to start. I don't have a body fat scale and I can't see myself buying one so it's likely to be the gym or nothing.

And I know that an "ideal" body fat percentage depends on many many things but anyone have some general information for women on what ranges are considered althletic or normal or however they categorize it?

Nelie and I were posting at the same time.