realistic body fat % goal?

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sheldonklein
sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm 58 y/o, lost about 60 lbs and brought my bf % down from about 37% to 30%. Yesterday my trainer suggested a goal of 20%. My gut (no pun intended) reaction is that is unrealistic, but that's just a gut reaction. Anyone have experience or wisdom on whether it is realistic? I intend to lose more weight and keep up the exercise, but I don't desire to take extreme measures to achieve a body fat #.

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  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    It's not unrealistic. And it shouldn't take extreme measures, depending on your definition of extreme. I think its a target to shoot for, but if you land at 23-25% you are still doing great.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    Wow!! I say why not. I think it will be a matter of patience. I bet you can do this :)
  • jim180155
    jim180155 Posts: 769 Member
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    It's realistic, and it's attainable if you work at it. I don't know where my body fat % was at when I started focusing on losing weight, but after losing about 15 pounds I was around 22%. I thought 19% might be a good goal, but when I got there I knew I had to keep going. I'm now around 14%, and I'm not done. I'll keep trying to get it down to 10% or when my abs show, whichever comes first, at which point I'll change directions and start bulking back up to around 15%.

    I'm 61 y/o, so don't think that your age is any reason to consider 20% unrealistic.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    Not unrealistic.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Is it realistic? Yes. Do YOU want to go that low? That you will have to decide for yourself. I suggest you go with it and once you are happy with the way you look you can decide if you want to stop or continue.
  • Walter__
    Walter__ Posts: 518 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Speaking from someone who's been over 30%...

    Getting down to 20% is a walk in the park. When you're really overweight (and trust me at 30% you're still REALLY overweight), the fat just melts off. I don't know what "extreme" measures you're talking about. All I did was watch my diet (2000-2200 cals daily) and lift 3x a week. Very minimal effort IMO. Didn't even do cardio. Weight just melted off.

    20-15% was relatively easy. However, you're probably going to have to "reset" before you go for it. By reset I mean give yourself a break from having dieted for so long. After I hit 20, I tried to keep gunning for 15.. but nope. Couldn't do it. Mentally I'd lost focus, physically I was tired from having dieted for so long to 20%. Decided to take a 3 month break eating at maintenance, then went for 15% again. I got there pretty easily.

    I hear that 15%-10% or so is where it really starts to get hard.

    And sub 10% is incredibly difficult.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
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    OP, are you male or female? 20% is attainable for both men and women, but for women it would mean a higher level of fitness than 20% BF for a man.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    It's totally realistic.

    Just takes time, commitment and work.
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
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    It's getting down there for a woman. For a guy, just getting good. I'm currently 21%, and still rockin some pooch around the ab area...currently targeting 15%

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