body fat vs. pounds

princesspea234
princesspea234 Posts: 182 Member
edited January 28 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all! While I'd still like to lose 5-13 pounds since I have a small bone structure. (I like the way I look when I'm smaller.) I'm considering changing my goals from losing weight to losing body fat. This is so confusing though. Losing weight makes sense...less calories in plus calories burned=weight loss. But body fat? I don't know where to begin.

Also, my scale's "body fat" component will fluctuate anywhere from 26%-30.5% day to day. What's accurate? Is there a better part of the day to measure.

Replies

  • princesspea234
    princesspea234 Posts: 182 Member
    Also, I've upped my "working out" and I feel like I'm starving all the time. No weight loss and eating most if not all of my calories back and some days going over... :(
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    First off, congrats on your progress so far. You look great in your profile pics. I think what you are looking to accomplish is a body recomposition: lose fat and add muscle. Give this site a read: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com Your scale is almost worthless for measuring BF when you get as lean as you are. The best tool is the mirror and pictures. Take pictures once a week and save them. You will wish you had them 2 months from now when you get frustrated because the scale has not moved, the BF% has not changed and nothing is happening. Then pull up those pics and have a look.

    I am in the middle of a body recomp now. I hit 185 lbs and 16% BF and decided to stop losing weight. I want to get to 10% BF. I can do that by continuing to lose fat, but I am skinny enough. I would rather do that by adding muscle and losing fat. That way I just look better, not skinnier.

    The way I approached the recomp was simple. First, I figured out how to maintain my weight. I added 100 calories a week until my weight stabilized. That took about 6 weeks to figure out and I had to add a lot more than I thought I would. Once I figured out how to maintain my weight, I started strength training. I started losing weight again, so I ate more to maintain 185 lbs. The results so far are encouraging. I have added 2 lbs of lean body mass and dropped 2 lbs of fat in the last month. The end results is I look better and my BF% has dropped to somewhere around 14%. Small decrease, but it shows I can make progress.

    I hope this helps

    Tom
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