Percentage of Fat to Lean Body Mass

30kgin2017

For those who tracked BF% during their loss . What was your % of lean body mass to fat loss.
I am averaging 27% Lean Body Mass and 73% Fat and suspect this is probably too much LBM being lost for each kg of weight. I have tried to google it but the hits dont exactly scream credible source of info.

Background to my question, I am obese and when looking at BF calculators online I seem to have a lower BF% than you would expect at my weight. This corresponds to when I was average size I would weigh more than someone of the same size & height. I thought I would project my current loss trend to see where I would need to end up to get to my goal BF%. The weight was a lot lower than I had originally anticipated.

I know I can impact the % by increasing my strength training to preserve muscle, making sure my diet includes enough protein and also not having too higher calorie deficit. To date I havent worried about macros and hence protein, I mostly do cardio as I am training for a run in June but once that's over I'll swap a run day for a weight training day. I have a hobby/job that involves lifting heavy stuff but not a structured weight training program. Like all keen starters I've probably cut the calories a little too much, this was also partly to help my running and the weight drop has done just that.

I am looking for an indicative % to aim for to know when it looks like I might have that balance right.

deannalfisher

1) how are you measuring your BF% - 73% fat seems questionable - you don't need 27% BF do you?

ccsernica

deannalfisher wrote: »

1) how are you measuring your BF% - 73% fat seems questionable - you don't need 27% BF do you?

I would hope she means that, of her weight lost, 73% of it was fat and 27% of it was lean, not that these are her current numbers. If so, this actually sounds pretty typical -- or, at least, it's a widely-cited rule that 1/4 of weight loss is lean mass according to this paper that reviews some of the data. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24447775

30kgin2017

Yes, I meant percentages for each kg lost is 27% LBM and 73%. So my current loss of 6.7kg appears to be 1.8kg of LBM and 4.9kg of fat.

Thanks @ccsernica for the link, prob my poor wording affected my google search results.

PAV8888

OhMyKittens 3:1! department:

If you're obese 3:1 is not terrible; but it is not the best I've ever seen. 4:1 used to be considered as the global "standard" However there are measurement issues that could be coming into play when it comes to the number you're seeing.

There exists NO method at this point that is widely considered to be accurate, repeatable, and financially approachable (or even healthy for you).

This includes the gold standards of DXA scans and water tank tests (see the weightology blog for various discussions on all that).

I believe that at this point a combination of DXA and MRI might give the most "accurate" results for research purposes. But, I don't know that I would be willing to do an MRI for body composition, even if I could financially afford to.

DXA is 'approachable' financially in many markets and certainly subjects us to much lower levels of radiation (less than dental x-rays) but it is not without problems when it comes to comparing your results over time. It is as close to a gold standard as I've been able to come up with; but far from perfect.

It happens to all of us department:
The leaner you are the more lean mass you will lose. The more fat you have available to lose the more easy it is to drop fat without dropping lean mass.

I draw your attention to this paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3970209/ and to the lean mass calculator that is in the excel spreadsheet linked to from here: http://pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/fat-free-mass/

The lean mass calculator will let you know what an average lean vs fat mass composition would be for a person at a particular weight and how (presumably) it might change from a previous weight. It can't, of course, tell you how closely you're tracking to these "average" numbers.

Lean mass preservation strategy department

a) 2x RDA of protein bringing protein to 0.8g to 1.0g per lb of bodyweight standing as proxy for 0.6g to 0.8g per lb of lean body mass has considerable support as a lean mass preserving strategy for people who are in a deficit and active.

b) Strength training.

c) smaller deficits such that, as an example, a person losing at a rate of 0.75% body weight per week will drop less lean mass than a person losing at a rate of 1.5% body weight per week.

i.e. if you limit your caloric deficit to 25% of your TDEE while obese and 20% or lower while you're overweight or normal weight you will probably be doing all you can do from the perspective of eating at a deficit while trying to preserve lean mass.

I have not fully considered but it yet but looks interesting as an overview department: https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/8/3/511/4558114