Confused about body fat

rileysowner

ah right, it basically, losing body fat comes in the package of losing pounds! Thank you for clearing that up for me! I was just browsing online and read that if you body fat is too low it can make you pretty ill and that healthy body fat for a woman is 21% - 23%! Mine is 19.5% and I still have weight to lose as I still have a bit of a stomach and my butt could do with a bit less fat on it lol

Thanks for helping

I don't really understand this. The goal of weight loss, unless you have a specific weight to make for some sports competition, is to lose fat since it is excess fat that is unhealthy. Wanting to lose weight without losing fat because you are satisfied with the amount of fat means losing things like muscle or bone, neither of which you want to lose as the weight they provide is not detrimental to your health, and in fact is beneficial in terms of living life well as muscle lets you be active and strong, and bone well you want to maintain your bone mass so you don't break them easily. That leads to me wondering if you are too focused on a number on the scale.

Realize this, other than you and your doctor, unless you are telling people what you weigh, they have no idea. They see how you look. If you are happy with that, switch to maintain weight. If you are not happy with how you look, then you have to decide if you need to lose more fat or put fat or muscle on. Simply focusing on a number for the numbers sake is not taking into account health both short and long term.

PikaKnight

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods