Small success, want to brag!

pbbagel

Hey everyone.
So basically I've been wanting to lose some weight (only about 10lbs) for at least a year and a half (I gained weight once I quit smoking). But I would always give up and revert to bad habits but finally I've been able to make some progress.

I've been using myfitnesspal for about a month and a half.
The main changes I've made are:
not drinking beer or alcohol unless it's a social occasion, and even on social occasions, drinking slowly and not getting drunk
eating more salad and protein
snacking less and smaller snacks

I hadn't been able to weigh myself since I started making these changes because I don't own a scale... but yesterday I went to my university which has a kind-of high-tech scale that calculates body fat and muscle percentages... and basically the results were:

2.9 kg decrease in weight (6.3lbs)
5% decrease in body fat (now at 19.7%)
slight increase in muscle, just 0.3kg
BMI reduced from 21.4 to 20.3.

From here I want to keep exercising and try to eat more protein. As far as losing weight is concerned, I think my body fat percentage is good, I'm a 23 year old woman so I think it's not healthy to have a low body fat percentage? I still need to lose around 3 or 4lbs to get to my original "slim" weight, but I'm not sure if it's really necessary for me...

Any comments about my progress would be really appreciated! I was just so happy with my results that I wanted to share it with someone!

vanessalillian82

First up, congratulations on your progress. Secondly, I'm nowhere near my goal weight, and I'm no expert, but just casting my eye over those numbers I probably woudln't lose too much more. BMI isn't always a great indicator as other things like your build influence it, but "healthy" becomes "underweight" once you drop below a BMI of 20 so just keep an eye on that. Obviously it's hard to say without seeing photos, too, but again, from what I've read, 18% body fat is about as low as you'd want to go unless you're going in for body building competitions. This link has pics of approximately what different body fat percentages look like: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages Anyway, you know your own body better than anyone. Just be healthy and listen to your body!

pbbagel

Thank you for the link and the advise!