Body Fat Percentage in Goal Setting.

elg1982

I purchased an Omron Body Fat Monitor, and am using it as a way to gauge my progress. A few years ago I was down to 157 pounds, looked great, but was always hungry and feeling depressed and anxious because I couldn't lose any more weight. I was going by BMI and needed to get down to 149 at least to start maintenance while I was on Weight Watchers. It turns out, I was in a healthy range of body fat! I had it tested during an physical exam at a health fair.

Right now my body fat percentage is 38.7%, that means at 197 pounds I am 121 pounds of lean mass and 76 pounds of fat.

I had always thought of 140 as a good goal, but thinking about this in terms of my body composition, it's not realistic, I would have a body fat percentage of 13% which is bordering on unhealthy for women who, I understand should have at least 15%. This is assuming I add no more muscle.

Right now I'm going to aim for 25 - 30% body fat and see what happens. Charts I've seen say 32-35% are the upper limit for a healthy range for women.