So much math!

alikat42

I need some help understanding lean body mass, body fat percentage, ideal/goal weight, etc.!

I am 5'5" and currently weigh 174 on my home scale. I was weighed at my employers health fair this morning at 176. My body fat % was measured with one of those handheld things at 32%. Which would mean that my 176 pounds = 56 lbs fat + 120 lbs.

If I continue to focus on maintaining a caloric deficit to create a 1 lb per week loss and weight training can I expect my lean body mass to stay relatively static?

I'm not solely focused on scale weight, but I would like to know what I'm shooting for. I currently have my goal weight set at 145 lbs, but if I maintain an lbm of 120 lbs, that would put my bf% at 17%, which is probably lower than I'm aiming. If I say 25% is my goal (which seems SO far from 32%) that would translate to a goal weight of 160.

So:
1. Did I do my math right?
2. Can I expect my lean body mass to stay relatively the same or should I expect it to decrease along with total weight?

alikat42

Anyone?

CMmrsfloyd

You can expect to most likely lose some lean mass along with losing fat. There are things you can do to try to lessen that loss (heavy strength training and making sure your deficit isn't too large i.e. not losing weight *too* fast) but generally speaking you'd expect most people just casually dieting and not strength training to lose some muscle mass as well as fat.

nutandbutter

You can expect to most likely lose some lean mass along with losing fat. There are things you can do to try to lessen that loss (heavy strength training and making sure your deficit isn't too large i.e. not losing weight *too* fast) but generally speaking you'd expect most people just casually dieting and not strength training to lose some muscle mass as well as fat.

Yep, even those that are lifting heavy will still lose some lean mass. It's unavoidable. Also, BIA's are not regarded as a highly accurate measurement of bf.