Question about Body Fat/Goal Weight

Hadabetter

BF is more important. If you exercise, you build up muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, so when you exercise - logically - you weight goes up, and your BF drops. Sounds like a good outcome to me.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat. That is a myth and not possible. Muscle is denser so it takes less of it to reach a certain weight. For example five pounds of fat is much larger than five pounds of muscle because of their density. But they both weigh the same amount.

Do people actually think that one weighs more than the other? Isn't volume implied when people say that?

Nope, people really believe it(not saying the above poster does, but I thought I would point it out just in case). But if you do a MFP search or a google search you will see people actually asking if it's true. I don't know why, but people believe it.

In the same way a rock doesn't weigh more than a feather. A rock is denser so it takes less of it to reach a certain weight.
Your point is, well, pointless.

steam_engenius

Are you using your actual body fat percentage or are you referring to the generic charts? I'm 5'7 and the charts say I should weigh 150lbs, but based on my actual body fat percentage, I would be dead if I weighed 150lbs. I'm actually healthy at around 200lbs which is abnormal for a woman who is 5'7 but everyone is built differently. My ex-personal trainer argued with me about goal weight range until we checked my body fat percentage and then he agreed I was right. If you are not using a scale or other mechanism to determine your body fat percentage, I would suggest doing so.

Erienneb

If I knew how much I should weigh at the body fat percentage I want to be at, then I would know where to set my weight goal.

The problem with this is, you could weigh a complete range of things at a certain BF percentage, because being a certain height and BF% does not mean you will always weight X amount. Find out what your Lean Body Mass is now, and make a goal to maintain or increase it, and you can figure what your realistic goal weight would be at a certain BF%.

donna_glasgow

Just forget about a goal weight as an absolute and use the bf% as your true goal with body weight as an estimate.

I agree with this,

1 year ago I was 172.5lbs , 36.7%BF and 110lbs lean muscle .. and a slightly loose UK 16
now I am 173.2lbs 32.7%BF 116lbs lean muscle and fitting a UK size 12


I was originally aiming for 140lbs now Im aiming for 151 but Im only really looking at lbs because MFP dosnt have a ticker for BF

ETS I still stand on the scales, but I dont let them bother me at all any more

brower47

5'4" and 135 sounds perfectly reasonable (I'm biased though since I'm the same height and my goal is 130). If you are lifting and get down to 135, your bmi will follow you down to that as well. It might take you a longer time since you'll really be trying to shred even more fat (to make up for the extra muscle weight). Just work towards that goal and if, when you're part way there, you're satisfied with both your weight and body fat measurements, then you can stop. Goals are great in that they can change as you do.

meredithaloring

My advice: Don't cut out the cardio until you hit your weight loss goal. Do weights in addition to cardio in order to build up lean muscle mass. For me, I can lift the most weight after I warm up a bit (20-30 mins cardio). How you lift is IMPORTANT - doing lots of reps with low weight is NOT going to build muscle mass. You need to challenge yourself, lift until exhaustion multiple times (I usually do three sets for each movement, first is 'warm up', second is the weight I can lift to 10 or 12 times, the third is the same weight as the second for as many repeats as possible). Your muscle should feel 'pumped' after this. Each day I do 3 or 4 movements, and I move the concentration around to different areas of my body so that I can hit each group 2x per week.

Make sure you are hydrated and that you get some lean protein just after you lift (there is a 30 minute window in which the protein is use most effectively for rebuilding the muscles).

Back to the cardio - it's important to have because it's going to allow you to eat a 'normal' amount of food, but still have a colorie deficit.

Hope this helps!

azwen

I know how you feel. I have no idea what my weight will be when I've achieved my goal of being lean and fit. So I just set an interim goal of 140 and 25% body fat. (Currently 151 and 30%.) Once I get to 140, I'll reevaluate and set a new goal, which may not be my final goal. Who knows? I am losing pounds very slowly, but working hard to maintain muscle and I'm stronger, which is cool. Definitely don't neglect strength training; you don't want to lose the muscle you have! My advice is to set small goals along the way, and don't worry what your ultimate weight will be. Fitness and health, how you look and feel, will be more important than that one number.

momsy_poop

Well said!