Need some encouragement and support for a body conscious gal

BikiniReady622

Even though I am low in body fat, I want to decrease my body fat- I am 25% body fat, 5'2'' and 108 pounds. How can I lose my body fat? I store it primary in my waist, butt, and thighs. I really want to lose the body fat and feel confident and HAPPY for once when I get ready for bikini season. I have never been confident or happy with my body enough to wear a bikini, but now that I am mentally ready to shed the fat, I want to know what I have to do physically to shed it as well.

MaraDiaz

First let me make sure you aren't using one of those bathroom scales to calculate body fat. Those things can be way way off!

Okay, that out of the way:

At 108 pounds you should probably create a very slight calorie deficit (say 1/2 pound a week or less) and do a lot of workouts. Someone is going to come in here in a minute and tell you to get some weights and lift heavy. Go with it.

JessicaRobin67

First let me make sure you aren't using one of those bathroom scales to calculate body fat. Those things can be way way off!

Okay, that out of the way:

At 108 pounds you should probably create a very slight calorie deficit (say 1/2 pound a week or less) and do a lot of workouts. Someone is going to come in here in a minute and tell you to get some weights and lift heavy. Go with it.

I was thinking about getting the scale that shows fat percentage...how far off are they?

bcgirl70

This information may be helpful?

Body Fat Percentage Categories

Classification Women (% fat) Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Obese 32%+ 25%+

Knowing your body fat percentage can also help you determine if your weight loss goals are realistic. Remember, weight loss doesn't always mean fat loss.

For example, let's say you are a 130 pound woman with 23% body fat, and your goal is to lose 20 pounds.

Initial body fat 130 pounds x 0.23 body fat = 30 pounds body fat
Lean body mass 130 pounds total - 30 pounds fat = 100 pounds lean body mass (bones, organs,...)
Goal 130 pounds - 20 pounds = 110 pounds
As you can see, the goal of losing 20 pounds is not realistic or healthy. At 110 pounds, this woman still requires 100 pounds of lean body mass, but would only be carrying 10 pounds, or only 9% body fat. From the body fat chart above, you can see that this is a dangerously low percentage.

A better goal might be for the woman to reduce her body fat from 23% to 18%. In this case:

130 pounds x 0.18 = 23 pounds body fat
100 pounds lean body mass + 23 pounds body fat = 123 pounds goal weight.
So, for this individual to achieve a lean, but healthy 18% fat, she would need to lose only 7 pounds of fat, reducing her weight from her current 130 pounds to 123 pounds. Losing more than 7 pounds means losing lean body mass (usually metabolically-active muscle tissue), which is clearly not desirable.

So before you decide that you need to "lose weight", remember to consider that "weight" consists of both lean body mass and body fat. Try to keep your weight loss goals realistic, and remember, keep the calorie-burning muscle, and lose only the fat.