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Body Fat Percentages

thescrumisfun
thescrumisfun Posts: 355
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
What is a realistic loss of body fat percentage over a period of time? I got an email from my coach asking for two personal goals by the end of the season. I want one of them to by a 5% body fat reduction. However, I really have no clue what a realistic loss of body fat percentage would be, so I figured I would ask you lovely peoples :flowerforyou: .

I took my measurements with my body fat caliper, and currently I have 33.9% body fat. I am 5'3", 177 pounds, with 117 pounds of lean body mass. I have rugby practice three times a week for two hours, and an 80 minute game on Saturdays (pretty sure I'll be playing full games, since we're lacking subs for my position). On Tuesday and Thursday, I will be lifting. I have re-adjusted my intake and will be consuming 1795 calories in season. If we don't make play-offs, the season will run from August 20th - October 27th. Is a 5% decrease over that amount of time realistic, or should I set it a little lower?

Thank you!

Replies

  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
    The healthy range for women is around 18-25%, although it goes up slightly as you get older, so for older women it might be more like 22-28%. I have accumeasure skinfold calipers which have a chart that goes with them, which can give a more accurate range depending on your age.

    If you're 33.9% bf at the moment, a 5% reduction would make you 28.9% body fat which you should find quite straight forward if you're careful about calculating your calorie needs carefully. There's a thread here called "in place of a roadmap" or something like that, which explains how to calculate your calorie needs. As you play rugby it's important you do this the right way as you don't want to lose any lean muscle mass as this will affect your rugby playing ability (probably why your coach is asking for a slight reduction not a massive one) so that means aiming for slow and steady fat loss. Working out with weights is important as well to prevent muscle loss. IMO this target is very do-able, and also I don't think there's anything wrong with aiming to lose more fat than this, just be very careful about doing this the slow and steady way so you're only losing fat not lean body mass.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
    Also what position do you play? Some rugby positions it's an advantage to have some weight behind you (as I'm sure you know!!) so that's something else to take in account when figuring out your goal body fat percentage.

    I played rugby at school once (would have played more but that was back in the days before girls normally played rugby in school) and I was scrum half lol cause I'm 5'1" and quite stocky/muscular build. I wouldn't mind playing rugby again in the future if I get the chance to.
  • 2hobbit1
    2hobbit1 Posts: 820 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12


    Here is the link mentioned by the prior poster. Good info!
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    5% fat loss would be 3 lbs, leaving you at 32.75% fat ;-)
  • thescrumisfun
    thescrumisfun Posts: 355
    I'm a prop :happy: I'm pretty sure I will stay at prop; depends on what my coach wants for this season. In the spring, I was practicing at hooker until one of our players quit for the season. Packie for life though!

    I actually calculated my calories following the outline of "In Place of a Road Map 2.0." My all-around goal is to be at 20 - 25% body fat. I want to lose weight but slowly, to protect my lean muscle mass.
  • thescrumisfun
    thescrumisfun Posts: 355
    5% fat loss would be 3 lbs, leaving you at 32.75% fat ;-)

    Ahhh okay...I also forgot to mention I'm pretty terrible at math/wording things. If I lost ten pounds, what would that be?
  • jokersrs
    jokersrs Posts: 232 Member
    5% fat loss would be 3 lbs, leaving you at 32.75% fat ;-)

    Ahhh okay...I also forgot to mention I'm pretty terrible at math/wording things. If I lost ten pounds, what would that be?

    Well if 117 lbs is your lean body mass, then you have 60 lbs of fat (177-117)
    Say you lose 10 lbs of fat, you'll have 50 lbs of fat. 50/167 = 29.9%

    (might wanna invest in some more math classes alongside your rugby lol)
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