Body Fat % or my goal?

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fretless1965
fretless1965 Posts: 26 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
For the record, I'm a guy.

I started in July 2011 at 220 pounds.

The first 15 pounds moved me from "obese" to "overweight."

The next 15 pounds moved me to the weight I wanted to be (190).

The next 15 pounds got me to my ultimate goal (175 pounds, reached yesterday)

To say the least, I am very happy about this. I have been obese for 20 years.

However, I still have a little fat around my midsection that I would like to get rid of, but my body fat is between 12 and 15 percent. Is it safe for a 46 year old male to drop below 10% BF, or should I call it a day and switch to maintenance mode?

Replies

  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
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    I'm female but I'd say that there's no hard and fast rule to dropping below 10% body fat at any given age IMHO. I'd go with how you feel more than anything. If you feel good and have energy at a lower body fat percentage, good - if not, maybe that's your body telling you to not be that low. Just my .02 cents.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
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    I found signing up for a Triathlon sprint (sept 2012) has changed my body quite drastically, still my weight (maintaining now) stayed the same (but eating much more).

    It will be my first. Never done a marathon, never consider myself an athlete. I am an ordinary person, attempting to do what athletes do for fun. I train for the triathlon every weekend: 750m swim, 20km bike + 5k run. During the week, I attend 2 bootcamp classes. I find these classes focus on core strength, which helps with my tri-training.

    I recommend you challenge yourself physically. Eat to maintain, but start upping your workout intensity.
  • jcr85
    jcr85 Posts: 229
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    You are probably not between 12 and 15 percent body fat if you still have fat around your mid section... how did you measure your body fat percentage?
  • feistyhorsegal
    feistyhorsegal Posts: 109 Member
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    Firstly well done on your weightloss, fantastic effort. I have read that body fat around the mid section is the most dangerous type, so I'd be trying to shift it regardless of body fat percentage. I would also be interested to know how you measured your body fat percentage - was it with one of those scales that measure it? A few months ago I stood on one of those, and at 64kgs and close to 6ft tall it told me I still had 28% body fat. Now I know women carry more body fat but omg don't think it could possibly be that high? So not sure how accurate they are.
  • feistyhorsegal
    feistyhorsegal Posts: 109 Member
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    I just tried working it out with one of those online calculators. It says 21.8% but I am down to 62kgs now.
  • fretless1965
    fretless1965 Posts: 26 Member
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    I did measure my BF% with one of the scales.

    However, when I say I still have some fat at my mIdsection, it isn't very much; there is none over my obliques, just a bit in the front and two sections on either side of my back. Given that 15% of my body weight would equate to 26 pounds of fat, that didn't strike me as unreasonable; but I am also aware that BF% can't be estimated visually with any degree of accuracy.

    I have since found online BF% calculators that use weight, hip, waist and neck measurements that told me my percentage was 20 %, but those also had disclaimers saying that if you tended to carry your weight around your midsection the readings would be too high.

    Thanks very much for the replies and the support. This is all very new to me, and any insights and suggestions are appreciated.
  • fretless1965
    fretless1965 Posts: 26 Member
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    Page 3 BUMP
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
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    Yes, it is safe to go lower. Under 5 or so would be dangerous. You would probably be really happy at 8.

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