What is the norm for body fat loss in a month?

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shorty35565
shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
3 weeks ago I was 29.6% BF. The month before I was 30.8%, so I only lost 1.2% in a month. I feel like I should be losing more & I would like to lose more. Is this below average?
Before you say anything, I do lift heavy (heavy for me). So please don't tell me to do so.
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  • Sublog
    Sublog Posts: 1,296 Member
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    Sounds like you're using a scale to measure body fat.

    There is more variation in one of those scales than you can possibly imagine.

    Don't worry about your body fat % so much low. Just worry about lowering your body weight.

    http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=146
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Sounds like you're using a scale to measure body fat.

    There is more variation in one of those scales than you can possibly imagine.

    Don't worry about your body fat % so much low. Just worry about lowering your body weight.

    http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=146

    No, I use calipers. I weigh 127-128lbs at 5'5. I plan to get to 115-120, but I NEED to lower my body fat. Cuz I look awfully fat for my weight
  • brideson85
    brideson85 Posts: 31
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    I don't use the BMI calculator on here its lower than what I need to go by for Navy regs. I google Navy BMI calculator and use that it is a formula based on your hips, waist, neck ratio and your weight and height. This one says I am just under 30% navy one says I am a bit over 35%. Not cool but unfortunatly I need to use the latter:explode:
  • photojunkie28
    photojunkie28 Posts: 292
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    Am I missing something because I weigh 174lbs , im 5'5 and Have a 29.2% body fat. Professionally calculated. Maybe I just dont know how that works but how do you weigh so little and have the same body fat as me?
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    I don't use the BMI calculator on here its lower than what I need to go by for Navy regs. I google Navy BMI calculator and use that it is a formula based on your hips, waist, neck ratio and your weight and height. This one says I am just under 30% navy one says I am a bit over 35%. Not cool but unfortunatly I need to use the latter:explode:

    My bmi is like 21.3. I have low weight/high body fat %. not fun at all :( I use calipers to measure my BF%
  • photojunkie28
    photojunkie28 Posts: 292
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    Am I missing something because I weigh 174lbs , im 5'5 and Have a 29.2% body fat. Professionally calculated. Maybe I just dont know how that works but how do you weigh so little and have the same body fat as me?
    [/quote

    By the way It took me 7 weeks to lose 4% body fat so it sounds like your doing okay to me.
  • jpfrimmer
    jpfrimmer Posts: 134
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    It looks like you are pretty close to your goal, so you probably won't be losing as fast as others at a higher weight. Also, are you sure you are getting an accurate reading from the caliper? I am also 5'5" and I weigh 7-10 lbs more than you do, but my body fat is 20%. I used some fancy scale thing from a dr's office. It's suppose to be one of the most accurate readings I guess.

    If your readings are accurate, I think your body fat loss is pretty good 1-2% per month is pretty common.

    Keep up the heavy lifting :)
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Am I missing something because I weigh 174lbs , im 5'5 and Have a 29.2% body fat. Professionally calculated. Maybe I just dont know how that works but how do you weigh so little and have the same body fat as me?

    The most accurate ways to measure BF is bodpod or underwater weighing. All other ways are like a shot in the dark & can give you a wide variety of measurement. I use calipers, so I'm not sure how accurate it is.
    If we were to have the say BF% that would mean you have more muscle than me or possibly a bigger frame or both. I have a small frame and I'm pretty flabby for my weight. I look fat. Idk if 1 would every believe I weigh wat I do.
    Here is a pic tho
    CE30day.png
    open the pic in a new tab to see the back, there is supposed to b 3 pics, but it needs to b resized.
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    It looks like you are pretty close to your goal, so you probably won't be losing as fast as others at a higher weight. Also, are you sure you are getting an accurate reading from the caliper? I am also 5'5" and I weigh 7-10 lbs more than you do, but my body fat is 20%. I used some fancy scale thing from a dr's office. It's suppose to be one of the most accurate readings I guess.

    If your readings are accurate, I think your body fat loss is pretty good 1-2% per month is pretty common.

    Keep up the heavy lifting :)

    I feel like it's right. U have more muscle than me probably. I'm pretty flabby. I just posted pics, but click on it cuz one of them is cut out cuz of the size. I don't look 127-128lbs :(
  • brideson85
    brideson85 Posts: 31
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    actually this is the one we use http://ramui.com/Java_script_code_example/us-navy-body-fat-calculator-script.html
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    actually this is the one we use http://ramui.com/Java_script_code_example/us-navy-body-fat-calculator-script.html

    It says I'm 23.7% which is obviously wrong lol U can see in my pictures. I have a small natural waist (28") and I guess decent sized hips (36.5") All my weight is my belly in between the 2.
  • photojunkie28
    photojunkie28 Posts: 292
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    Maybe it is close, I have always thought I had a large frame. I don't know how to post pictures outside of my profile yet, but I do look pretty similar to you but with a little bigger butt and thighs lol.

    If I were you I would probably just try to keep toning up and the rest will probably fall into place naturally, lower body fat%, your goal weight, ect. No worries :) 1-2% a month is great, think of it on a large scale and your talking 12'ish percent in a year. That sounds pretty awesome to me!
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
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    Dunktank is the gold standard but not always available
    Caliper is the best bet. Obviously a 7 point is more accurate but 3 point calculation is fine.
    Forget the scale... Following that, according to the AHA I'm obese year round.

    The faster you drop, the more time it will take before the skin collagen tightens up excess material hanging around. You also sacrifice losing any muscle mass - further adding to the first point. In addition, there's a risk of having a yo-yo effect. Lose 10, gain 12, lose 10, gain 12... Slow and steady wins the race.
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Maybe it is close, I have always thought I had a large frame. I don't know how to post pictures outside of my profile yet, but I do look pretty similar to you but with a little bigger butt and thighs lol.

    If I were you I would probably just try to keep toning up and the rest will probably fall into place naturally, lower body fat%, your goal weight, ect. No worries :) 1-2% a month is great, think of it on a large scale and your talking 12'ish percent in a year. That sounds pretty awesome to me!

    I was cursed with like no butt.
    12 a yr sound so sloooow. I've heard of ppl losing 5% a month! I'm so jealous of tht!
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Dunktank is the gold standard but not always available
    Caliper is the best bet. Obviously a 7 point is more accurate but 3 point calculation is fine.
    Forget the scale... Following that, according to the AHA I'm obese year round.

    The faster you drop, the more time it will take before the skin collagen tightens up excess material hanging around. You also sacrifice losing any muscle mass - further adding to the first point. In addition, there's a risk of having a yo-yo effect. Lose 10, gain 12, lose 10, gain 12... Slow and steady wins the race.

    I have no idea what kind of caliper I have. It came with a program.
    Yeah, slow and steady does. *big sigh* I been doing this SO long I just wanna get to the point where I look at least half way decent. Even at 128lbs I feel so fat because of my BF%. I'm growing impatient & very discouraged these says cuz of how slow things are.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,721 Member
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    I would love to lose 1% legitimately in a month.


    I have one of those body fat scales, they suck. One day it said I was 30.5%, two days later 29.3%.... right.....
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
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    I have no idea what kind of caliper I have. It came with a program.
    Yeah, slow and steady does. *big sigh* I been doing this SO long I just wanna get to the point where I look at least half way decent. Even at 128lbs I feel so fat because of my BF%. I'm growing impatient & very discouraged these says cuz of how slow things are.
    A caliper is a caliper. The 3 vs 7 I mentioned is just two different methods, one using 3 basic points the other using 7. Most people just do 3: abdominal, thigh, and pectoral. For women sub pectoral for tricep or subscapularis as, for obvious reasons, pectoral causes false increases.

    When's the last time you drastically changed your diet? Give the body a good shock? After a period of time the body becomes too used to our methods and we have to trick it the leaner we get. I don't know what you've been doing but a good switch up could accelerate your progress.
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    I have no idea what kind of caliper I have. It came with a program.
    Yeah, slow and steady does. *big sigh* I been doing this SO long I just wanna get to the point where I look at least half way decent. Even at 128lbs I feel so fat because of my BF%. I'm growing impatient & very discouraged these says cuz of how slow things are.
    A caliper is a caliper. The 3 vs 7 I mentioned is just two different methods, one using 3 basic points the other using 7. Most people just do 3: abdominal, thigh, and pectoral. For women sub pectoral for tricep or subscapularis as, for obvious reasons, pectoral causes false increases.

    When's the last time you drastically changed your diet? Give the body a good shock? After a period of time the body becomes too used to our methods and we have to trick it the leaner we get. I don't know what you've been doing but a good switch up could accelerate your progress.

    I normally just take 1 in above my hip bone. I guess I need to take from more places.
    Ummm, well I cheated Sat, didn't count to celebrate 1 yr of weight loss, but idk how I had since I only ended up eating a luna bar and then my cheat meal. And I've recently upped my cals (if only by like 60 cals) cuz I'm REALLY nervous ab upping them much more. I don't wanna go backwards & start gaining. So I thought I would up them slowly & monitor how it works. I'm super cautious. Cheat meals make me really nervous, because I dont want to gain on the scale or inches. So I rarely ever cheat. I'm very dedicated. I NEVER miss a workout, no matter how bad I feel. I try to eat pretty well though not completely clean, since I'm uber picky & never would be able to get my cals up, but I think I eat mostly clean. I really wonder if I eat enough calories. Like I'm eatin 1565 these days, but I dont eat back my exercise cals.
  • ericc1
    ericc1 Posts: 1 Member
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    Do you think its normal for a 5"2 female of 23 years old to have a 36% body fat percentage at 120lbs?

    I watch what I eat, but I don't do much exercise.

    But I think 36% makes me severely obese!. I do have lots of jiggle and rolls, but I'm a US pant size 4.

    I took this percentage at my doctor who used a machine that has a 98% percentage of accuracy.
  • shorty35565
    shorty35565 Posts: 1,425 Member
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    Do you think its normal for a 5"2 female of 23 years old to have a 36% body fat percentage at 120lbs?

    I watch what I eat, but I don't do much exercise.

    But I think 36% makes me severely obese!. I do have lots of jiggle and rolls, but I'm a US pant size 4.

    I took this percentage at my doctor who used a machine that has a 98% percentage of accuracy.

    36% isn't good for any1 :( Idk how normal it is, cuz ur pretty short. Idk if 120 would b low at ur height or not. You probably should exercise. I think that would help.

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