How To: Determine Weight Goal

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    What is a good body fat percentage for a woman?

    I did the measurements to get a rough calculation and it came out around 16.5%, which according to charts is a good precentage, but I still have a lot of flab!

    Of course I just used the tape measurement equation and I assume that is not very accurate.

    Doing these calculations my goal weight came out to 119 pounds with 15% body fat, but that seems high to me. I used to be around 113-115 and would love to get back down there. I'm 5'3 and have a lot of muscle.
    online calculators where off by 6% for me. If you can get body fat calipers its a better option. Also, 4 lbs means nothin and you cant judge your current goals based on history. When you gain weight, you gain muscle to support. Its part of the calorie process. Below is a great story of what happens to women when they gain 20 lbs of muscle.

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • uwdawg07
    uwdawg07 Posts: 372 Member
    What is a good body fat percentage for a woman?

    I did the measurements to get a rough calculation and it came out around 16.5%, which according to charts is a good precentage, but I still have a lot of flab!

    Of course I just used the tape measurement equation and I assume that is not very accurate.

    Doing these calculations my goal weight came out to 119 pounds with 15% body fat, but that seems high to me. I used to be around 113-115 and would love to get back down there. I'm 5'3 and have a lot of muscle.
    online calculators where off by 6% for me. If you can get body fat calipers its a better option. Also, 4 lbs means nothin and you cant judge your current goals based on history. When you gain weight, you gain muscle to support. Its part of the calorie process. Below is a great story of what happens to women when they gain 20 lbs of muscle.

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    Thanks for the response. I'm going to pick up some calibers and see what I get. It's true that I do have a lot more muscle now than I did before.

    I'll read the link. Thanks!
  • PayneAS
    PayneAS Posts: 669 Member
    Everyone, there have been several post lately on how to determine your weight goal. In hopes of helping people out, below is one approach to doing that. This approach will provide you a general guideline of how to determine your goal while maintaining your lean body mass. I do realize that an acceptable amount of LBM loss is 10%, especially if you have a significant amount of weight to lose. This does not address what is required to maintain your metabolism and lbm during your weight loss journey, so that is another part of the weight loss puzzle to be discussed. Hope you find this helpful.



    There are two major factors when you determining your goal weight, lean body mass (determined with your current weight and body fat) and your goal body fat. From here you can derive your ideal weight. The first thing you do is figure out your current body fat percentage (body calipers are the best option if a dexa scan or water immersion is not available) and your current weight. This will allow you to understand how much lean body mass ( everything that isnt fat to include; tissue, muscle, bone) your actually have. Once you figure out your lbm, then you can choose a goal body fat percentage. Depending on how cut or fit you want to look will affect this decision. For me i want abs, so for a man, i need to aim for 6-8%.

    With this said, you now have the ability to determine your goal weight. Example, i am 200 lbs @ 12% body fat. My goal is 6% body fat. Below is the calculations to back into your goal weight.

    First you need your lbm;

    LBM = weight - (weight *body fat %)
    LBM = 200 - (200 *.12) =176

    Goal weight = lbm ÷ (1- goal body fat)
    GW = 176 ÷ (1 - .06) = 187

    Thanks for this!
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    I've heard many times that too much cardio can work against you when trying to build muscle. But how do you know how much cardio is too much? Would love input on this. Thanks!
    Honestly, I'd cut out cardio completely if your object was to gain muscle mass. It's already difficult as is for women to build muscle as the realistic cap is 1 lb of true muscle per month - so doing cardio at a volume (intensity x duration) that could potentially lose muscle is not worth it Besides, if you do cardio, you'll have to replace the calories expended by eating more to keep you at the desired surplus. Simply set an acceptable upper limit of increased body fat % gain and end your "bulk" cycle when you reach that percentage. If you can grow at the ratio of 1 lb of muscle:1 lb of fat, that's ideal. Thus, make sure you do not institute too large of a surplus or else you'll shift the partitioning in favor of fat gain. A surplus between 10% to 15% will be enough to promote modest muscle accretion while minimizing fat gain.
  • dstackable
    dstackable Posts: 48
    bump
  • jenneal89
    jenneal89 Posts: 243
    Okay, thanks! I think I'll go ahead and do the shred, keep eating at a deficit, and see where that gets me weight wise. Then I'll up my calories and start lifting.

    No, lift now, and heavy. If you are cutting and not lifting a large % of your loss will be lean mass, meaning you will have to weigh less to achieve the same body fat % you could have achieved at a higher weight had you incorporated strength training all along.

    I've seen pictures on here of amazing results from the 30 day shred. Should I lift heavy in addition to doing these workouts? Forego the shred completely and lift instead? I have little time with two small children, so I need a lot of bang for my buck, so to speak.

    Get some resistance bands. If you can't afford a program like chalean extreme or p90x, you can look up strong lift 5x5 (this one requires weights I believe) or you can go onto www.bodyrock.tv . Also, you can find resistance training on youtube and on demand.

    Good advice. I have p90x and got it for 3 payments if about £33 (over 3 months obviously) i think this is do-able for most people
  • dstackable
    dstackable Posts: 48
    Thank you for posting this. Now that I feel like I'm getting within range, I've been trying to figure out a good goal weight for me. This helped me do that! Perfect!
  • litax
    litax Posts: 22 Member
    Interesting.
  • SocWkrBee
    SocWkrBee Posts: 374
    Cool! According to this I should weigh 124lbs to hit 20% BF. I would love to hit that mark. I am about 33% BF according to my scale and other online calculators and I think that they are about right.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Cool! According to this I should weigh 124lbs to hit 20% BF. I would love to hit that mark. I am about 33% BF according to my scale and other online calculators and I think that they are about right.

    Just make sure you do adequate weight lifting and eat around 100-120g of protein. This will help you cut.
  • AshleighTaylorXOXO
    AshleighTaylorXOXO Posts: 14
    Thank you for this! My goal weight is right on target! :D
  • sphira
    sphira Posts: 132 Member
    Bump

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