body fat %

tocara
tocara Posts: 81 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I re-started my weight loss journey 4 months ago.
I was 154lbs and 33.2% body fat.
Now I am 132.2 and 23.6% body fat.

I am pretty happy with the way I look... I still want to work on toning up.

Once I hit my goal of 130lbs I think I would like to have my goal be body fat % based rather than weight.

Since I have have never kept track of my body fat % before, i have no idea where I should be.

What is a healthy body fat %?
What is your body fat %? (i can look at your profile pic and see how that aligns with what I want) - that is not stalker-ish, is it?
How long does it take to loose body fat% (in a healthy manner)?

Thanks for your help, Cara

Replies

  • Bonny619
    Bonny619 Posts: 311 Member
    5'0, 157, 28%
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    For a female, anything in the 20s is healthy. 15-20 is where athletes pitch themselves.

    Roughly.

    How are you measuring it?
  • Stacemace83
    Stacemace83 Posts: 7 Member
    bumpity bump
  • Barribomb
    Barribomb Posts: 260 Member
    5'10", 159, 25%...first want to get to 20% then to 15-17%
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
    5'3" tall, 42 years old, 113 lbs, body fat % = 24. Feel free to "stalk" me all you want. :)
  • flower_chops
    flower_chops Posts: 59 Member
    Bump to sub - I'm 4'11" 112lbs and 22% BF but would like to lose a teeny bit more Ithinkfor more visible muscle.
  • cleotherio
    cleotherio Posts: 712 Member
    I'm 5'5", my weight fluctuates between 145 and 150. I've used a few of the on-line measurment calulators, and last time I checked, they came out to about 27%. I'm guessing I've dropped down a few % since last time I checked a couple months ago (heavy lifting and cardio here and there). I'd like to be about 20%. I don't have any full-body photos in my profile yet, but I wear about a size 8 in almost everything.
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
    What do you want to look like? If you want abs, shoot for around 18%. If you want to be just freakin shredded, shoot for 15%-16%. As far as how long it takes, every one will be different. You can do the math to see how much weight you will need to lose to get that low, and figure out from experience about how long it will take you to lose that much.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
    Male, 5'9, 140-145 lbs, 6-8%, have always been this low in body fat.

    My current goal weight is 160 lbs. I guess 8% would be reasonable at that weight, as I'm a tad boney as I am now.
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
    I am a female, 49 years old, 5'4" 129-130 pounds and had a DXA Scan done on 4/26/13 that said my % of body fat was 24%. I guess according to charts I have seen online I am in the "fitness level" for body fat for a female at my age. I am kinda surprised! I am at my goal weight but would like to lower my % of body fat. Any tips? I go to the gym 3-4 times a week doing cardio and strength training and also do cardio and some strength training at home every day M-F. I just joined the gym in Jan of 2013. I wish I would have had a DXA Scan done before I lost over 140 pounds to see what the difference was! I do write all my workouts down and log them into MFP under exercise if anyone wants to friend me and then can view them.
    Any tips would be great! I do have loose skin from loosing all this weight and I image that would figure into the %? Would it be under tissue or body fat % I wonder, the loose skin. I am working on tighten up the loose skin but working out will only do so much when I have been obese all my life and never weighed the proper weight my entire life and I am 49 years old!
    Thanks in advance!
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    If you're looking to decrease BF% based on weight loss, my trainer said 3 to 5 lbs. should be about 1% decrease. But, if you work on strength training, you can decrease your BF without much weight loss. I've decreased about 1.5% in BF while only losing 1.5 to 2 lbs.
  • puppy_amor
    puppy_amor Posts: 42 Member
    I am a female, 26 years old, 5'7". My weight fluctuates at about 145-148 right now. I just got one of those scales which does a body composition test and it said my BF is 24.8%. I would like to get down to 20%. Here is a chart I found on wikipedia:

    Description Women Men
    Essential fat 10–13% 2–5%
    Athletes 14–20% 6–13%
    Fitness 21–24% 14–17%
    Average 25–31% 18–24%
    Obese 32%+ 25%+
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I am female 52 yo and my BF% is 23-24%
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
    Thanks! That is kinda what I thought. Focus on strength training to lower the body fat which I have been doing since joining the gym in Jan of this year. I don't really want to loose more weight but just lower the body fat % at this point. I am seeing a physical therapist today to go over the DXA scan I had done and am brining all my workout logs with me too for her to look over and hopefully she can give me some tips on what to increase or do differently to get the % of body fat down. I can see muscle definition on my body since doing more strength training but I still have the loose skin! Ugh! :(
    If you're looking to decrease BF% based on weight loss, my trainer said 3 to 5 lbs. should be about 1% decrease. But, if you work on strength training, you can decrease your BF without much weight loss. I've decreased about 1.5% in BF while only losing 1.5 to 2 lbs.
  • Poprocket_2012
    Poprocket_2012 Posts: 142
    currently 5' 4'' 123lbs 21% bf

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