Goal reached, or should I keep going?

ze_hombre
ze_hombre Posts: 377 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am facing a bit of a conundrum. I told myself a while back that I would go until I was at 18% body fat and then go into maintenance mode. If you round down, today I made that goal (18.4%) but I feel like I need to go another 5-10 pounds (probably closer to 5) since there is still a bit of a paunch left. You can sort of see my abs if you hold your head right and the light is just so, but there is still a decent layer of fat there. What is a healthy body fat percentage for a guy that isn't going so much for a weight lifter physique and is more interested in just looking good without a shirt on?

Replies

  • Pearsquared
    Pearsquared Posts: 1,656 Member
    You can lose quite a bit more body fat and still remain in the healthy range, so keep going if you're not satisfied yet.

    Here's a chart for ranges (near the bottom of the article): http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/what-is-a-normal-body-fat-percentage.html#b
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    that's a personal preference that only you can make, but I can tell you that I lowered my weight goal about 4 times before I got to where I am now. 18% for a guy is pretty comfortable/easy. For most people (depending on how developed the muscles are) your abs really won't start to define until the 12-15% range. Also, considering your 77lb weight loss already, your abs may never really be as defined as you like due to a little loose skin.

    I guess at the end of the day, if you still aren't happy with your physique, keep going a little to drop under 15% and start doing heavy resistance ab exercises to get the muscles to stand out more. However, I will mention that you are starting to enter the %fat range where muscle loss starts to become a concern if you don't do it properly. I am at about 10-12%BF and it took me nearly a year to go from 15% to now - very small deficit, lifting heavy, lots of protein.
  • dbustamante76
    dbustamante76 Posts: 46
    ^^^^^ same here i said i wanted to be at 250 thought i was still to big so i went down to 235 thought i was still to big so i dropped it down to 210 and now im at 201 but im thinking of going to 195ish. so again its really up to you what you think you'll be happy maintaining.

Categories