Body Fat % & Weight Goals

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chayleah
chayleah Posts: 51 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Its important to at least have a general idea of your body fat % when looking to set a target body weight. I'm 5'8" and 195lbs. I have been powerlifting for 1 year, did CF for a year, and random lifting programs for years before that. I had my body fat measured (7pt caliper by trained coach) and it came out to 25% body fat, which means 150 lbs of lean mass.

A goal weight of 140 (my pre kid weight) is not realistic for me. Sure I will lose some water weight but I would also have to sacrifice some muscle to get that low. Getting that bodyfat measurement helped me set a much more attainable goal of 170. Once I get there I can reevaluate, see how I look and feel, and decide if it works for me.

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  • Codilee87
    Codilee87 Posts: 509 Member
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    chayleah wrote: »
    Its important to at least have a general idea of your body fat % when looking to set a target body weight. I'm 5'8" and 195lbs. I have been powerlifting for 1 year, did CF for a year, and random lifting programs for years before that. I had my body fat measured (7pt caliper by trained coach) and it came out to 25% body fat, which means 150 lbs of lean mass.

    A goal weight of 140 (my pre kid weight) is not realistic for me. Sure I will lose some water weight but I would also have to sacrifice some muscle to get that low. Getting that bodyfat measurement helped me set a much more attainable goal of 170. Once I get there I can reevaluate, see how I look and feel, and decide if it works for me.

    Yes :) And its also possible to be heavier but look smaller: a skinny-fat person at 130lbs will look heavier than a lean muscular person of the same height and weight. My high school friends always hated me because I always looked thinner than them even though they weighed less.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    chayleah wrote: »
    Its important to at least have a general idea of your body fat % when looking to set a target body weight. I'm 5'8" and 195lbs. I have been powerlifting for 1 year, did CF for a year, and random lifting programs for years before that. I had my body fat measured (7pt caliper by trained coach) and it came out to 25% body fat, which means 150 lbs of lean mass.

    A goal weight of 140 (my pre kid weight) is not realistic for me. Sure I will lose some water weight but I would also have to sacrifice some muscle to get that low. Getting that bodyfat measurement helped me set a much more attainable goal of 170. Once I get there I can reevaluate, see how I look and feel, and decide if it works for me.

    So true! However, not just body fat percentage is important, bone structure is, too. Our goal weight should be dependent on those two aspects.

    I lost weight originally in 2011 and didn't lift. At 5'3", I got down to 122 but wasn't able to maintain it long. I'm medium-large boned, have a large rib cage and am prone to muscle. This time around I'm weight lifting in addition to running and eating at a small deficit. I'm down to about 26% body fat, weigh in the mid-130s and fit into the same clothes I was wearing at 122.

    As a contrast, my mom and my sister are both very fine boned. I can wear their wedding rings only on my pinky finger and even that's a little tight. My mom weighs about 105 and it looks good on her. My sister lifts some and even with a body fat % near mine, she would look much heavier than I do at the same weight.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    I would question whether or not it's important to set a target body weight to begin with.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I agree, I'm also 5'8 and have a large frame and decent musculature ..I'm currently 168lbs and around 25.5% BF ..however I'm keen to have a body scan to check on that percentage as calipers / scales and measurement calculators are not reliable

    I could drop a little more BF but not much

    Note that for my height I'm not even at the maximum of the BMI range yet

    My goals are not weight or BF tbh but pull-ups and clothes
  • chayleah
    chayleah Posts: 51 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    I would question whether or not it's important to set a target body weight to begin with.

    In general I agree with this, but I am doing 2 powerlifting meets this year and will have to weigh in. And while I won't set any records I do have a weight class I'd like to be in.

    And from everything I read on MFP most people aren't ready to give up the #'s obsession so I'm just hoping to help folks set more realistic goals :-)

  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    edited January 2015
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    In theory, yes, a BF% goal probably makes more sense than a weight goal.

    In practice, no. Because BF% is really, really hard to measure accurately. Whereas weight is easily measured simply by stepping on a bathroom scale.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited January 2015
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    chayleah wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    I would question whether or not it's important to set a target body weight to begin with.

    In general I agree with this, but I am doing 2 powerlifting meets this year and will have to weigh in. And while I won't set any records I do have a weight class I'd like to be in.

    And from everything I read on MFP most people aren't ready to give up the #'s obsession so I'm just hoping to help folks set more realistic goals :-)

    You've certainly started a great conversation!

    A number on the scale is simply a measurement of progress, the same as body fat %, the measurement of body parts in inches, the number of pounds one can bench press or squat, how far or fast one can run, etc. I believe that any one of these measurements should not be the end-all-and-be-all of a person's efforts to become more healthy and fit but neither should any of them be discounted. We cannot out-exercise a bad diet. Running and weight lifting doesn't make one thin but neither does getting our body fat % below a certain point make us healthy and fit.

    The simple fact is, our society places a lot of emphasis on that scale number and it's one of the easiest and most obvious ways for a person to measure "progress". The number gets smaller, progress is being made, QED. There are TV shows built around people trying to make that number go as low as possible in the fastest amount of time. I abhor those shows. I think they've done at least as much to distort people's perceptions of what weight loss should be about as the diet industry has.

    I believe that another measure of progress is when one realizes that the scale number shouldn't be the only goal or even the most important one. I spend quite a bit of my free time in here trying to help people realize just that.

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