Dilemma re body fat percentage

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  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    What are you trying to accomplish?

    A lean body with visible muscles.

    Then you don't need...

    Yes! I want a DEXA. Hopefully getting one soon.

    All you need is a mirror, and a kitchen scale for your food. KISS!

    PS Dexa isn't all that accurate, either.
  • baybeejulia
    baybeejulia Posts: 218 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    What are you trying to accomplish?

    A lean body with visible muscles.

    Then you don't need...

    Yes! I want a DEXA. Hopefully getting one soon.

    All you need is a mirror, and a kitchen scale for your food. KISS!

    PS Dexa isn't all that accurate, either.

    Lol why must you kill dreams? I am sure it isn't 100% accurate, only God knows my exact BF%!

    I have a mirror and a kitchen scale, they are how I've gone from (an estimated) 29.5% to 24.4% BF in the past 3 months. But tracking BF% and all that nonsense is just fun and motivating for me :smile:
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    What do you do?

    You keep on losing fat, that's what you do.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    What are you trying to accomplish?

    A lean body with visible muscles.

    Then you don't need...

    Yes! I want a DEXA. Hopefully getting one soon.

    All you need is a mirror, and a kitchen scale for your food. KISS!

    PS Dexa isn't all that accurate, either.

    Lol why must you kill dreams? I am sure it isn't 100% accurate, only God knows my exact BF%!

    I have a mirror and a kitchen scale, they are how I've gone from (an estimated) 29.5% to 24.4% BF in the past 3 months. But tracking BF% and all that nonsense is just fun and motivating for me :smile:

    Oh, hey, I didn't mean to be a downer. Nothing wrong with doing the BF measurement stuff, as long as its not taken too seriously - if it works for you, keep on keeping on! :drinker:
  • baybeejulia
    baybeejulia Posts: 218 Member
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    What do you do?

    You keep on losing fat, that's what you do.

    Exactly!
  • baybeejulia
    baybeejulia Posts: 218 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    What are you trying to accomplish?

    A lean body with visible muscles.

    Then you don't need...

    Yes! I want a DEXA. Hopefully getting one soon.

    All you need is a mirror, and a kitchen scale for your food. KISS!

    PS Dexa isn't all that accurate, either.

    Lol why must you kill dreams? I am sure it isn't 100% accurate, only God knows my exact BF%!

    I have a mirror and a kitchen scale, they are how I've gone from (an estimated) 29.5% to 24.4% BF in the past 3 months. But tracking BF% and all that nonsense is just fun and motivating for me :smile:

    Oh, hey, I didn't mean to be a downer. Nothing wrong with doing the BF measurement stuff, as long as its not taken too seriously - if it works for you, keep on keeping on! :drinker:

    Haha thanks :)
  • MaggieLoo79
    MaggieLoo79 Posts: 288 Member
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    Lol why must you kill dreams? I am sure it isn't 100% accurate, only God knows my exact BF%!

    I have a mirror and a kitchen scale, they are how I've gone from (an estimated) 29.5% to 24.4% BF in the past 3 months. But tracking BF% and all that nonsense is just fun and motivating for me :smile:

    How did you do it? Weight lifting???
  • baybeejulia
    baybeejulia Posts: 218 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Lol why must you kill dreams? I am sure it isn't 100% accurate, only God knows my exact BF%!

    I have a mirror and a kitchen scale, they are how I've gone from (an estimated) 29.5% to 24.4% BF in the past 3 months. But tracking BF% and all that nonsense is just fun and motivating for me :smile:

    How did you do it? Weight lifting???

    For the first 2 and a half months (thereabouts), I did cardio 6 times a week and Body Pump 3 times a week. Body Pump is light weights, high reps.

    Almost 4 weeks ago (today is day 1 of week 4) I began Stronglifts 5x5, which is a heavy lifting program. You lift 3 days a week, and then I did cardio 4 days a week. In my first 3 weeks I lost 1.3kg and 1.1% BF. Definitely seeing amazing results with this program already and I will continue to lift heavy.
  • MaggieLoo79
    MaggieLoo79 Posts: 288 Member
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    Awesome! Thanks! :)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Regarding all that cardio while doing lifting - you should read the article in this topic which has links to the research.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/33236090#Comment_33236090

    Unless by cardio you mean walking for recovery.
    Because if doing hard cardio - you have no idea how much better your lifting sessions could be.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    hrhboo wrote: »
    Merkavar wrote: »
    I would probably go with the scale just because you have 3 months worth of data.

    But have you looked at those bf% example images. Do you look like 25% or 35%?

    I'd go with the scales too. Making comparisons to images of others with the same body fat % unfortunately doesn't work so well because it doesn't take into account the % of lean muscle mass, water, bone mass, body composition etc.

    fnosg1q6exhl.jpg

    I'll take the first one, thanks!

    ^^ @Liftng4Lis thinks she's shopping ...laughssss :heart:
  • baybeejulia
    baybeejulia Posts: 218 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    Regarding all that cardio while doing lifting - you should read the article in this topic which has links to the research.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/33236090#Comment_33236090

    Unless by cardio you mean walking for recovery.
    Because if doing hard cardio - you have no idea how much better your lifting sessions could be.

    I change it up a lot. I walk, run, hike, do the step machine, do a CX Worx class (ab class), do a Grit class (like tabata). I enjoy all these things and don't want to stop doing them. While I know hard cardio can impinge on heavy lifting, that's okay. My goal, at this point in time, is not to focus on how much I can lift or how strong I am, but to lift heavy and reap the benefits of that (the most important of which for me is to lose weight). I'll lift as heavy as I can while eating at a deficit and doing cardio.

    When I get to my desired body fat (17%), I'll then re-evaluate my approach to everything. I'm not sure at this stage if I'll want to focus only on lifting, or continue incorporating cardio.