Is 15-16% BF healthy for a female?

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ckidd311
ckidd311 Posts: 68 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
The Half Marathon is only three short weeks from this Saturday. I am getting extremely excited! I have been able to do my long runs without stopping at all, and that is a HUGE accomplishment for me! With the way my runs have been going, I should be able to run the whole Half AND still beat my PR (not hard to do when I’ve only run one other half).

As the race has been getting closer, I have been thinking about my next goal. The thought of a full marathon has crossed my mind. Part of me once to do it just once to say I did it, and to have that accomplishment. The other part of me is not sure if I want to invest the time into doing one. I know people do them all the time, but I wonder how healthy it would be for my body. I mean, I would fuel properly and everything, but… well, I just don’t know. Another goal that crossed my mind (and don’t laugh) was to do a body competition. This one had a very short journey through my mind, but it did cross it none-the-less. I know the competitors put in a LOT of hard work and dedication (and have to be very self-controlled) but I just don’t want to prance around in front of a bunch of strangers in a bikini ;)

So here is what I think I have decided on… I want to get to 15-16% body fat (BF). That’s only a loss of about 3-4% from where I am now. Genetically my extra BF goes straight to the heart-disease area (your midsection) so I think it’s important to get/keep that area under control. As you lose weight in general your body fat starts to drop, but I want this to come from muscle. My fitness journey is to be healthy though and so I have a few concerns. First, I want to make sure this is a safe and realistic goal. Second, this means I need to be more self-controlled on what and how much I eat. This is the toughest part for me but I think if I have a goal and really commit, I could do it. The third concern I have is that in the near (but not too near) future, my husband and I will want to start a family. I’ve heard there can be complications if you are at a low weight. Would getting to 15-16% BF be safe for me in the aspect of getting pregnant? I mean, I guess once the time came that we were ready for babies I could put some more weight on if needed, but again… I want this to be a completely healthy journey.

I know for anyone to accomplish a goal in their life, they really have to have their mind set on it. I feel like I am getting there. The exercise piece of it has clicked and I enjoy it. Like everyone, I still have occasional days where I just don’t want to go run or lift (my ‘I just want to be lazy days’), but I usually do it anyway because I know once I get there I will be glad I did. Side note for any reader, I do take 1-2 rest days throughout the week, so I am not over doing it. The food piece is where I know I will really struggle. I feel like I would an accountability partner would be beneficial if I do take this journey. I have people who review my food journals and give me advice. They also give me tips and ask how my exercising is going. I would want a hard-core, tough-love candidate though; someone who would check in with me often and ask all the right questions; someone who would tell me the things I’m messing up on and give me direction on how to change and why I need to change; someone who I could vent to on days I am frustrated that would be encouraging in their response. Ha, ha, maybe I should post an ad :)

If I definitely make this my goal, my plan to accomplish it is to reduce my cardio days to 2-3 days a week and then I would strength train 3-4 days a week. I would talk to a trainer before putting this in place to make sure I am on the right track, but I think that would be a good goal. The timing on this is… well, interesting I guess. On one hand it is good because the holidays are coming up and that’s when people tend to over-eat and having this goal would (hopefully) keep me in line. On the other hand it is bad because, well, because the holidays are coming up and that’s when people tend to over-eat. ;)

Does anyone have thoughts/suggestions/advice?

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    As you lose weight in general your body fat starts to drop, but I want this to come from muscle.

    Are you saying you want to lose muscle as well as fat? Or did you mean you "...don't want this to come from muscle."?

    If you want to lose muscle, eat 10-15% of calories from protein instead of higher, and don't do any strength training. If you want the weight to come from fat and not muscle eat at least 20% of your calories from protein and add in strength training with relatively heavy weights (as heavy as you can go with only being able to do 6-12 reps).

    Also since you are already relatively lean I would suggest setting your weekly weight loss goal to lose no more than 0.5 lbs/week, and to make sure you eat back your exercise calories to avoid having a large caloric deficit.

    A large deficit will lead to a loss of muscle, while losing weight, so if that is your goal you may want to set your weight loss goal more aggressively.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I think it's healthy as long as you are eating right, a healthy weight and are having no health concern from that. The lowest I have been was 16.3% (scales, so maybe not 100% accurate) I had a BMI of around 19.5 and still a little way to go from losing the weight on my stomach - I too carry fat around my middle!

    As far as having a baby goes, I'm not sure on the fat you need, it might be a little on the low side for that so you may need to increase fat around the time you want to conceive if you're having problems. I would speak to your doctor on that if you're worried as not many people on here are going to know accurate facts. You would still be healthy staying around what you are now, not sure on exact amounts but a healthy fat% is around 20-28% for a woman I think, lower is lean but not necessarily unhealthy
  • ckidd311
    ckidd311 Posts: 68 Member
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    Yikes, sorry if that was confusing. I do not want to lose any muscle. I want to lose fat and tone up / gain muscle. I think this will result in me gaining weight, but the weight will be from muscle.
  • Seginns
    Seginns Posts: 39
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    From what I've learned before and from what I read here http://ask.yahoo.com/20020327.html , you really don't need to lose any more fat. If you are doing a lot of running, dropping unintentionally to 15-16% wouldn't be unrealistic, but I don't think you NEED to do it. Also, it's harder for women with lower body fat to get pregnant. Dropping too low can cause disruptions to your hormones and hamper ovulation.

    Keep up the good work and good luck on the Half Marathon.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/body-fat-chart.php

    It woudl be considered athletic if you did. It does work more towards the low end of the scale. It will definitely be a hard balance between building muscle to cut up vs being able to run a marathon. Keep in mind that when you build muslce, you will gain some weight. That would be extra weight you need to carry when you run a marathon which can put more stress on joints.
  • stevierayvaughn
    stevierayvaughn Posts: 3
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    I'm a physician, and I can tell you that as long as your menstrual cycle doesn't change (and by change, I mean becomes less regular or less frequent) with your fat loss, you won't have any fertility issues related to your training. If your cycle is affected, putting a bit of weight back on will correct that. To my knowledge, there are many, many female fitness and bikini competitors out there, and they all seem to have kids at the same rate as "regular people".

    As far as your marathon goal, I ran one the year before my older daughter was born (I figured it was then or never), just to have the experience. I'm glad I did, but I would never do it again, as it left me feeling fatigued and burned out mentally.
  • artsyathlete
    artsyathlete Posts: 13
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    A marathon doesn't have to take that much time, if you want to do one its a great way to focus your training. The F.I.R.S.T. training program is really good because it has you running only three days a week and people tend to get great timess with that. the workouts are intense but it sounds like you are looking for that.

    You can get a low bodyfat percentage while doing lots of cardio. When I was training for Ironman I went as low as 13%, still menstruated, and felt good other than being mentally tired of devoting that much time to training. I did TRX (bodyweight strength training) throughout it because I teach, so I did have some strength in there as well. I haven't done a calipers BF test in a while but on a scale it last measured at 22%. I feel healthy and am only about 4 lbs heavier. I look about the same as when it was low. Mentally I'm happier with the moderation. I still run 2-3 marathons per year, do olympic distance and half-iron tris in the summer and I teach 6 classes per week in cycling, trx or core-conditioning. I guess my point is, is that for me its not worth the extreem mind set that it takes to maintain a really low BF % (at least for a cardio addict like myself :) ).
  • Rosalie20
    Rosalie20 Posts: 10
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    Yeah that would put you in the "athletic" category for body fat percentage. You just don't want to get under 10% body fat because that's your essential fat (we need more fat than men). Good luck on your half marathon!!

    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%+

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