Reasonable rate to lose BF%?

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LaurenAOK
LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
We all know the reasonable rate to lose pounds: 1-2 pounds per week. However, I have never heard of what is a good rate to expect to lose body fat.

I'm about 24.5% body fat right now according to my BF monitor. I want to get down to around 18%. Realistically how long would this take? What's a good weekly goal?

I eat at a slight caloric deficit, I eat clean, I'm doing Insanity and lifting heavy. Thanks!

Replies

  • dewgirl321
    dewgirl321 Posts: 296 Member
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    About 1-2% per month is a good rate. It's usually recommended by trainers to test body fat monthly, rather than more frequently. I was originally losing about 2%/month, but now that I'm closer to goal it may be slowing. I'm due for my mid-program body comp test so hopefully I'll know tomorrow!

    Have you been tested by a trainer? By BF monitor, do you mean the hand-held machine? I work for a gym and our trainers don't trust them at all - we all just used one for fun and it severely overestimated all of us. One girl has done BodPod and hydrostatic weighing (the most accurate) so we KNOW it is way off. Plus they only claim to be accurate +/- 10%!

    You definitely look way less than 24.5%.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    Have you been tested by a trainer? By BF monitor, do you mean the hand-held machine? I work for a gym and our trainers don't trust them at all - we all just used one for fun and it severely overestimated all of us. One girl has done BodPod and hydrostatic weighing (the most accurate) so we KNOW it is way off. Plus they only claim to be accurate +/- 10%!

    You definitely look way less than 24.5%.

    Yeah, I actually did think I was less than that based on pictures I've seen at other people at that BF% :/ It is a handheld one but all the reviews said it was pretty accurate. Apparently it's the one that gyms (I think Planet Fitness?) use for their assessments. Unfortunately I can't afford a personal trainer or BodPod. Good to know it may be overestimating, though! I'm going to try to focus on just seeing the number go down instead of the actual number itself, I guess.
  • dewgirl321
    dewgirl321 Posts: 296 Member
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    Yeah our trainers use them in conjunction with their calipers, using an average of the two.

    I think it should be a good way to track your progress. Good idea to focus on how the number changes rather than the actual number.

    Do you have a gym membership? If you do and you haven't used the free assessment most of them provide, it might be a good way to see how the two measures compare.

    From your picture I would say you're only 18-20%.
  • FrenchMob
    FrenchMob Posts: 1,167 Member
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    If you're using the OMRON Handheld, there's a "athlete mode" you can pick on there that I find is closer to a more realistic number when you get smaller, like you are now. Give it a try in that mode and I bet it gives you closer to 20%.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    Do you have a gym membership? If you do and you haven't used the free assessment most of them provide, it might be a good way to see how the two measures compare.

    From your picture I would say you're only 18-20%.

    Unfortunately no, I don't have a gym membership. I work out at the gym in my apartment complex cuz it's free :) And yeah, I thought I was around 20%!
    If you're using the OMRON Handheld, there's a "athlete mode" you can pick on there that I find is closer to a more realistic number when you get smaller, like you are now. Give it a try in that mode and I bet it gives you closer to 20%.

    Yeah, I tried that! The number didn't change like at all. Maybe like .2 of a percent or something :/
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
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    About 1-2% per month is a good rate. It's usually recommended by trainers to test body fat monthly, rather than more frequently. I was originally losing about 2%/month, but now that I'm closer to goal it may be slowing. I'm due for my mid-program body comp test so hopefully I'll know tomorrow!

    Have you been tested by a trainer? By BF monitor, do you mean the hand-held machine? I work for a gym and our trainers don't trust them at all - we all just used one for fun and it severely overestimated all of us. One girl has done BodPod and hydrostatic weighing (the most accurate) so we KNOW it is way off. Plus they only claim to be accurate +/- 10%!

    You definitely look way less than 24.5%.
    ^^^^^^^
    THIS
  • pennyrtyler
    pennyrtyler Posts: 79 Member
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    I love that you asked this question. Losing BF% is my goal, too. The handheld device at the gym says that my BF% is just above 29%, while the scale at home that measures from my feet says that I'm closer to 26%. Like you, I'm just looking for a baseline so I can see the number going down (!) instead of staying the same or going up (!!!!). Both devices seem to be reliable to themselves and my progress is similar on both devices. But they are quite different from each other.
  • Maasmondy
    Maasmondy Posts: 54 Member
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    I did P90X and went from 35% to 22% in 90 days. I'm doing Insanity now and hoping to be in the 17-18% range by the end. I just used the Navy BodyFat Calculator as I do not have access to the other methods. I know there's a margin of error, but I used the same method to calculate both percentages.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    I love that you asked this question. Losing BF% is my goal, too. The handheld device at the gym says that my BF% is just above 29%, while the scale at home that measures from my feet says that I'm closer to 26%. Like you, I'm just looking for a baseline so I can see the number going down (!) instead of staying the same or going up (!!!!). Both devices seem to be reliable to themselves and my progress is similar on both devices. But they are quite different from each other.

    Interesting! I wonder why it tends to overestimate...

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