Sunday, April 7, 2013

How Can You Set an Ideal Weight Loss Goal Scientifically?

How to set the Ideal weight loss goals based on Body Fat Percentage Rather than BMI?

What is Body Fat Percentage ?

The body fat percentage is the total weight of fat divided by total weight; body fat includes essential body fat and storage body fat. Essential body fat  means the minimal amount of fat required for survival - Anything less than this amount would mostly likely result in organ failure, but even approaching this amount of body fat is dangerous.. The percentage of essential body fat for women is greater than that for men, due to the demands of childbearing and other hormonal functions. The percentage of essential fat is 3–5% in men, and 10-16% in women
Why Should you avoid relying Only on BMI?
The Majority of people when they start their weight loss journey tend to focus  on a  weight Goal,they concentrate on getting to this goal and don't figure out that the body composition is much more important!
Your body fat percentage is a better and much more reliable indicator of your health.  There are different recommendations for body fat percentage levels, the following is coming from The American Council on Exercise.


To illustrate why Body Fat Percentage is more reliable than BMI (Body Mass Index) let's consider the Following Two Examples:
-Example 1- a Fat Skinny Woman: Emma
Let Say Emma weighs 155 Pounds and 5.5 feet tall.   Her BMI of 24.4 tells us that Emma is in a normal weight range.  However her percentage of Body fat  is 33%.  This shows That Emma is actually at the risk Zone.  She Has too much fat compared with lean mass on Her body and so She is actually at risk even though BMI tells us  she is in a normal weight  range!!

-Example 2 : in this case we will take John, a Bodybuilder that weighs 253,5 Pounds and 6,33 Feet tall,Of course this weight is muscle. John's BMI would tell us that he is obese!! and yet when he does his body fat percentage testing he has a percentage of 8%.  This actually means That John is in the athlete class and not at all obese!

The Question Now is How to Determine your ideal weight loss Goal based on Body Fat Percentage?

lets consider an illustrative example:
Sarah  is a 19-year old  marathon runner who’s training for the olympic games. She believes she could improve her performance if she drop down some pounds. Sarah  is 5 feet and 4 inches tall and now weighs 135 pounds. Her present estimated body fat is 23 percent. Her body fat goal is 15 percent.

Here’s how she would calculate her optimal weight:

135 (current weight) x 23 percent (current % body fat) = 31 pounds of fat
135 (current weight) - 31 (weight that’s fat) = 104 pounds of lean
FFM (fat-free mass) goal = 85 percent (difference between body fat goal and total body)
104 (current pounds of FFM) ÷ 85 percent = 122 (Emily’s Ideal Goal weight)
Sandra's weight-loss Ideal goal is to reach 122 pounds and reduce her percent body fat from 23 percent to 15 percent.
Here is the Scientific Formula to calculate goal weight based on percentage of body fat

Goal Weight = (Lean Body Mass)/(1-% Body Fat Goal)
Lean Body Mass = (Body Weight)-(Body Weight x % Body Fat)

The key is to remember when setting realistic weight loss goals to focuse on body fat percentage rather than total mass,it's much better and healthier indicator, The other reason is that muscle weighs more than fat and of course when you build more musle bulk you will notice a gain on the scales which is actually not bad at all because it simply means your body fat percentage has dropped and you are healthier and  sexier!
Summer is just around the corner,Folks Let's Drop Some Pounds Fast ;)

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