Question about my body fat percentage versus lean mass....a little complicated?!
Question: Question about my body fat percentage versus lean mass....a little complicated?
Okay I am female, 5'5 and weigh 180 pounds. I very carefully measured my body fat percentage and it is 30%. So that means that I have 126 pounds of lean mass (muscle, bones, organs, etc.) and I want to have 20% body fat, the lower end of ideal for women. But that would make me 151 pounds! I don't want to weigh that much. But I was thinking that since I weigh as much as I do (and I used to weigh 255) that I needed that extra muscle mass to hold up the weight. So would it hurt me if I lost 16 pounds of muscle by focusing solely on cardio and little or no toning? I figured that with 110 lbs of lean mass, 20% body fat means I would weigh 132, which is more acceptable to me. Oh, and by all measurements I have a large frame too.
Answers:
It doesn't matter what you weigh, just focus on improving body composition. Anyway you will not lose 100% pure body fat, there will be loss of lean tissue too. So don't TRY to lose muscle, you want to maintain it as best as possible through regular weight training and ensuring adequate protein intake. Hope this helps.