LaraStar's Journal, 03 November 2011

Yeah - good BF reading - I'm jealous  

Thanks Skinny, how is yours doing? I have no idea how it works, it seems to come down faster now even though I am not doing anything different. 

Mine is slow - although it is coming down.... I was thinking about the whole BF% thing - and one thing I tend to forget is, it is a percentage. As I am pretty near where I want to be weight wise, I was doing some calculations the other day. I was (it was before my latest weigh in) 171 pounds and 41.5% BF - which meant 71 pounds of fat and 100 pounds lean (bones, muscle, organs etc). If I wanted to have a BF reading of 33% (and retain my lean as it is) I would need to be 150 pounds - which would give me the 100 pounds of lean and 50 pounds of fat; if i was ok with a 36% BF - retaining my lean I could weigh 160.... Alternatively I could build my lean (not sure how I could add any extra exercise in as I am doing quite a bit as it is) I could still weigh 160 but increase my lean to 104, fat to 56 which would give me 35% BF. I think as I loose more weight, and provided I don't loose lean - (am exercising and strength training and eating protein to try and preserve it) the percentage will come down. I am sure it is a little more technical than that, but at least it gives me an idea. 

This sounds complicated. I have noticed that BF came down very slowly to start with but now it is faster even though I still lose at the same rate. I want to drop to around 25%, hopefully it will happen with the next 15 lbs. Also remember that the scales might not be accurate. I think it was you who said that they only measure your lower half. That's where pear shapes carry most of their fat. 

Good job Lara girl! What's the M? 

Muscle! It's going up slowly. Good to know that I'm losing fat and preserving muscle. 

True about the scales LaraStar... I know mine are pretty accurate, as my reading was the same at the gym. I am hoping that I am going to experience the same way - loose a little extra weight and BF comes down quicker. Well done on increasing muscle... That's pretty hard (when your my age anyway). I read that, when you have been "heavy", your muscles have to work hard to carry your body around. As you loose weight, your body thinks "I don't need so much muscle" so uses some of it for energy. So trying to stop from loosing your muscle is hard.... You have gained - good job :-) 

What cracks me up is that my skinny husband has only 9% BF less than me! But it's not ok to joke about it yet. I think he will come around eventually.