Body Fat Percentage Loss range

raptorjesus29

Green Belt
@Green
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
1,273
Reaction score
0
So I have been losing body fat at about 0.4% a week. I am just curious if there is like a range for decent percentage lost a week or something.
 
No, most professionals go by pounds. The standard is 1-3 per week, but the higher the body fat percentage, the more you can get away with without sacrificing lean body mass.
 
No, most professionals go by pounds. The standard is 1-3 per week, but the higher the body fat percentage, the more you can get away with without sacrificing lean body mass.

Professionals go by pounds according to who? The biggest loser?

Body composition is more accurately gauged by BF% than pounds. .4% is respectable progress but as the poster above stated, your progress really slows as you approach lower BF %s. Where are you now?

Also, I say pounds is a poor indicator because we fluctuate a fair amount thru the day, hydration and/or water retention, etc.
 
Professionals go by pounds according to who? The biggest loser?

Body composition is more accurately gauged by BF% than pounds. .4% is respectable progress but as the poster above stated, your progress really slows as you approach lower BF %s. Where are you now?

Also, I say pounds is a poor indicator because we fluctuate a fair amount thru the day, hydration and/or water retention, etc.

I think you misunderstood the OP. he's asking for a range of how much fat loss is suitable in a given amount of time. My response was that most experts agree that 1-3 pounds of body fat is appropriate without sacrificing lean body mass.

Of course you would track body fat percentage, but 1-3 pounds of body fat is a different percentage for each person. Do you understand now?
 
This is why we weigh weekly at the same time each week then look at the month total in comparison to the starting point. Body composition for the average individual is only important at beginning, middle and end really (unless they are generally curious).

And yes, lbs or kgs is a better route for standard as %'s vary according to each individual. For me to lose 0.5% per week would be difficult to maintain muscle mass without properly designing the cut; for someone overweight this can be done weekly without problems or much sacrifice.
 
No, most professionals go by pounds. The standard is 1-3 per week, but the higher the body fat percentage, the more you can get away with without sacrificing lean body mass.

Body composition is more accurately gauged by BF% than pounds. .4% is respectable progress but as the poster above stated, your progress really slows as you approach lower BF %s. Where are you now?

I think you misunderstood the OP. he's asking for a range of how much fat loss is suitable in a given amount of time. My response was that most experts agree that 1-3 pounds of body fat is appropriate without sacrificing lean body mass.

Of course you would track body fat percentage, but 1-3 pounds of body fat is a different percentage for each person. Do you understand now?

I am mostly interested in body fat percentage because I am in between two weightclasses, so I want to be lean and see where I am at to determine the class I should compete in.

Right now I am sitting at 5'5, 160lbs, 23.22% body fat according to an electrical impedence via higi. The weird thing is that my scale weight has remained pretty consistent the past three weeks but my body fat percentage has dropped during this time, though I don't know the error of the machine. With my body weight that comes out to 0.64lbs of fat loss a week. 1lb of fat loss would be a 0.625% loss. It kind of seems like I am underachieving now that I look at it, but on the plus side my lifts have so far been unaffected.
 
This is why we weigh weekly at the same time each week then look at the month total in comparison to the starting point. Body composition for the average individual is only important at beginning, middle and end really (unless they are generally curious).

And yes, lbs or kgs is a better route for standard as %'s vary according to each individual. For me to lose 0.5% per week would be difficult to maintain muscle mass without properly designing the cut; for someone overweight this can be done weekly without problems or much sacrifice.

I have been measuring at the same day, same time, same eating and hydration conditions each week. I think I am definitely fat enough to fall into the second group.

How are you measuring your bf%?

Higi station which uses electrical impedence, as it is the only means available to me. I am uncertain how accurate the absolute number is, but I am more interested in change anyway. Though I don't know the error of the machine.
 
I am mostly interested in body fat percentage because I am in between two weightclasses, so I want to be lean and see where I am at to determine the class I should compete in.

Right now I am sitting at 5'5, 160lbs, 23.22% body fat according to an electrical impedence via higi. The weird thing is that my scale weight has remained pretty consistent the past three weeks but my body fat percentage has dropped during this time, though I don't know the error of the machine. With my body weight that comes out to 0.64lbs of fat loss a week. 1lb of fat loss would be a 0.625% loss. It kind of seems like I am underachieving now that I look at it, but on the plus side my lifts have so far been unaffected.

Right, but the percentage will change weekly. So, here's what you do;

- find your body fat percentage.
- based on your weight, find out how many pounds of body fat you have. Right now, it's about 37 pounds.
- So then, your goal for next week is to get it down between 36-34 pounds about (22.5%-21.25%).
- Repeat for the following week until you've reached your goal.
 
I have been measuring at the same day, same time, same eating and hydration conditions each week. I think I am definitely fat enough to fall into the second group.



Higi station which uses electrical impedence, as it is the only means available to me. I am uncertain how accurate the absolute number is, but I am more interested in change anyway. Though I don't know the error of the machine.

Accuracy doesn't matter as much as consistency does. If it's off and adds 1.4% it's no biggie as long as it's always off and adds 1.4%
 
Right, but the percentage will change weekly. So, here's what you do;

- find your body fat percentage.
- based on your weight, find out how many pounds of body fat you have. Right now, it's about 37 pounds.
- So then, your goal for next week is to get it down between 36-34 pounds about (22.5%-21.25%).
- Repeat for the following week until you've reached your goal.

Ok. This seems simple enough, to track the lbs of fat rather than the percentage. I am just pissed I let my fat get this high, it's going to take a long time to get to a reasonable level again.

Accuracy doesn't matter as much as consistency does. If it's off and adds 1.4% it's no biggie as long as it's always off and adds 1.4%

Very true. Thanks for your help man.
 
Ok. This seems simple enough, to track the lbs of fat rather than the percentage. I am just pissed I let my fat get this high, it's going to take a long time to get to a reasonable level again.



Very true. Thanks for your help man.

Hey man no problem. Glad I could help. I'm sure there were other lurkers that had similar questions.
 
Keep in mind as your weight goes down, the percentage changes too relative to your weight. Let's say you weigh 200 and are 20% bf. So 40 lbs of fat. If you lose 10 lbs of pure fat you have 30 lbs left at 190 so 15.8%.

Another 10 lbs would be 20 of 180 or 11.1%

so the first time 10 lbs was a change of 4.2%, whereas the second time was a change of 4.7%.

If you lost 10 more (and of course I'm simplifying and saying pure fat), it would be 10 lbs out of 170 or 5.9% BF. A change of 5.2%

Even more importantly, the *relative* change get's bigger and bigger. First you are losing 1/4 of your fat, then 1/3, then 1/2.

The point is that it get's harder and harder as you go down to lower your bf %. Going from 25 to 20% BF is easier than 15 to 10, even though both are 5% changes.

Of course, you have to also remember that when you are losing all this weight you will lose some lean mass as well as water mass so not everything you lose is going to be fat.
 
Last edited:
Professionals go by pounds according to who? The biggest loser?

Body composition is more accurately gauged by BF% than pounds. .4% is respectable progress but as the poster above stated, your progress really slows as you approach lower BF %s. Where are you now?

Also, I say pounds is a poor indicator because we fluctuate a fair amount thru the day, hydration and/or water retention, etc.

That's all very cute, but since there are no reliable methods of measuring exact bodyfat percentage, I think you will be better off sticking to the scale and mirror.
 
Hey guys, I just wanted to post an update. So I focused on the actual scale weight this past week and made sure it went down. Today, the higi station said I lost 2.5lbs, of which 2 were apparently fat, which is a good sign that I am retaining muscle. The body fat percentage happened to drop 1.29%, which is much faster than before, but it did so because I focused on scale weight so I am definitely making this my indicator. Thanks for all the help.
 
That's all very cute, but since there are no reliable methods of measuring exact bodyfat percentage, I think you will be better off sticking to the scale and mirror.

Yeah mirror ans scale is a good way as for percents I guess you need some exact equipment ...
 
Back
Top