stopped loosing weight don't know why

ellejay

Hi

I've posted previously looking for help http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055921787

I've managed to get down to about ten stone.
For last four weeks I fluctuate between 9 stone 12 pounds and 10 stone 2 pounds.

I can't seem to get below 9 stone 12 pounds.

My diet is basically the same as in previous post.
But I've changed from lowfat milk in porridge to normal milk and addded in a grapefruit in the mornings
I've also added in scrambled eggs, ryvita and tea after spinning.
(BTW i eat this about 8 o clock and bed about 10 oclock)
I try to snack on a yougurt and banana about three every day.

Last night I increased my walking distance to 5.5 miles and walked that in an hour and a half. I intend to do this three times a week.

I'm definitely going wrong somewhere but don't know where.

I've worked out my maintenance calories needs are 2270 a day, by following G'EM's instructions here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055963342&page=2

I've been keeping a spreadsheet on what I'm eating, and I'm eating about 900-1200 calories a day.

Surely, I should be loosing weight?
I would be happy to loose between pound and half and two pounds a week, but I've stalled.

Should I go and see a nutritionist or who would I see?

Many thanks for any help.

TommyKnocker

Hi

No expert here but IMHO you have created too big a calorie deficit over the last while and your metabolism has slowed down to compensate for this.

Taking your stats from you last post (followed link) and your current weight

• Female
• 32 yrs old
• 9st 12lbs

I guesstimate a BMR of 1,401 calories a day. This is the number of calories your body would burn just to keep you alive, even if you just lay in bed all day. I use a multiplier of 1.45 which is in between light and moderate exercise 3-5 days a week, to come up with a figure of 2,031 for your maintenance calorie figure.

So to keep at the same weight you should eat around 2,031 calories daily while maintaining your current exercise routine.

Now as I said, I am no expert, but everything I have read regarding dropping body fat/weight has stated that you should never eat below your BMR figure, and especially over a prolonged period. When you do your body adapts to the low calorie intake by slowing down your metabolism and storing excess calories as body fat.

You appear to be eating way below your BMR figure for a while now, so you are actually working against yourself.

Going on your stats at the time of your initial post, your BMR was 1,541 and again using the 1.45 multiplier your maintenance figure was 2,231. So IMHO you should have dropped your calories down to around 1,700. This should have given you around a 1lb per week weight loss. Maybe not spectactular, but helathy and sustainable.

So IMO, and I know this will sound counter intuitive, but I think that you need to slowly increase your daily calorie intake up to around 1,500-1,600 over two or three weeks. This will still be a 400-500 calorie deficit on your maintenance figure, and you could even go to maintenance for a couple of weeks, just to get your metabolism back to where it should be, then drop by about 500 to around 1,500 calories.

Again don't suddenly jump up to maintenance as this will lead to weight gain. You may even gain a little weight going slowly. But once you have your metabolism back on track you should be able to lose any weight gained and hopefully continue to move towards your target.

Final point. If you can you should see if you can get your body fat measured and then track that instead of your "weight", as it is extremely possible that you can get to your target "dress size" but weigh a little heavier than you think you should. Muscle being denser than fat and all that


M

ellejay

Thanks very much for your reply.

Would you have any suggestions/sample's on what I could eat and how to increase?

My problem on Tuesday's and Thursdays are that if I eat too much I feel sick when spinning. I try not to eat anything after half two or three, my spinning is at six.
As I type, I wonder should I have porridge as my lunch on those days as slow releasing? But then how would I get fruit/veg/protein carbs etc into diet as by the time I'm showered and home it's about 8.20.
Or maybe I should eat my "dinner" at lunchtime, eg meat veg and potatoe?

Regards,
Lj.

TommyKnocker

Can you post up a typical days food and liquid intake on a day where you go spinning please and maybe folks will have some suggestions.


M

ellejay

Tuesday's and Thursday's

7.10am: glass of water, leave house for work.

7.50am: arrive in work, grapefruit half teaspoon of sugar, tea, low fat milk.
9.00am: 40g porridge and normal milk(fullfat?) and half teaspoon sugar.

1.30 or 2.00pm: Salad; iceberg and butterhead lettuce, 1 med size tomatoe, slice of yellow pepper, 6 slices of cucumber peeled, broccoli raw, balsamic vinegar. tuna(in brine teaspoon of low fat mayo)/smoked salmon/chiken breast.
Sometimes two ryvita's with one laughing cow low fat cheese spread triangle.
Cup of tea.

6.00- 7.00pm: 500ml water (during spinning class)

8.20 pm: two scrambled eggs, Cup of Tea, sometimes two.

10.00 pm: bed!

Throughout the day I sip on water and drink between two and two and half litre's a day.

Sidenote: today I'm trying beans and baked potatoe for lunch, first change in months, what do you think of that choice?

Thanks for taking time to read and comment.
Lj.

Blatter

ellejay wrote: »

Tuesday's and Thursday's

7.10am: glass of water, leave house for work.

7.50am: arrive in work, grapefruit half teaspoon of sugar, tea, low fat milk.
9.00am: 40g porridge and normal milk(fullfat?) and half teaspoon sugar.

1.30 or 2.00pm: Salad; iceberg and butterhead lettuce, 1 med size tomatoe, slice of yellow pepper, 6 slices of cucumber peeled, broccoli raw, balsamic vinegar. tuna(in brine teaspoon of low fat mayo)/smoked salmon/chiken breast.
Sometimes two ryvita's with one laughing cow low fat cheese spread triangle.
Cup of tea.


6.00- 7.00pm: 500ml water (during spinning class)

8.20 pm: two scrambled eggs, Cup of Tea, sometimes two.

10.00 pm: bed!

Throughout the day I sip on water and drink between two and two and half litre's a day.

Sidenote: today I'm trying beans and baked potatoe for lunch, first change in months, what do you think of that choice?

Thanks for taking time to read and comment.
Lj.

The first issue I see with your diet is that there are not enough protein or fats in your diet. The second big issue is that your skipping breakfast, can you not make porridge at home when you get up? By not eating a substantial breakfast, it really damages your metabolism. I'm guessing you get up at 6.30 for shower, then head to work? Try get up at at 6.10-6.15 and get your porridge in then. Also, maybe add some nuts and seeds to your porridge to increase the fat/protein content of it. Add a teaspoon of honey if you need a sweetner, ditch the refined sugar. Maybe you could even add a boiled egg to your breakfast. Lunch is fine, but you should ditch the laughing cow spread and replace it with cottage cheese. Also, try and get your 2000ml of water per day. Maybe add a third egg to your scrambled eggs, this will again, increase yor protein/fat intake.

Wonkagirl

Yeah, the fact that you wait >2 hours after getting up to have breakfast is definitely not helping..

also, i WAS you about a yr ago.. exactly the same- couldnt get/stay below 9'12 (33 yo, 5'7). Then i started doing weights in the gym (up til then had been walking/running/spinning the legs off myself for yrs on end)- all of a sudden i weighed myself one day and i was 9'4.. now i hovver around the 9 stone mark all the time, say between 8'12 and 9'2. Weights build lean muscle which in turn burns fat ALL the time.. cardio only burns fat for the duration of the exercise. Dont give up the spinning though- but definitely take UP weights..

rocky

Not this again, skipping breakfast will damage your metabolism?. No it won't, eating 900-1200 calories a day for prolonged periods of time will slow it down, skipping one meal (or 2) won't do anything in this department, as long as your daily calories are appropriate. Read some more on Intermittent Fasting, and the Warrior Diet. How do these people manage to get better results eating the same calories, if a slow metabolism was one of the side effects?

Eating at 6 in the morning? Because it's healthy? yeah, forcing food down your throat when barely awake sounds very healthy.

OP, if you feel ok eating breakfast, by all means do it, but do not believe for a second that's healthier than adding more food when you're actually hungry !

xgtdec

rocky wrote: »

Not this again, skipping breakfast will damage your metabolism?.

Is it possible that damage is the wrong term to use??, is it not better to have breakfast as soon as possible to get your metabolism going as early as you can, i have breakfast every morning at 6ish...hungry or not...should i stop?

TommyKnocker

xgtdec wrote: »

Is it possible that damage is the wrong term to use??, is it not better to have breakfast as soon as possible to get your metabolism going as early as you can, i have breakfast every morning at 6ish...hungry or not...should i stop?

IMHO it's not that you should stop. But it is more what ever suits you.

There have been studies conducted (I believe Will Heffernan was the most recent to post about them) where 1 group of folks were fed a calorie deficit on a 6 meal a day schedule while another group were fed a calorie deficit on the more traditional 3 squares a day.

At the end of the study there was no big difference between the groups in the amount of weight lost. Showing that it was not about 3 meals or 6 meals, but that the participents ran a deficit.

Other folks do well on the intermittent fasting track, where the majority of calories are consumed either side of the days workout.

There is no one size fits all. We are adaptable. As long as we eat decent quality foods and sufficient calories for our goals, we will IMO achieve success, no matter how meals we use to ingest said calories.


M

Blatter

rocky wrote: »

Not this again, skipping breakfast will damage your metabolism?. No it won't, eating 900-1200 calories a day for prolonged periods of time will slow it down, skipping one meal (or 2) won't do anything in this department, as long as your daily calories are appropriate. Read some more on Intermittent Fasting, and the Warrior Diet. How do these people manage to get better results eating the same calories, if a slow metabolism was one of the side effects?

Eating at 6 in the morning? Because it's healthy? yeah, forcing food down your throat when barely awake sounds very healthy.

OP, if you feel ok eating breakfast, by all means do it, but do not believe for a second that's healthier than adding more food when you're actually hungry !

Very intersesting rocky, I've done abit of research on this and what you say is true, breakfast does not damage your metabolism. I withraw my statement.:) However, some people, including myself get hunger pangs later in the day and end up overeating, and binging on crap if a breakfast is not taken. Personally, I also find that my concentration levels deteriorate without breakfast. I accept this may not be true for everyone and indeed the OP, but it is for alot of people. Btw, rocky out of interest, how many meals do you eat a day, what time do you eat your first meal, and what time do you get up in the mornings at?

cheers.

TommyKnocker

I would be in the multiple smaller meals throughout the day group. Here is a typical days calorie consumption for me

05:30 Breakfast
20g Jumbo oats, 3 almond nuts, 3 hazel nuts, 3 walnut halves, 3 brazil nuts, dessert spn of mixed seeds, 5 grapes, 8 raspberries, 6 blackberries, 3 strawberreis, dessert spn of blueberries with 200ml of no fat milk.

200ml Cranberry juice & 1 mug of green tea

1 Multi-vit, 4 Fish oil capsules, 1 Advanced C-Jointin & 1 Megga Cissus (For joint health)

08:30 ish at desk in work
Whey shake with 1.25 scoops of Whey, 1 tea spoon of Creatine, 1 tea spoon of L-Glutamine and 250ml no fat milk.

2 oat cakes each with a heaped tea spoon of peanut butter

11:00ish snack

1 apple, 1 Kiwi & 25g mixed nuts

1 mug of green tea

12:45 Lunch
400g of homemade ratatouille, 125g chicken breast, 125g fillet beef

1 dessert spoon of Peanut Butter

1 mug of green tea

16:00 afternoon snack
Whey protein shake with 1.25 scoops of whey and 400ml milk

1 200g homemade cottage cheese and mixed berry mousse

18:00 - 20:00 Gym
Strong Lifts 5x5 workout

20:10 Post workout shake
2 scoops of whey protein, 1 tea spoon of Creatine, 1 tea spoon of L-Glutamine, 1 scoop of Glucose

21:30 Dinner
350g mixed frozen veg (sprouts, brocolli & green beans), 175g turkey steak

4 fish oil capsules & 2 Megga Cissus

1 mug of green tea

I will also have gone through about 3-4 liters of water throughout the day and in the gym


M

Wonkagirl

Oh to be a man/lifter and be able to eat like that all day!

great diet B-builder:) Absolutely no bad carbs there whatsoever, very clean

rocky

My take on the whole brekkie yes/no: It's a mental thing, if you got used to eating breakfast, your mind/body expects it. I was like this, and I was looking forward to my scone and jam at 10 am in the work canteen. Of course, starting with this sugary meal began my 'eat every 2 hours or my muskle will start eating eatself oh noes !!!' panic. And the hunger sensation at 1pm is stronger than when I don't have breakfast.

Once I got past this habit, I don't feel the need to have breakfast, I'm not hungry until 12:30-1 pm when I have my first meal. Before this I may have a cup of coffee. I get up at 8am, have a sandwich at 1pm, 1 meal at 6pm, and 1 meal at 9-10pm. Basically, whenever I'm hungry, I eat. If one morning I'm ravenous, I don't postpone my meals until 1pm, I eat.

But people may eat breakfast even if they are not hungry because of all the slogans that get bandied about about the most important meal of the day, and slowed metabolism. I get it that this is the way things are done by a majority of people, but does not mean doing otherwise is inherently unhealthy. I'm only trying to get people to realize there are options, and flexibility may be a key to keep them on track, consistancy and patience being much more important than the little things like having or skipping breakfast.

So to summarize, advantages I get from starting eating later in the day:

- improved mental concentration in work

- daily calories alocated over fewer meals -> bigger, more satiating meals; I can even fit 50-100g of tiramisu or half a pint of B&J icecream in my macros, so I don't feel the need to have a binge every once in a while

- not thinking about my next meal in 2-3 hours - major pain in the @$$

- I get to eat more before going to bed. I dunno about others, but I can't sleep on an empty stomach (and no, eating at night won't fatten you up by morning, as B-Builder nicely put it above)

- some proven small advantages on fasting for up to 16 hours a day: better nutrient partitioning, increased GH release. I don't really care about it, but hey, if it's proven, I'll take it

Blatter

B-Builder wrote: »

I would be in the multiple smaller meals throughout the day. Here is a typical days calorie consumption for me

05:30 Breakfast
20g Jumbo oats, 3 almond nuts, 3 hazel nuts, 3 walnut halves, 3 brazil nuts, dessert spn of mixed seeds, 5 grapes, 8 raspberries, 6 blackberries, 3 strawberreis, dessert spn of blueberries with 200ml of no fat milk.

200ml Cranberry juice & 1 mug of green tea

1 Multi-vit, 4 Fish oil capsules, 1 Advanced C-Jointin & 1 Megga Cissus (For joint health)

08:30 ish at desk in work
Whey shake with 1.25 scoops of Whey, 1 tea spoon of Creatine, 1 tea spoon of L-Glutamine and 250ml no fat milk.

2 oat cakes each with a heaped tea spoon of peanut butter

11:00ish snack

1 apple, 1 Kiwi & 25g mixed nuts

1 mug of green tea

12:45 Lunch
400g of homemade ratatouille, 125g chicken breast, 125g fillet beef

1 dessert spoon of Peanut Butter

1 mug of green tea

16:00 afternoon snack
Whey protein shake with 1.25 scoops of whey and 400ml milk

1 200g homemade cottage cheese and mixed berry mousse

18:00 - 20:00 Gym
Strong Lifts 5x5 workout

20:10 Post workout shake
2 scoops of whey protein, 1 tea spoon of Creatine, 1 tea spoon of L-Glutamine, 1 scoop of Glucose

21:30 Dinner
350g mixed frozen veg (sprouts, brocolli & green beans), 175g turkey steak

4 fish oil capsules & 2 Megga Cissus

1 mug of green tea

I will also have gone through about 3-4 liters of water throughout the day and in the gym


M

bb, looks like a great diet.

Just a few questions...

1. You seem to be limiting certain fats in your diet such as butter, fish, eggs, full fat milk etc. Is there a reason for this?The fats I see your getting are (mainly) only from nuts and a tablespoon of peanut butter. You obviously rely very heavily on fish oil capsules for required fat intake?

2. How effective are the fish oil capsules and would you reccomend them?Have you noticed a major difference since using them.

3. You take a multi vitiman tablet every day? Is this need with all your fruit, veg, meat and healthy carbs intake? Again, would you find any difference in your health/the way you feel if you didn't take it?

4. Where do you shop, and in particular where do you get your oat cakes, or are they homemade?

Thanks.

Blatter

rocky wrote: »

- not thinking about my next meal in 2-3 hours - major pain in the @$$

Would have to agree.. Tbh it suits me way better to eat 3 square meals a day, only have to bring one prepared meal to college and avoid wasting money on rolls and sh!t in canteen.

Thanks for the info rocky!

TommyKnocker

See below for comments

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

bb, looks like a great diet.

Just a few questions...

1. You seem to be limiting certain fats in your diet such as butter, fish, eggs, full fat milk etc. Is there a reason for this?The fats I see your getting are (mainly) only from nuts and a tablespoon of peanut butter. You obviously rely very heavily on fish oil capsules for required fat intake?

This is a typical day, but I don't eat exactly the same every day. I eat tuna, eggs, salmon a number of times per week. I don't eat bread, so I don't need butter. I just prefer low fat milk. I aslo throw a couple of table spoons of olive oil over my veg. So over the course of a week I feel that I get sufficient good fats into my diet.

2. How effective are the fish oil capsules and would you reccomend them?Have you noticed a major difference since using them.

The capsules are convenient to take. Sometimes I mix fish oil in liquid form into my shakes instead. I used to suffer with dry skin and find that since I upped my fat calories thsi has pretty much gone away.

3. You take a multi vitiman tablet every day? Is this need with all your fruit, veg, meat and healthy carbs intake? Again, would you find any difference in your health/the way you feel if you didn't take it?

The multi vit is really just an insurance thing. I would like to think that I get suficeient vitamins and minerals from my diet, but just in case...

4. Where do you shop, and in particular where do you get your oat cakes, or are they homemade?

I shop between Dunnes & Tesco. The oat cakes I am eating at the moment are the Kelkin ones which I get in Dunnes. however if these are not available, then I will get the Narin ones from Tesco.

Thanks.

M

hug0

Hi Guys,

Did it take long to adapt to this diet, eating more protein and fats with little carbs.

I love my bread (or I crave for it anyway!), also with habit of sharing meals with my partner that may be carb heavy like risotto or pasta dish.

Would love to do this diet more but find I give up after a week or so. Seems to be more convient to eat what others are eating. Also Im not a big meat eater.

Also no goodies either, would find this really difficult, think Im definitely addicted to sweets!

Again Im like the OP I would like to lose 5 pounds and cant seem to get down to it. I do weights and they are great but think its my diet!

SpookyBastard

In many ways it's a case of one step at a time. Some of the folks here have very clean diets but I'd bet most didn't just switch over one day.
Start by making small changes that you can stick with (such as swapping white bread for wholemeal, a regular carb heavy meal for more balanced one with more protein,etc). In my opinion, the reason so many folks flit from one diet to another and just cant seem to stick to any is that they try and totally change everything overnight.

If your starting point is 'Want to loose weight, exercise more andeat more Healthily' then don't worry about being totally healthy, loosing loads of weight right away or exercising like crazy. Start small and build on that.

"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time"

TommyKnocker

Hi Lj

First thing I notice about your diet (besides being too low in overall calories IMO) as has been said already is that it seems fairly low in protein and healthy fats.

If you are leaving the house at 07:10, then I am assuming that you are up around 06:00. Can I ask why you don't eat anything substantial until 09:00 and why you eat grapefruit first and then porridge later? Just curious is all.

My preferance for calorie consumption is highish protein, moderate fats & lowish carbs in a ratio of roughly around 40%-45% Protein, 30-35% fats & 20-25% carbs. And on this I am able to manage my bodyfat levels quite well.

So if you were to start with a ratio of say 40/30/30 (P/C/F), then if you went with the 1,600 daily calorie option where you are still 450 cals under your maintenance figure, the yoru macro breakdown would look somthing like this

• Protein: 160g or 640 cals
• Carbs: 120g or 480 cals
• Fats: 53g or 480 cals

And if you were to go to your maintenance calorie figure of 2,031 daily calories the the breakdown would look like this

• Protein: 208g or 812 cals
• Carbs: 152g or 609 cals
• Fats: 67g or 609 cals

Personally I try and balance my meals so that I get some protein, carbs and fats at each meal, with teh exception of post workout where I drop the fats as much as possible.

So looking at your diet below

ellejay wrote: »

Tuesday's and Thursday's

7.10am: glass of water, leave house for work.

7.50am: arrive in work, grapefruit half teaspoon of sugar, tea, low fat milk.

Mostly carbs, negligable protein or fats.

9.00am: 40g porridge and normal milk(fullfat?) and half teaspoon sugar.

Again mostly carbs with a small amount of protein and fats from the milk.

1.30 or 2.00pm: Salad; iceberg and butterhead lettuce, 1 med size tomatoe, slice of yellow pepper, 6 slices of cucumber peeled, broccoli raw, balsamic vinegar. tuna(in brine teaspoon of low fat mayo)/smoked salmon/chiken breast.

This IMO is your most balanced meal during the day

Sometimes two ryvita's with one laughing cow low fat cheese spread triangle.
Cup of tea.

Not sure whether this is in addition to the above (ok) or as an alternative (Not good. All/Mostly carbs, If you are going to eat cheese, then IMO it should be proper cheese and not that kind of processed cheese)

6.00- 7.00pm: 500ml water (during spinning class)

No problem with this

8.20 pm: two scrambled eggs, Cup of Tea, sometimes two.

Not too bad, but you could probably have a slice or two of toast here no problem.

10.00 pm: bed!

Throughout the day I sip on water and drink between two and two and half litre's a day.

Sidenote: today I'm trying beans and baked potatoe for lunch, first change in months, what do you think of that choice?

Not too bad, though if you mean baked beans, then the sauce is fairly laden with sugar, which is not so great. A home made bean casserole in a tomato, hearb and maybe a little garlic based sauce would be a healthier option and would keep for a few days in a fridge. Or even a cottage cheese, plain or with herbs would provide some protein and fats to balance it out a little.

Thanks for taking time to read and comment.
Lj.

Michael

dan_d

Hi guys, I'm not a regular poster here, but I noticed this thread.

I'm having a similar problem to the OP... hovering around 10 stone indefinitely. Doing lots of gym time lately on a prog put together by one of the guys in there for me, but there's no weight change. I'm a good bit more toned alright, but that's it.

I noticed a post here saying weights are a good way to go for this.Is this true? I'm due to review my programme with the trainer in the next couple of weeks and I might talk to him about this. My food intake is good, have gone through it with him. Also, I've noticed the last couple of times I went to the gym, when I sit to eat afterwards I really want meat!!! I've had grilled chicken and whatever.

But my weight isn't changing, and it's deeply frustrating. BTW I'm a female, 27, about 10st, 5ft6inches.

SpookyBastard

dan_d wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm not a regular poster here, but I noticed this thread.

I'm having a similar problem to the OP... hovering around 10 stone indefinitely. Doing lots of gym time lately on a prog put together by one of the guys in there for me, but there's no weight change. I'm a good bit more toned alright, but that's it.

I noticed a post here saying weights are a good way to go for this.Is this true? I'm due to review my programme with the trainer in the next couple of weeks and I might talk to him about this. My food intake is good, have gone through it with him. Also, I've noticed the last couple of times I went to the gym, when I sit to eat afterwards I really want meat!!! I've had grilled chicken and whatever.

But my weight isn't changing, and it's deeply frustrating. BTW I'm a female, 27, about 10st, 5ft6inches.

Can understand that it must be frustrating but I wouldn't worry about the 'weight' so much. It's body shape and fitness that matters. You say you've already toned up a bit so you probably look physically better than you did before? Then keep doing what your doing. If you think your body fat % is too high than you can work on that but how much you weigh is less of an issue really.

Wonkagirl

Yeah, 10st at 5'6 is a decent weight, right bang in the range that it should be in.. however, i know how you feel, i was you a yr ago, i desperately wanted to get down to 9 stone- now, i've a very small frame so it's a lot to do with body type as well.,, for me, 5.7 and 10 stone i was actually pudgy, even though to be overweight i'd need to be over 11 stone. I cant imagine how porky i'd be at 11 stone!

I would definitely get your body fat checked, this will give you a good indication of whether or not you have the weight to lose. At 10 stone my body fat was 28%, which meant i did have fat to lose. Now at 9 stone (and i'm 5'7) it's somewhere around late teens, i'm not entirely sure, as coincidence would have it i'm getting it tested in the am. It was 21 the last time i had it done and i've definitely lost fat since then.

For me, cutting out sugar, cutting down on carbs, and upping the weights (as opposed to doing cardio only) worked. That got me from 10 down to 9 over the course of about 3 months or so...

dan_d

Where can I get body fat measured?? I'm pretty sure I have it to lose however - bit of a spare tyre....

Sorry for hijacking the OP's thread, I'll go away after this!

Wonkagirl

are you joined a gym dan? any instructor can do it for you.. or most gyms have scales that test body fat.

now, the most accurate way is to get an instructor to do the 'pinch' test using a calipers on a few different sites on your body.. tricep, abs, quads, lats normally.. then they take an avg.

BUT, most gyms have scales that test it too.. some people say it's not as accurate, but it's close- iv'e tested it twice, using the scales AFTER my instructor has done the caliper test- and it's been within 0.5% both times..

Depending on your fitness level, it shoudl be somewhere around the mid teens for a guy- 14-17 or so. >25% is considered obese for a male.. athletes are 6-13%.

dan_d

Wonkagirl wrote: »

are you joined a gym dan? any instructor can do it for you.. or most gyms have scales that test body fat.

now, the most accurate way is to get an instructor to do the 'pinch' test using a calipers on a few different sites on your body.. tricep, abs, quads, lats normally.. then they take an avg.

BUT, most gyms have scales that test it too.. some people say it's not as accurate, but it's close- iv'e tested it twice, using the scales AFTER my instructor has done the caliper test- and it's been within 0.5% both times..

Depending on your fitness level, it shoudl be somewhere around the mid teens for a guy- 14-17 or so. >25% is considered obese for a male.. athletes are 6-13%.

Yes I'm a member of a gym. Great will have a look there, thanks.
I'm quite fit. And btw...I'm a girl!!!
Thanks everyone!