How much does fat weigh?

[Riprorin]

Originally posted by: Riprorin

Originally posted by: Tyler
you must be pretty short if you're 165lbs and want to lose weight.

I'm 5'9" 1/2.

Actually 5'8". I just measured myself. I think I'm settling.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: Fausto1
[Very reasonable. You're talking about roughly a pound a week if we consider the end of August to be the end of summer. That's an average caloric deficit of only around 500 kcal per day. Skip a soda (or other snack) and get a little exercise in every day and you should be good to go.

How are you going to tell him how reasonable his question is if you don't know his genetics? You are assuming that he has at least a normal level of testosterone which often isn't the case.

If someone has low T level, and they want to be 10% bodyfat, they're going to be skin and bone and not much muscle. There's more to losing weight/gaining muscle than nutrition, and it lies mostly in genetics. Notice how most males have a hard time losing weight from their mid section while most women have a hard time losing fat from their legs? It's how our bodies are programmed.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Marshallj

Originally posted by: Fausto1
[Very reasonable. You're talking about roughly a pound a week if we consider the end of August to be the end of summer. That's an average caloric deficit of only around 500 kcal per day. Skip a soda (or other snack) and get a little exercise in every day and you should be good to go.

How are you going to tell him how reasonable his question is if you don't know his genetics? You are assuming that he has at least a normal level of testosterone which often isn't the case.

If someone has low T level, and they want to be 10% bodyfat, they're going to be skin and bone and not much muscle. There's more to losing weight/gaining muscle than nutrition, and it lies mostly in genetics. Notice how most males have a hard time losing weight from their mid section while most women have a hard time losing fat from their legs? It's how our bodies are programmed.

Obviously, his testosterone level is going to be a tad lower since he's in his 40's (IIRC) but losing 13 lbs over the course of an entire summer is very reasonable any way you cut it IMO. Especially considering he's starting at almost 23% body fat. It would be another story if he were already at 15% or lower and trying to drop that much weight. Less than a pound per week should be pretty easy.

He only wants to get down to 15%, BTW. Not 10%.

 

[Riprorin]

Originally posted by: Marshallj

Originally posted by: Fausto1
[Very reasonable. You're talking about roughly a pound a week if we consider the end of August to be the end of summer. That's an average caloric deficit of only around 500 kcal per day. Skip a soda (or other snack) and get a little exercise in every day and you should be good to go.

How are you going to tell him how reasonable his question is if you don't know his genetics? You are assuming that he has at least a normal level of testosterone which often isn't the case.

If someone has low T level, and they want to be 10% bodyfat, they're going to be skin and bone and not much muscle. There's more to losing weight/gaining muscle than nutrition, and it lies mostly in genetics. Notice how most males have a hard time losing weight from their mid section while most women have a hard time losing fat from their legs? It's how our bodies are programmed.

I tend to lose weight/gain muscle quickly so I assume I have at least an average testosterone level.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: conjur

Well, yeah, but by toning up the muscles will grow and muscle weighs more than the same volume in fat. Over time, overall body fat will drop while weight won't necessarily drop and will most likely go up a bit.

But you are completely forgetting about the all-important factor in this equation- testosterone. It is what limits how much lean muscle mass your body is capable of holding.

Some people erroneously believe that you can just eat right and you can have as much muscle and as little fat as you want. This is incorrect. You'll hit a limit pretty quickly. Notice how women are not as muscular as men? It is because they do not have the hormones to do it. And when you DO see a woman who is huge like that bodybuilder pic someone posted a while back, you know she's taking steroids, which is boosting her testosterone level and giving her more male hormones. Also notice how manly her face has become? Male hormones will do that to a woman.

 

[dfi]

Assuming you only lose fat (which is unlikely but ok):

Fn = lbs of fat now
BWn = lbs of total bodyweight now
Fl = lbs of fat lost
BFn = body fat % now in decimal form
BFl = body fat % after fat loss in decimal form

BFn = Fn / BWn
BFl = (Fn - Fl) / (BWn - Fl)

You want BFn - BFl = 0.07, and via substitution:

Fn / BWn - [ (Fn - Fl) / (BWn - Fl) ] = 0.07
So now you just plug in Fn (0.2275 x 165) and BWn (165) and find Fl. Solving for Fl yields 13.7092, which means you need to lose 13.7092 lbs of fat ONLY if you want to lose 7% body fat.

If you want to take into account muscle loss, then you will need to modify the BFl formula and a new variable Ml.

Ml = lbs Muscle lost
BFl* = (Fn - Fl) / (BWn - Fl -Ml)

And then you once again you have BFn - BFl* = 0.07. However, you will either need to know the muscle loss, or at least estimate it, in order to find the pounds of fat to lose.

Oh, and since Ml is probably a percentage of Fl, so that will make the formula a bit easier.

Ya, I'm pretty bored.

dfi

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Obviously, his testosterone level is going to be a tad lower since he's in his 40's (IIRC) but losing 13 lbs over the course of an entire summer is very reasonable any way you cut it IMO. Especially considering he's starting at almost 23% body fat. It would be another story if he were already at 15% or lower and trying to drop that much weight. Less than a pound per week should be pretty easy.

He only wants to get down to 15%, BTW. Not 10%.

Yeah, I guess 15% isn't too unrealistic. I didn't know his age or his body fat level. I hear "5'9 1/2 and 165 lbs" and pictured a relative fit kid who wanted to get ripped.

 

[Marshallj]

I, on the other hand, cannot seem to gain any more muscle no matter how hard I try. I'm about 175 now and in pretty good shape, but I'd like to get bigger without gaining too much fat. But it's just not happening. When I weighed more, I had a lot more muscle, but a lot more fat, too. I'm able to gain muscle, and I'm able to lose fat, but I'm not able to do both and get ripped. Even when I was 130 lbs at 5'9 or 5'10 and I worked out all the time playing football in HS, I was not able to get cut or gain muscle- there was always a layer of fat under my skin that simply won't go away. If I tried to lose it, I lost muscle weight instead, and at 130 lbs there wasn't much muscle there to begin with.

 

[Saltin]

A pound of Fat weighs roughly a pound. Give or take a pound or two.

 

[Toasthead]

what weighs more? I pound of nails or a pound of feathers?

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: Toasthead
what weighs more? I pound of nails or a pound of feathers?

which hurts more when dropped on your head?