How much stored body fat have I lost during a weight loss program?
How to calculate total fat loss from actual weight loss
If you’re losing weight on any weight loss program it’s nice to know exactly how much of the total weight loss is composed of actual body fat from storage fat cells. There is a way to calculate this total fat loss easily however, you will need a device which can work out your body fat percentage. I recommend using some type of body fat analyzer or Bio-Electrical Impedance scales. Once you have the ability to measure your body fat percentage you can use the following method.
Calculating total stored fat loss from actual weight loss.
Let’s work through an example:
Here we will use an overweight male of 30 years for this example. He has a starting weight of 200 pounds. Before starting his weight loss program he uses the Body fat scales which show he has a body fat percentage of 25%. This means that before losing any weight he has 150 pounds of lean weight and 50 pounds of stored body fat (200 x 0.25 (25%) = 50).
Let’s imagine he loses 20 pounds of weight within 4 weeks. This would mean he had an average weight loss of 5 pounds per week. Now, we know that it’s virtually impossible to lose 5 pounds of pure stored body fat in a week, so some of the weight loss must comprise of lean tissue loss, but how much?
Calculate total body fat loss.
After losing 20 pounds his body weight is now 180 pounds and the body fat scales reveal he has 23% body fat. Multiply the two figures: 180 x 0.23 (23%) = 41.4 pounds of stored fat remain.
He has lost just over 8 and half pounds of body fat (50 – 41.4). This means that he must have lost about 11 and half pounds of lean body weight (20 – 8.6).
Why so much lean weight loss?
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This amount of lean weight loss must be expected if weight lost is more than the recommended 2 pounds per week. However, in this example, the fact that he has a lower fat percentage is a GOOD SIGN. If he was still 25% then he would really NOT have progressed much, in fact, he would be just as fat as before, but just a slightly smaller person.
IMPORTANT POINT – it’s the body fat percentage you should be aiming to reduce from your weight loss more than anything else!!
Slower weight loss is always more desirable
The recommendation of losing about 2 pounds per week is set for a reason. The reason is because there will be more chance that the majority of weight loss will come from body fat stores rather than lean weight loss, thus, there is a greater chance it will become permanent weight loss.
It’s a fact that the faster you lose body weight, the more our body catabolizes (muscles break down). It’s actually possible for some people to lose up to 90% of their weight loss as lean tissue loss. This is BAD NEWS and can be seen in those who lose weight very quickly such as 10 pounds in 10 -15 days!
It’s so important to lose body fat more than just weight. Holding on to as much lean weight as possible will benefit hugely during the future months as the metabolism will remain sufficiently high enough for you to continue burning excess fat without the need to drop calorie intake down to a severely low level. Feeding the muscle at the early stage in a weight loss program is the best way to go about losing body fat. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle for success!
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