Finding your Goal Body Weight

So, you want to loose Fat. But, do you know what your Goal Body Weight should be?

I know that I need to loose 49 lbs. But how do I know this? Keep reading to find out how I know my Goal Body Weight and how you can figure out yours, too!

When I decided that I needed to loose the extra fat on my body, I wanted to have a goal weight. Stepping on a scale is a quick and easy way to check Fat/Weight loss progress. I figured I had over 50 lbs to loose, but that was just a guess. So I started to try to determine how much I really needed to loose. I first looked at a BMI chart. Before we continue, let me say this:

DO NOT USE BMI CHARTS!!!  You may be setting yourself up for failure!

Here is why: Looking at a BMI chart, it said that I should weight between 120-150 lbs. Going off of this, I would need to loose between 69-99 lbs of Fat.  As it turns out, it would be impossible for me to loose 69 lbs of Fat, let alone 99 lbs! Will get to this shortly.

A much better way to track your Fat lose, is to track your Body Fat Percentage. This can be difficult and expensive.  However, I've found a cheap, easy and accurate (enough for what we need) way to determine this.  You can use the U.S. Navy Fitness Formula to estimate your body fat percentage.  I've read the U.S. Navy Fitness Formula is as accurate is a skinfold test (accurate within 1-3% for most people), with less chance of error.  It takes a little work, but it isn't hard. Follow along and let's find out your Goal Body Weight!

First thing we need to do, is take some measurements.  Please take the following (is US or Metric - your call):

For Men:

1. Weight
2. Height
3. Waist (at navel)
4. Neck (at narrowest)

For Women:

1. Weight
2. Height
3. Waist (at narrowest)
4. Hip (at widest)
5. Neck (at narrowest)

Now lets use the US Navy Formula Body Fat calculator over at fitness.bizcalcs.com.  Click this link, then enter your measurements: Body Fat Calculator

Here is what mine looks like:

As you can see, this gives you your Body Fat percentage (needed for my spreadsheet), Your Fat Mass, Your Lean Mass (used in the below calculation) and your Body Fat Category.

Lets look at my Lean Mass.  It is calculating that my Lean Mass (everything about your body that is not Fat) is 149 lbs.

Remember the BMI recommended that I be in a range of 120-150.  Knowing my current Lean Mass, I now know for a fact that being in a range of 120-150 is almost impossible for me.  I would either have to have 0% body fat or I would have to loose muscle mass!

Now that we know our Lean Mass, we can determine our Goal Body Weight.  There is just one more thing we have to do.  We need to determine how much body fat you want to have. What kind of "look" are you going for?  Check out this chart to help you determine your Goal Body Fat Percentage:

Body Fat Chart
Description	Men	Women
Essential Fat - Bodybuilding Competition Look	2-5%	10-14%
Fitness Model Look	6-9%	15-17%
Athlete - Classic Beach Body Look	10-13%	20-22%
Fitness - Fit and Lean Look	14-17%	23-25%
Average	18-24%	26-31%
Obese	25%+	32%+

NOTE: A body fat percentage (Orange Levels) of less than 10% (for men) or 20% (for women) is not a sustainable healthy level.  For example, some female models that have an extremely low body fat percentage, start having issues with or will stop menstruating. This is referred to as Athletic Amenorrhoea. The Orange levels are okay for short periods (for a competition or photo shoot), but are not healthy to maintain long term!!!

I want the Fit and Lean look, but also would like to get close to the Classic Beach Body look. So, I'll say my Goal Body Fat Percentage is 14%.  After you decide your percentage, we need to do some math.

NOTE: If you have a Google Account, check out this spreadsheet I made (My Goal Body Weight).  Once it is open, Click File..."Make a copy...".  This will save an editable copy to your Google Drive.  Plug in your Current Weight and your Current Body Fat Percentage (from the calculator above) and it will update the chart with your Goal Weight at different Body Fat Percentages.  If you don't have a Google account or just like doing math, continue reading.

First, lets convert the Goal Body Fat Percentage to a decimal number, by dividing it by 100:

14 / 100 = .14 (Goal Body Fat Decimal)

Now, lets is use this equation, to determine your Goal Body Weight:

Lean Mass * ( 1 + Goal Body Fat Decimal ) = Goal Body Weight

For me, it will look like this:

149 * (1 + .14) =

Remember to do the math within the parentheses first! :)

149 * 1.14 = 169.86

So, now we have a Goal Body Weight!  I decided to round up and gave my self a goal of 170 lbs.

If you use MyFitnessPal (or the alike), now you can confidently know what to enter in as your Goal Weight!

One thing to note.  As you are progressing on your Fat Lose Journey, you'll occasionally want to check back and recalculate your Goal Body Weight.  Especially if you are doing lots of strength training and building muscle.  The more muscle you have, the higher your Lean Mass will be!

I hope you found this post helpful!  If you did, please leave a comment and/or share with your followers. I'll also do my best at answering any questions left in the comments as well.

Thank you,

Matt