That was NOT a pleasant surprise.

[VanessaT]

I had my body fat % done at the gym. It was not a good as I had hoped. My body fat is 20.3%. I weighed in at 137.8. I usually weigh myself first thing in the morning on Friday right before I hop in the shower. Last Friday my weight was 133. Meh. So I have 109.8lbs. of lean weight and 28lbs. of fat.

The sad thing is that I feel like I have been working my ass off. I had the body fat done in Sept of 2006, while I was depressed and going through my divorce. My stats show that in the last 2 and a half years I have only lost 3.2 lbs. and .8% body fat. It says I have lost more muscle than fat.

I feel so damn discouraged. I am heading to Mexico on June 5 and I really want to be in great shape and look my best. I turned 35 last months and it's a solid goal to be in the best shape I have ever been in. I'd like to be 16% or so. I feel like I just haven't gotten anywhere regardless of my efforts. I know I have to strategize and refocus but I don't even know where to begin.

[LuckyDog]

I lurk on this board and this is probably my first post - BUT........

Please Please Please ignore the bf% - most of what they do in the gyms is so inaccurate anyway. It only has any value as a gauge toward trends and only then if done by the same person everytime (if calipers).

Do you feel good? Do you like what you see in the mirror? This is seriously all that matters.

I've read a few of your posts and you seem to be making great strides recently. Don't discount those, keep doing what your doing to make progress toward Mexico - you have 7 weeks you can be sporting a bikini and feeling great in 7 if you don't get discouraged by the silly bf test!!!!!!!!

[Leigh P.]

^Good first post.

To the OP-You have to forget the times in the past it didn't work. All that does is add up to disappoint in things that you can help. What can you help now? What starts today?

What starts today is accounting for your food, training to maintain LBM, and being 100% realistic with yourself on what you can achieve. Do you have a plan? Winging it hardly ever works for people.

Get a plan, get focused and if desire share it here and we can provide advice to you about it.

[Aoife]

Assuming your numbers are real, 20% is nicely healthy for a woman. 16% is heading into some seriously ripped territory.

Why do you honestly care about a number, weight or bf%, in the grand scheme of things? Noone looking at you knows how much you weigh or if you have 5 more pounds of fat than you'd like. You don't wear your numbers on your forehead for all to see. If you feel you look good, and are getting better, who cares?

Numbers that matter are the ones most people don't test anyway. Blood pressure. Blood sugar levels. How many packs a day they smoke.

If you were happy going into the test and were not happy once you saw the number, what does that number really mean?



A kid don't like veggies, can't stand corn. He eats hush puppies like it's nobody's business. Then one day he bites into one and sees a piece of corn. Suddenly, he hates hush puppies.

Yes. It makes that much sense.

[newdawn]

I agree. You're giving an awful lot of power to a number.

[missjane]

How did they measure it?

[maggieandmommy]

I agree with everyone else. If you were feeling good before you saw the number from the gym, then you should go with that feeling and ignore the number the gym gave you.

Plus you now have even more motivation to tighten down on your intake and exercise level before you go on your trip so that you can look even better when you go.

[VanessaT]

You guys are very right.

I think what bothered me is that the test was compared to one I did over two years ago. I am MUCH happier with the way I look now as opposed to then but it's partly my own state of mine.

I need to look at this as a long and total process. I know at this point that it's not so much about losing weight as it is changing my body - firming everything up, being and looking fit. I have a lot of work to do but I guess I need to keep in perspective that my body changed for the worse over the course of two years. I need to give myself time and accept that I'll have some set backs here and there.

I've been doing good. I think I may be having some, ummmm, hormonal issues, too....

[JimShortz99]

If you say you are doing well, thats all that counts. Scales and body fat scales are terrible inventions