This is a quick follow up to this mornings post where I was talking about finding good data on which to set fitness goals: Once More Dear Friends

I did some more searching and found two articles written by the same guy on the same website.  I’ve visited his site before and even emailed him once with a question which he graciously answered.  So, I believe that the information on his site to be very reliable.  Here are the two recommended articles for your further reading enjoyment:

Ideal Body Fat Percentage Chart: How Lean Should You Be?

http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/

and

Body Fat Percentage Pictures Of Men & Women

http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/

and… brace yourself because here is the ABSOLUTE BEST ANSWER I’ve found to the question “How much should I weigh?”

Step 1 — decide what body fat percentage you want to be:

I want to be between 10-12%

Step 2 — go weigh yourself

I weigh 320 lbs as of this morning (down from my heaviest of 332 but still very large)

Step 3 — figure out your current body fat percentage.

I have a body fat of 40.65% as of this morning (down from my fattest at 43% but still way too much body fat)  FYI 40.65% is .4065 in decimal notation.  If you are not good at math then google “How to convert percentages to decimal” but basically the short way to convert from a percentage to a decimal is by removing the percentage sign and moving the decimal point 2 places to the left thus 40.65% = .4065

Step 4 — Calculate your Lean Body Mass (LBM):  Total Weight x (100-Body Fat percentage) = LBM

Using my numbers >>> 320 x (1 – .4065) = 189.92 >> round up to 190 lbs

Step 5 — Use the following formula to get your goal weight:  Lean Body Mass/(1 – Desired Body Fat Percentage) = Goal/Ideal weight

Using my numbers >>>  190 / (1 – .10) = 211 on the low end

Using my numbers >>> 190 / (1 -.12) = 216 on the high end

So… [drum roll please]  My goal weight is 211-216 lbs.  Which is bullpoop!  Based on my personal experience when I was that fit in the past, my goal weight should be 185-195.  So…  I’m guessing that the body fat percentage given to me by my scale is off.

I guess I’ll have to get a professional BF evaluation done!  Stay tuned for future updates.

But the good news is that at least my numbers in my spread sheet match what the numbers that a pro fitness guru dude says they should be!  For the full article from which I got this formula check out:

Ideal Body Weight Formula: How to Calculate Your Ideal Weight

http://www.builtlean.com/2010/05/04/ideal-body-weight-formula-how-to-calculate-your-ideal-weight/

Enjoy!

See ya on the dance floor!