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body fat

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My body fat percentage

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I took a body fat test with a trainer at my health club. The club used a clever ploy of trying to ring members into paying top dollar for personal training by handing out free hour-long fitness tests. Much to my shock, I actually scored right smack in the middle of the "ideal" range for females of my age. I scored at 24.8 percent body fat, which is in the "average" category for women overall, but is a bit better for women my age, cause, I guess I'm getting older. I'm pleased to discover that my body fat percentage has largely stayed the same over the years, even though I used to be stronger (and fatter!). Now that I'm older, I am actually scoring "healthier" as I guess most people gain a few pounds of fat here and there just as part of the aging process.I have a body fat scale at home, but am skeptical as to it's accuracy. Somehow I take the measurement at the club more seriously, even though the technology used is pretty much the same. This gave me a clear opportunity to set a goal. If I'd like to qualify as "athlete" I should reduce my body fat to 21.8%. If I excursive at the rate I intend to, I can do this by April 11 of this year. Can I do it? Will I do it?

Ideal-Body-Fat-Percentage-Chart3

As an aside, I found photos of women of different body fat percentages online, in trying to figure out what my goal should be. The heavier women appealed to me more. I would like my body to be more defined, but I don't have interest in being skinnier. I told my trainer my goal was to stay the same weight, but increase my lean muscle mass. If I do this, I will get skinnier as a result. I think actually, my goal should be to increase my lean muscle mass while improving my percentage to the point that I am actually at 20%, but weigh more than I do. I could do the exact math to figure out how many pounds of muscle I'd need to not really be much skinnier, but that seems a bit over zealous, considering I haven't actually succeeded in increasing muscle mass in some time. So here goes. I'm putting my goal out there.