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I am a 6' 5" man with a very large frame. My BMI is bad, but I was looking at what my goals should be, and my fitness level weight is a terrifying 180 lbs. Is there a better way to figure out safe and healthy BMI/body fat %?

WORDS HAVE POWER. THEY WILL NOT BE RUSHED.

Challenge: Lower body fat percentage to 25% Obviously this isn't going to be accomplished in 6 weeks, so this will be a continuing mission/goal/challenge for a while. I want to get some of this weight off to relieve pain in my joints, my back, and to make life and fitness easier in general. Last Friday I checked my body fat percentage with calipers and it was consistently 33.8%. I think that number is low and I should be higher than that, but it's the most consistent figure I have to work with so I'll go with that. Last challenge my goal was to do the absolute minimum, just as long as I did it every day (example, walking to the end of my lawn and back). These six weeks will be similar. My goal is to get through ten minutes of working out, start to finish. Maybe I don't walk very fast, maybe I don't use a lot of weights, maybe I have to stop and rest, but the goal is to get through the routine, start to finish, even if I need to make some alterations or rest for a bit in the middle. Goals; 1. Cardio (Max STR 1, DEX 2, STA 2) Interval training 3x a week for 10 minutes. 2. Strength training (Max STR 5) Beginner work out 3x a week, alternating with the interval training every other day. I'm doing the Nerd Fitness beginner workout posted here. This time around, the goal is to get through one circuit, start to finish. 3. Nutrition (Max CON 4) My goal here is a little weird... I learned a way of making up a plate of food that has all of the servings I need in it, but I haven't been eating that way regularly. When I do eat that way, it's very easy for me to pick up on any changes in diet and it's easy for me to keep track of stuff without writing everything down (I know, it's more accurate to write down, but I tried that over the last week and a lot of old eating disorder thoughts and behaviors came up... it's just easier for me to do it the way I learned to do it in therapy, which is making a "mercy plate"). So my goal is to eat a "mercy plate" for lunch every day. Just one meal. It's also the most important meal for me because the afternoon is the time I struggle with the most and having a square meal before I tackle that beast every day may help me get through it. Life goal: Write down ONE THING! I want to accomplish during the day on a piece of paper and when I'm finished with that thing, tear up the paper. Simple to-do list. 1 Point Wisdom if accomplished.

***Note: This is a busy week at work and as such I will finish this entry as soon as I can*** Helloooooooooooooo! Hello If you haven't seen me for a while, there are some reasons. But now I'm back and getting ready for a wedding in less than eight months! Main Quest Basically my main goal is going for the reduction of fat in my bodyweight composition. Plain and simple. I really don't have an end percentage in mind, just going for the "look good naked" thing, especially with my wedding happening in October I really want to look sexy for the lady-friend. I'll be sexy and I know it Goals: Get up and go! Due to my now-insane evening schedule detailed in reasons, I need to get up in the mornings to do workouts. Meh. Now, this can be done in any combination possible, as long as I get five days in between Sunday and Saturday with adequate rest days thrown in. My preference is Monday through Friday, but sometimes variation is necessary. Currently I am doing Stronglifts 5x5 and I don't see myself switching before the challenge is over. I will post my daily workouts of 5x5 and the cardio days in between them each day. As a side bit to this, I'm trying to figure out how I can add pull-ups into my workout, but I won't exactly track that this challenge just yet. Total days - 30 Stat points awarded if completed: +2 Str, +1 Con, +1 Sta The Beard goes modeling... sorta... To gauge my weight loss, rather than step on a scale (though I will continue to do that), I will take a weekly picture to gauge my progress. Nothing much else to it, it's pretty straight forward. Weight will help, but the difference after six weeks should be apparent. Total days - 6 Stat points awarded if completed: +3 Cha Forget about the guy, look at that beard. Quite the specimen. Om nom nom This one figures to be the hardest of all, it requires me to very open and vulnerable with you all. My goal is to hover around the 1800 mark for daily caloric intake (though if enough people recommend otherwise for whatever reason, I will reconsider). To help show that I am adhering to this, I will try to figure out a way to link my My Fitness Pal page to this site. Putting up pictures of me is a proverbial cake walk compared to this. This really makes me feel vulnerable. Because this is an experiment on my part, I will aim for 25 days, just because I might take a week to figure out the whole linking profiles thing. I will consider any and all suggestions people have on recommended edits to my diet. Total days - 25+ Stat points awarded if completed: +2 Cha, +2 Con Normally, I would post a life goal, but with my life being virtually consumed by everything else, I think I'll just try to get through until may with everything as is. So no life goals other than managing every aspect of my life. Well, that's it. Getting back into my first full challenge in a while. Let's see how this vulnerability thing goes. Also.... You forgot about him, didn't you. It's okay. He still thinks you are awesome.

My ultimate quest is stop being a punkass that keeps getting side-tracked and really cement some healthy habits with intent and purpose so that I can step up and do more with myself than just sputter through the basics over and over. For more about that, see here. I’m actually focusing on different habits each month, but for the last challenge my goals were about eating better, hydration, and working out more consistently. February’s focus continues to be working out more consistently and March focuses on self-care. So while continuing to eat well and stay hydrated, I will… Dodge the couch and move 5 days a week. Ideally this will entail 2-3 strength training sessions, 2 yoga sessions, and 2-5 days doing some cardio, but I will settle for a 30 Day Shred DVD or a walk around the block if I need. I’m imagining this to be M-F but my work schedule will be changing in mid-March and I’m not sure how this will play out. This will be tracked in a fitness journal, if not my brand new battle log and here. I’m not so concerned about what I do as I am getting used to doing something no matter what, being selfish with my time, and learning how to consistently fit workouts into my everyday life. 2 STR, 2 STA, 1 CON Duck out of working out early if it means I get in some stretching afterwards. I really need to work on recovery, including stretching/foamrolling after workouts, take vitamins daily, and having a proper post workout meal. My aim is for this to also just be a natural part of my day and workout routine, tracked with workouts. 4 DEX Dip out early and get some sleep. This is actually a huge one for me this challenge. Between bringing my phone to bed, a racing mind, a snoring husband, a dog with active dreams/night terrors, and an early start time (soon to change), I’m a very poor sleeper. I can’t force myself to sleep (and stressing about it won’t help), but I can set things up to give myself every opportunity to sleep. On work nights I will be in bed no less than 8 hours prior to having to wake up. I will not alter my sleep schedule more than 2 hours on weekends. I will not use my phone in bed, period. Oh gods, that is going to be hard! But I bought myself a booklight so here’s hoping by April I’ll either be sleeping better or finally make some progress in Wheel of Time. I’d wager the former. 3 WIS, 3 CHA Dive into injecting self-care into daily life as I see fit. Do something that helps lower stress every day, including but not limited to: Meditate 5 minutes, journal, fun girly toiletry stuff, organize something, clean something, play with the dog, play with the husband, be outside, call someone, hide in a closet and shirk all responsibilities, have a cup of tea, arbeiten sprechen Deutsche, brew a new batch of beer, woodworking. No points, this is just extra stuff. Dodge some of my more extraneous points and there you have it. By the end of this challenge I will be a quarter of the way through 2015 (you might be too, depending on how you tell time). I will hopefully be out habit building and ready to make some real progress in… something. I have 6 weeks to figure that out. Terrifying!

Dear seasonned NF members, I have a very specific question concerning body fat reduction for pear shaped body types. Will you help me? My goal : to reduce my bodyfat percentage and my water retention (family tendency) + to seriously muscle up. Aim: high agility and rapidity, general feeling of power. My situation : I am a 25 year old woman, 162cm for 49.5 - 50kg, with a seriously pear shaped body. My worry : Will reducing my body fat make me look ill on my chest where I already have almost no fat? Can muscle training prevent that skeleton look? Is reducing my body fat in my legs actually possible? What can I actually hope for in that area? Basically, is body fat reduction a good goal for an already thin pear shaped woman, and what would be a good percentage to aim at? Many, many thanks!

Facing a new year that includes grad school, training for a new position at work, and very little numerical change in the six months I’ve been here (neither body fat % nor the scale have budged and inch), I’ve decided it’s time to rethink the angle I’m coming at this lifestyle change from. I’ve been pretty ambitious and hopped around from goal to goal, while also focusing on the things I shouldn’t do (and what better way to ensure I think about cake than to say DON’T THINK ABOUT CAKE STOP IT RIGHT NOW). This challenge, I give myself two simple, straightforward goals that will also enact significant change in my life. Food: Think Positive (+4 CON, +3 CHA) Rather than thinking about what I can’t/shouldn’t do, I’m going to focus on what I want to eat more of: eggs, vegetables, beans, and salads (yes, yes, salads and vegetables overlap, but let’s not be too big of a stickler here). I would certainly like to eat less sugar and carbs, and be more thoughtful in my eating to make sure I’m actually hungry and not just bored or emotional. But those are secondary concerns; if I am eating more real, nutritious food, by default that will start to push the processed crap of my plate. Win! Scoring: Simple tally of number of meals that include one of these items. Points stack, so I get a point for every one of these items that features prominently in a meal. Let’s see how high my score can get! School/Work: Put in the hours (+4 STA, +4 WIS) Ideally I’d love to put in a little time toward my new position and school work everyday, but realistically I’m probably going to end up doing a lot of this work on the weekends when I have time to put a dedicated couple of hours toward my work. I’m tentatively pulling a number out of thin air and claiming that I’ll need 7 hours a week to pass school and become competent at work, but this number will probably change once I start the semester and figure out how high the workload actually is. Scoring: A-F (90%-50%) based on number of hours worked divided by estimate of number of hours needed to complete work. Finally, I wrote out a few long term rewards for myself. Up to the point I’ve had difficulty really breaking up my goals, so these give me some checkpoints along the way to keep myself motivated. Complete a full pull up without assistance: buy a new workout outfit (mine was stolen just before Thanksgiving and I’m currently using basically PJs) Complete all Rebel Strength Guide Levels (approximately April-May): buy membership to The Academy (2014 Goal) Reach 22-23% Body Fat: Guilt free $50 Amazon shopping spree (books, kitchen tools, beauty supplies, etc) OR trip to clothes outlets to update my wardrobe Walking/Running to Mordor (cover distance to Mordor and Back): Pedicure and massage

anyone who is familiar with the Terminator franchise has probably realized that Sarah Connor changed quite a lot from the first to the second movies. [if you haven't seen The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, shame on you! go watch them right now. i'll wait here.] so, Sarah's transformation. she pretty much goes from confused and constantly crying noob to total badass. from this to this right now, i'm probably closer to being the Sarah we find at the end of the first movie: getting smarter and stronger every day, starting to be cool and not so scared all the time, etc. however, i'd like to kick as much ass as Sarah 2.0. and so i am dubbing this challenge "from Sarah to Sarah" FROM SARAH TO SARAH main goal: 21% bodyfat right now i'm somewhere around 27%. and ultimately, i think i'd like to be around 19%, but i want to make my goals more attainable, so i'm aiming for 21 for now. this has been my goal ever since i joined NF back in July, but for some reason i didn't realize that it was ok to admit that that's what i've been working towards, which resulted in a lack of focus. but now, with two challenges under my belt, i understand myself more than before and i know how to get to where i want to be. i'm ready to put in the work to get what i want. let's do this! 1. prep for judgement day - parkour training M/W/F, HIIT T/TH, 1 jog/week previously, i had a certain routine that i would do every single M/W/F of the entire 6 weeks. i ended up getting bored and discouraged. to combat this, i am allowing myself more freedom in what my training will look like. it might be the bodyweight routine i've been working on already, it might be a different but similar bodyweight routine, it might be a cross-fit kind of thing, whatever. i realize that it's more important to be having fun and staying active than to torture yourself with a routine that has grown stale and predictable. same goes for HIIT. i had just been doing sprints, but it got so boring! i'm opening myself up to the possibility of replacing the sprints with mountain climbers, burpees, going up and down the stairs, anything i feel like, as long as it gets my heart pumpin'. 2. weapons cleaning and maintenance - greasing the groove this goal covers a lot of ground. i'm kind of worried about how much i'm giving myself to do, but again, in this challenge i'd rather overwhelm myself than let myself get bored again. so, i'm going to be greasing the groove with A LOT of things: handstands, pushups, pullups, splits, and playing my violin. i'm sick and tired of not doing these things because i feel like there isn't time for it. there IS time! if i spend 5 minutes max doing each of these, that takes up less than a half an hour. there is absolutely no excuse for letting these skills go untended. 3. contribute to the humanness of humanity - write 2 books committing to writing 2 books in 6 weeks sounds a lot more insane than it actually is. i'm only talking about writing a few 60,000 - 80,000 word stories. i'm not aiming for the next great American novel, i just want to make a few dollars on the side with writing. this will be the mega-fluffy chick-lit and romance stuff you see in airports, but even that calibre is a bit lofty. my boyfriend [who, i proclaim, will henceforth be known as Skinny Legs for the purposes of this thread] makes almost enough to live off of from the romance books that he writes. i know i can do it too, and i want to, but it's just hard to get going. i have solid ideas for 3 stories, but i only want to have to focus on writing 2 of them up. this is one of those rare things that i'd rather ease myself into than start too quickly and get burned out on after 3 books. and as far as the whole "contributing to humanity" bit goes... haha that's a bit of a stretch. if they were going to be 2 fine specimens of literature, or art, or great music, fine. but as it is, i don't think chick-lit counts as "meaningful" to the human experience... life quest - write down everything i eat that isn't paleo simple enough. now i just have to do it... i'm hoping the act of writing it down and seeing on paper how much or little i've gotten off track with my diet will encourage me and push me towards being better. i also want to track my caloric intake for at least the first week to see if i'm anywhere close to my target. grading goal 1: A - 5 days of workout/week, B - 4/3 days/week, C - 2 days/week, D - 1 day/week goal 2: A - 5 out of 5 for 5 days/week, B - 3-4 out of 5 for 3-4 days/week, C - 2 out of 5 for 2 days/week, D - 1 out of 5 for 1 day/week goal 3: A - 2 books published, B - 1 book published, 1 being edited, C - 1 book being edited, 1 being written, D - 1 book being written, 1 not even started i'm so ready to rock this challenge! i know my goals, however big and seemingly daunting, can be achieved. and i know that there's no fate but what we make for ourselves.

Hey guys! I've read the article about Staci's story, and although it was truly inspiring and motivational, the diet part didn't help much just because I'm not big on going Paleo. I began powerlifting about 4 months ago. I really want to compete eventually. My biggest goal right now is to get my body fat percentage down and get my strength up!! I'm currently counting macros to a T and training daily (with one rest day/week) using a powerlifting split. I am a 21 year old female college student. I'm 5'5", 136lbs, 22% body fat (I want to get down to about 14% body fat!!). My current daily macro and calories breakdown is: Carbs: 94g Fat: 50g Protein: 169g Calories: 1500 That's a 25%/30%/45% breakdown. And if it matters, my bench/squat/deadlift (REPPING!) is: 8X85/12X180/8X180 --> I've only maxed out on squats and my 1RM is currently 245! Keep in mind I just started lifting about 4 months ago!! I'm looking for any advice, comments, concerns, or suggestions about my current plan. I want to get strong and lean!! Thanks for reading and thanks for your feedback!! Abby

I'm very excited to starting my second challenge, and I have to say how awesome NF is for getting me to work out like I've been in the past few weeks. I never, ever thought I would be stoked about buying a heavier barbell (or even using a barbell) but I AM. Got a new one yesterday. So excited to start using it. Here are some stats on my goals and current position. I'd appreciate any encouragement - I thrive on words and my family, while supportive, doesn't say much about my fitness goals and it's kind of discouraging feeling like I'm doing this alone. Help me, Rebels! MAIN GOAL Reduce bodyfat percentage and increase muscle. GOALS Get strong enough to do real pushups. I'm astoundingly weak-armed, and can barely pull off one regular pushup, so I will be working on pushup progressions in the next 6 weeks by adding them to my already established strength training workout routine 3x per week. Dance! I will dance 2x per week (alternating with my strength training workouts) for at least 30-45 minutes. I find dancing enjoyable so it's a good way to get in a workout that feels like a reward for having done strength training the previous day. Eat more Paleo. I've been having some stomach problems (mainly killer acid reflux) so I'm going to cut out most non-Paleo foods to see if that will help me. I will also continue drinking lots of water because it's good for me! Specify my career goals. I've been freelancing as a graphic designer for the past year and there are pros and cons about it. I've been considering going back to working at a company but I'm on the fence about it. For the next 6 weeks I will continue to freelance but I will carefully monitor my work habits so I can decide at the end of the 6 weeks if I want to keep freelancing or not. Yikes!

I am trying hard not to be frustrated with the slow rate of weight loss. My mother did not lie when she said it would be harder after menopause. I know that the body fat % scales aren't always the most accurate, BUT even though the weight has been creeping down, the bf% is down from 46% to 42.5% in one month. I don't think it is an aberration. It has been consistently creeping down. My clothing is looser. I measure and take pics in a week, so we'll see. Biggest Woot! And endorsement for Paleo? My fibro symptoms have improved by probably 80%. That is HUGE. I have a life back. I was able to keep up with the cub scouts at camp. Thank you NF, and all of the people who read my posts and support me!

Hey everybody! Ok so here we are, round 2! This challenge is all about resetting, restarting, not from square one but from where I have managed to get to so far My first challenge was very...challenging! It was far from perfect, and because of that was, in hindsight, exactly what I needed. I am a perfectionist by nature, and have a frustrating tendency to overreact to mistakes. This was something that negatively affected my last challenge, so something that will be tackled this time around. Last challenge I gave myself no wiggle room at all, so it was very demoralising when I failed once in a goal, as it instantly dropped my grade. This time around I'm going to be more realistic, take smaller steps and be more practical about melding the challenge with my life. So, let's get down to it. Goals are as follows: #1 Reduce body fat percentage from 29.4% to 27% Since joining NF and starting with a personal trainer I have dropped my bf from 32% to 29.4%. It has made such a difference to how my body looks already that I am bringing this goal forward from the previous challenge. It may seem like a random goal number, but if I get to 27% that will be a 5% drop since late January 2013 A - 27%-27.5% B - 27.6%-28.5% C - 28.6%- 29.4% F- 29.5% or higher 1 DEX - 2 CON - 2 CHA (less fat = greater mobility, better health, looking good) #2 Complete either a 5k or 10k row once a week - ALTERED TO AT LEAST ONE ROWING TRAINING SESSION PER WEEK I've become increasingly passionate about rowing since my trainer incorporated it into my sessions. I have a rowing machine at home, so there's no excuse about not completing additional training on my own. I have a very active job (dance teacher) so teach 17 classes a week, plus participating in 2-3 classes a week for my own training, and 2 personal trainer sessions, hence why its only a once a week row! A - 6 rows, B - 5, C- 4, D - 3, F - 2-0 1 DEX - 2 STA (work on speed, but also boost endurance) #3 Choose to get back on the wagon and track the journey Last challenge I set myself a very difficult diet goal, and have found that the more I tell myself I can't have something, the more I want it - classic. So this challenge I am cutting out cake, sweets, crisps and soft drinks completely, as I have done this before and don't eat these things very often anyway, but I am not tying these to a grade. Other than that, I can choose what I eat, and I'm hoping that this freedom will encourage positive choices as it has in the past. The second part of this goal is accountability - food will be logged daily on my Daily Battle Log. It doesn't have to be logged on the day itself, but each day must be recorded, and obviously, the sooner it is done, the more accurate it will be. My grade will drop when I miss 2 days a week food recording. A - 7/7 logged, B - 5/7, C - 3/7, F- 2-0 3 CON - 1 CHA - 1 WIS (better diet = better health, looking good and greater self awareness from recording foods) #4 The to-do list This 6 week challenge will cover an extremely busy work period, probably the busiest so far in my entire career (eep!). To help my head not explode, the goal is to complete a to-do list of what MUST be done tomorrow before leaving the office. This will be a short (hopefully) and very specific list of things that are the most important for that next day. I will also post these on my Daily Battle Log. Mon-Tues, Tues-Wed, Wed-Thurs, Thurs-Fri, Fri-Mon A - 5/5, B - 4/5, C - 3/5, D - 2/5, F - 1-0 2 WIS - 1 CHA (better organised, more efficient and not turning into a raving stress head!) Ok so there they are, thought about them a lot, but they may well be tweaked over the next six weeks. Looking forward to this new challenge, and to reading all about yours as well. Here we go! Emily

Okay, so I've fallen in love with lifting, but I'm super overweight. I really need to drastically reduce my BF% (it's 38% at the moment) and lose weight. MFP says I can have 1590 cals per day. I'm just looking for advice on what my cals should be in lifting days, or if I should keep them the same? I'm mainly focusing on bench, squat and deadlift, plus supplementary exercises to help. Since I started learning how to lift properly (only about 6 weeks ago), I've practically abandoned cardio entirely, which is stupid. So I'm planning on introducing 2 cardio sessions in with my 3 lifting sessions a week. Does that ratio sound about right? What a horrifying newbie I am. Any help is much appreciated.

I thought I had reached that place, but now, I'm not sure. How do you know when you're "done" with losing weight (eating at calorie deficit)? I guess I thought the scale would release confetti or doves or something. I wasn't thinking about size or shape, but body fat. I've gotten to 27% body fat http://www.calculator.net/army-body-fat-calculator.html?ctype=standard&csex=f&cage=30&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=8&cneckfeet=1&cneckinch=1&cwaistfeet=3&cwaistinch=0&cwaistfeetf=2&cwaistinchf=4.5&chipfeet=3&chipinch=3.5&x=107&y=8 I like the Army bf calculator because it asks for measurements and not weight. Hey, after losing 50lb teetering on obesity, I'm at 27%! But then I looked at this chart: http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/ which says that 27% for a 30yr old woman is "Average." Average? And who the hell put "Ideal" next to it? Who the hell decided that there is an "Ideal" percentage, where one range is OK but to be leaner is sooooo much better as to be Ideal? ::mean little voice:: Should I aim for "Ideal?" I was feeling fine. Then I start comparing. Other people put their stats up and they weigh less though they're the same height as me. At work, a notice was put up that we need to get certain pants for our uniform, and someone wrote a note that the pants didn't come in smaller than a size 6, and she's a 0. There's articles about stores that put up mannequins to represent size 10 and people say that that will make people think that obesity is OK. Obesity at a size 10. I'm size 14. The joggers and yogis in their stretchy pants just look...smaller than me. My goal is to be fit and be at a weight that's healthy and easy to maintain. Really, that was my goal. Healthy, maintain. I really like my pear-shaped body and curves and how I look now. I definitely have a womanly body. I *know* I'm not small-framed and I don't even want to be. I never compared myself to others during this process, but now that I'm at a point where I thought I was done with calorie deficits and could move on to other fitness goals, I'm wondering, am I really done? Do I need to keep concentrating on fat loss? Common sense says no, and to stop paying any attention to this crap. ::and that mean little voice says:: Omg, am I still fat? How do you know you're "done" with losing weight?