Jim, that makes absolute sense to me. It pretty well sums up my opinion on the matter too.

I really don't think we have to worry about losing LBM at this point, if we don't need it, why keep it?

I understand Crysania's point that maybe if my new goal should be 180, I can look as slim as a person who is only 140 lbs because my BF% is so low and I'm so well toned, but frankly, I'm not interested in the time commitment and exercise commitment that would be necessary to achieve that kind of low BF%. I don't mind exercising in moderation to maintain a general level of fitness and muscle tone, but I'm not planning a BFL challenge or working out hours a day. I think it's easier to lose a little LBM and get to the size I want to be than to become a body builder to get to the size I want to be.

I think as long as my BF% is going down and I don't hit a LBM less than I would want it to be at 23% BF for my goal weight, I'm not going to worry about it.

Valerie

I was going to say the same thing but Jim beat me to it. Also, our bones are bigger and more dense since they have to support our greater weight. As the extra weight is lost, our bones will rebuild themselves with less density, since they don't have to support all that weight anymore. As my Anatomy and Physiology prof says - You don't weigh more because you have big bones, you have big bones because you weigh more. I once weighed 150, on a 5'7" frame and was a size 7 because I worked on a horse farm doing muscular work 10 hours a day. My friends thought I was too skinny!
The other thing to remember before getting caught up in the numbers is that body fat measurements are not really exact. Even the water method is not as accurate as once thought. I have found that no matter how much heavy exercise I've done, I've never looked like a bodybuilder, and I've felt my best when I've done a lot of heavy weight lifting.

Yes, this makes sense. As you lose the overall weight, you will lose lbm that is no longer needed to carry around the extra weight that's been lost. That's very logical. However, it's the overall %BF that is important independent of whether your overall scale weight appears to be healthy.

Also, this concept presumes that we lead an active life, so heart rate is up, muscles are being used, etc. I think for many of us who are extremely obese, this is not be the case. I think we have been proportionally more inactive than our thin counterparts because of being heavy. At least I know I have been. If we lose the weight, that doesn't guarantee that we will become more active since old habits are hard to break. Which means we might still be at a higher %BF than we should be.

So if I don't exercise, I would lose the weight (get down to 160) but I still might have too much body fat. So wouldn't it make more sense to maintain where I am for lbm and just lose the fat? Especially since we know that the higher lbm will burn the fat off quicker?

Yes, I've read that, too. However, the recommendations I've been reading is that you want to use the body fat measurements to see the trend, not necessarily the exact number. Ideally the %bf should go down over time and wind up in a healthy range by the time we hit goal.

Dianne,

What you have pointed out here is true - working out and maintaining LBM is a good idea as you will burn calories more quickly the more LBM you have. I personally reccomend doing some type of exercise while you lose, and weight training is a great way to maintain LBM.

I understand the point you were making - about getting to the goal and still having a higher body fat percentage than an active person at the same weight. We were actually saying basically the same thing - looking at it from different sides of the fence. It stands to reason that a heavy person isn't going to be as active because of the extra weight, and if they maintain that attitude as they lose and get to their goal - then they should have more %BF than an active person of the same weight. Why? Because if they aren't active they don't need as much LBM as the active person. A person with a sedentary lifestyle needs to realize that they are going to lose a lot more LBM than a person that is exercising or doing resistance training.

The good news is this - if you are getting towards your goal and still have too much tummy, then you should use that as a clue to do one of two things. First you can start working to maintain LBM, or gaining some back, or you need to reset your goal to take into account a lower LBM.

My point is simply this - as you lose you will end up looking like you want to look like, and your LBM and %BF will be what they need to be based on your lifestyle. If you work out and do weight training, you will burn more calories and not have to lose as much weight to look like you want to look like. If you decide that you are going to be sedentary, you do so realizing that it is going to take longer, and that you are going to lose down probably below where you think you should be because of burning LBM in addition to fat.

Great discussion - thanks Dianne!!