A lean body mass calculator online said my LBM is around 113lbs. I’m 5’4”. My goal is 130 and my doctor agreed, but a little hesitantly. I feel like I have a smallish frame (can touch my fingertips around my wrist). I wear a size 8 shoe if that helps any.
Anybody think 130 is too high, too low or just right?
I know, everybody is going to say “you’ll decide when you get there”, lol.
Just curious?
According to the British NHS 130lbs at 5’4" would put you slap in the middle of the healthy weight range which they give as 7st 10lb to 10st 6lb [there are 14lbs in a stone]
Well, 17 lbs. fat out of 130 total would be 13%. That’s pretty darn lean, Sharon. If your LBM is that much, then my opinion is that 130 is toward the low end of “just right.”
My gut feeling is that with a smallish frame, at 5’4", your lean mass is less than 113 lbs. So, 130 might shift to the middle or high end of “just right” - and it does mostly matter how you feel, there. 
In that case, you could decide to go lower and find that 125 or 120 is best. Maybe, maybe not.
Im 5’6" and I cannot even imagine going down to 113. Id say 130 is a good moving goal!
It can’t be calculated (well it can if you measure your lean body mass somehow and decide to stick to it and choose a fat mass you want in the end… but we can’t say this number is right or that, in general). I am 5’4" and 124 lbs sounds a good number to me (not like I ever was that weight with this height) BUT I am fine with 150 too if it means I am muscular and good looking 
I want a healthy lowish fat mass as I should. The actual weight doesn’t matter unless it’s so extreme that I can’t have a good fat and muscle mass with it.
To some extent, it’s taste. It’s one thing we 5’4" females have very different “ideal” weights, it’s a range for all of us. I like a slim but never skinny, bony figure. And I prefer as much muscle as possible without steroids (it’s typically very little for a woman), maybe not for the legs… While others are very happy with a little more fat if it’s still healthy. And some people want to be tiny, super thin, as little muscle as possible, just thin. Well I can’t think it’s healthy but to some lesser extent, it may be.
I refuse to imagine myself at 113 lbs. That’s super tiny. I never want to be so emaciated, so atropied muscles or so unhealthily low fat… I don’t say it can’t be okay for someone else (who likes to be skinny, has small boobs and narrow shoulders and hips) but not for me, never.
My wrist is tiny but it says nothing about my frame, I am sure I am not fragile at all.
130 lbs sounds great to me, of course you will see if it will be okay for you… I really hope I will weigh more when I finish cutting and gaining
I agree with @OldDoug. I’m a 75 year old male with 14% BF and I’m very lean. I have not seen any recommendation for woman’s BF less than 20% other than athletes.
| Age | Body Fat |
|---|---|
| 20-39 | 21%-32% |
| 40-59 | 23%-33% |
| 60-79 | 24%-35% |
Thanks for the input guys! I’d like to be thin (because I’ve never been thin!), but somewhat muscular. Last time I was 130, as a teenager, I was “pudgy”. So I don’t know what 130 and muscular would look/feel like.
It might be true that 113 is not my true LBM. I’m trying to find out where I can get an affordable DEXA scan around here.
Anyway, thanks everyone!
@Sharon_E Keep in mind also that keto is a metabolic normalization process that ultimately results in a ‘normalization’ of weight and body composition as well. But the end result is not necessarily what you imagined or hoped it would be.
For example. I’m 6’0" and weigh 145 pounds with BF at 14%. I’d ‘like’ to weight 160 pounds with those added 15 pounds consisting of upper body and arm muscle mass. The bad news is that at 75 I know it’s not going to happen, that I’m not going to have the time nor incentive to pump the iron to get there. It’s not that important any more. The good news is that I’m the same weight and body conformation now as I was the last year of high school in 1963. I’ll take that any day. 
The average body fat for men is in the range of 10-12%, for women it’s about 20-23% (to provide a cushion for pregnancy). If your lean mass is 113 lbs., then, by those percentages, your total weight would probably be in the range of 141-147 lbs. A total weight of 130 lbs. would give you 13% body fat, which is most likely unrealistic. If you managed to achieve it, I suspect you would be doing damage to your body.
Micheal, you can just ignore those sources. No one really knows what a “healthy” weight is.
Heck, both my dad and my grandpa on the opposite side lived into their 80s, and were 30+ (or 40+? or 50+) year smokers and drinkers (grandpa was an alcoholic for decades). Both were well into the obese range.
And I will never be in that 24% body fat.
I certainly don’t want 13% body fat. Cheapest DEXA scan that I know of in my area is $179. Ouch. Guess we’ll just see what happens when I get to 150, 140. I know at 175 I was still grossly overweight which made me think that 130 might be doable.
At 137 I had slim almost-everything with a very fatty belly (I am quite sure that when I reach that number again, I will be smaller as I gained a little muscle and I totally will continue that). Nearing your “ideal” weight, it matters a lot if your excess fat is nicely distributed or not. Some people gain 4lbs and ends up with a little pot belly on their slim figure. While others just get a very tiny bit rounder all over, still great.
Bob, I’m very happy about you dad and granddad. I sincerely hope you do as well or better.
Values that exceed a range don’t invalidate the range. If 99% of something falls within a range of values and 1% do not, the 1% do not invalidate the 99%. You can google all day and find identical or nearly identical numbers to the ones I noted. I don’t think those numbers were just pulled out of someone’s butt. You can find centenarians who started smoking at the age of 12 . But that does not mean that most smokers will not die 10 years younger and suffer multiple health issues than non-smokers.
Scale weight and BMI are both completely useless. Have as much muscle on you as you can, and shoot for a healthy BF%. That’s it.
I’m a 5’9" @ 230lbs. (im a dude) BMI says I’m morbidly obese, scale weight says I’m fat. In real life my legs have no fat on them, my upper body has no grab-able fat on my sides, and only a little bit extra that I could grab in the front around my belly button. My BF is around 13-14%, been a couple months since I was scanned but point is somebody my height that weights 20,30,40lbs less than me could be decently fat, where I’m not at all. Your body composition matters, not scale weight by itself. I’m a fan of the scale because it lets you catch trends in progress, but that’s pretty much all it’s good for. Also, no calculator can figure out your LBM with any real accuracy. There are (some) BIA scales that are better than others but the ones that are better cost more than most people want to pay for.
A women would look like a corpse at 13%, I’ve always say a pretty lean guy is at 10%, for a woman that’d be like 20%
Or a stage ready fitness/figure competitor. Not suggesting you’d want to ‘live’ at that level of bodyfat or that the OP aim for it but not everyone would look like a corpse.
I’ve been asking myself the same question. I don’t carry weight in my hips, thighs or rear end, like the “average woman”. So, should my goal weight be at the lower end? If I lose all of the unhealthy weight around my mid-section, there aren’t many places for fat to be stored.
It’s not a question I need answered today, since I sadly fell off keto over a year ago and have gained back 50 of my 83 lb weight loss. I better go search for the “How to get back on the Keto wagon again” thread. There must be once, since I’m sure I’m not the only one.
I am this one saying this with the LOL on it 
You eat on plan, your body changes and you will drop to what natural life should be for you personally in the weight dept and more importantly, the health dept!
You embrace the food, then the food and nourishment will put you right where a natural life should be for you! Yea I gave you the answer you figured someone would give you 
I am SO OVER the ‘charts’ by the ‘gods to be’ in truth. Live natural eating lifestyle and live active and good and it all comes around where we should be for each of us…my little thoughts on it all 
Of course this never moves fast enough for any of us, but hold your good eating plan and all great things come to you with time!!
@Sharon_E a bit late with my imput but just in case you’re figuring your goal weight.
I am 63yrs old, 5’4" and fluctuate between 126 and 128lbs, 57/58kg. People often take me for being less depending on what i am wearing and whether i am wearing heels lol. I would estimate my lbm as approx 22% i do a lot of exercise bith weights and cardio so i know i have a good muscle content which obviously makes me a little heavier than i would be if i didn’t workout so much.
I believe we all know when we feel happy at a particular weight and i know i dont like the way i feel or look if i put 3 or 4lb on… fortunately i don’t do that much these days. When you get to the weight you feel great at there will always be people that think you either are too fat or too thin because thats how people are … they are the best at sabotaging or making your fall off that f’eeling amazing’ platform.
Go by your clothes, the way they feel and the way you think you look in them. Let you be the judge. True friends will also tell you when you are looking great. I would advise not to get hung up on statistics becasue ultimately they can make you feel miserable and defeated, my personal opinion as i have been there and got the badge lol.
Good luck whatever xx