One question that often comes up when people start a workout regimen and want to achieve a certain look, is how much should I weigh or what body fat % should I have to get that look. Here I will provide some general formula to help on that quest.
Let's start with people who look skinny but want to stop looking skinny by gaining weight. Or people who are not skinny but want to look skinny by losing weight.
A simple rule for them is to take your height in centimeters, subtract 100 and that's your target body weight in Kg. If you want to convert the weight to lbs, multiply it by 2.2.
So, if you are 5' 11", then your height in centimeters is 181 cms. Subtract 100, and 81 Kg is your target body weight. This is equal to 178 lbs.
Notice how this formula does not take into account the body frame, gender, or age. There are modifications to this formula which can account for those factors but ultimately this is a losing proposition as we are all built so differently.
Take another question that you often see, how much body fat should I lose to start looking ripped?
The answer to this question is as varied as they come and range from 7% to 15% and again depends on your frame, gender, age, etc but also on how much muscle you have. No one calls a skinny person who has no fat but no muscle either, "ripped".
So, the point is that a much better approach is to set goals for yourself and see how you look as your body changes and if you are going in the right or opposite direction of how you want to look and adjust your plan accordingly. Ultimately you will find that to be a much more successful approach than just following some guidelines.
