I weigh 334lbs, am 6'. A week or so ago I was at 338lbs, and according to the machine they use at the gym have a body fat % of 37.1%. This roughly translates to 212-213lbs of lean mass. If over the next X months I manage to raise my lean mass to only 215, and get down to 260lbs, I'll have a body fat % of roughly 18%? I realize these machines have a few % either way of error, but does that sound right? Granted I am a big guy, I always have been. At 240lbs I could wear a large size scrub.
And no, by no means bragging. Due to some meds and injury I let myself become a fat ass an am working to correct this. Over the last year I've gone from around 395lbs to what I am now. Multiple ACL injuries will really screw up your life, as will Risperdal.

seems like silly number to worry about.

just get well

I get what you're saying, and my ultimate plan yes IS to get healthy and to strengthen my leg from losing muscle. However if my math is fairly accurate it also gives me a goal to work towards. Plus it will help with my OCD

Well then go nuts, seems like slightly opposing goals to me though. Tends to work better to either cut or bulk. Trying to gain 2 lbs lean mass while shedding another 75 lbs is going to make both slow going.

That's a decent bf% goal but i'd say you are likely to lose some lean mass just not carrying around an extra 150 lbs.

Your math is correct.

I'd bet he can add muscle and lose fat at the same time for a while, he's nearly 400lbs so there's plenty to lose and I'd bet it comes off fast.

But at his weight, worrying about what his exact BF% is?  Sillyness.  Worry about losing 150lbs and getting healthy, then decide if it's worth tracking BF.  It's like contemplating buying a semi to drive around town and wondering if you've got room for a carton of eggs.  There's plenty of extra....

EDIT- I just re-read.  Hes 340lbs, still plenty to go around, I'd throw the scale out for a while and just start lifting and eat healthy.  Who cares what the scale says, you're not going backwards.

WTF I'm not 340.... I'm 334 don't get me wrong, the question I asked was more for my own amusement, if that makes sense. I am lifting heavy, I've always enjoyed a push/pull type workout. 4 days a week, one day back/biceps/legs next chest/triceps/shoulders... rest... repeat. Trying for 6-8 reps, 3 sets per lift. Example of were I'm at. Today did back, doing ISO low rows had 4 reps with 125lbs on each side. No idea if that's a decent amount or not. I've got to be careful though with the deficit between my bad leg and good leg. Can't carry a ton of weight around just yet.

Your skeleton and organs weigh something too. So it's really hard to nail down it exactly.

Sounds like crap.  Where's the squats 3 days a week?  You don't have to go heavy, stick some bands on a squat rack and loop them under your arms so you're squatting 1/3 of your bodyweight (or less if needed, whatever you can do on a bad leg).  As you do it just make sure you're getting good depth and focus on getting the very best single squat you can- every time.

Curls and tris....  There's about zero reason you should be doing those.  Rows are good, who cares what the weight is.  Get a smart program and stick to it, the weight will increase.  Smart programs don't include biceps and tris at this stage.

Squat.  Deadlift.  Strict press. Bench press.  Work in some dips if you can.  There's only three ways I've ever worked tris, close-grip bench, dips and laying tricep extensions.



I only squat 440-ish, bench 240-ish and strict press 170-ish.  I don't need to focus on tris yet, or biceps.  Plenty of growth on the compounds left for me without those.

EDIT- I should clarify- I've only done the tris when my wrist was only allowing me to do a few things so I was doing whatever I could.  Now that I'm doing more with the wrist, I don't need tri or bicep specific exercises anymore.

40% deficit between legs. Squats? No. Hack squat on the machine? Yes which I do. Deadlift? No not yet.

You have a lot of non fat mass to work with.  215 pounds of non fat mass is a ton.  That's good.  

Let that be your engine for fat loss and added strength.

SCW is right.

All you should be doing is squats, deads, overhead press and bench press.  Those 4 movements will involve the most muscle mass over the longest range of motion.

Do HIIT twice a week and lift 3 days a week.

Eat a lot of protein.  

Do that and in a year you'll be one big strong dude.  You'll be amazed at how much of your body fat just kinda took care of itself.  

Then if you think your still carrying too much fat maybe try and cut.  

That's my 2 cents.

You ought to download the 5x5 app or the starting strength app.

Curls and tricep kickers are practically worthless for you right now....actually any isolation movement is a complete waste of time for you right now.

I should clarify when I said biceps and triceps I just end my workouts with 3-5 sets of hammer curls or pull downs. I don't spend much time on them.

If you go from 334 lbs to 260 lbs, you will almost certainly lose lean mass. It'll be difficult to lose that much fat and be gaining muscle at the same time.  Also, machines that measure BF in that manner (electrical current) aren't super accurate. I am 6'0.5" tall (I call myself 6'1") and my lean mass according to the Bodpod is 202. If you are in an untrained state, I'd be surprised if your lean mass is 212 (but it could be).

I guess my post is kind of a downer, but anyway, a healthy weight for you is probably around 240 lbs. I would work on losing the weight first, and then as you get down lower, figure out what kind of weight you should be at.

For a long time I was convinced 240 was a good weight for me, but when I finally broke below that level, I realized I was delusional and 225 was probably more accurately my ideal weight. Also my doc pointed out that most disease risks are correlated to BMI, regardless of fitness level.

It is extremely unlikely that your lean mass is 213#

It's been a while but I read an article that documented the lean body mass of 80s era pro body builders that admitted to using steroids. The point of the article was that LBM of over 205# is extremely rare

The machine at your gym is wrong. Go get three different bod pod tests and average those results.

http://www.builtlean.com/2011/03/30/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain-naturally/

https://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/bodybuilding-genetics

Oh I know they can be inaccurate. But, we shall see

Are there actually any studies out there to support that?

My understanding is those machines can be off +/-  3-5%. Even if I'm at 42% at 338. I'm still looking at having 190+ lbs of LM.

About disease risk being tied to BMI ?  Absolutely.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/

There are 5-6 references in this statement here:
Furthermore, BMI appears to be as strongly correlated with various metabolic and disease outcome as are these more direct measures of body fatness

Personally I hate it(BMI). It assumes every person is supposed to weight the same. Some guys at 6' are fat at 200lbs, some guys look like tanks. Take NFL players who are 6'3" and 260. According to the chart you're obese. I like the hip to waist ratio better as in indicator for overall health.

It also doesn't take into account how much body fat you've got. I've got a friend who is a PA and a fitness nut. She's talked about people who according to their BMI are at a healthy weight but end up having 25% body fat.

I don't think your lbm number is necassarily wrong, but maintaining it there while cutting down to your target weight will require lots of disciplined programming and nutrition.

I think I can, and I hope over the rest of the year I can add a few lbs of muscle. I'm averaging about 3lbs a week in weight loss. Gym 4 days a week lifting heavy. Taking a pre supplement and eating lots of protein and trying my best to avoid carbs.

Ah. I still don't think being very large and ripped is in itself that unhealthy. I think it's just that people that have obese BMI numbers but are lean are a small enough minority that the general BMI -> metabolic & disease issues still holds.

There was also this:

if you are talking about those electronic machines you stand on or hold in your hands, they are wildly inaccurate. your hydration level and even how dry your skin is will alter the results day to day.