I don't want to spend all the money on the books if I don't want to do the diet... can anyone tell me how to figure this out? Thanks.

Salome-I have found that the calculator on the Zone website gives the exact same lean body mass and body fat % results as the one in the Protein Power book. Here is the link:
http://www.zoneperfect.com/Site/con...lator_Women.asp
You simply enter your height, weight, waist and hip measurement, and they will tell you what your lean body mass and estimated body fat % are. I would ignore the protein requirements, b/c these are according to the Zone recommendations and not Protein Power. Hope this helps!

the best thing to do is to get caliper tested by a professional. once you know your bf% then go to http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WeightBodyComp.html and plug in your weight and bodyfat %. you don't have to put in a goal one if you don't want to.. it'll still tell you what your LBM is right now.

Ok I did the zone calculator and it says that my lean body mass is 112... so all I do is multiply this by .06 and that is my protein for the day correct?

I am sorry to be so questiony... I just have a very limited budget (single mom in college) and I want to feel better - but I cant buy every single diet book out there. Thanks for all your help!

Jenny

Jenny-That is exactly correct! Remember that this is the MINIMUM amount of protein you should be consuming each day. The body cannot store extra protein, so it is important to get at least that much every single day. The Eades recommend that if you are still hungry, consume extra lean protein to your heart's content.

Once you've determined your minimum protein requirement, divide that number by 3. That is how much you should have at every meal. Snacks can be in addition to this.

Don't feel bad about asking questions. That's what this board is for!

Thanks for the zoneperfect link--but here's where I always get confused. Just where on my body should I measure for "abdomen" and "hips"?

Some people seem to consider the narrowest part of the body to be your waist, other want the measurement right at the navel. As for hips--high or low? Right at the top of the pelvic bone? at the top of the thighs? Widest point? X inches below the navel? All of these measurements are very different and give very different bf numbers.

I feel dumb, but I really don't know where to measure.

men measure differently than women... and for the record, doing this is not necessarily accurate for BF% estimation AT ALL.

for men you measure waist at the belly button and for hips at the tip of the hip bone.

The body fat % is just an estimate. Being a woman, I measure my waist at its narrowest point and hips at their widest. Certainly measuring elsewhere will give very different results. There are some other sites that may be more accurate by including your neck measurement as well. These are designed just to give you a ballpark idea about where you are at. So long as you consistently measure in the same place, you should see an overall trend of decreasing, even if you aren't figuring out your precise body fat percentage.