Body Fat Questions

TheVirgoddess

So I got measured by a competitive edge scale today and I have a few questions about it.

How accurate are those scales? I know nothing is as accurate as something like a DEXA scan, but on a scale of 1-10?

Next, it showed my BF% as 33. I know this is on the higher end of average - but is it terrible? If my non-fat mass is 110 pounds, what's a good weight for me?

I'm 5'5", and my weight is 160 (though their scale showed 166, but I was fully clothed and post lunch). So assuming my non-fat mass stays the same, and I lost 15 more pounds, my body fat would be 24%, right? Is that a more acceptable number?

I'm sorry, I don't really know much about this stuff. Thanks for reading.

Liftng4Lis

Inaccurate woman. There is no way you're 33%

jenglish712

It's an 8 out of 10... as long as it's a magic 8 ball. That's about where the accuracy is.

TheVirgoddess

jenglish712 wrote: »

It's an 8 out of 10... as long as it's a magic 8 ball. That's about where the accuracy is.

Okay that made me lol

Thanks for letting me know - I really should have known better at this point.

TheVirgoddess

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Inaccurate woman. There is no way you're 33%

You don't think? I'm still on the hunt for a Bod Pod or DEXA.

PikaKnight

have you thought about asking Sara and Sidesteel for an estimate? They have a thread in their ETP (Eat Train Progress) group you can post pictures to get an estimate or you can PM one of them to have it reviewed privately. (Just make sure to check out which picture poses they need in the thread of the group pertaining to body fat estimates)

MKEgal

Not sure about the scale; never ran into one.

TheVirgoddess wrote:

it showed my BF% as 33. I know this is on the higher end of average - but is it terrible? If my non-fat mass is 110 pounds, what's a good weight for me?

I'm 5'5", and my weight is 160. So assuming my non-fat mass stays the same, and I lost 15 more pounds, my body fat would be 24%, right? Is that a more acceptable number?

Here's a body fat calculator which works from your measurements.
Try it & see how it compares to what you were told.
http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

If you click the down arrow underneath where it tells you your results, it shows you a table.
(It's formatted differently, but won't copy correctly here.)

Women (% fat)
Essential Fat 10%-13%
Athletic 14%-20%
Fit 21%-24%
Acceptable 25%-31%
Obese 32% +

Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 2%-5%
Athletic 6%-13%
Fit 14%-17%
Acceptable 18%-25%
Obese 26% +

As for a healthy weight, going by BMI you should be 115 - 145. So you're not too far above a healthy weight range.

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various food groups to eat to maintain a weight based on how active you are.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

TheVirgoddess

PikaKnight wrote: »

have you thought about asking Sara and Sidesteel for an estimate? They have a thread in their ETP (Eat Train Progress) group you can post pictures to get an estimate or you can PM one of them to have it reviewed privately. (Just make sure to check out which picture poses they need in the thread of the group pertaining to body fat estimates)

Ohh I didn't know they would do that - I'll look into. Thank you so much!

Liftng4Lis

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Inaccurate woman. There is no way you're 33%

You don't think? I'm still on the hunt for a Bod Pod or DEXA.

I KNOW you're not! Go look in the mirror!

PikaKnight

MKEgal wrote: »

Not sure about the scale; never ran into one.

TheVirgoddess wrote:

it showed my BF% as 33. I know this is on the higher end of average - but is it terrible? If my non-fat mass is 110 pounds, what's a good weight for me?

I'm 5'5", and my weight is 160. So assuming my non-fat mass stays the same, and I lost 15 more pounds, my body fat would be 24%, right? Is that a more acceptable number?

Here's a body fat calculator which works from your measurements.
Try it & see how it compares to what you were told.
http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

If you click the down arrow underneath where it tells you your results, it shows you a table.
(It's formatted differently, but won't copy correctly here.)

Women (% fat)
Essential Fat 10%-13%
Athletic 14%-20%
Fit 21%-24%
Acceptable 25%-31%
Obese 32% +

Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 2%-5%
Athletic 6%-13%
Fit 14%-17%
Acceptable 18%-25%
Obese 26% +

As for a healthy weight, going by BMI you should be 115 - 145. So you're not too far above a healthy weight range.

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various food groups to eat to maintain a weight based on how active you are.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

I do not recommend the body fat calculators. Out of the various methods to estimate body fat percentages, that's the least accurate in my experience.

Here's a link about the different methods to measuring fat (it belongs to the ETP group so if you were trying to find it/figure out how to get there, here it is )

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

PikaKnight

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

PikaKnight wrote: »

have you thought about asking Sara and Sidesteel for an estimate? They have a thread in their ETP (Eat Train Progress) group you can post pictures to get an estimate or you can PM one of them to have it reviewed privately. (Just make sure to check out which picture poses they need in the thread of the group pertaining to body fat estimates)

Ohh I didn't know they would do that - I'll look into. Thank you so much!

Yeah. Just give them at least a few days to review. They get pretty bombarded

Liftng4Lis

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Inaccurate woman. There is no way you're 33%

You don't think? I'm still on the hunt for a Bod Pod or DEXA.

I KNOW you're not! Go look in the mirror!

Oh CEPT, them girls...*cough

tomatoey

You bought the scale? Just use that number for a trend, if you want. And then compare that to what you see in the mirror, and to those pics of people at different bf%s.

tomatoey

I've read that waist circumference is a reasonable indicator:

Waist circumference is the simplest and most common way to measure “abdominal obesity”—the extra fat found around the middle that is an important factor in health, even independent of BMI. It’s the circumference of the abdomen, measured at the natural waist (in between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone), the umbilicus (belly button), or at the narrowest point of the midsection.
Strengths

Easy to measure
Inexpensive
Strongly correlated with body fat in adults as measured by the most accurate methods
Studies show waist circumference predicts development of disease and death

Limitations

Measurement procedure has not been standardized
Lack of good comparison standards (reference data) for waist circumference in children
May be difficult to measure and less accurate in individuals with a BMI of 35 or higher


http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/how-to-measure-body-fatness/#waist-circumference

TheVirgoddess

No, I didn't buy one, just got weighed at the place I buy my Quest bars.

My waist is 34", so I know I still have work to do.

Sued0nim

MKEgal wrote: »

Not sure about the scale; never ran into one.

TheVirgoddess wrote:

it showed my BF% as 33. I know this is on the higher end of average - but is it terrible? If my non-fat mass is 110 pounds, what's a good weight for me?

I'm 5'5", and my weight is 160. So assuming my non-fat mass stays the same, and I lost 15 more pounds, my body fat would be 24%, right? Is that a more acceptable number?

Here's a body fat calculator which works from your measurements.
Try it & see how it compares to what you were told.
http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

If you click the down arrow underneath where it tells you your results, it shows you a table.
(It's formatted differently, but won't copy correctly here.)

Women (% fat)
Essential Fat 10%-13%
Athletic 14%-20%
Fit 21%-24%
Acceptable 25%-31%
Obese 32% +

Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 2%-5%
Athletic 6%-13%
Fit 14%-17%
Acceptable 18%-25%
Obese 26% +

As for a healthy weight, going by BMI you should be 115 - 145. So you're not too far above a healthy weight range.

This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine will tell you not only your BMI, but how many servings of various food groups to eat to maintain a weight based on how active you are.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

23% and fit according to that

I reckon that's out by about 2 and I'm more like 25%

But heck, I'll take it

jemhh

I think that most women's estimates of their body fat % are far off. Look at post #356 on this page. She is 31% per DEXA. 31% does not look as flabby (for lack of a better word) as most people think.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=123726731&page=12

Look through the rest of that thread at other DEXA scanned ladies and you may be surprised at the bf percentages.

TheVirgoddess

That other calculator gave me 33% too. Guess I have some work to do

TheVirgoddess

jemhh wrote: »

I think that most women's estimates of their body fat % are far off. Look at post #356 on this page. She is 31% per DEXA. 31% does not look as flabby (for lack of a better word) as most people think.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=123726731&page=12

Look through the rest of that thread at other DEXA scanned ladies and you may be surprised at the bf percentages.

That was really interesting, thank you.

I really do have fat that I need to get rid of, so I'm okay with being 33% bf right now - only place that number is going is down