Body fat.

lc355

I measured my body fat on a scale and it came up at 12.5%. It said normal body fat would be 20-27%. Does this sound right? 12% seems very low given that I'm about 15lb over my ideal weight and do no exercise. I'm 5ft 5 and currently weigh 136lb. For some reason I thought I'd be about 30%

tigerblue

That doesn't sound right! Do you have the parameters (height and age) set correctly?

MicheleStitches

Scales that measure body fat are notoriously inaccurate.

136 lbs. CAN be an "ideal" weight for someone your height...but it means working out hard and having significant muscle mass. A 5'5" female that weighs 136 lb. and lifts heavy weights and has a lot of muscle mass could potentially have only 12% body fat.

Here are some images to give you an idea of what it looks like for a woman to have various body fat percentages:



Which one do you look most like?

whmscll

I'm 5'5", weigh 135 and just hadmybody fat tested via a Dexa scan. 28.5%. I definiteky do NOT look like the photo above; i look much closer to the 20-21% photo above. The charts say this is an ideal body fat for my age; Iam 55. I am pretty happy with my weight; I wouldn't mind dropping 5 more lbs but my focus now is reducing body fat, because I don't consider it ideal.

rainah84

What's the best for reducing body fat and maintaining it?

tigerblue

@whmscll -- I feel the same way. I've not had a scan, but various ways and measurements seem to put me around 30%. But I look somewhere between the 21 and 25 picture. So I'm not so sure about this. . . .

GinR59

Hi everyone, the most accurate way to measure body fat is with simple calipers. That's as long as you measure in the right place. check this out..
Video for mike matthews measuring body fat percentage▶ 11:50
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU8Wkgxfzf0