#EffYourDXAScanStandards

Protranser

So I'm overweight. 5'9 and ~176 lbs. My body fat percentage according to dxa scan results today have me at 12.4. Visually, i look like I'm between the 20 and 25% body fat for men according to the pics of men's body fat% found online and on these forums

Losing weight at this point should be about fat loss and not muscle loss... so my deficit should be really small since I'm already quite close to "normal" bmi.

However, if the goal for health and longevity is to have a low body fat percentage, isn't 12% low enough? What risks am i proactively guarding against by lowering my body fat from 12% to under 10%?

Or is my understanding of all this stuff completely skewed?

Internet, please provide some direction.

jemhh

Your bf is well within the bounds of healthy.

http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/

Going under 10% is a personal preference, not a health requirement.

Protranser

Thank you! So my follow up question is, should i keep aiming for bmi 24.9? Will losing more weight also cause me to lose more muscle than fat?

Merkavar

Protranser wrote: »

Thank you! So my follow up question is, should i keep aiming for bmi 24.9? Will losing more weight also cause me to lose more muscle than fat?

Small deficit, enough protein and lift weights should minimise any muscle lose.

jemhh

Merkavar wrote: »

Protranser wrote: »

Thank you! So my follow up question is, should i keep aiming for bmi 24.9? Will losing more weight also cause me to lose more muscle than fat?

Small deficit, enough protein and lift weights should minimise any muscle lose.

Agreed.

Do you lift weights? They make a huge difference in your physique. I am near the top if my bmi range and still working on fat loss but look better than I ever did when thinner with less muscle.

Protranser

Thanks everyone for your time :-)

Alatariel75

For people with higher muscle mass, BMI is completely skewed. Professional bodybuilders come up at obese in many cases. At 12% you are well within the healthy range for body fat. I think you'd be forgiven for doing away with BMI, it really is only useful for the very obese or underweight people.

Protranser

I do bodyweight training, but not actual weight training with barbells/dumbbells. I do like how that has changed my physique; I'm just not sure if i should be at a deficit or maintenance calories. I'd imagine at a tiny deficit like this, it really won't matter if i have the extra 250 to eat or not.

I don't see any health benefit to lower my body fat more if it's already in the low teens, so having a goal of getting to a lower bmi than i have now isn't something i need to concern myself with. I mean, i don't think i look terrible now. I have no aspirations to be a fitness model or underwear model. I think i can just maintain 25.8 bmi.

I'm just confused about health benefits of having bmi 24.9 versus 25.8 considering my bodyfat is 12.4 as per dexa

Merkavar

Protranser wrote: »

I do bodyweight training, but not actual weight training with barbells/dumbbells. I do like how that has changed my physique; I'm just not sure if i should be at a deficit or maintenance calories. I'd imagine at a tiny deficit like this, it really won't matter if i have the extra 250 to eat or not.

I don't see any health benefit to lower my body fat more if it's already in the low teens, so having a goal of getting to a lower bmi than i have now isn't something i need to concern myself with. I mean, i don't think i look terrible now. I have no aspirations to be a fitness model or underwear model. I think i can just maintain 25.8 bmi.

I'm just confused about health benefits of having bmi 24.9 versus 25.8 considering my bodyfat is 12.4 as per dexa

Just a guess but I would say 1% BMI has zero difference.

Like someone else said BMI isn't really for people with lots of muscles.

It's meant to be for population studies, on average people, average people don't weigh 176lb with 12% body fat.

So if you have more than average muscles BMI isn't a great indicator.

jemhh

I wouldn't even worry about it then.

Eat at maintenence and keep training.

Just looked at your profile. Good work!

Alatariel75

Protranser wrote: »

I do bodyweight training, but not actual weight training with barbells/dumbbells. I do like how that has changed my physique; I'm just not sure if i should be at a deficit or maintenance calories. I'd imagine at a tiny deficit like this, it really won't matter if i have the extra 250 to eat or not.

I don't see any health benefit to lower my body fat more if it's already in the low teens, so having a goal of getting to a lower bmi than i have now isn't something i need to concern myself with. I mean, i don't think i look terrible now. I have no aspirations to be a fitness model or underwear model. I think i can just maintain 25.8 bmi.

I'm just confused about health benefits of having bmi 24.9 versus 25.8 considering my bodyfat is 12.4 as per dexa

Bugger all. Like I said, BMI is a generalisation and having a higher than average (even slightly) muscle mass will screw up the calculation. I honestly don't think there would be any benefit to you getting below 25, because as you say it would involve a loss of muscle mass

Protranser

I don't think of myself as having more than average muscle mass, which is probably where my confusion stems. Thank you all for insightful commentary :-) i will not worry about dropping to 24.9 anymore!

Merkavar

Protranser wrote: »

I don't think of myself as having more than average muscle mass, which is probably where my confusion stems. Thank you all for insightful commentary :-) i will not worry about dropping to 24.9 anymore!

If you have 12% body fat and a BMI over 25 I think it's safe to assume you have above average muscles.

Maybe you comparing yourself to other more muscular people and not to the average joe on the street.

Protranser

Merkavar wrote: »

Protranser wrote: »

I don't think of myself as having more than average muscle mass, which is probably where my confusion stems. Thank you all for insightful commentary :-) i will not worry about dropping to 24.9 anymore!

If you have 12% body fat and a BMI over 25 I think it's safe to assume you have above average muscles.

Maybe you comparing yourself to other more muscular people and not to the average joe on the street.

This is true! :-)

senecarr

For being overweight by BMI, but having body fat that is, lean, your health is probably fine.
Not all epidemic information is known to be the same for BMI and for body fat ranges, particularly BMI that is obese. For example, sleep disturbances track with BMI, and having low body fat doesn't negate the association. As most disease information tracks BMI without body fat, an honest answer is, we don't know, but the inclination is you're fine.

Protranser

Alright :-) I'll stop worrying now. Thanks again! You're all very comforting

tomatoey

I think you've settled at where you're going to be, given your lifestyle and fitness preferences. If you like bodyweight workouts, and don't want to lift, and don't want to lose more weight, you won't make more muscle or reduce body fat. That's fine. You're healthy. You don't have to look like a fitspo meme.

Merkavar wrote: »

Protranser wrote: »

I don't think of myself as having more than average muscle mass, which is probably where my confusion stems. Thank you all for insightful commentary :-) i will not worry about dropping to 24.9 anymore!

If you have 12% body fat and a BMI over 25 I think it's safe to assume you have above average muscles.

Maybe you comparing yourself to other more muscular people and not to the average joe on the street.

Although maybe you already do?

Sued0nim

These guys are spot on

Also ..you've lost 102lbs ...so you've got higher than average muscles just from living with that extra weight and you've clearly protected some on your weight loss journey

The BMI scale is fairly irrelevant on a personal level

Protranser

Looking at a picture I took of myself today, I definitely can stand to lose some more fat. I think trying to bulk and cut may be the wrong idea for me because, objectively, my torso looks like 20-25% even though the dxa claims ~11% in the torso.

So recomp is the idea at this point, not deficit, right? Okay, I'll do it that way.

Thanks everyone!

WBB55

Based on your last post, I think you should stay at your current weight and recomp for a bit. Also, if you JUST lost the 100 lbs, that means you have a lot of lose extra skin. I think you feel you "look" like 20-25% because of this loose skin more than actual fat mass. If you are at 25 BMI and 12% BF, in my opinion, you are near the ideal weight vs. muscle.

I think what your skin needs is some time to recover from losing 100 lbs. Do the recomp, give your skin some time. After 6-9 months, you'll have a better idea if you need to bulk certain areas or cut more fat that's actually fat and not just weird loose skin. Just my 2 cents.

jemhh

WBB55 wrote: »

Based on your last post, I think you should stay at your current weight and recomp for a bit. Also, if you JUST lost the 100 lbs, that means you have a lot of lose extra skin. I think you feel you "look" like 20-25% because of this loose skin more than actual fat mass. If you are at 25 BMI and 12% BF, in my opinion, you are near the ideal weight vs. muscle.

I think what your skin needs is some time to recover from losing 100 lbs. Do the recomp, give your skin some time. After 6-9 months, you'll have a better idea if you need to bulk certain areas or cut more fat that's actually fat and not just weird loose skin. Just my 2 cents.

I was thinking the same thing.

Eating more will increase your growth hormones, which can help with the skin repair. It seems like this is a good phase for you to move to, OP.

cafeaulait7

Do the scans tell which is bone and which is muscle? Maybe your frame is heavier, seriously, if you don't feel like it's muscle. Are your shoulders that broad from your skeleton, mainly? You look built like my brother with those broad shoulders

I have a broad skeleton and I'm sure my LBM is high because of that to a great extent. It doesn't change what you should do, I don't think, but it could help explain why you don't think you look cut.

senecarr

cafeaulait7 wrote: »

Do the scans tell which is bone and which is muscle? Maybe your frame is heavier, seriously, if you don't feel like it's muscle. Are your shoulders that broad from your skeleton, mainly? You look built like my brother with those broad shoulders

I have a broad skeleton and I'm sure my LBM is high because of that to a great extent. It doesn't change what you should do, I don't think, but it could help explain why you don't think you look cut.

99% chance his report will say what is bone, what is lean body mass, and what is fat.
The whole original intent of DXA scanning was to determine bone density for detecting issues like osteoporosis.
The typical report includes bone density percentile (mine had for gender and for gender, ethnicity, and age).

Usually, high muscle mass will have high bone density as well - it is hard to exercise a muscle without also forcing a bone to become stronger also. Though given he does body weight exercises, that may be less true.