Body fat % question!

SierraFatToSkinny

So @courtneyfabulous posted this picture:

(Hi Courtney! You ARE fabulous. )

Okay, I'm looking to lose half my body weight. Wouldn't that make me 50% body fat?

In reality... I probably look to be... 40%? Probably 45% because I have a chunkier hip and bum region.

What's going on there?

ElementalEscapee

These pics seem super inaccurate... There are ways to measure your body fat, I do it for free at my college but it's the handheld device so not the most accurate but better than guessing. Google for options. Starting out I was around 155 lbs when I first tested my BF, at around 5'6" and I was at 30% BF. Now I'm 22% or so BF, same height and weight pretty much. So just make sure to test your BF and not go off a bad chart lol, and remember that the scale isn't the best way of measuring your progress (I think I didn't lose any weight but lost almost a third of my BF% because I pretty much only lift weights, so muscle weight evens out any fat loss). Hope that helps. Good luck!

tomteboda

I agree with @ElementalEscapee ,. These pictures confuse me to no end.

Maxematics

Pictures like that can be helpful for some people but overall I find them useless. According to one, I'm 17%BF, but 20% on another, then another makes me feel closer to 22%. Body fat will look completely different depending on the individual and their fat distribution. Those photos may be able to give someone an idea but are just as confusing to others.

Susieq_1994

SierraFatToSkinny wrote: »

So @courtneyfabulous posted this picture
(picture removed)
(Hi Courtney! You ARE fabulous. )

Okay, I'm looking to lose half my body weight. Wouldn't that make me 50% body fat?

In reality... I probably look to be... 40%? Probably 45% because I have a chunkier hip and bum region.

What's going on there?

No, it wouldn't necessarily make you 50% body fat. Your body is made up of skin, bones, muscles, blood, fat, etc... And all of those are some percentage of your overall body weight. People who are very overweight might have a pretty significant amount of body fat, but there's no reason why needing to lose 150 pounds while weighing 300 pounds would make you 50% body fat--the 150 lbs that this imaginary person wants to lose will be part fat, part water, and part muscle. You don't lose exclusively fat.

jemhh

Susieq_1994 wrote: »

SierraFatToSkinny wrote: »

So @courtneyfabulous posted this picture
(picture removed)
(Hi Courtney! You ARE fabulous. )

Okay, I'm looking to lose half my body weight. Wouldn't that make me 50% body fat?

In reality... I probably look to be... 40%? Probably 45% because I have a chunkier hip and bum region.

What's going on there?

No, it wouldn't necessarily make you 50% body fat. Your body is made up of skin, bones, muscles, blood, fat, etc... And all of those are some percentage of your overall body weight. People who are very overweight might have a pretty significant amount of body fat, but there's no reason why needing to lose 150 pounds while weighing 300 pounds would make you 50% body fat--the 150 lbs that this imaginary person wants to lose will be part fat, part water, and part muscle. You don't lose exclusively fat.

This. You are made of lean body mass (LBM) and fat. LBM is everything except fat. When you lose weight you will lose LBM. There's no way around that. The goal is to lose as little muscle as possible, but muscle is only part of LBM. But yeah, if you lose 25 lbs you can't look at a 25 lb model of fat and think "I've lost that much fat."

Michael190lbs

Maxematics wrote: »

Pictures like that can be helpful for some people but overall I find them useless. According to one, I'm 17%BF, but 20% on another, then another makes me feel closer to 22%. Body fat will look completely different depending on the individual and their fat distribution. Those photos may be able to give someone an idea but are just as confusing to others.

I totally agree-body fat on appearance alone can change with one simple meal high in sodium literally over night.

GottaBurnEmAll

In addition to the answers given, I just want to say that the particular set of images posted is particularly confusing because of the variations in body types of some of the subjects. Comparison pictures can be helpful in estimating body fat %, but it's really hard to get a good grip on an exact number for yourself. These are my favorite images, because they're closest to my body type.

eday79

I did look like the 6th image above at 36% bf, now I'm around 23% bf and look more like close to the second pic.
I think they can give you an idea but not the best way to judge yourself.
I use a scale that measures bf and muscle mass as an indicator only.
As as someone already commented, it does depend on how each body distributes the fat.
I lean of quiet quickly in my upper body but slower in my lower body