29% body fat....?

capriqueen

The other day the trainer at the gym checked my BF%, by plugging in all my measurements into this calculator that apparently exists on their weighing machine. Apparently she took my measurements when I was wearing a pair of real thick track pants (even she admitted the measurements would be off by a bit) and a reasonably thick top.

Now she says my BF% is 29% and put me up to moderately obese with my BMI being ~23. How accurate can this be?

TavistockToad

whats your height and weight?

Chadomaniac

Could be right . Personally I find callipers to be the most trustworthy . Calculators not so much

melaniecheeks

What? Are you confusing bmi and body fat?

A bmi of 20-25 for a female is healthy, over 25 is overweight and over 30 is obese.

Body fat is REALLY difficult to measure accurately, but for women, under 30% is good, under 20% is getting into athlete territory.

So if your bmi is 23 and your bodyfat 29%, I'd say you were in reasonable shape.

capriqueen

Im 168.5 cm (roughly 5'6.5 ) and 142.8 pounds currently.

My measurements are 33-25-38.

capriqueen

What? Are you confusing bmi and body fat?

A bmi of 20-25 for a female is healthy, over 25 is overweight and over 30 is obese.

Body fat is REALLY difficult to measure accurately, but for women, under 30% is good, under 20% is getting into athlete territory.

So if your bmi is 23 and your bodyfat 29%, I'd say you were in reasonable shape.

No Im not confusing bodyfat and BMI. She said a "healthy BMI" is 20.

Good Lord.

ngressman

What? Are you confusing bmi and body fat?

A bmi of 20-25 for a female is healthy, over 25 is overweight and over 30 is obese.

Body fat is REALLY difficult to measure accurately, but for women, under 30% is good, under 20% is getting into athlete territory.

So if your bmi is 23 and your bodyfat 29%, I'd say you were in reasonable shape.

No Im not confusing bodyfat and BMI. She said a "healthy BMI" is 20.

Good Lord.

She is wrong then. A healthy BMI is anywhere 18.5-24.5 Obese is having a BMI over 30. For your height you could be anywhere from 115-150. It sounds like you are still in the healthy range.

sam308lbs

Im 168.5 cm (roughly 5'6.5 ) and 142.8 pounds currently.

My measurements are 33-25-38.

it's quite possible you are at 29 % bf if your other pics are recent

TavistockToad

both BMI and bodyfat% are fine.... you could stand to lose a little bodyfat if you wanted though.

when you ask 'is it accurate?' is that because you think the numbers are too high?

sam308lbs

What? Are you confusing bmi and body fat?

A bmi of 20-25 for a female is healthy, over 25 is overweight and over 30 is obese.

Body fat is REALLY difficult to measure accurately, but for women, under 30% is good, under 20% is getting into athlete territory.

So if your bmi is 23 and your bodyfat 29%, I'd say you were in reasonable shape.

No Im not confusing bodyfat and BMI. She said a "healthy BMI" is 20.

Good Lord.

Screw BMI and focus on BF % entirely.Though i would recommend using calipers and mirrors for calculating your body fat instead of bio electrical impedance devices

neandermagnon

What? Are you confusing bmi and body fat?

A bmi of 20-25 for a female is healthy, over 25 is overweight and over 30 is obese.

Body fat is REALLY difficult to measure accurately, but for women, under 30% is good, under 20% is getting into athlete territory.

So if your bmi is 23 and your bodyfat 29%, I'd say you were in reasonable shape.

This

29% body fat is nowhere near moderately obese. The healthy body fat % range for women is 18-28% and obese is over 35% so you're nowhere near obese, and given the issues with inaccuracy of some body fat % measurements, and there's no real difference between 28% and 29% body fat, it could be a measuring error. So it sounds like your body fat percentage is in the high end of the healthy range. That means you can lose a fair bit of body fat and still be healthy, if that's what you want, but you don't have to if you don't want to. Body fat % over 35 then it would be a good idea to lose fat for health reasons.

it's best with body fat % to measure it in a range of different ways, then take an average if the results are mostly the same. If the different methods produce very different results then it's hard to say which ones are way off, but if you only take one and it's way off, you wouldn't know.

capriqueen

both BMI and bodyfat% are fine.... you could stand to lose a little bodyfat if you wanted though.

when you ask 'is it accurate?' is that because you think the numbers are too high?

Yes! Because my measurements that she plugged in were ATLEAST an inch higher than the ones I posted here.

TavistockToad

both BMI and bodyfat% are fine.... you could stand to lose a little bodyfat if you wanted though.

when you ask 'is it accurate?' is that because you think the numbers are too high?

Yes! Because my measurements that she plugged in were ATLEAST an inch higher than the ones I posted here.

how many pairs of trousers did you have on to increase your measurements by an inch!?

and to be honest, what difference does it make really? if you are within the healthy range, which you are, then the numbers mean nothing... just go on how you feel when you look in the mirror!

capriqueen

Hahaha

No Im serious. With the pants on she held the tape a little loose too. Trousers would have been ok. I was wearing pants two sizes large and they were kind of hanging loose.

melaniecheeks

So can we clarify what your question actually is?

bunbunzee44

yeah, it's possible. my BMI is 20.7 and body fat is 30%

the accuracy varies though..

T1DAnna

Unless it was somehow a water displacement test, that is unlikely to be remotely accurate.