Do I really have 43.5% body fat or is it a mistake?

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LSJC18
LSJC18 Posts: 48 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've heard that BIA (Bioelectric Impedance Analysis) scales can be inaccurate depending on my body's hydration levels (and I drank like 2-3 glasses of water a day back then? I drink on average about 2.5L now though)

Anyway, when I did take a reading about 3 weeks ago, I weighed in at 163 pounds, I'm 5'5, female and my measurements were 38-32-40. My measurements are pretty big, I know and I know that I'm pretty fat, but did I honestly have 43.5% body fat?

(I've been eating healthier and exercising since, and I've lost a considerable amount of pounds since then, so I'll wait until my next weigh in with the BIA to see if my BF% has gone down)

I also don't consider myself THAT big because my skin doesn't fold over anywhere (still relatively smooth) and I still have one chin...

But anyway, from your experiences and/or knowledge, do you think I actually had 43.5% body fat?

Thanks much in advance, I appreciate your replies (:

EDIT: The picture in my profile was taken about 4 weeks ago, FYI.

EDIT2: Also the machine somehow calculated my waist to hip ratio as 0.95... and if I'm correct, according to my measurements (which I took carefully and multiple times without holding my tummy in or anything) it's actually 0.80...
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Replies

  • Doone33
    Doone33 Posts: 171 Member
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    would you say you have good muscle tone? Do you exercise and workout? Active or are you sedentary... individuals can be fairly small.. you say your not that big... and still have a large body fat percentage. Body fat is not based on the size of your body.. it is based on the amount of fat on your body!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.
  • Doone33
    Doone33 Posts: 171 Member
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    I know a few years back me and another girl from my work got our body fat checked and we were both at 23 percent. She is incredibly small, around a size 4 or 6. I was a size 14. So body fat and size can be misleading! She was shocked and so was I! Let us know when you get checked again! 43 percent does seem high if your not a hefty girl, but I am no expert. Your doctor can send you to have these test taken along with blood work, that is where I did mine, at a lab. Also, I have extrememly large hips... measurements can mean nothing when considering body fat. My hips measure out to 40 inches... I hate that part of me, but I am glad to say that its not because I have fat hips... I just have large hips!
  • LSJC18
    LSJC18 Posts: 48 Member
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    Well, I did move around a fair bit, but I wouldn't have called my lifestyle too active as I gained most of my weight during senior year of high school, living alone and doing nothing but sitting in classes and sitting at my desk. Though I did play sports at an average of 2 times a week for about an hour.

    Also, no, I'm not really hefty, I have a medium sized frame and I fit into US size 10 clothing (not sure about now). I wouldn't say that I have great muscle tone but I do have enough, more on my legs though, my arms are very weak.

    I didn't have this taken at the doctor's or anything it was just at the local gym.
  • DouMc
    DouMc Posts: 1,689 Member
    Options
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.

    Do these calculators normally give hugely different results? The military one give me a BF% of 36.8% while the Bailey one give me 22%, the other one is in between at 26.5%. I hate the scales that measure it because they put me up at about 38%. Because they are all so different I really have no idea of what my bf% is.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    Options
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.

    Do these calculators normally give hugely different results? The military one give me a BF% of 36.8% while the Bailey one give me 22%, the other one is in between at 26.5%. I hate the scales that measure it because they put me up at about 38%. Because they are all so different I really have no idea of what my bf% is.

    Not that big a spread. When I last ran them for me, I got 17%, 19% and 24% (don't remember which went with which).
  • LSJC18
    LSJC18 Posts: 48 Member
    Options
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.

    I just did this... and my average says 27.7% BF o.O
  • Doone33
    Doone33 Posts: 171 Member
    Options
    If I was you, I would go to my doctor and have yourself measured. I was just sharing what I have been taught and told. I do know, you cant goo off a jean size, or looking at someone to measure body fat. I cant imagine that anyone will be able to answer you question on this web site... a person would have to see you and measure you to tell you what your body fat percentage is. I know that there are web sites that guesstimate by height and weight... but heck... a body builder can bee 200 lbs and have less than 10 percent body fat, and those online sites may tell them they are obese according to weight and height... Honestly.. there is no way to know, unless you go somewhere and have a professional actually measure you!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    Options
    If I was you, I would go to my doctor and have yourself measured. I was just sharing what I have been taught and told. I do know, you cant goo off a jean size, or looking at someone to measure body fat. I cant imagine that anyone will be able to answer you question on this web site... a person would have to see you and measure you to tell you what your body fat percentage is. I know that there are web sites that guesstimate by height and weight... but heck... a body builder can bee 200 lbs and have less than 10 percent body fat, and those online sites may tell them they are obese according to weight and height... Honestly.. there is no way to know, unless you go somewhere and have a professional actually measure you!

    Agree to an extent. Calibrate your numbers against a skin fold test. The body fat calculators can be off significantly if you measure wrong. If your numbers from the tape measure track to the numbers from the caliper test (with room for a little error), then you probably have the right number.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Don't worry about the numbers because they don't matter at all right now. You joined mfp because you knew you were overweight and decided to make a healthy change for yourself. You realized that losing body fat would improve your risk factors, energy levels, and physical appearance. So what difference does it make if your body fat is 43%, or 39%, or 35 or even 50%?

    You know that you both want and need to lose weight, specifically weight from fat. All that matters right now is that you have the correct calorie deficit, resistance training program, and cardio program in place so that you can do what you already know you need to do, lose weight.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.

    Do these calculators normally give hugely different results? The military one give me a BF% of 36.8% while the Bailey one give me 22%, the other one is in between at 26.5%. I hate the scales that measure it because they put me up at about 38%. Because they are all so different I really have no idea of what my bf% is.

    yep.

    This is how it looks for me:

    scale : 35-38%
    3-point caliper test: 36%

    F2F calculator: 27.6%
    Military calculator: 38.1%
    Covert Bailey calculator: 27%
    Average of the 3 online: 30.9%

    I like the average from the online calculators, but I think in my case my scale might be right about my BF% being between 35-38%.
  • angiewf
    angiewf Posts: 175 Member
    Options
    Remember that you store fat round your internal organs too, so outside measurements don't tell the whole story. To get it exactly you'd need an MRI scan! Also women naturally have a higher bodyfat percentage than men because of needing it for childbearing . Your percentage does seem high if you're not overly overweight, tho'.
  • ReadynWillin
    ReadynWillin Posts: 104
    Options
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.

    Do these calculators normally give hugely different results? The military one give me a BF% of 36.8% while the Bailey one give me 22%, the other one is in between at 26.5%. I hate the scales that measure it because they put me up at about 38%. Because they are all so different I really have no idea of what my bf% is.

    yep.

    This is how it looks for me:

    scale : 35-38%
    3-point caliper test: 36%

    F2F calculator: 27.6%
    Military calculator: 38.1%
    Covert Bailey calculator: 27%
    Average of the 3 online: 30.9%

    I like the average from the online calculators, but I think in my case my scale might be right about my BF% being between 35-38%.

    Same here.

    F2F calculator: 28%
    Military calculator: 56%
    Covert Bailey calculator: 34%

    Average: 39%
    Which is weirdly close to the BMI calulator result of 38.6. And I always thought BMI was a sham lol. Not for me I guess. ;)
  • MyJourney1960
    MyJourney1960 Posts: 1,133 Member
    Options
    ok, call this a light bulb moment for me, but if the various calculators claim that I have 60 lb of fat, that means that the amount of weight i need to lose is 60 lb? (or if i do an average of the three calculators, then what i need to lose is 88 lb?)
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    If I was you, I would go to my doctor and have yourself measured. I was just sharing what I have been taught and told. I do know, you cant goo off a jean size, or looking at someone to measure body fat. I cant imagine that anyone will be able to answer you question on this web site... a person would have to see you and measure you to tell you what your body fat percentage is. I know that there are web sites that guesstimate by height and weight... but heck... a body builder can bee 200 lbs and have less than 10 percent body fat, and those online sites may tell them they are obese according to weight and height... Honestly.. there is no way to know, unless you go somewhere and have a professional actually measure you!

    Most doctors are not trained in either body composition assessment or interpreting the results.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Options
    get a set of calipers....body fat % scales are notoriously not accurate...mine reds anywhere from 13 to 15% and my calipers say I am 13%...

    although, calipers are not the most accurate either...
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    43.5% BF works out to a fat free mass of ~92lbs. That's a little smaller than avg for your height, but not unusual. So the number itself is not out of the question. You may not be exactly that number, but it is likely accurate to within 4%-in practical terms, there is not that much difference between 39% and 43%.

    It's with the retests that BIA can become more problematic because the errors might not be consistent. I highly recommend recording circumference measurements as a backup. They won't give you a bf% number, but if you lose 5" off your waist, for example, that can help show progress if you get an inaccurate BIA reading.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    ok, call this a light bulb moment for me, but if the various calculators claim that I have 60 lb of fat, that means that the amount of weight i need to lose is 60 lb? (or if i do an average of the three calculators, then what i need to lose is 88 lb?)

    If your loss was only fat, but you wouldn't want to lose all 60lbs. Women do need some fat on their bodies. So instead of trying to get rid of all the fat on your body, look at reducing the fat to lbm ratio.

    Example:
    based on a BF% of 36%
    estimated LBM: 115.7lbs
    estimated Fat Mass: 65.1lbs

    If (and this is a huge if) I could manage to get to 145lbs without losing any of my LBM, then I'd be at 20.1% BF. This would mean I'd still have 29.3lbs of fat on my body (providing that I didn't lose any of my LBM).

    Is it possible, I dunno, but I'm going to try my hardest to keep as much of my LBM as possible.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Options
    Don't worry about the numbers because they don't matter at all right now. You joined mfp because you knew you were overweight and decided to make a healthy change for yourself. You realized that losing body fat would improve your risk factors, energy levels, and physical appearance. So what difference does it make if your body fat is 43%, or 39%, or 35 or even 50%?

    You know that you both want and need to lose weight, specifically weight from fat. All that matters right now is that you have the correct calorie deficit, resistance training program, and cardio program in place so that you can do what you already know you need to do, lose weight.

    ^ Please read this.
  • DouMc
    DouMc Posts: 1,689 Member
    Options
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    Do all 3 BF Calcs and use the average number

    Try the above. Bioelectric impedence is notoriously inaccurate. My scale is routinely off by 5% (it never seems to underestimate), and my tape measure numbers are backed up by skin fold caliper test at my last physical. Assuming you measure correctly, teh above should give you a better number.

    Do these calculators normally give hugely different results? The military one give me a BF% of 36.8% while the Bailey one give me 22%, the other one is in between at 26.5%. I hate the scales that measure it because they put me up at about 38%. Because they are all so different I really have no idea of what my bf% is.

    yep.

    This is how it looks for me:

    scale : 35-38%
    3-point caliper test: 36%

    F2F calculator: 27.6%
    Military calculator: 38.1%
    Covert Bailey calculator: 27%
    Average of the 3 online: 30.9%

    I like the average from the online calculators, but I think in my case my scale might be right about my BF% being between 35-38%.

    Same here.

    F2F calculator: 28%
    Military calculator: 56%
    Covert Bailey calculator: 34%

    Average: 39%
    Which is weirdly close to the BMI calulator result of 38.6. And I always thought BMI was a sham lol. Not for me I guess. ;)

    Thanks, its good to know that I am not the only one. I have managed to get my BMI down to about 23 so now I want to focus on getting my BF down but it is annoying that I cannot settle on a baseline number off which to judge progress. I think I will just go with the average from all three calculators. At the end of the day even if it is not accurate at least it will still show if I am going down.

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