Scales (Withings) Fat% Athlete or not

jerendeb

Good morning, though I am not that new here my topic hasn't received a firm answer yet in my research.So I will use this opportunity to introduce myself again for those who don't mind a little extra reading.

I use the Withings Smart Body Anylizer WS-50, though it could be any scale that measure Fat%. Most of these scales have the settings at Normal or Athlete. My question is knowing when to change from normal to athlete.

I am currently male, 6'1" 188lbs. I am still on weight loss. My BMI is right at 24.9, the top end of Normal. When I weigh normal, my Fat% is around 20%. If I switch to Athlete it's around 11%. Big difference. I either have about 38lbs of fat or 17.

Now in my life, I'm 58, I have been many weights. 40 years ago at 18 I was 185lbs. I considered that my normal weight because although I drank alcohol and ate voraciously, I looked good and lean and wore 34" pants. The highest I ever was, 217lbs. Really drank and ate like a pig but actually couldn't gain anymore. I was doing 4000-5000 calories a day. I didn't look good.

The lowest I've ever been was last year, 170. That was really using MFP to the max, obsessively. I was working out 12 times a week. That was running 4-6 miles a day on Monday-Friday, running 6-10 on Saturday. I was also biking 13-25 miles on Monday-Friday and 20-50 on Sunday. But, people said I looked sick. I was skin & bones(I thought I looked good & sinewy.)

My profile picture is from 2009 before a race in Woodstock, NY. I was probably around 178-180.

This topic doesn't really matter that much. I just wanted to introduce myself and open up to looking for some friends, local preferred but anywhere is fine. I live in the Hudson Valley area - Dutchess/Ulster Counties.

The only current health issue I have is struggling with lingering symptoms of LYME disease. I've done the antibiotics for 3 weeks and will see my doc next week for follow up. Still have a headache everyday.

Thanks for reading this,

JERE