help body fat % tell me I am obese

lulubeber
lulubeber Posts: 37
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all,

So I have been trying to calculate my body fat % at home with measurments... and I keep getting results like 33% !!!

I am 5'1, 116 pounds and exercise 3 times a week. You can see the general shape of my body in my profile pic.

Can I really have such a high body fat % ?

These results are depressing ...

Replies

  • DrJenO
    DrJenO Posts: 404 Member
    If it matters that much, find a professional to measure your body fat, either with calipers or a dexa scan. Your pics don't really look like 33%.

    Check out this link:
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/02/body-fat-percentage/
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    What kinds of measurements are you using to do the measuring? I mean, it's possible your bf% is that high.

    One thing to think of, is it's all estimates. If you're looking to lower your body fat%, what the EXACT number your tape measurer says isn't important. The important thing is when you re-tape in 1 month, the body fat% number went down (and you used the same method to measure it).
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    I can't see your pic very well, but it doesn't look like 33%. What method(s) are you using to figure it out at home?
  • FIT_Goat
    FIT_Goat Posts: 4,224 Member
    It is certainly possible. But, I don't know how likely it is.

    Keep in mind, BMI and body fat % calculations are based around what is considered the norm. The further your body size/shape from the norm, the less accurate the calculations will be. 5'1" would put you around the 9th percentile in height. That's pretty far away from the normal height (the 50th percentile). There's a good chance the formulas are not accurate for you.

    It would be better to pay the money for a more accurate body fat scan/test.

    If you don't want to, then don't worry so much about what the number is. Instead, focus more on the direction it is going. If you go from 33%-31% on your calculations, that's all that matters. If your real bf% was actually 26% and you went to 24.7% ... who cares? The important thing is that you're going in the right direction.
  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
    Some home scales will give you a bf% although they are not 100% accurate. I have this one at home

    http://shop.eatsmartproducts.com/EatSmart-Precision-Capacity-Recognition-Technology/dp/B004L6NTHU

    Another option is to find a gym or nutritionist that has a "BodyView" machine, it will use ultrasound to check your body composition. I also have this done once every couple of months, compared to a bodypod test they are within 1% accurate. If you are interested in seeing what the report looks like send me a message and I will send you a link to my blog where I have my latest one posted.
  • lulubeber
    lulubeber Posts: 37
    Thanks for the answers everyone !

    the YMCA formula gave me "obese" and 33% bodyfat, and other calculators (us navy, etc.) gave my anything between 23% to 28%. I've been measuring every single part of my body and entering the numbers on every website I could find :)

    I guess I would have to pay the $$$$ to get it done properly if I wanted accurate numbers,

    but I think I will just wait and see if measurments go down.

    This is the first time I have measured myself (after 2 months of hard work, but no starting measurments), and was hoping for better results bodyfat-wise. It's true that being 5'1, most calculators (including BMR etc.) give me wierd results quite often.

    I'll just have to trust myself and find comfort in the progress I've been making on the scale and pics, and see if the measurments go down in the future.

    and I know I am not obese since I weigh 116 pounds.

    thanks for the help everyone !!
  • lulubeber
    lulubeber Posts: 37
    just so you can tell me what you think (I know it won't be accurate, but it's so hard to be objective when you're looking at yourself everyday)

    o5q51u.jpg

    2aglueq.jpg

    thanks guys
  • lulubeber
    lulubeber Posts: 37
    ok I'm sorry those were so big...
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
    Hi new friend!

    I was measuring my body fat % using those same online calculators when I was at the weight you are. They gave me pretty much the same numbers, but having since gone and looked at pictures of body fat % examples, I really don't think I was at 30%, and looking at your pictures I would be surprised if you are that high. I imagine high 20's would be more accurate, but I don't really know.

    If you want a more accurate (but still not perfect) number, pick up some body fat calipers. They cost about $4 online.

    Here are some useful body fat % comparison pictures/articles:

    http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/

    http://paindatabase.com/body-fat/

    The online body fat % calculators are crappy because they have no way to account for the size of your frame (bones) or your existing muscle mass, since they just go by height, weight, and tape-measure measurements of different parts of your body. :smile:
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
    Oh, and somewhere on here there's an ongoing "bodyfat estimation thread" that SideSteel and SaraUK2SF run, where people post pictures of themselves and they give estimates (very accurate as they're both fitness experts) of bodyfat %. You might want to search for that, if you're curious.
  • wapan
    wapan Posts: 219 Member
    lulu - there is a group here on mfp that will estimate your bodyfat from your pics, measurements, and weight. They seem pretty accurate.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    I'm not an expert, but that doesn't look like 33% to me. 27-28, maybe, based on theoretically accurate numbers I've seen on other pictures.
  • lulubeber
    lulubeber Posts: 37
    Wow thanks Linnaea and wapan :) Does anyone know what the thread is called ?
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    here is a link to the body fat estimation thread.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1105598-bodyfat-estimation-thread
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
    It's one of the links in here:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    There's awesome advice here and the whole thing is worth reading and rereading.
  • lulubeber
    lulubeber Posts: 37
    nobody has posted on the bodyfat estimate thread since 2013 lol,

    but maybe people can give me an estimate on here ?
  • ThatMouse
    ThatMouse Posts: 229 Member
    It's hard for me to see on my computer, but 25+% sounds accurate to me. I'm 28% at 5' 1/4" and 122 and fairly similar looking - and my number may be higher than I am, I haven't measured it comprehensively in a while.

    And yes, it's entirely possible to have a low overall weight and a higher BF%. If you haven't been building muscle, you'll have less lean body mass (LBM - which includes things like water weight, organs, bones, muscle, etc).

    Have you been doing strength training?
  • lulubeber
    lulubeber Posts: 37
    It's hard for me to see on my computer, but 25+% sounds accurate to me. I'm 28% at 5' 1/4" and 122 and fairly similar looking - and my number may be higher than I am, I haven't measured it comprehensively in a while.

    And yes, it's entirely possible to have a low overall weight and a higher BF%. If you haven't been building muscle, you'll have less lean body mass (LBM - which includes things like water weight, organs, bones, muscle, etc).

    Have you been doing strength training?


    Yes, I do about 3 hours a week, sometimes more. I do exercises called Callanetics (high rep body resistance training) they're really oldschool and not many people have heard of them but they work really well on me (I've never tried weights). Since there is absoluterly no cardio involved I usually log it under yoga, but honestly it is WAY more tiring... my muscles get so tired they end up trembling after every session ... and I really have toned up a lot. I try to eat enough protein so I was hoping I wasn't losing LBM. I hope I'm right !!!!
  • ThatMouse
    ThatMouse Posts: 229 Member
    Calisthenics? Not exactly old school or exotic, I'd say, they're quite common and I do them too! You can definitely sculpt some nice muscle doing so, for sure. My arms and back have been steadily improving (abs hard to say, I can't see mine yet).

    Do you progress in your exercises at all? For example, if you're able to do quite a few regular push ups, moving to diamond push ups or decline push ups? It's one of the challenges and opportunities with calisthenics - our progressions aren't as linear as barbell weight training (which I also recommend - I do calisthenics namely now due to a knee injury, but I plan to get back into barbell lifting as I had fantastic results with it), but there are many different ways to increase difficulty and load bearing in each exercise.

    Have you seen Starting Bodyweight? (http://www.startbodyweight.com/)
    I follow that progression, namely, and it's absolutely fantastic.

    Have you considered barbell weight training?
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    nobody has posted on the bodyfat estimate thread since 2013 lol,

    but maybe people can give me an estimate on here ?

    Yes they have!! When I put that link I looked through it. You might have used an old link that was in the sexypants thread. The one I gave is part 2 and there were recent updates.

    ETA: You need to go to page 8. It is still active.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    I've heard of Callanetics. :happy:

    When I looked about like that my own calipers and a gym PT told me I was low-30s. FWIW. (You look great. It's a number. You're not obese!)

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