Am I seriously obese? 41% Body Fat

RanzITman

From you own test saying you have 49 pounds of fat you calculate at between 28% and 30% BMI roughly. I won't try to explain what is up with the trainer but quite simply he is either lying to sell you something or just plain wrong. Don't let that throw you. Stay on your plan and work until you feel good about you. You are doing fine. I would be more worried that your self image may make you want to go to far the other way. It is a common problem. We see ourselves at too fat even when others are saying you are where you need to be, or getting too skinny. Listen to them! Your perception is likely going to be skewed. I know mine was. 20 pounds lost so far is tremendous and I know the effort it takes. Be very proud of what you have done and just keep going. We are all routing for you!!!!

kater8er

I have a very similar body type to you (proud of it!) and my body fat % is always a bit higher because of the "girls". Small price to pay for a body I love, IMO.

DrMAvDPhD

From your pictures, I would say no way are you at 41%BF.

Vailara

Apparently it's possible even for thin people to have high body fat. I've read that some people seem to accumulate visceral fat, which won't make you look fat, but is said to be bad for your health.

According to my scales, I had high body fat, even when I was much slimmer. At 5' 3" and around 200 lb, I was at 57% body fat. I don't know how accurate these measurements were. However I DO have cardiovascular disease, so maybe I have high levels of visceral fat.

Were you a low birth weight baby, by any chance? There might be an association between low birth weight and visceral fat.

Clearly, you don't look as if you have 41% in your pictures. You have a lovely figure! And I don't know how accurate those machines are. I'm just wondering if it's possible that you are getting a higher reading because you have higher visceral fat, and if so, that might be a warning. I should probably have paid more attention when I got a reading that seemed high for my size years ago.

sazzyp1973

^As Sidesteal said, all the tests vary. Those scales in particular can be extremely way off.
Looking at your pictures, there's no way you're 41%.
Also, not trying to be crude or anything, but keep it in mind that your breasts are made of fat; and yours aren't exactly small.

This missus, I have exactly the same issue. My breast size certainly exaggerates my results. Don't stress it and carry on doing what you have been doing. You look great

sathor

I know of another free test you can take were you hold onto sensors.

oye, I did that once... won't do that again, got silver crap all over my hands, and they managed to bring out a more annoyed side of me... now, I know there are probably some good guys in that group, but dang the one trying to sell it to me pissed me off, and a usually buried part of me came out and chewed him a new one. I think he got a little scared, and that silver crap took a while to get off my hands.

mcarter99

I had a free trainer session at a gym. She used calipers and told me I was like 35% fat. I was your height and about 15 lbs. less than you, in the 140s. I balked. Who knows. I didn't sign up. I think it's a sales pitch/method.

If you care about your BF%, pick up a $10 calipers on Amazon. I think 99% of us can just look in the mirror or use our waist measurement.

sathor

There is no way you are 41%. When I started MFP I weighed 229.8 and was 40.5%. and I'm 5'3". MFP has a great tool under the TOOLS tab, called the BMI, it will calculate your body fat for you anytime. according to your weight and height you are 27.8%/

NO NO NO

BMI =/= BF%

my BMI is 32.4 Obese and my BF is 25% 'acceptable'

ndmain1977

There's no way 41% of your body is fat. That trainer is full of crap.

Scare tactic to try and get you to buy his training services I'm sure.

half_moon

Well, I wrote to the gym, so we'll see what they say. It was not a very friendly note.

susannamarie

There is no way you are 41%. When I started MFP I weighed 229.8 and was 40.5%. and I'm 5'3". MFP has a great tool under the TOOLS tab, called the BMI, it will calculate your body fat for you anytime. according to your weight and height you are 27.8%/

Um, you do know that your BMI is not your bodyfat percentage?

CoderGal

^As Sidesteal said, all the tests vary. Those scales in particular can be extremely way off.
Looking at your pictures, there's no way you're 41%.
Also, mot trying to be crude or anything, but keep it in mind that your breasts are made of fat; and yours aren't exactly small.

Agreed. You bewbs may add a little, but that sounds far too high.

Holy mother! I just looked at your pictures. I'm a bit jealous.

Yes, you're definitely well endowed haha. Seriously though, those scales can be way off in either direction. I own one that's supposedly better and I gotta say it gives me pretty consistent results but even the user manual says that if you're carrying extra water or bone mass or whatever it changes the results. In fact, we use to have a body pod at our gym that you use to hold to figure out bf%. It had to be removed from the gym because there were ripped skinny heavy lifting girls that were crying because of the figures it was spitting out. I saw one of them...she was all abs...and definitely not the number that was getting spit at her. If you're exercising you're likely to produce glycogen to repair your muscles later (a form of liquid energy) which affects those scales as well. Drinking lots of water does the same thing. They also said that some peoples numbers were reading far lower then they would have guessed. Mine keeps spitting 17% and I really don't think I'm as low as that considering how many inches I can pinch in various places :P Maybe it's cause I have like -1 boobs I'm all hips and bum.

At a gym what they should be doing is calliper readings, I'm surprised they're using the BIA tests.

half_moon

^As Sidesteal said, all the tests vary. Those scales in particular can be extremely way off.
Looking at your pictures, there's no way you're 41%.
Also, mot trying to be crude or anything, but keep it in mind that your breasts are made of fat; and yours aren't exactly small.

Agreed. You bewbs may add a little, but that sounds far too high.

Holy mother! I just looked at your pictures. I'm a bit jealous.

Yes, you're definitely well endowed haha. Seriously though, those scales can be way off in either direction. I own one that's supposedly better and I gotta say it gives me pretty consistent results but even the user manual says that if you're carrying extra water or bone mass or whatever it changes the results. In fact, we use to have a body pod at our gym that you use to hold to figure out bf%. It had to be removed from the gym because there were ripped skinny heavy lifting girls that were crying because of the figures it was spitting out. I saw one of them...she was all abs...and definitely not the number that was getting spit at her. If you're exercising you're likely to produce glycogen to repair your muscles later (a form of liquid energy) which affects those scales as well. Drinking lots of water does the same thing. They also said that some peoples numbers were reading far lower then they would have guessed. Mine keeps spitting 17% and I really don't think I'm as low as that considering how many inches I can pinch in various places :P Maybe it's cause I have like -1 boobs I'm all hips and bum.

At a gym what they should be doing is calliper readings, I'm surprised they're using the BIA tests.

I could possibly request a caliper reading, maybe-- but I'm not sure I'd trust them, now, anyhow!

WendyTerry420

Do you need to pay someone else to get your body fat?

Body fat percentage is a basic marker of health and one's fitness progress. It is as, if not more, important than the gross weight number on the scale.

How could it be so important id it can't be accurately calculated?

MDamoun

Aaaaan don't bother yourself with these things as these gadgets need more than one readings from different parts of body to suggest any percentage.

Rest in simple words as in Maths, percentage is a ratio between two things so unless you know what is been compared and how accurately it is been used to calculate your body fat you won't get any reasonable answer.

CoderGal

Do you need to pay someone else to get your body fat?

Body fat percentage is a basic marker of health and one's fitness progress. It is as, if not more, important than the gross weight number on the scale.

How could it be so important id it can't be accurately calculated?

....because everything that's important we can calculate accurately................There's a reason we still try to calculate the weather despite all failures in finding a way to do so accurately. Figuring out if a volcano or tornato or flood is coming is kinda important. If you live somewhere like here, it's very rare the weather is what it says it is.

There is something called the Hydrostatic weigh, which accurately calculates body fat accurately. All you need to do is go to a scientific lab and pay them to get dunked under water a few times. Some people on this site have gotten it done. It's pretty neat. There's all kinds of ways to get an accurate idea of if you're losing fat.

half_moon

Do you need to pay someone else to get your body fat?

Body fat percentage is a basic marker of health and one's fitness progress. It is as, if not more, important than the gross weight number on the scale.

How could it be so important id it can't be accurately calculated?

....because everything that's important we can calculate accurately................There's a reason we still try to calculate the weather despite all failures in finding a way to do so accurately. Figuring out if a volcano or tornato or flood is coming is kinda important. If you live somewhere like here, it's very rare the weather is what it says it is.

There is something called the Hydrostatic weigh, which accurately calculates body fat accurately. All you need to do is go to a scientific lab and pay them to get dunked under water a few times. Some people on this site have gotten it done. It's pretty neat. There's all kinds of ways to get an accurate idea of if you're losing fat.

I don't really have the money to go to a scientific lab-- I could barely pay for the gym membership (even with their crappy trainers).

cheshirequeen

size 2/4 here and was told im bordering on overweight, just because i weigh 145. im muscular, cant help it, nor do i want to. bmi's are crap. its just an estimation. nobody can convince me im overweight. what did she want me to do, be a size 0 with no curves or fat.

sunshine_gem

I never realised (although it makes perfect sense now it's been pointed out) that boobs would make such a difference. Mine weigh around 7lbs each. Huh. Something to think about definitely.

mfpcopine

Do you need to pay someone else to get your body fat?

Body fat percentage is a basic marker of health and one's fitness progress. It is as, if not more, important than the gross weight number on the scale.

How could it be so important id it can't be accurately calculated?

You need to get the best, consistent, measurement conveniently available -- not a PERFECT one -- and use it as a baseline.