Obese according to Body Fat Percentage?

AllysaurusX

Hello everyone.

I feel a bit down as I measured my body fat percentage today (done with inbody machine at the gym) and apparently I am obese. 33% body fat with a BMI of 22 and a WHR of 0.85. I actually measured that at home and got a WHR of 0.8.

I feel a little discouraged to be honest I sort of expected to be overweight or even at the high end of normal but my results say I am obese. I really do feel like I am fatter on my middle and that I should lose some weight in order to do this, but obese? I never thought I would let my body get that bad. This is after two weeks of cleaning up my diet (no refined carbs, no sugar) My worst body part is my tummy and though it's not super toned, I was actually feeling much better about it!

I am so embarrassed as well. I have had three kids and always thought I looked pretty ok for having had twins and all. :P Now I feel as if I have been shaken and told to wake up and face reality. I wonder if I will be able to lose the fat rather than just weight or muscle now.

I ideally want to be... well. First of all, within the normal body fat percent range! xD The goal in my head was fitness body fat percentage. lol And I was aiming at losing about 18-20 lbs for a bmi of 19. And also to reduce my WHR (waist to hip ratio) to 0.7 or below. I am not sure how realistic these goals are to be honest.

Any tips or suggestions on how to reduce the waist or body fat percentage? How long did it take you to reduce the numbers? What should I concentrate on?

Vailara

I don't have the answers, but I'm sure that some of the WHR is genetic/your build. My WHR was good even at a BMI of almost 40 (it has actually got slightly worse as I've lost weight as I'm losing quicker from my hips than my waist). It was also good when I was slimmer, but I think it's difficult to deliberately lose more off your waist than your hips to change the ratio.

I also had highish (over 30%) body fat when I was normal weight and fit. I'm not sure why that is, and whether it was just due to a bit extra female fat distribution, or if it was actually a sign that I had extra visceral fat. I'm afraid I haven't really found an answer to that, but I have read that people who appear slim can have a high body fat percentage if they carry a lot of visceral fat, and that health-wise it's not good. There's some scary information here, although it's an old article and I don't know how much is true:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/dec/10/medicineandhealth.health (amongst other things, it claims that dieting can actually increase visceral fat, and that exercise is the way to go).

bunbunzee44

hey, I'm obese too according to those calculations :P my gym has inbody machine too. my body fat was 34% and about the same WHR and BMI as you. but don't worry about it too much, you look like you are thin enough, but like me need to exercise to lose fat and build more muscles it'll balance out.

phildawson75

For a women between 20-40 years old, 21-33% is healthy, 33-39% is overweight and 39%+ is obese.

If it was set to a bloke of the same age range anything 25%+ is obese.

Slim2k

I am obese too, I don't look it, I just look overweight. But im 5.5 and weigh 13.2 so the charts say I am.

My first goal is to get into overweight territory (12.12), but I am not to worried. Focus on your end goal and it will happen.

I am on a weight/exercise plateau at the moment, but all is good! Keep up with the work and lifestyle change and you can look back at this lost as an achievement you completed.

AllysaurusX

@Vailara That's pretty scary. I think I am an apple so I always gain weight on my middle and pregnancies didn't make it any easier. So yeah, reducing my waist more than losing weight has always been my goal. I read so much about that, always a little envious of women with proper hourglass figures or pears.

@bunbunzee44 - It really doesn't look like you are obese at all, I think you look pretty good to be honest xD So if that is how I look to others, with my measurements and body fat percentage, then I am ok with that! xD

@phildawson75 - I saw that some sites say it is healthy to be at 33% (high end of healthy though) and others say anything over 33% is obese in every age category? So I don't know what to think about that. At least at the gym, they gave me my analysis chart. I have too little muscle mass (well, no, that was normal, but on the lowest end) and too much fat mass. So I looked it up online. Again, most sites said it is considered obese, and I think one or two had another table. Also, looked at how accurate the machine was because I couldn't really believe it But yeah. It was pretty accurate apparently :P In any case I was sort of expecting 22-25% and got a bit discouraged when I saw it was much higher than that!

@Slim2k A little sore from the new exercise routine, but feeling much better today! I feel more positive. I am just going to concentrate on doing exercise and eating my clean food. I'll check in the next month & a half. See what has happened, but I will not get discouraged, I was reading it takes a while to gain some muscle and to decrease the body fat percentage, so I am just gonna take it a day at a time

Good luck everyone. To shrinking those numbers!

Vailara

I don't know if it helps but here are pictures of women at different body fat %s (I can't vouch for how accurate it is).

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

I don't think the 30 - 35 % women look obese at all.

Vailara

I just wanted to add that I've been reading an article about body fat measurement and apparently it's not terribly accurate for individuals. So your real body fat % could easily be under 30%.

psuLemon

Honestly, throw the WHR and BMI out the window, they are horrible indicators. The best thing you need to worry about it total body composition. Body fat + lean body mass. as the more LBM you have, the tighter your body will be. Even if I have a six pack, I will still be over weight according to BMI as I have muscle.

tracywaz

Hello, my "obese" friend! I'm "obese" too! Well, 5 weeks ago, I was, despite killing myself 3 days per week in kickboxing and 3 per week resistance training. It's heartbreaking. On the other hand, at this same test, I had increased push ups by 100% and sit ups by over 300%. I had also lost 4 inches off my waist and 1-2" in other spots. But when I saw that my BF% hadn't budged from 33.3%, it was soooo depressing.


I measure my BF again tomorrow, so I'm hoping I'm lower. My waist is really defined and I'm even starting to see some arm muscles. Of course my lower body (problem area) is still a flabalanche! My trainer said that it's not uncommon for women to go up- I might get cry if I do.

On the other hand, I did another fitness test and cut almost 2:00 off of my mile run, and again tore it up in sit ups and push ups. So that's progress.

cleback

I have to question the accuracy of those things too, although I've had the opposite experience. I had mine done a couple years ago using standing scale method and it was 22%. I don't believe I was low or "athletic" at all. At that time, I wasn't working out (so not muscle mass) and was at a healthy weight of 120 for 5'5".

I think I remember learning in nutrition class that the most accurate way to measure BF was an underwater density measuring thing. lol I can't remember the technical name. But I just remember it wasn't commonly used d/t cost.