Is my body fat % normal?

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alissab1113
alissab1113 Posts: 25
in Health and Weight Loss
Does my body fat % seem accurate?.... I'm 30 yo, 5'5" 170 lbs and had my body fat tested in 3 spots with the tool that pinches and it came to 20.79% .

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  • Pariah
    Pariah Posts: 97 Member
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    yes, that is normal
    http://www.healthchecksystems.com/bodyfat.htm
  • xonophone
    xonophone Posts: 474 Member
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    I had mine tested at the gym today with a thing that I gripped in my hands and supposedly sent a signal to my heart and back, and it came up with a body fat % of 27.7%. That seems REALLY high to me. I'm a 5'7", 140#, 40yo female, and I get a lot of activity through various types of exercise and my job. I wear a size 6 now that I lost the weight I was striving for. According to that article, it is considered within the "acceptable range" but considering I eat mostly fruits, veggies, dairy, lean meats and minimally processed foods I find it to be unacceptable to me. :mad: I wonder how accurate that device really was?
  • alissab1113
    alissab1113 Posts: 25
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    I had mine tested at the gym today with a thing that I gripped in my hands and supposedly sent a signal to my heart and back, and it came up with a body fat % of 27.7%. That seems REALLY high to me. I'm a 5'7", 140#, 40yo female, and I get a lot of activity through various types of exercise and my job. I wear a size 6 now that I lost the weight I was striving for. According to that article, it is considered within the "acceptable range" but considering I eat mostly fruits, veggies, dairy, lean meats and minimally processed foods I find it to be unacceptable to me. :mad: I wonder how accurate that device really was?

    HMMM! Yeah that seems a bit high to me too. That's what I'd like to know ..."how accurate are these tests"?? I would think the test I had done where they pinch the fat in a few places would be more accurate. Ask your trainer his(or her) opinion on which one it better. I'd think if you pinch fat and less is there that would give you a better answer. But thats just my opinion :) Keep me posted- Alissa :)
  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    those tests pinch where the firmer stuff meets the flimsier stuff and measure based on that. I think they are fairly accurate.. Remember you can be fit and "fat" meaning technically overweight, but with low body fat and higher lean tissue, as well as fat thin which is lower body weight, but less lean tissue in comparison to fat. It depends on how much and what type of exercise you do. You can buy scales now that use a very weak current to measure body fat compared to water weight and bone mass etc.. I have one and my fat percentage has gone from 27% to 23%. 20% is very average and not bad at all for a woman, keep in mind that we have breasts, wchich are mostly fat tissue, but ya gotta love em!
  • xonophone
    xonophone Posts: 474 Member
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    keep in mind that we have breasts, wchich are mostly fat tissue, but ya gotta love em!

    You know, that's what I was wondering! I have a rather um..."healthy" set of them too - gotta love genetics! So as the impluse traveled up one arn through one breast to the heart and out the other breast to the opposite hand...I wanted to ask the 20 year old trainer if he thought they might have something to do with it, but I didn't want to embarrass him!!

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