Body Fat and Body Mass Index?

lizlucas1
lizlucas1 Posts: 28 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am highly curious about this. I tried this new website: http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com

It had a BMI calculator and Body Fat calculator based on the The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute so I tried it. I calculated my weight, age, height, and it came up to show that I have a Body Fat percentage of 46.18% and a BMI of 38.77. However, according to the scale, a BMI of 30 or over is considered obese. Since I am only 8 points over, am I really considered obese? Also, can someone see that another person is obese based on physical appearance? I've asked people before about this and if I look obese from the third party's perspective. Majority of the answers I have gotten is that I don't look obese but simply overweight. Even to my doctors and physicians, I do not look like my weight that I am, but everyone has told me "the scale doesn't lie."

Replies

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  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    ONLY 8 points? That's a huge amount of weight per height to make up those 8 points. Your almost 50% fat. Does that sound like someone who isn't obese? You should be around 24 or 25% BF. I think your first step is going to be getting your head into the game and really take a serious look at yourself. Don't fall into fooling yourself with the idea that you carry your weight well or it doesn't really show. Being 50% fat is very dangerous for your health without worrying about how you look.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
    ONLY 8 points? That's a huge amount of weight per height to make up those 8 points. Your almost 50% fat. Does that sound like someone who isn't obese? You should be around 24 or 25% BF. I think your first step is going to be getting your head into the game and really take a serious look at yourself. Don't fall into fooling yourself with the idea that you carry your weight well or it doesn't really show. Being 50% fat is very dangerous for your health without worrying about how you look.

    ^^This. I used to be very, very fit. (I actually still benefit from this in that my muscle mass is higher than it might be if that weren't the case). Then I gained weight. In my head I was still the fit person I had always been and somehow fooled myself into thinking that my weight wasn't very apparent and people would "know" that I was a healthy person even if I was overweight. Once I was talking to one of my female friends about tennis and when we were going to play again and one of my very healthy friends gave me this shocked look. Like he was surprised that I would play tennis. I had this realization that even though I felt like a fit person, people in my life didn't know that person. (And my BMI maxed out at 29.8 which is borderline obese but nowhere near 38).
    That realization is my biggest motivating factor. I want the people who see me to know me the way I know me and if I'm overweight, they don't. I actually have always been active and worked out even at higher body weights but if all people see is the 30% fat, they don't realize that. And even if you carry your weight well (I'm large framed so I carry extra weight about as well as it can be carried) it is still there. I am about 28 lbs lighter right now than I was at a BMI of 30 and right now my BMI is still 26) I have about a solid 13 lbs till I'm in my healthy weight range.

    [As a side note: large framed doesn't really have anything to do with weight, it just gives a larger frame for fat to distribute over which is why 5 lbs sometimes doesn't look like anything on one person and looks like a huge gain on another]
  • denezy
    denezy Posts: 573 Member
    Current photo in profile is BMI of 31 and considered obese.
  • lizlucas1
    lizlucas1 Posts: 28 Member
    ONLY 8 points? That's a huge amount of weight per height to make up those 8 points. Your almost 50% fat. Does that sound like someone who isn't obese? You should be around 24 or 25% BF. I think your first step is going to be getting your head into the game and really take a serious look at yourself. Don't fall into fooling yourself with the idea that you carry your weight well or it doesn't really show. Being 50% fat is very dangerous for your health without worrying about how you look.

    I want to apologize if it seems like I don't have my head in the game. I want to explain this real quick: I am 21 years old and have been overweight/obese my whole life. In fact, dieting and exercise were huge flaws of mine since I had tried too many forms of diets before and have lost weight, but then would quickly gain it back. Programs such as WeightWatchers aggravated me, and I'm not going to say I am a sedentary kind of individual (I apologize if it seems I am making excuses, which I am not) but I have never been fond of exercising very much. However, I've been trying to motivate myself into doing more exercise. I want to join a gym, but financially I do not have the means for it and am looking for affordable gyms around my area. I have the "Insanity" program to use at home but I'm looking for means of exercise outside the house. Healthy forms of exercise that I can enjoy. I'm looking for yoga programs to indulge in (I do love yoga) and affordable memberships to either gyms or indoor pool areas where I can enjoy swimming. I was never a fit person at all in my life, and I have my reasons for wanting to lose weight. All this information about BMI and BF is new to me, I don't understand much of it and don't really understand the ranges or the severity of it all. That's why I put the post up to get a better understanding and a different perspective from this community. I understand, from the responses, that I am close to 50% fat and the BMI of 38 is not good, considering yes, I am close to being morbidly obese. But that's why I enjoy this program and this community. It isn't a place where I feel I am going to be criticized or looked down upon based on a mistake I make or something that I don't understand. It gives me clarity and more understanding about how severe my weight and health is, and the necessity to change it. (I still wish, like many people, that this could be done overnight lol). That's why I appreciate the responses, and appreciate that everyone who has responded so far has been honest and clear with me. I need to know. I need to get outside of myself and see exactly how unhealthy or delusional (I use that word for a reason) I really am.
  • RoseRoiz
    RoseRoiz Posts: 95
    The formula for your BMI is as follow, 703 Xyour weight divide by your height square example
    some one who is 98 lbs and 5 feet tall
    703x98lbs=68894 divide by 3600=19.13 the bmi for this person is 19.13
    underweight under 18.5
    normal 18.5 to 24.9
    overweight 25 to 29.9
    class 1 obese 30 to 34.9
    class 2 obese 35 to 39.9
    extreme obese 40 and over
  • Craigamears
    Craigamears Posts: 65 Member
    Yeah Liz, I am not one of the fitness freaks either. I go to the gym but I am trying to convince myself that it is fun. Maybe someday soon that will be true. The real good news is that you don't have to exercise like a madman to lose weight. 80% or more of weight loss is diet. It is a lot easier to deny yourself a Snicker bar then working out in the gym an hour. Just do the thing you hate most which is a nice slow diet approach. Bring a little more activity into your life by becoming aware of how much activity you do. That is the point of tracking. That day you get up and walk for 15 minutes will look and feel real good as you go over to that exercise tab and enter it. As you get smaller you will become more active and then the gym issue can be overcome. Money and motivation will be there.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,449 Member
    Wow, you are a very intelligent and open young lady. I wish you the best of luck, welcome to the site.

    It's not often people can take information and make it work for them. I'm sorry you find yourself in this place in life where you have become unhealthy, but it's clear by your attitude that you will go far in life, and you will lose this weight. You've started, and that's the most important thing.

    Just log all your food, no matter what it is, and learn from your past errors - we all make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. Don't beat yourself up when you have that 1/2 a pizza or bag of potato chips - we all do that, too. Just start again. Eventually you'll be making better choices most of the time.

    Drink a lot of water, make changes when you can. Take a walk every day.

    You can do this!!
  • Woolymancifer
    Woolymancifer Posts: 4
    BMI is not an accurate instrument.
    According to the BMI scale, future hall of famer Patrick Willis is "obese"...
    Use a tape measure and measure your waistline.
    You can do this!
    All of your talents and smarts can help you transmutate that negative history into a fit future!!!
  • jendraka
    jendraka Posts: 117 Member
    BMI by itself isn't always reliable and should be verified with a body fat percentage test. You have already done that though, and it pretty much verifies the BMI in this case. It is possible to have a high BMI and a low body fat percentage, I was like that the entire time I was in the military and for a while afterwards, but this is the reason why both tests are necessary. BMI doesn't take into account muscle weight/mass. Now, should you begin to notice you losing inches but the scale doesn't move for a while, recheck your body fat, chances are your body fat is changing and since the muscle mass weight will offset the fat lost your weight loss might stall for a bit. This is not something to get discouraged about. Just keep doing what your doing and keep watching your body transform.

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