Can someone help me understand my body fat %, pic included

Nataliecatalie93
Nataliecatalie93 Posts: 44
in Health and Weight Loss
So I had my body fat percentage taken about a week ago in fitness class. It said that it was 13%. Ive been looking online but all I can really find is that it is considered a female athletes range, which I am in no way an athlete. I exercise everyday. I do a lot of running and probably about 15 minutes strength training a day, so I was really confused to find that my body fat percentage is so low. I guess my question is, is that I know that I'm not an athlete, so is my body fat percentage considered unhealthy or it just means I have more muscle than fat? I posted a picture just incase it helps

http://postimg.org/image/sszmhe9nz/

Replies

  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Better posting in the group Eat, Train, Progress here, where there is a topic specifically for people to post asking their bodyfat, and the two people running that group are pretty close in their estimations.
    I, personally, would not put you as low as 13%, having seen others at that bodyfat% and having attained that myself.
  • LunaStar2008
    LunaStar2008 Posts: 155 Member
    You look very skinny (without the intend to affend you) on your profile picture. So, it sounds about right with you body fat. you shouldn't go lower. Athletic doesn't necessarily mean muscular and bulky.
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    The lower your body fat percentage, the less fat you have on you. If you have more muscle you can have lower BF % at a heavier weight. It doesn't necessarily mean you have a lot of muscle just because your BF % is low. And for women, dipping really low in BF% can cause hormonal issues, so I'd tread careful once you've reached a certain leanness. At least, to my understanding.
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
    I'd say you've got about 15% bodyfat.. Why? I can just tell from looking at people and giving estimates. It's quite a lengthly process to get an accurate BF% otherwise. I've probably only measured my BF% once properly, from then I've learnt to estimate by looking at over-all physique
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    The lower your body fat percentage, the less fat you have on you. If you have more muscle you can have lower BF % at a heavier weight. It doesn't necessarily mean you have a lot of muscle just because your BF % is low. And for women, dipping really low in BF% can cause hormonal issues, so I'd tread careful once you've reached a certain leanness. At least, to my understanding.

    ^^this.

    However, BIAs (which I am assuming your BF% was estimated using) - which are the hand held devices or those you stand on are very bad re accuracy. You are very slim however, and so I would be very cautious about looking to lose any more weight.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Do you have periods? I think at 15% you wouldn't.
  • GertrudeHorse
    GertrudeHorse Posts: 646 Member
    Do you have periods? I think at 15% you wouldn't.

    When my body fat was 14% I still got my period regularly. It tends to stop around 12% in my experience.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    13% body fat means 13% of your body mass is fat and 87% is lean body mass (muscle, organs, bones, tissue). You look quite thin from your profile pic so I'm going to say that a significant proportion of your lean body mass is organs, bones and tissue.

    What I'm trying to say is that a 50kg person with 13% body fat will have significantly less muscle than a 65kg person with 13% body fat. You don't need to have a lot of muscle to have a low bf%, you just need to have a low amount of fat compared to your lean mass
  • Nataliecatalie93
    Nataliecatalie93 Posts: 44
    Thank you everyone for your help.:)
  • hazleyes81
    hazleyes81 Posts: 296 Member
    IMG_2527.jpg

    looks like more than 15% to me, maybe more like 17-18%

Categories