essential fat for women
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latteking
Posts: 27 Member
Hı
I just had my bmi & body fat measured professionally. What concerns me is my body fat percentage which was 10.2%. BMI was 18. I read from an online source that for a woman essential body fat for survival & ovulation etc should be 10.4 %. Should I be concerned and/or seek medical advice? I weigh 44.9 kg and 160cm tall. I eat very healthy & clean, complex carbs, boiled egg, chicken breast, occasional red meat, lots öf vegetables every day. I exercise 6 days a week, 50 minutes to an hour doing HIIT running, cycling, cross trainer. I hardly do weights.
I just had my bmi & body fat measured professionally. What concerns me is my body fat percentage which was 10.2%. BMI was 18. I read from an online source that for a woman essential body fat for survival & ovulation etc should be 10.4 %. Should I be concerned and/or seek medical advice? I weigh 44.9 kg and 160cm tall. I eat very healthy & clean, complex carbs, boiled egg, chicken breast, occasional red meat, lots öf vegetables every day. I exercise 6 days a week, 50 minutes to an hour doing HIIT running, cycling, cross trainer. I hardly do weights.
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If you're concerned I would suggest a friendly visit to the gp.0
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That is similar to figures competitors. It IS LOWER THAN THE NORMAL 18-22 percent range recommended for women, but not unhealthy. If ovulation is a concern, you might want to raise it some.0
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Hı
I just had my bmi & body fat measured professionally. What concerns me is my body fat percentage which was 10.2%. BMI was 18. I read from an online source that for a woman essential body fat for survival & ovulation etc should be 10.4 %. Should I be concerned and/or seek medical advice? I weigh 44.9 kg and 160cm tall. I eat very healthy & clean, complex carbs, boiled egg, chicken breast, occasional red meat, lots öf vegetables every day. I exercise 6 days a week, 50 minutes to an hour doing HIIT running, cycling, cross trainer. I hardly do weights.
Essential body fat for a woman is 10-13%
If your bf is that low you would have obvious veins and am underweight look
A BMI of 18 is underweight
You should look to increase your weight and ensure you eat adequate fats for nutrient absorption
Yes I think you should access medical help0 -
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Essential body fat for women is 8 - 12% female athletes range is 14 - 20% fitness females range is 21 - 25% the average for a healthy female is 25 - 31%
How was you bf measured? 10.2% is incredibly low for a women and not healthy at all. The impact of maintaining incredibly low levels of body fat is pretty catastrophic for your endocrine system hence the reason female body builders only sit at these very low levels for a short period of time before carefully reverse dieting back to a healthy level of body fat.
Amernorrhea is very common once females start dropping into the athlete body fat range (at 10.2% a lost menstrual cycle is the least of your worries when measured against the impact this may be having on your thyroid). If your body fat is actually that low and you are concerned about your health (and I would be very concerned) go have some blood work done to see where your hormone levels are and discuss your results with your doctor.0 -
Thank u guys. I think I will seek medical advice & get blood test done.0
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Ironmaiden4life wrote: »Essential body fat for women is 8 - 12% female athletes range is 14 - 20% fitness females range is 21 - 25% the average for a healthy female is 25 - 31%
How was you bf measured? 10.2% is incredibly low for a women and not healthy at all. The impact of maintaining incredibly low levels of body fat is pretty catastrophic for your endocrine system hence the reason female body builders only sit at these very low levels for a short period of time before carefully reverse dieting back to a healthy level of body fat.
Amernorrhea is very common once females start dropping into the athlete body fat range (at 10.2% a lost menstrual cycle is the least of your worries when measured against the impact this may be having on your thyroid). If your body fat is actually that low and you are concerned about your health (and I would be very concerned) go have some blood work done to see where your hormone levels are and discuss your results with your doctor.
So much this !!
( I don't want to go off topic here and this might not directly apply to the op , because we have limited info on the op ) but I see on here often that some women ( not directing this to the op at all ) don't realize that female body builders absolutely do not stay depleted like that all the time. Its a process. They are only in the very low bf range for a fairly short time frame and usually are under supervision from industry professionals.
It makes me cringe on here at times when I see women striving ( again , not directing this at the op. I do not know the op or her situation) for a very low bf % without understanding that its a temporary thing . they seem to think body builders walk around depleted all year round and that's not the case at all. Much more goes into it.0 -
Don't expect your period to definitely stop to warn you, either. I got extremely underweight when I had a disease they couldn't diagnose for a long while, and my period never stopped. I did get thin enough that my organs in my torso dropped, though! I knew I was too thin but had no idea that it was that bad, because I did still have a period.
I didn't look particularly disturbing, either. It's just my body type. I actually did some modeling at the time for extra money! So be careful.0 -
When I was a super-competitive lightweight rower, my coach would not let us race under 12%. FWIW0
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Hı
I just had my bmi & body fat measured professionally. What concerns me is my body fat percentage which was 10.2%. BMI was 18. I read from an online source that for a woman essential body fat for survival & ovulation etc should be 10.4 %. Should I be concerned and/or seek medical advice? I weigh 44.9 kg and 160cm tall. I eat very healthy & clean, complex carbs, boiled egg, chicken breast, occasional red meat, lots öf vegetables every day. I exercise 6 days a week, 50 minutes to an hour doing HIIT running, cycling, cross trainer. I hardly do weights.
I'm concerned that the body fat and BMI don't measure up with each other, honestly. Your height and weight calculate out to a BMI of 17.5, not 18. That's underweight. It's not far underweight, however, so your BF percentage seems low for that BMI. Hard to say, depending on your physiology. I'm just going by my own physiology here - I'm at a BMI of 19.5 myself, and BF of 18, which are fairly comparable, so the disparity in your own seem far apart to me, which is odd, for a woman. It's difficult for a woman to get her body fat that low - even competitive body builders work quite hard to achieve it, and don't stay there constantly.
You definitely should go to the doctor for a complete physical and have blood work done. I'm confused as to why you would worry so much about eating 'healthy and clean' - there's really no reason for that. Eat fat. Your body needs it. Eat sodium and sugar. Your body needs those too. You'll enjoy them. Lift weights, that's good for your muscles. Sounds like it's time for you to eat in a surplus, with plenty of protein, and do some heavy lifting.0 -
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Man.. I'm confused now. I got my bmi & body fat measured again today as I was too concerned about the low body fat %. BMI was 17.5% and body fat was 14.7%. I asked the pt trainer why such disparity. His answer was it's best to do the test BEFORE workout for best accuracy which I did today. He said 14.7% is very low but not to be concerned?0
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I'm still going to get the blood test done though. And get body fat measured again Before workout tomorrow and After my HIIT as well to compare the result.0
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How is this being "professionally" measured? With a caliper/pincher? A scanner of some kind? Tape measurer?0
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If the trainer said it was best to measure before exercise, then it sounds like they are using bioeletrical impedance to determine BF%. Those are known to be thrown off by how much water your body is retaining at the moment.
If those photos are recently of you, I wouldn't be concerned about BF%. You have a very low BF%, but not 10%. Probably closer to 15-17%, which is closer to the 2nd reading.0 -
I'm still going to get the blood test done though. And get body fat measured again Before workout tomorrow and After my HIIT as well to compare the result.
Hang on
I assumed you had a dexa scan
What kind of Mickey Mouse ridiculous test are you having?
- if you are stepping on a scale ...it's rubbish, even if you're holding something
- If you're having calipers tests I would imagine your trainer is wrong
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Go for a dexa scan0 -
I'm still going to get the blood test done though. And get body fat measured again Before workout tomorrow and After my HIIT as well to compare the result.
Hang on
I assumed you had a dexa scan
What kind of Mickey Mouse ridiculous test are you having?
- if you are stepping on a scale ...it's rubbish, even if you're holding something
- If you're having calipers tests I would imagine your trainer is wrong
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Go for a dexa scan
/runs rabbit's post through the diplomatic filter/
The test done by your trainer is likely no where nearly as professional as you think it is. Go for a dexa scan.0 -
I'll find out the name for the machine tomorrow. It was a standing one like a scale with long sticks attached and I had to hold them sticks while my bmi etc were being measured.
I weigh about 1.5 kg less than my profile pictures now. I am 22.8 inch around the waist and I was about 23.2 inch when the photos were taken.0 -
That is not a very accurate test. You are likely higher than the original reading (and closer to the second reading). However, the fact that you're asking makes me think you suspect you are too thin. Talk with your Dr. and decide together if you should put on a little bit of weight.0
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