*Body Fat photo eval* Styku says 30.7%!!!! Beyond bummed!!!!

Xellercin wrote: »

It doesn't matter at all. You appear to be fit with a healthy body weight and excellent muscle mass.

What benefit are you trying to even get from measuring yourself? Especially with notoriously inaccurate tools?

...and especially with a "trainer" with that kind of nonsense food "advice." WTF even was that?? Cooked vegetables instead of raw? Huh!!?!?

I think those body-picture devices are dumb, and are designed to make $$$, but then I could not care any less about that number of body fat percentage.

The mirror, my clothes and my good sense mean more to me. I do step on the body-weight scale on most days, but even that can vary by several pounds in a couple days.

Those pictures with body fat percentages like the one azuki84 posted are also nonsense. The top images are taken away from the camera, that 27-29% is right up close (so there's a bit of an optical illusion)...the body 'types' are different...for instance the 21-23 is obviously more of a pear-shaped woman and you can't really tell anything about the general body shapes of the last two.

I think the OP looks great. I don't see how she needs to lose any around her hips or thighs. It's just a genetic body type. @nay0meh - you look great.

One of the problems with weight is that it is measurable by numbers: calories, tape measures, scales, dexa, etc. (not STYKU) so it's human nature to try to get the "perfect" score. We all want to be "A" students.

Relax a bit. Enjoy your healthy beautiful body that isn't straight up and down like a 12 year old's. When I was a young woman I had a period of time where I was mortified at my (OMG) hips, thicker thighs, and rounded belly. It's not the same as a 12 YO, it isn't supposed to be.

I understand exactly where you are coming from.

I’ve had three DEXA scans, one on each anniversary of beginning weight loss.

I was so absolutely certain each time I had much lower body fat % than what I did.

I based a lot of my self worth in eagerly waiting for my scan appointment, and found myself devastated and beating myself up after each one when it was a few points higher than I expected, especially the one I got when I had dropped fairly close to borderline for underweight. “Why did I have a high %? Where was it hiding? How could I get rid of it” That kind of thing. Mental self-berating.

The last time I got one, I swore off.

I’ve since added weight and certainly added muscle. I’m right smack in the middle of “normal” BMI. I look better, feel better.

For those of us who are Type A, finding that perfect number, be it scale, scan or whatever, can be a goal we keep striving for but is always a wee bit out of grasp. Or we reach it and move it up some more.

I’ve had to learn that what I see in the mirror, as long as it pleases ME, is all that matters, and take the scale as simply a basic indicator that nothing has gone drastically off the rails.

As I should've said in my PP, you look healthy, lovely, and strong, @nay0meh - you're clearly doing many things right. I'd doubt the 30%, but 100% agree that a number doesn't matter (ever, but especially) when you feel and look great.

(I also agree that that's some crazy-weird nutritional advice: I don't see any logic to it at all. Did the trainer give you the slightest clue why you should do those things? Some micros are more bioavailable via cooked veggies, but cooking destroys some, too. Whole dairy milk may be a little more nutrient dense than almond milk (depending on brand), but . . . ? Red meat has some nutrients that are good to get, but - speaking as 47+ years a vegetarian - health and fitness progress is achievable entirely without meat. That's just weird. It isn't even standard bro-vice!)

Whatever you're doing, I say keep doing it: It's working!