Whats my body fat?

kpiazzisi
kpiazzisi Posts: 7 Member
edited April 2023 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, I am 55 years old. I am 5-6 and I am now at aprox 164 Lb. I started working out and dieting in December when my 34 inch waist pants were feeling tight. I was 186 at my worst .
My scale measures fat in 3 ways, viseral, sub cutaneous and total. I think it gave me an overal fat of 18% , but my sub-cutaneous was 12.8%. I also bought a pench style caliper which gave me 20 mm abdomin, 9mm leg 9mm chest. I was hoping by looking at my photo, I could get some educated guesses? I'd like to get down to 10%, but not sure its possible. The fat next to my belly button is the worst at 20mm. Not sure I can shake it.

Replies

  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    If you post photos (yes, plural - front and back, as different people have different distributions), we can make reasonable estimates.

    Didn't peek at your profile so not sure if you're M or F (kinda assuming M, given the stated desire of 10%), but regardless, yes 10% is POSSIBLE. Please note that possible =/= pleasant or easy, and especially if you're F, it's well beyond being healthy or sustainable. Even for a lot of guys though, it's not always a comfortable place to be long term.

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    But there are any number of images you can find online that have a bunch of people with their corresponding estimated bodyfat and you can compare yourself to them for a ballpark idea. And it's going to be an estimate, no matter what. Some methods are more accurate than others, but your bathroom scales are pretty much garbage, unfortunately. If used under the exact same circumstances (meaning same clothing, hydration level, food in system (did you just poo), etc, they can give some idea of a trend, but definitely not something to bet the farm on, yano?



  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,838 Member
    edited April 2023
    Your scale is probably only useful at tracking changes over time.

    Why would you like to get to 10%? Assuming you're male for this. It doesn't sound at all enjoyable trying to reach or maintain that body fat level. You could be at least as healthy at 15%, and find that easier to maintain.

    You could also try the Navy method.

    https://www.bizcalcs.com/body-fat-navy/

    https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Body-Fat-Using-the-US-Navy-Method
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,208 Member
    BF% is really a meaningless number as everyone holds fat differently and measuring is not accurate. Look in the mirror and gauge whether you need to lose fat or not. As far as getting to 10% that is generally a bad idea for many reasons and almost all men look too thin at that amount plus having subpar muscle mass exacerbates things.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    I’ve been chasing body fat % calculators for awhile. I still do measure periodically, but for me have found it to be a bit discouraging.
    In my opinion …. Don’t worry about it and just focus on how you feel.

    Take care
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,410 Member
    edited April 2023
    Yes, you can get to an aesthetically pleasing amount of body fat. 10% sounds way too extreme, but you do still have some body fat that can be lost through diet and exercise.

    At your current stats which is just a little overweight it's the perfect time to do some weight lifting while you're losing that last few pounds and in time you'll see the results you want.
  • kpiazzisi
    kpiazzisi Posts: 7 Member
    Age 55. Weight 163. Male. Height 5-5. I am doing somewhat of a carnivore/keto with intermitwnt fasting. Have gone from 186 to 162 since December. I am consuming about 1.8 K calories per day. I think I just posted pics to my "progress" section. IDK having trouble with this app. I did make the pics viewable to the "MyFitnessPal community". If anyone can take a look and advise it would be much appreciated. Ty

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