I see a lot of body fat percentages being posted and they are all over the place. I see a body fat percentage of 17%, for example, on one person and they look totally lean. On another person, not so much. So, I am assuming this has to do with the way it was measured. So, for a woman, what percentage body fat would be considered quite lean for a woman?
Since measuring it seems to be so arbitrary, how are people measuring their fat loss vs. lean mass loss. Especially for those doing a lot of cardio. Some say they are tracking closely to ensure no loss of lean mass from all the cardio. How? How does one KNOW they aren't losing lean mass -- that their loss is fat only?
The only way I have to track BF is through the hand-held calipers that the gym measures with. I know it's not that accurate, so I've been hesitant to even dwell too much on the number. I suppose if it's going down, that's a good thing. However, I still don't know if I am getting a true feel for fat loss vs lean mass loss with this measurement. Is anyone?
I've gotten numbers that are all over the place as well, from on-line calculators where you punch in your height and weight, to the hand-held calipers and 7-site pinches. And, I have yet to feel confident in any of the numbers. So, I stopped bothering. I decided that it's really not all that important...for me and my goals, anyway.
I just want to change my body comp and I'm doing it by concentrating on two main aspects: being consistent with my workouts and my nutrition, not all the measurement numbers. I figure if I do those two things right, my body will follow suit and take care of itself. I'm trusting the process, I guess.
However, for a serious athelete, or someone training for some type of competition, then I guess they would need to get much more into the numbers and tracking.
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I use the online calc at fittogether.net. I worry less about how accurate it is, and more about how the number changes over time. I have been tracking since 2003, and have gone down almost 10 percent from 42 percent to 33 percent. and my pictures verify a dramatic change in body comp.
I have to agree that it's mostly about watching the trend.
I have both a Tanita scale and Omron handheld.
Many days of the week I weigh myself first thing in the morning and measure my bodyfat with both the above devices.
I have an excel spreadsheet that I track them all in (the bodyfat %'s are averaged.) The spreadsheet also takes an average of my last 4 weigh-ins, and an average of my last 4 bodyfat %'s, and I consider that what's current. I think I will change the bodyfat numbers to average over the last 6 weigh ins.
I also have columns that show my high and low calorie range based on my current weight. Right now I'm at 158 lbs, when I've dropped 10 or more, that will be an obvious difference.
And I also have calculation on what my goal weight is based on my lean body mass. Right now my lean is ~108 lbs, and at 20% my goal is 135 lbs, at 18% my goal is 132 lbs. If I drop a couple pounds of lean, that number will show a change too.
Maybe it sounds like overkill, but it's just plugging a couple numbers into spreadsheet and it does the work for me.
And it's actually interesting to watch. My period started today, and I did not show a gain of weight, in fact I'm dropping consistently each day, but I did show a slight change in bodyfat vs. lean, so maybe that is water retention.
I am looking forward to seeing how it works over the next few months.
Krista Scott-Dixon has a four-part article about body fat. It's a lot of reading, but it's excellent information and I hope all of you will take the time to read through it. Part 3 is called Assessing Body Fat and has a whole section on body fat norms. It's too long to quote here, but I think all of your questions will be answered. Krista's whole site is directed specifically to women and contains a wealth of information.
Great information so far! Thanks for asking this question. I am finding bf% to be an essential part of this for me. In the past 7 weeks I lost only 4.5 lbs on the scale but 13 lbs of fat and gained 8.5lbs of muscle. Imagaine how discouraged I might have been without understanding my bf loss? I also experienced a crash during this time. If I did not know about bf% loss I would not have even begun to believe that I had experienced a crash. Now I can look and see that I was loosing at a rate of 2.48lbs a week which is way too high.
Also because I have also kept track of daily calories in I am able to know that my daily maint cals is exactly 2647 kcals average per day and with that number I can be very certain what my daily intake needs to be to meet my goals. And finally because the bf% gives me also the muscle gained I know exactly how many grams of protein my body required per day to build that muscle.
I too built an excel spreadsheet that calculates all this stuff for me. All I have to know for any given time period is start weight, end weight, bf% and avg cals consumed per day. None of this information would be available to me without bf% so I value it very much.
I use both calipers and also a bio-something (hand-held) machine that Ballys gym has and my trainer has. I always get at least 3 measurements over the course of two days. That way I know I am within 1-2%.
Calculating body fat is very frustrating for me. Depending on the measure is can be 10% points different. In September, I had my bodyfat measured with calipers at a gym. He measured it at 34%. However, he didn't use the caliper on my thigh, which I have always had measured. That same day using my tanita it was about 28% and the handheld was about 26%. A couple of days later, another person used calipers at 3 points (including thigh) and found my bodyfat to be 28.6. On the gym's scale (which measures fat differently than my tanita--some new technology) it was 29.6.
Just recently, after gaining a few pounds, I went back to the first gym to get my bodyfat tested (it was some part of a 12 week challenge). They couldn't use calipers that day but used a handheld which read 24.6%. How confusing. The same gym in a couple of months time has said that my bodyfat went from 35% to 24.6%, when I know I have gained weight from the holidays (and it wasn't muscle). I can't imagine how confusing this would be for someone with very little information on diet and exercise and it worries me what other things they are teaching them. I have spent years studying this subject--and had several certifications for aerobics and personal training, and it is still frustrating for me.
I agree that tracking trends is most important. I also have found that I need to have my bodyfat measured by the same person each time. My tanita and hand held can give me an estimate, but I know that the number will be quite different than when it is done with the caliper. I remember in college, when I was what I thought in great shape, I had my bodyfat measured with underwater weighing and it was higher than any other measure that I had done.
Great information so far! Thanks for asking this question. I am finding bf% to be an essential part of this for me. In the past 7 weeks I lost only 4.5 lbs on the scale but 13 lbs of fat and gained 8.5lbs of muscle. Imagaine how discouraged I might have been without understanding my bf loss? I also experienced a crash during this time. If I did not know about bf% loss I would not have even begun to believe that I had experienced a crash. Now I can look and see that I was loosing at a rate of 2.48lbs a week which is way too high.
How the heck did you do this? I thought it was very hard for women to gain muscle. Some women would kill for a gain like this in a year much less 7 weeks.
__________________ The Evolution of a Dream:
Dream is implanted into brain.
Dreamer becomes thrilled.
Dreamer becomes terrified.
If no action is taken, terrifying thoughts grow into flesh-eating monsters. Dream is considered unrealistic.
If action is taken, terrifying thoughts are revealed to be paper tigers. Confidence soars, miracles unfold and dreamer begins to saunter.
Either way, nothing remains the same.
if my measurements are going down and my strength is going up - I know I'm moving body composition in the right direction - and I'm not worried about bf %.
I'm thinking I'll get dunked maybe around my birthday (end of March), perhaps again at the end of this challenge (90 days later) - and depending one where I am at that point plan if I will do it again. It isn't cheap but it isn't too bad as an infrequent assessment.
How the heck did you do this? I thought it was very hard for women to gain muscle. Some women would kill for a gain like this in a year much less 7 weeks.
I don't know. I only know what the numbers show me. I went from 31% bf to 22% bf and only lost 4.5lbs of actual scale weight. That is a 13 lb fat loss. That means that there are 8.5 lbs of unaccounted stuff. I would assume that is muscle. I am fairly new to this so someone can correct me if I did the Math wrong.
I do know that my visually my body is very much changing. I see bulk in my arms and definition in my abs that was not there when I started. At the same time I am shrinking and went down two pant sizes. It is pretty cool stuff.
This is all great information. I'm trying to gain muscle without losing any more weight (gain if I can) for now. I've been trying to figure out how to measure that.
Thanks for all of the great info. Lisa, I read through the link you provided -- more great info.
From that and what I've read, am I correct that 17% bodyfat on a female is equal to a very lean female? Anything much lower than that is athlete/bodybuilder caliber?
Thanks for all of the great info. Lisa, I read through the link you provided -- more great info.
From that and what I've read, am I correct that 17% bodyfat on a female is equal to a very lean female? Anything much lower than that is athlete/bodybuilder caliber?
Yes. I have this really good-looking chart that I wanted to post. So I went to my flickr acct to upload it as a JPG, and I got this message: Flickr is having a massage.
HA! That just cracked me up. They're updating the website. A massage, hahahahahaha. Too funny.
Anyway, here's the info from the chart, just not in its pretty chart format:
Classification Women (%fat)
Essential Fat: 10-12%
Athletes: 14-20%
General Fitness: 21-24%
Acceptable: 25-31%
Obese: 32% and higher
It makes me happy that you're reading the articles I've linked. I love it when people want to learn.
It makes me happy that you're reading the articles I've linked. I love it when people want to learn.
i am totally eating up everything you have been posting, lisa! i love your direct and very knowledgeable responses to all the questions i have seen posted. so much of this is new to me and i am just soaking it all in. thanks for being there for us! karen
Thanks for all the good info. I would really like to get an accurate idea of my BF % I just looked online and found a hospital near me that offers the hydrostatic testing (underwater) for only $30. I need to call them tomorrow to see if that's the price for people who aren't on one of their insurance plans. I was expecting it to be a lot more $
Last year, when my Omron BF Analyzer consistently was saying I was 15% I had my bf measured by a professional (calipers, on 7 sites). She came up with 12%. So, now I know my Omron is wrong by 3%. But I chose to go by Omron's measurements for now. I know it's wrong, but at least it's consistent at being wrong
Tracking body fat percentage
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