Body fat % measurement

M

midwestchick

Cathlete
Hi everyone,

My DH's work (university) is doing health screening yearly and if you go and get screened for cholesterol/glucose/BMI/mental health you get $40/month off of your insurance premiums. Well, I think that's a great idea -- so we signed up, of course. I had my testing yesterday with a 12 hour fast (no am coffee -- acckkk!) I was very happy with everything except my %BF I was really surprised, and quite honestly, upset about.

My cholesterol levels all came in superb (thank you clean eating...). Weight at 131,ht. 5 ft. 6 ", BMI of 21%. Ok, it's all good....well, the way they measured %BF was with this sleeve they wrapped around your bicep and apparently it measured some parameter that equates to %BF. No calipers, no water submersion (lol), just one strap around my bicep and my %BF was 27.7%! They then proceeded to tell me to lose 3 pounds. I know it's not much, but I've been working my butt off and haven't weighed 131 lbs in almost 10 years. It was a slap in my face. The physician there said "oh, you are fine, you had your clothes on...don't worry about it..."

Has anyone had their BF measured in this manner? I guess I'm worried about my health if it's in that range. Odd. I'm trying to not freak out here. Maybe I'll go to my YMCA and have the caliper measurements done. Or maybe I'll just let it go and keep up my healthy habits.

I guess I just thought after clean eating since January and all the working out and wt. loss of almost 10 pounds that I'd have been much less than that.x(

Heidi
 
Put it out of your mind right now! How do you feel when working out? You are strong and lean, right? How do you feel in your clothes? Awesome, right??

I just had my bf% taken with a group of 16 people and the numbers (taken by the same person) were ALL over the place! She took the arm, stomach area and thigh with a caliper. Some people who wear a smaller size (I'm an 8) than me had a 30% body fat % and mine came in at 24% (I'm 5'4", 135 pounds).

Just go by how you FEEL!! And then FEEL GOOD about that!!!!
Jenn
 
Heidi(love the name)

I would just let it go and keep up your healthy habits! No sense in letting it get to you. And CONGRATS on the clean eating since january and 10lb lost...thats AWESOME! :)

Man,i consider like five days of clean eating a historical moment for me,LOL
 
Who told you to lose 3 Lbs????? Your BMI is 21, thats great. Also, who was taking your measurements? When I was a nutrition major we took the body fat measurements at the rec center (gym for the students) with calipers and let me say that the training we had to do such a job came in at under 10 min! You are doing great and keep it up!
 
Hi Heidi,

That is how I got my body fat measured (can't remember what they called this method) at my doctor's, and they told me it was the most accurate method. The water submersion method, which most of us think is the most accurate, can actually vary wildly in its results, because it is very dependent on who does the readings and how they input their assumptions. The nutritionist I consulted with told me that if I'm going to have one done, the best way to insure I got an accurate reading is to have it done at a university lab or somewhere where the equipment is reliable and the people doing it really know what they're doing.

Anyway, I digress :).

The strap method (not its real name, but that's what I'll call it LOL) is the most accurate, outside of the water immersion--when that's done correctly.

That said, it doesn't sound like your body fat % is in "bad" territory! Please try not to freak out!
 
Thanks for the advice and encouragement not to worry about it. Also, that article was really interesting,Pat. Thanks for posting the link. Interesting that you can outwardly thin but still fat on the inside, lol.

I'm not going to let it bother me, really..no, really! I may get it retested in a few months, though, just out of curiousity...

Thanks everyone - you did ease my mind!

Heidi, 73% lean and lovin'it}(
 
I had the exact same thing happen. If you go just by my weight and height, my BMI is around 22%.

However, I had the same test done as you did (with the strap and activity level assumptions) two months ago, before I herniated a disc in my back, and my BMI was 24% (my activity level was a 4 out of 5). I had the test done again one month after my injury, after not working out much at all (activity level 1), and my BMI jumped up to 28%. Well, I weigh the same as before my injury and I really haven't yet lost that much muscle, so what's up with that?

This week I got the go ahead to start exercising again. So, I guess next week my BMI will be down again? Can it really change so fast and so drastically?. Seems like a lot of cr*p to me.


I was complaining about this to my gynocologist at my annual visit and she (who is very trim and fit) said she ignores the traditional BMI tests altoghether. What she does is to find her height and wieght on the back of a package of pantyhose and if she no longer fits into a size A then she knows she needs to lose a couple pounds. (She said I'm allowed a higher size since I'm about eight inches taller than she). I kind of like this new BMI test. I guess my next BMI test will be done, not by Independence Blue Cross, but by Wallgreens!.

Shelbygirl
 
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