I just came back from a doctors visit and they did body fat and bmi testing with one of those had held thing. I was 24.8% body fat and 23.1BMI. I thought my numbers would be lower than that. I feel as though my arms are pretty muscular as well as my legs(my butt is another story)but I thought I would be around 22%. That sucks when its worse than you think it will be. Now about getting the % down, is this mostly diet or can you bring it down quite a bit with wt training?
How depressing!
- Thread starter laura35
- Start date
I know this is a controversial thing to say, but those "hand held" devices are usually super innaccurate!!! A couple of weeks ago, I went to a seminar on Exercise and Nutrition and they presented some information on how innaccurate even the calipers(which are better than the electrical hand held ones) were compared to underwater weighing. They presented some info on fat measurements taken on a female. I believe the electrical monitor said that she was around 25% fat, the calipers said she was 21% fat, and the hydrostatic method said she was 19% body fat.
So even if the doctors measurement were a little off, you're still in a good catorgory. The ACE table for Body Fat % puts you in the "fitness" catorgory which is really good. And BMI....don't EVEN get me started on that one. Even my personal training manual states that BMI cannot be used accurately on fit people. It doesn't take into account lean mass so if you are remotely fit or exercise on a regular basis, throw that "information" out the window. It's totally useless!!
cArolyn
So even if the doctors measurement were a little off, you're still in a good catorgory. The ACE table for Body Fat % puts you in the "fitness" catorgory which is really good. And BMI....don't EVEN get me started on that one. Even my personal training manual states that BMI cannot be used accurately on fit people. It doesn't take into account lean mass so if you are remotely fit or exercise on a regular basis, throw that "information" out the window. It's totally useless!!
cArolyn
thanks, that makes me feel a little better. What is the body % range suppose to be anyway? I had the calipers done last yr and it was higher than the hand held thing but that was before a yr of my bootcamp class also which I feel has gotten me leaner. anyway thanks for the info, I dont know where else to get an accurate testing method done at. I do exercise on aregular basis, 5days a week, with 3days of wts .Also not that it would make much of a difference that hand held thing doesnt let you p;ut in 1/2inches. I am 5 21/2 and she could only put in 5'2 so she cut me a half an inch. Like I said it wont make much difference but any little helpI can get, I'll take!!!!