[AshleyLaurent]

Hello Everyone!

I was wondering if someone could explain the logistics and realities of the body fat calculator.

I calculated my body fat percentage which turned out to be 26.24%.

Then my lean body mass would be 136 pounds.

But if I were to lose my goal of 26 pounds currently, I would have a total of 9.33% body fat. Which is lower than the essential fat for women.

So, is my goal of being 150 too unrealistic?

[JohnP]

Which BF calculator are you referring to?

Regardless - it is impossible to determine BF% accurately without a dexa scan or hydrostatic weighing and even those have a margin of error.

My wife is 5'9 and weighs 145. Depending on your body type, bone density and muscularity 150 may or may not be too low. You'll know when you get closer.

[JohnP]

Suggested reading.

One more

[berryblondeboys]

It is true. It's impossible to know based on an online calculator. you need a scan or test taken, but unless you are desperate to know - you can feel (hopefully) when it feels right.

[Jen516]

^^^Agreed! I've checked dozens of different calculators and formulas... the results have a 25% range!! I recently signed up with a gym and part of the application fee goes to a fitness review that includes a hydrostatic BF test. I'm looking forward to getting a more accurate feel for my BF range. I know that the place my gym uses also does the test for non-members for $20 -- you could see if there's something like that in your area. I'd call a gym an ask if they know of any places.

[AshleyLaurent]

Thank you everyone for your responses.

JohnP, thank you for those articles! I will read and absorb!

As for the calculator, I used the one on this site.

I actually went to my gym today and used this to calculate my percentage and it turned out to be 27.7% body fat.



I wonder if this is even accurate? +/- 25%? Good God, I could fall into the obesity range!!

[celrae]

I like and firmly believe in investing in BodPod or other high level assessment tools.

I am 5'9 and BMI suggest that my range should be 125-165 last time I checked. By doing the BodPod assessment I found out that my lean body weight is 131.7. To have a healthy fat percentage I am looking at a range of 175-190. This is a big difference, I would be unhealthy or have to loose muscle to fit into the BMI.

[zoodoo613]

Hahahahaha! I just used that calculator for myself. It said my BFP is 27.5! I'm 5'2" and weigh 200, and because I have big wrists, it thinks my weight is acceptable!

For the record, my scale's BFP meter says my BFP is 44%. Not that that's necessarily accurate either, but one or the other is clearly wrong. I just tried another one and it gave me 2 options: 30% and 47%. And then they go on to say that neither is as accurate as a water displacement test, but are usually within +/- 3%. Yeah, that works. I guess my range is 27-50%.