I've joined a gym! I have 17% body fat! One of these things is true!

[JenMusic]

The university where I teach is offering a one month free membership to the employee fitness center this month, and I decided to check it out. (Yes, I could go to the main Student Health Center for free, but I really don't need to work out around a bunch 18 year olds. Teaching them is plenty.)

I've never belonged to a gym before. All my exercise so far has been via walking and DVDs, using hand weights. I'm a little nervous, but it seems like a very relaxed atmosphere, and I'm looking forward to starting work with free weights and lifting.

The funny part was when they did my short "assessment" - weight, BP, and body fat. The front desk worker did all this, and when she did my body fat (calipers on my tricep, belly, and thigh) the measurement came out to 16.9%. She did it again, same result. I could barely stop myself from laughing.

I know I've lost a lot of weight and am much more fit than I used to be, but I'm also aware that I don't have the body fat level of an elite athlete. Thanks, 3FC-ers, for making sure I could take this obviously erroneous measurement with humor!

[kaw]

Unfortunately, the accuracy of calipers depends on the skill of the technician. Many testers are too nice, and don't squeeze the skin hard enough. (Hint: it is supposed to hurt, even leave marks that last a little while.) This throws off readings, usually toward underestimating bf.

A good "reality check" is that around 17%, women will start to see abs come in, especially the vertical lines that frame the abs. The 4-pack comes in around 15%, 6-pack a bit less than that. Leg cuts typically come in last, glutes often not at all without great genetics, drugs, and/or photoshop work.

FWIW. Regardless, congrats on losing 75 pounds (wowza!) and even more on having a great attitude!

K

[JenMusic]

Kaw, YOU were actually my reality check when I had a moment when I couldn't remember what "normal" BF was. I thought to myself, "Wait, Kaw on 3FC has that awesome photo avatar of her amazing back muscles, and she's around 14% or something. Me and my remaining back fat are SO not close to that!"

That was my internal monologue, pretty much verbatim.

[KellyMarie90]

kaw..thats such a good "check" for fat percentages!
I'm around 19% right now and starting to see some actual definition