BMI versus Body Fat
 

Good morning all and happy Friday!!! I was doing some research yesterday evening and thought I would share this with everyone here.

Many people are focused on getting their BMI down, but really you may want to focus more on getting your body fat percentage down instead. Here is why:

"BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It's a simple measure of the weight of a person scaled according to their height." So really, we are all the same here basically because if you are 5'2" and 129 pounds like me, your BMI is 23.6. This does not take into account our "individual" selves.

"Body fat percentage is the weight of a person's fat divided by the person's weight. It lets you see how much of your body is made up of fat, and how much is bone, muscle, blood, and organs. Many people get their body fat percentage measured if they are into sports or trying to measure their progress while losing weight. Fit women should have 21 to 24 percent body fat. Female athletes have between 14 and 20 percent."

"Body fat percentage is a much more accurate measurement in determining if you are healthy. BMI doesn't take into consideration how much of your weight is muscle and bone and how much of it is fat. So that means a person can have a healthy BMI, but still carry weight in their belly, which can increase their risk for heart disease."

Here is one of the links I found this information from:

http://www.fitsugar.com/Measure-Up-B...entage-3644256

I really hope this helps everyone because I know I have not been concerned with my BMI at all since my goal is to get down to 18% body fat.

~Michelle~

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar-pu...7/115/129/.png

I'd love to find out what my body fat is now. I'm doing IP without a clinic now and my scale is not anywhere near accurate on body fat. Not just personal experiance but reviews where people got their body fat measured and checked it against the scale. I'm not even sure where to go around here for it...

April, I go to a clinic, but I also yesterday ordered a scale from Amazon that mesaures your weight, body fat, and other stuff and it was only about $60. Here is the info on it: Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor with Athletic Mode and Body Water

I hope that helps!! :)

I have a weight watchers scale that measures body fat, bmi, water %. It tells me that i have 91 lbs of fat, and my bmi is 37, and my water % is 41%. I don't know how accurate it it though. Is 18 to 25 % body fat the safe amount? My body fat on the scale tells me 41%

Kelly - Here is a scale I found on body fat percentages and how to "rank" them:

http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/...centage-chart/

I am personally striving for 18% body fat because my goal after I finish IP is to continue weight training and start doing fitness competitions :)

I personally just find BMI easier to keep up with. When I get closer to goal, I can see getting my body fat % measured. But it seems like a pain to go in regularly. I tried getting an at home body fat % thing but it would give me different numbers depending on how I stand and such. So for now, I go by clothing size/weight/BMI.

For very athletic people body fat might be a better measure, but if you don't work out regularly, bmi is probably a good gauge of weight.

This post was very helpful, thank you!

good job! I am like you...I started at 189 on 5/23 and am down to 157... with a goal of 140-145. I have lost 20 inches! Make sure you count your inches lost on your arms and thighs 2 TIMES to get your total!