I start this thread after watching a wonderful Tyra Banks episode today. She spoke about how obsessed woman have become with the scale. She had 3 woman on the panel whom the audience had to "guess their weight". Turns out, they all weighed the same...155lbs! They were all the same height, but were extremely different looking in appearance and composition. This started the question in my mind, "What's my bodyfat percentage?...and Should I pay more attention to scale or BF?" So, I did a brief body fat check and found out mine was only 16% BF! 16%!!! Here, I find myself among the ranks of many other woman obsessed with the scale and I have a BF of 16! Crazy..just crazy! So, I decided to start this thread to encourage other woman to check their bodyfat...and FOCUS NOT JUST ON LOSING WEIGHT, BUT LOSING FAT!

What did you use to measure?

Bambifox? Would you post this in general diets too, please. This is such an important point!

you must be mostly muscle to have your bf that low! 16% is amazing! i am lucky that my gym let's me check my bf as often as i want. i am just starting to use that as my measurement instead of weight b/c there are alot of "fat" skinny people and i don't want that to be me. since you didn't mention it, an average woman's (NOT an athlete) body fat should be between 18 and 25 %
as you can see my my sig, i am twice what i should be, but am working on it constantly! Good job to you for already being so low!

Sara - I used this scale which uses your current bodyweight and waist size to measure bodyfat. It is probably not the most accurate way to measure bodyfat, but it is supposed to give you a good estimate. I ordered the accu-measure caliper (a home body fat tester)...and will re-test as soon as it comes. If you are interested, you can order one at accumeasure.com.

Susan - Thanks and sure thing! I'll post thread in General Diets! I believe there are lots of folk out there like I was, focusing on that scale as the holy grail of measurements that will be shocked at how some of their eating habits (while making the scale move down) are actually making their BF% go up! We should have a weekly or bi-weekly fat check thread! Thanks again. Joyce

I used to be a slave to the scale as well. When we first started going to the trainer (in January), my BF% was 35.3% Now, 3 months later - my weight hasn't changed one single bit, but my BF% is down 4% to 31.3%. It's amazing how great that makes me feel! My goal is to get into the 20's.

Thanks Gahundy! I am working on getting my BF% to just about 13-14%...that's pretty lean, but Bodybuilding woman have BF%'s of 9-11%! I don't want to go quite that low, but I do want to get lean...really lean. Right now, I'm pretty lean (with muscular development in abs, legs & buttocks) but the scale is what had me down for so long (165lbs!!!). Also, keep in mind that the BF test I did was on a scale (a written scale), where you measured your waist (mine being 27") and your weight, drew a line and where it connected, that was your BF%. I heard it was pretty close, but I await my accumeasure caliper (since I don't belong to a gym...have home gym).

I believe that whatever BF you are...monitoring progress means monitoring drops in your BF, not the scale! This is the truest measure of progress, especially since I know everyone want's this to be FOR LIFE!

That is great!! WOW - 10%-18% is elite! You go girl!

Wow London...love your Avatar! Great progress...and clearly great reduction in fat! Way to go! I'm gonna try making an Avatar like that (if I can stand looking at my before pics!)

Thanks Marathan! I can't wait for my accu-measure caliper to come...but even if it's slightly higher...I'm stoked! It's just so sad how focused I was on the scale over BF%...

My Doctor uses a Body Composition scale that measures not only weight but calculates % of BF. At the moment the number on the scale is dropping quicker than the BF%. I am paying attention to BOTH numbers. One of the things I pay particular attention to is NOT to LOSE any lean muscle.

Kate - you are RIGHT ON! Lean Body Mass (LBM) is what is most important. Here's the formula for calculating your LBM:

To calculate your LBM in pounds you need to know two things: your bodyweight and your body fat percentage. First, determine how many pounds of fat you are carrying by multiplying your body fat percentage by your weight. You can then calculate your lean mass by subtracting the pounds of fat from your total bodyweight.
Example:
Your body weight is 194 pounds
Your body fat percentage is 18% (.18)
Multiply your body fat by your weight to find lbs. of fat:
.18% X 194 lbs. = 34.9 lbs. of fat.
Subtract lbs. of fat from total weight to determine lean mass:
194 lbs. - 34.9 lbs fat = 159.1 lbs lean mass

Protein Power is based on this idea. In the original book they have you go through the whole process of calculating your LBM and %BF to figure out how much protein you should eat per day as well as come up with an ideal body weight. In their second book they just give you a table to tell you how much protein to eat because I think a lot of people were put off with all the math. As a result, yes, I have recently calculated my LBM and %BF. It was depressing. Bambi-I'm glad you learned something from this experience. Does this mean you now consider yourself at goal?

Ya know Petra...it's easier said than done (throwing that mental scale out), so I'm not gonna say that I don't want to see those numbers go down (cuz then I'd be bold face lying to ya!), but I can tell you this...I WILL NEVER LET THE NUMBERS ON THE SCALE DICTATE HOW GOOD I LOOK/FEEL EVER AGAIN! EVER...EVER!!!!! Woo...that felt good...almost feel like asking every one to join in that one!

Thanks Bambifox ... so far almost 200 people have read the two threads! Very good!

I kinda wish I'd seen that show.

Go Joyce, Go Joyce!!!! I'm terrified to check my BMI. If anyone hears cogs whirring and springs spronging it is the fat measuring device stuggling to find my index! Tee hee. Have a fab. day.

SC