I just posted this in the 20-something forums under another thread, so sorry for the redundancy... I just really want to know if this is true:

WEIRD!

Okay so I looked up measuring what size frame you are and stumbled on am-i-fat.com. It told me I have a small frame (big surprise) so my ideal weight is more 140-ish. So I'm 12 pounds overweight. I think that's pretty accurate. But then I looked at my body fat percentages using measurements to calculate and it said I was OBESE?? This cannot be true. Anyone ever use this calculator?

I am going on the thought that you are a girl. I just ran your stats through Weight Watchers and the weight range for your height is 135-169 with your BMI at 24 which is HEALTHY not obese. As far as the BMI goes anything you find online is going to be a representation and not 100 percent acurate. The only way would be to go to a Doctor or Dietician and have your body fat mesured by them. You are doing great, stop looking for things you will only sabatoge yourself.

I'll have to try it again when I get home. I couldn't get that calculator to work. It kept saying I hadn't entered data, but I had.

I went at looked at the website. No where on there does it say who is running the site. There is no "about us" section. That raises red flags for me. What information I gleaned from scanning the site, seems inaccurate.

If you are 5'9" and 152, unless you are pure fat and no muscle, there is no way you are obese. That's not a scientific opinion, just my own. Depending on your frame, I would say you are fairly close to where you need to be. Your goal of 145 looks reasonable to me.

I'm not sure exactly what you are entering but the calculations vary WIDELY for me. If I enter my waist as "the narrowest part of my torso" I get roughly 20% bf. If I enter my waist as around my belly button which is how Dr. Oz and my personal trainer measure it (barstards) I get 29% bf. my actual bf is somewhere in the vicinity of 25%

I just can't even get the calculator to work. It just keeps asking for data that's already entered. Different computer, different browser. Oh well.

no way... not at your height.. AT my height 152 is the bottom range of obese for my bmi.. so there is not way at 9 inches taller that would qualify at obese by any means

Online calculators are just really questionable. No one can tell you your body fat percentage by doing a calculation--at most it's a very general estimate.

You could try freedieting.com and see what their calculators say. This seems to be a more reliable site. You're right, it's weird that you would be "obese." Who knows how they are figuring that...

Jay

BMI is bmi regardless of whether it is on the net or a doctors. to work it out you divide your weight in kg by your height in meters squared so mine is 133/(1.85x1.85) which works out around 39.

the only accurate way of measuring bodyfat percentage is a flotation tank. calipers are a fairly satisfactory guide but you can't do it alone. tanita or ok but.... they are very very temperamental. you have to weigh in first thing in the morning having not eaten or had a drink and never use them after a shower.
by my calculations for you height your bmi is around 22/23 which is fine

Slimmingsi, that's what I was gonna say

Interesting about the Tanita. I just had mine done at the gym around 8:00pm so is it fair to say it wasn't accurate? From your experience, would the measurement be higher or lower? Thanks!

i'm not sure how it would affect either up or down but i do know that they are easily affected as it works on electrical impedance. so if you've eaten or drank different things on you weigh days it will be different.

so for example if you use it after exercise teh sweat on your feet will give a different result as it can short circuit and give very wrong readings.

its a bit picky from a scientific point of view but for the results to be worth anything they need to be in the same conditions. so if you go first thing on an empty stomarch this is the easist way of assuring similar results (although food in the system from previous day may be different)