I know that trying to find a body fat percentage is nearly impossible, but I'm curious what people in general hope to achieve or what's even possible to achieve without herculean effort?

I ask because my husband sent me this chart today and I was quite floored by it and what it considered acceptable fat levels. http://www.bodyspex.com/community.aspx?articleID=3

When I look at that chart and I use my very flawed body fat calculating scale (they all are flawed), I see I'm already in the "yellow" range for my age. I find that somewhat surprising. yes, i've dropped nearly 60 pounds. Yes, I workout 6 days a week and recently I've added weight training, but I have a lot of blubber left on me.

My husband's measurements read him at 15% body fat (he is tall and thin and has been swimming for exercise the last 5 months several times a week).

My body fat percentage it not something I really ever thought about. I just picked 175 for my goal weight because a. I've been that weight before (when I was unfit) and it felt and looked good on me. b. I'm very large boned, so trying to go too low, especially for an initial weight loss goal could be setting me up for failure. and c. at age 41, I'm not feeling the need to be model thin. I just want to feel healthy and fit and active, but still be able to live a normal life without having to live at the gym to keep a particular weight.

My hip to waist ratio is .795. My waist is 35". My body fat percentage is 33% according to my scale and I weigh 198. Now I'm really curious what my body fat percentage will be at 175?

I have 27% atm, which is normal for someone less athletic than me.
But since I do work out daily at least for an hour I should be 21-24%.
It isn't my prime concern since when it comes to fat % I am healthy, but it probably will fix my looks, that extra 3% of fat obscures my musculature

I expanded on this in my blog today and included a link to a test from the UK. According to that I'm around 27% body fat. Wow! I've come a long way!

Wow, that's awesome! You've come a long way. Congrats!! I never really paid attention to my body fat until recently. I was always what I'd call "skinny fat". Kind of thin on top and dumpy/flabby on the bottom (very boyishly-shaped as my terrific hubby likes to kid me about). Never overweight but certainly not toned by any means. I estimate my body fat at my highest weight to be around 28%. I recently went from 23% to 18.2% in the last several months just from upping my cardio and seriously cleaning up my diet. One side affect has been that my abs have started to show which is a little weird, lol. But I guess even small-boned people like myself still have a layer of fat covering their bellies. I try not to pay too much attention to all the numbers because IMO how you feel is most important. I wish you continued success on your journey.

Hey Berry, I did that test too. I also got 27%. I know you know that that sort of thing isn't reliable, so I won't say it again. Other online tests have me at 48%. My scale has me at 44%. (Lately, with my bloat, it has me at 41%). I'm pretty sure my scale is high because 1. I use it first thing in the morning, so am most likely dehydrated, and 2) At this point I'm bottom heavy. But I know I'm no where near 27%. I think the UK test gets thrown off by my arms. My wrist circumference is 6.5 inches and my forearm is 11.5. I have big arms. I was always big, even when I was little.

I'm not shooting for a particular BFP. I suspect that my goal will have me in the low-mid twenties. I guess I sort of have the opposite problem as fitmom. I was looked big, possibly overweight (according to my mom and my critical teenage self) even though I didn't have a whole lot of fat. It always makes me wince a bit when I see people trying to get into size 6 or size 8 clothes. I'll be lucky to ever get into a 12.

Melissa ( I love that name, it is my daughter's)

You are a very beautiful woman and congrats on your accomplishments.

I find I don't pay too much attention to charts, graphs, stats & doctors, because when I was 145 lbs and ran 6 miles a day, my doctor still told me I was overweight. really??? I have never had high BP or cholestrol, I only take meds for thyroid. I am somewhat limited with exercise, but can hold my own. I think that no matter how fit I was (competitive swimmer HS and college) and soccer player, plus runner, somebody was telling me I needed to get thinner or leaner. I say "be quiet all you haunting voices". I am going to get to where I feel good. period.

Also, I forgot to add to my earlier post that two people could have the same body fat percentage and look vastly different. I've googled around on some sites to see what other women with my body fat percentage look like and we all look so different. Depending on your build, height, weight, waist to hip ratio, diet, forms of exercise, etc. As long as your body fat percentage is decreasing and not increasing, I'd say you're doing alright, lol.


@Bellamack: Your doctor told you at 145 lbs. at your height that you were overweight???? What??? My sister is 140 lbs. at 5'4" tall and she is very fit and muscular. I don't believe it. Sorry, I have a hard time wrapping my head around that one, lol.

Heh. Totally off topic, but I did some of the other tests on that site. I have a higher than average autism score, but am below the threshold. I think the clinical definition of this is "social misfit".

Well you can roughly guess fat percentage only by looking at someone.
If hip, rib and back bones are showing then you probably are underweight,
If you're muscular-thin you are fit, if you have just a bit of a love handle etc barely enough to pinch then you are normal and so on.
There can be muscular men and women that qualify as overweight with the bmi but normal with fat % like me. Nobody ever considered me thin though.

IRonically, my scale is putting me at 36% fat today! LOL (hasn't done that for awhile). It must have know I was thinking about it today! LOL

This is all just in fun. I'm basically losing to feel better, get healthier and fitter. What they end body weight and fat percentage is still an unknown, but I'm beginning to think the 175 I picked is probably a good place to start/end. I definitely need to lose more. I don't feel I'm there yet or even that close, but 25 pounds is still a significant amount! And with the loose skin I'm getting, it's hard to visualize what will be.

you know, i haven't really thought about it either! i've been overweight since i was 6 and obesity struck when i was in 7th grade, so i'm just happy to be lowering that number at all!

Im going for about a 15% body fat percentage. Im about 21% right now. Thats why most dont believe Im 144. Because some at 144 look big. I went to magic mountain and did the "guess my weight" and they were way off!! She guessed 120 and I was 150!! lol.

daaamn! i wish i had that kind of muscle

It's nice to find someone else with the same aspirations as me, lol. I, too, want to get to 15% body fat. But I know it's gonna be a lot harder going from 18% to 15% then 23% (my previous body fat) to 18%. BTW, my neighbor who's a personal trainer told me that most women start to show some ab definition at around 18% so that's a good gauge of where you're at, I think. 21% is awesome. I think some sites consider that to be in the 'fitness' zone. Below 19% is considered to be lean/athletic. Good luck!

I don't really know what mine is right now (somewhere in the 25-35 range) but I'm hoping to end up around 18%, toward the upper end of the "athletic" range on most charts.