If you guys know what your body fat % is, would you mind sharing it? It would be great to see at what percentage you started and where you are now.

I know that this diet is one of the best plans out there to decrease body fat, so I'm interested to see the changes that people have had on that. I know that not all coaches (including mine) test for that, but for those who do, or who take that measurement on their own (some scales have that feature, or there are other gadgets to do it), could you share?

My scale is supposed to test for that, but I've forgotten how to set it up, so I'm frantically looking for the manual

I don't know if it's my body type (pear) or my genes, but I've always had a really high body fat % compared to other people. Anyway, I haven't given up the fight yet

Thanks!

I'm at 18.2% right this very minute, lol. I was probably like 28% or so when I was my highest years ago when I gained a ton of weight the first semester of college. I had it done several months ago and they told me 23% which was fine for someone with my stats but I just wanted to be more fit. So, I started running and really watching what I was eating and it dropped 5 percentage points since then. BTW, I'm a banana-shape and I'd give anything to be a pear - at least you've got curves, lol.

well thanks! I would trade a pear for a banana any day really

A few years ago when I thought I was "huge" at 152 lbs, a friend of mine and I got a trainer who tested ourBF, I was at 30%!!!!! and my friend, who was a good 30 lbs heavier than me was at 32%

Anyway, congrats on that pretty 18.2%!

Banana shaped...I got a big chuckle from that! Since we are talking fruit...I am an apple and I think I would rather be a pear or a banana! Have a great weekend!

Okay, this just doesn't sound right to me....I'm offocially only 31 lbs overweight, even when I started I was only 40 lbs overweight...and I have still a good shape you know...so what the **** is 41% body fat?? Like that just sounds way too high to be true to me. Does anyone else have this problem? I don't get it....so I have like 20% more fat than normal? ugh....it seems like it should be lower.

Well, when I was tested I was only 3 lbs overweight, but according to the trainer my bf % made me OBESE -I wanted to cry, maybe I did. So now that I'm even heavier.. I don't even want to think about it (or I do, actually, I just haven't found my scale manual yet ugh).

I just did some research on the BF ranges and I found conflicting information about what's supposed to be healthy.

http://www.garrisonbodyhealthnutriti...yfatchart.html

According to this one, anything above 30% is obese

http://commonsensehealth.com/Healthy...at_Chart.shtml

But according to this one, anything above 39% is obese.

Either way, as you said, it really seems excessive.. which is why I wanted to compare with other people.

Scofflaw1- What method did they use to test your BF ?

Hey Ladies! Just an FYI to point out...the average or even advanced FDA electronic or current based body fat or parameter machine can be more than 20% off. The MOST accurate way to measure body fat percentage is to do the submersion test. However, the next most accurate and accessible method is caliper pinch test (which is only about three percent margin of error). To illustrate....the new IP FDA approved handheld body fat reader dohicky that my clinic has read me at 40% body fat. Ummm no. I am only 180lbs. My trainer at the gym measured me with pinch test and I am 24% (makes a lot more sense). My trainer has been telling me for months that these handheld or scale based tests are totally inaccurate because things like clothing, hydration, electrolytes etc can throw it off. Next week when I see my coach I am bringing my caliper results to have her use from now on because I am completely uncomfortable with this IP crappy device.

Just my two cents but after lots of research...its completely true.

Does anyone's coach measure this? My coach has a scale which will measure body fat, but will not allow me to use it. I think it would be useful to measure this also, as a concern for me is losing muscle instead of fat.

Well thank you for that because my start up % was a cow. Every month with the dohicky.....I'm just going to calm down now.

Fitmom - um, so what do ya eat to be 18% I would kill to be close!

when i started i was at 41%. i'm at 23% now. not bad. all that fat was lost through IP in just under 7 months.

however, now that you guys say the IP one is off so much... i wonder if my % is lower. I'm 5'7, 146 lbs and i wear size 6 and 4 jeans...

my clinic measures body fat % but we never take it too seriously. on one of the scales when i started it said i was 38% and on the other it said 47%. so we just look at lbs and inches. but ive also heard the best way to know is with the caliber test.

Very good post. Unless you have an expert do a caliper test or a DEXA scan - or a hyrostatic weighing you're not going to have an accurate measure of your body fat.

One problem with your post. With respect - it is extremely unlikely that you are only 24% BF at 180lbs. That would mean you have 136.8 lbs of lean body mass. At your height that is extremely difficult to believe unless you've been purposely attempting to build muscle for many years. Thus - either your trainer does not know how to use caliper correctly or he/she is using an incorrect formula.

Laura, I am 5'7, 143 lbs and relatively active. The scanner thingy shows me at 22.6% as of today, but I am more of a size 8 (unless I am shopping at Nordstrom or Sax where the sizes always run big lol)! Unless you are particularly lean, athletic and muscular, I doubt you would be too much lower than what is shown - it is in the healthy normal range.

When I started I was around 24% body fat 11 pounds ago, at just under 154. I was more of a size 10 then.

*these are just from the little scanner machines and fall right in line with the online BMI calculators.