Yesterday I did a fitness check on a new gym member. It's a standard set of measurements that we do for each new member before recommending a workout program, taking into account their individual fitness goals and exercise preferences.

This woman is 52 years old and had just reached her Weight Watchers goal of 138 pounds. She's 5'3", and has a BMI (Body mass index) of 24, which is healthy. When I measured her body composition, a whole different picture emerged: she was 32% fat! According to the guidelines published by the American Council on Exercise, that puts her just into to "clinically obese" category! How can this be? She's has a healthy BMI and is within her WW goal range (although at the top).

I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but what's going on is that this woman has hardly any muscle mass, and at 52, is post-menopausal, probably already has some osteoporosis or at least osteopenia.

I tried very hard to cover the WORD on the category of her body fat reading. We've talked here about the power of words, and this woman certainly didn't look obese or feel obese. She came into the gym feeling quite good about herself, wanting to "tone-up" a bit and de-stress her life. I spent a lot of time discussing the importance of muscle, its role in prevention and reversal of osteoporosis, regulation of blood pressure (hers was high) and devised a muscle building resistance training plan for her. I hope she follows my suggestions.

Please, maintainers, don't be so blinded by numbers on the scale that you ignore the bigger picture: your overall health! Muscle is heavier that fat...we all recite that mantra when we aren't losing and are exercising, but it's also smaller per pound (see Ilene's siggie pic.) We NEED that muscle!

Off to the gym,
Mel

Mel: Ah yes, Skinny-fat people as they say... The ranges too for WW and what not are big, for my height for example it's between 124-155lbs. Now I am someone who can hangers on in the 24-25BMI range and have a BF% of about 24% or so (when I am not in top shape) as in my optimal weight is in that area... I have a LBM of about 118lbs, and well do have nice thick bones, a big head, thick legs and what not. I am also very muscular naturally (see told ya I have a big head). But what about someone my height who is small boned, with thin legs, not much muscle, small skull etc who could healthily be at 124, but decides to stop losing weight at 155 because their BMI is now "healthy".. There's a ton of room for interpretation with BMI and what not. When I am at 150 (a little away from that, especially after last night's fajita fest, but I digress) I am a size 6, while other friends of mine of similar height are more like a size 10-12.

On another note though, according to some sources, women can have a body fat % that high as long as their waists are below 35" and have a low waist to hip ratio.. Don't know where though

Personally, I know due to loose skin my thighs and tummy will always be a little squishy, but I like to feel tight in places like my obliques, back and arms. I will get back into a WT routine this winter since I love the results.

Cheers!

Ali

Wow, Mel! She's roughly our age and our size and has twice as much fat as you and I do! All hail the power of weight lifting! I'm curious - what size would you say she is at that weight and BF %? (since muscle is so much more compact than fat)

So what do you think is going to happen when she starts to build some muscle and the scale starts to go up? Because then she'll be 'over goal' according to the WW guidelines and they'll start making her pay again, plus she'll feel like a failure for being over goal. Are you going to be able to convince her that it's a good thing or is she - or worse, is WW - going to be so hung up on the numbers that she'll quit?

Great post, Mel - sometimes we all need to be reminded that the scale isn't a very good measure of overall fitness and health.

i dont usually post here but i always read...

anyway, a lot of people just aren't educated about muscle mass and body fat. everything is about weight. for a long time, growing up, my mom would tells me that replacing fat with muscle, i would be smaller, even if i was the same weight. of course i didnt really listen and instead listened to the people who said i'd be big and bulky if i lifted weights. well, thank goodness for sites like these! even though i learned in college that i should lift weights, i never did it consistently. now i am, and i am concentrating on my body fat along with the number on the scale. it's great and really refreshing to see the improvements i am making. of course, weight still matters, as you can see by my sig.

so, i guess for people like the woman you measured, mel, she probably just wasn't educated on the body fat. weight loss programs like weight watchers are all about the number on the scale and nothing else. i should start a body fat loss program called body fat watchers. (nobody steal my idea!!)

There's a lot of factors for good health... I think weight can be a great tool, but shouldn't be the end all or be all for people... body fat% is important (I still don't see how a plus30% body fat is healthy) as well as bone density, blood pressure, cholestrol, cardo capicity... so many indicators of good health..

Megan: My leaders through the years have not been so scale orientated... I know the program does seem like it, and I almost didn't join due to it, but my leaders have encouraged exercise and weight training... It could depend on the region to and whoever the leaders are, but I have heard of leaders who have said "I hate the scale".

Cheers!

Ali

Very good post! I can rely! Last year I dropped only 20 pounds, but I went from size 14-16 to size 3-5! My body fat was around 33-34% and now it is 23-25% though. Now I have a friend who was the same size/age as i was. I gave her all my old jeans and capris. About 2 weeks ago I've been invited to her house warming party, when my hubby saw her he quietly said to me - just look, there are your jeans, last year you could barely fit into them! I was so proud! Sometimes the difference is only 20 pounds, but in my case I gained muscles and lost fat, it was hard 20 pounds to loose but I found that I have a great body!
My last year's Christmas resent was Tanita scale with fat mesurement content. I compared this one with the one in the gym and usually measurements I have at home ar 2% higher than in the gym. Still, I never measure my weight, I always measure my fat! Best present I've ever had = was 69$ Can in LinensNThings.

Great topic Mel...

Now on the other side of that story Mel, I'm 5'3 and 146, BMI 25.9 and considered "overweight"by those standards, but I'm in a loose size 8, and I'm positive I'm not "overweight" what gives here?

I go to this site for measurements http://www.fitwise.com/calculator.asp the calculators for fat measurement are wayyyy off tho, IMO...