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!

how do you check bf%?

When I went to the gym for my assessment, mine was 42%!!! Hopefully that number will go down... Yikes!

The best way to check BF% is through the use of a caliper. Professional calipers (like the one's used in Gyms') are really expensive...like $1500! You can order one from accu-measure.com and it's about $20. You can also use it yourself without the help of others.

*EDIT* Therein lies the true measure of progress...BF...not the scale (necessarily)! IMO, I'd monitor BF% on a weekly basis...to track progress. You can safely lose up to 2lbs (for most people) of Body Fat per week. Using a caliper is a great way to monitor if the diet plan you are following is working. Joyce

how accurate do you think the home scales are that show body fat?

I have a Tanita scale that measures body fat %...it is the same brand used by my doc at the weight management clinic at the hospital here...though not the same model, for sure.

With any equipment for measuring, there is a margin of error. The best way to use the home version of the BF% scales, apparently, is to always check at the same time of day under essentially the same conditions (in terms of hydration and not too close to exercising or eating) and to rely on them mostly for tracking the difference in your BF%.

For example, when I started managing my eating and working at losing weight, my BF% was 49.5. With 17 lbs lost, my BF% is now down to 45.5. The 4% lost is likely to be more accurate than the actual BF% itself.

Bambifox: 16% BF is awfully low for a woman...you might want to have a pro check if you really want to have an accurate assessment. Most fitness facilities can point you to someone who does fitness testing, and these days, that should always include BF%

There are several websites that will calculate your body fat % using your weight and body measurements. Try BBLex and Freedieting.com. The results that I get from these websites and pretty close to what my trainer calculates using the caliper method.

My understanding is that the caliper method is only accurate if the person doing the measuring really knows what he/she is doing. I'm not sure it's something you can pick up on your own and be sure of it's accuracy.

I'm 5' 4", I weigh about 115, and my body fat % is around 22%. At this point I am trying to build muscle and lose body fat without losing any more weight.

This is a good example (sorry Barbara!) I'm 5'3.75 and my body fat is ~22% just like Barbara, but I weigh ~133

For me the navy circumference has tracked well with the trainers.

My at home scale was the worst...while professsional measurements showed me going from ~45% to 22% the at home scale went from 42 to 33% and stays at ~33%
and calipers without proper training are only of limited accuracy and repeatability

I've been using BF% as a measure as opposed to the scale for awhile - mind you I still get a little obsessive with those scale numbers from time to time!

I'm about 21% BF at 138 pounds and 5'6 (up a little thank you Easter lol)

I really had it brought home the other day when a girl and I at work were chatting about weight and it turned out that we're the same height (5'6) - I'm about an Aussie 8-10 (US 4-6) while she is an Aussie 12-14 (US8-10).

I'm only about 2 or 3 pounds lighter than she is! Same with another friend a couple nights ago. Turns out we are nearly the same weight but I am several sizes smaller.

It really made me step back and focus less on what that scale keeps telling me and concentrate more on just keeping my body strong and healthy!

Wow! Thank you all for your input. It's really interesting to see how 2 people same height/same weight can be soooo far apart in body fat %!!! That should be motivation for us all to (symbolicly) chuck our scales out the window!

One thing that I've noticed in my adult years (and what I didn't know growing up) was the obvious yet significant body weight differences in different races of people! Growing up I found myself constantly feeling "fat" because all of my white friends were so much lighter than me! True story! It wasn't until I was in my late 20's that I discovered that certain different ethnic groups have higher/lower bone densities to begin with. African American people have a higher bone density than other races. As a result of that, we have a higher percentage of muscle naturally which equals much higher numbers on the scale than that b*llsh*t the FDA or "whatever agency" purports as a measure of what your weight should be at your height! It's not specific not only for African Americans but also for bodybuilders as well. That really p*ssed me off when I found this out! I guess what I'm saying is (whatever your genetic/ethnic group), LET THE MIRROR BE YOUR GUIDE! It never lies! Unfortunately...sometimes!

I think I'm going to call around town here and see if I can find a place that takes your bodyfat % while under water. That's supposed to be the most accurate measure. Anyways...I don't suppose it matters too much how accurate your home test is as long as you use the same test every time and those numbers GO DOWN!!! Thanks again folks. Joyce

Here's another formula that I found. I think I got it from Covert Bailey's "Fit or Fat" book.

Under 30: Hips (in inches) + (.80 x thigh) - (2 x calf) - wrist = Body fat %.
Over 30: Hips + thigh - (2 x calf) - wrist = Body fat %.

This comes out to 23% for me. Pretty close to what I get with Bio-impedence testing done at my healthscreen assessment at work every year.

By the way, I have a Taylor scale with a body fat monitor. I never use that function because it always shows me around 30% no matter what I weigh and I don't believe it.

I have only had the electrical resistance method. My body fat % measured by that method dropped from 44% to 33% when I lost weight. My Tanita scale gives me values that vary by 3% to 4% just depending on the time of day--so it's just a variable as my weight.

If I use the waist measurement method, I get a high percentage, 39%, because most of my fat is on my midsection. If I use the measurements method just above, I get 28%.

So... Maybe one of these days I'll manage to get the water displacement test done--but that's not something I could pay for every week or every month.

I'm just happy that it's in the "healthy range" according to the book that came with my Tanita scale.

Bambifox, at 16%, you'd be underfat according to this source. So... gosh! Why is it you want to lose more weight? You don't seem to have any more fat to lose...

Jay

Mine is 34%

Do you know what is a healthy one? I've heard that 24, but I'm not quite sure

I have a tanita scale that measures BF% I started at 51% :shock: and am now at 44%.

16% is perfectly healthy for a woman's bodyfat. In fact, it's in the "athlete's" range. It is not recommended that women fall below 12%. Mine is usually around 17% and is done by a trainer friend of mine who is nothing short of a guru. I think he does a 7 point test?

BTW, Bambifox- you look HOT!