[cornellchick]

For the longest time my idea of the ideal weight range has been inextricably tied to BMI, despite the fact that it's perfectly formulaic and doesn't account for individual variability very much.

I recently tried calculating my body fat percentage with an online test that asks for your basics (age, height, weight, gender) and four measurements (hips, calf, wrist, and thigh) to do its calculations.

My BMI is 26.3 (somewhat overweight) and my body fat percentage is 24.3% (well into the normal range). I'm sure it's been asked before, but I'm wondering how trustworthy tests like these are, and which ones give you a better idea of how healthy you really are. Are there other tests out there that you've tried to get another perspective on your health? What do you think about the results?

For now I am trying to get BMI out of my head as the end-all-be-all of health, and use them as snapshots and approximations instead, and just try to continue losing weight until I'm happy with my weight/build/clothing size/etc. But I do wonder if tests like these can give me a better idea of what I should be shooting for.

[sacha]

Take pictures in the same outfit each month. That's all you need to go by. Numbers are just numbers.

[matt_H]

While the BMI is just a number that should be used as a general guideline, at least its calculation is pretty exact. I wouldn't trust a body fat % calculation unless it was with some objective measure.

How do you feel and look? I think that is what you have to decide.

I see that your goal weight is 150 and that would put you right in the top range of a healthy BMI. I think that is a good goal to shoot for!

[JayLei]

If you are really concerned, talk to your doctor about having an actual test done (like water immersion) then discuss the results with real numbers and a person who knows your health history (and that of your family). Everything else is just averages and speculation.

[cornellchick]

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not super concerned about it to the point where I would want to get a doctor to do some serious conclusive tests; just kind of speculating about whether I can justify relying on numbers like BMI and body fat percentage to tell me anything close to accurate.

150 is my first goal - I have been down to 146 or so in the past and felt really great there. As it is I've lost 6 pounds but I can already feel that my pants are much looser! So yeah, I think I will just keep on going to 150 and reevaluate how I feel when I get there...

[Petite Powerhouse]

Online calculations of body fat based on measurements are not very trustworthy. Calipers and immersion in water are by far the best ways to determine body fat percentage.