I joined a gym today and part of joining is an evaluation. So I was going along giving all my info, including giving my weight of 195.........then he did the body fat % test, it was 36.3%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How in the heck did I get so fat?? Ok I know how I got that fat I just cant believe it, the last time I had that test done was in college 12 yrs ago and my % was 24% back then, I just never realised I had made such a huge leap. Tell me I am not alone here, anyone else shocked when they found out their %??

Ha!!! I was 54%!!! OMG!!! I could have died (suprisingly I was still alive) in 16 weeks it has dropped to 45%, so it's all good and going in the right direction. But the guy at the gym laughed at me the last time he was doing it, and I went, yippee it's 45%, and he said very drily "not many people are happy about being 45% body fat" I stuck my tongue out at him!

Well, I've never had mine officially measured at a gym, but I have one of those body fat measurers on my scale. I know it is less correct, but it is relatively consistent so I use it every now and then to check and see if it has gone down.

When I first used it and it said I ws 41% I was like.. heart broken. I guess in my mind because I thought I carried my weight well that meant that it didn`t exist or that I was so heavy because I was secretly really muscular underneath this layer of fat. Haha! No.

Never had the actual body fat test, but I remember when Susan Powder was big with the fat makes you fat....I bought her program and it had fat calipers in it.....lets just say there wasn't a number big enough on the calipers to measure!

At a very current WW meeting we got books about your BMI, so I look at the height...age etc and moved to the right to see where on the page (2 pages actually) I was with my weight.....my weight wasn't even in the book!!! First goal is to be on the "fat" page!!!

Life is full of ups and downs!!!

Julie

When I had my eval done at the gym at 200 lbs., my body fat % was over 36, too. Now, it is 30.5% and I have lost about 20 lbs., all fat, while maintaining all of my lean body mass.

Well I feel better knowing I am not the only one to have a high body fat %

Way to go Marilyn on lossing so much in the body fat%, what do you do? Weight training?? I need to get a weight training routine in place to burn some of this fat, I am already doing a really good cardio program though.

I do body fat measurements for new gym members as part of their initial fitness tests. You are not alone! Even among people with "normal" BMI's, I've seen some alarmingly high body fat percents. Those are the people that are the most astounded. I did one woman a few weeks ago who had just reached her WW goal of 136 pounds at 5'3", and decided it was time to start exercising. She was upset and angry with me when I measured her body fat at 33%, which technically puts her in the "obese" category. I didn't used those words!

Congratulations for starting to workout now. It will make it so much easier to lose weight (ha! it's never easy!), and you'll end up with a much better looking body than my "thin fat" woman.

Mel

well, apparently either my brand new scale is broke, or I have 32% body fat? I don't see how this can be possible at 227 lbs and 5'3"{should be 5'9", but still}? I would have expected it to be MUCH higher.

I've been told I had very heavy bones {genetic due to my father}, but even then.....according to my calculations when I reach 20% body fat I should weigh in the 190's?

I just got a body fat measuring scale last night as a matter of fact. It tells me that at 5'3" 133 lb's, I am - wait for it- drum roll please...made up of 34.9% pure unadulterated gelatinous fat.

I have changed my goal from seeing the scales go down in pounds to seeing the scale go down in %. I'm aiming for 18%. If my math is right, that means I need to lose 24 lbs of fat while gaining 11 lbs of muscle.

About 6 years ago the corporation that I worked for hired a body fat analyst to come in and test everyone (that wanted it). At that time I weighed about 115 dripping wet and although I don't remember the actual # I got, I do remember that I was in the "very unhealthy" category.

So Mel-

When should I expect to see my body fat % down to 25%, like how many lbs of fat do I need to loose and how much muscle do I need to gain. I am 195 now and I have decided that rather than track my actual weight on the scale I am going to only track my bdoy fat %, which means I wont go crazy stepping on the scale every 5 mins...........I will just have to wait to get the gym to get someone there to do my body fat% for me.

So I guess if someone can be at 135 and 33% bodyfat% that just shows you can be fat skinny or lean skinny, I will take the later thank you very much.

I don't think there's any way to predict your bodyfat at a given weight. It really depends on how you work out and eat.

When I hit my initial goal weight of 135, (I'm 5'3" also) I had been doing cardio 5 times a week and circuit weight training 3-4 times a week. I wasn't lifting light, but I was doing a fast paced full body workout at home, each time. Excellent for burning calories, poor for building muscle. At 135, I was dismayed at how squishy my body looked. I don't know what my body fat % was at that time...best guess is around 28%. I started doing the Body for Life program and after a month decided to join a gym. After a month, my weight was still 135, and my body fat was measured at 27%. I already looked a bit different. After the first 12 weeks of Body for Life my body fat was measured at 22% and I still weighed 135. I was a size smaller. Three years later, my weight is now 122-124 and I range between 16.5-18% body fat. I lift HEAVY five days a week, a different body part each day.

My measurements are based on a 9 point caliper test, not a scale. I think the scale measures slightly higher the older you are.

You had two categories in your post: fat skinny or lean skinny. I would rather see women aim for a third altogether: lean and muscular! Lean skinny is bony, hard to maintain, not all that attractive, and puts you at risk for a lot of long term health problems. Muscle protects against alot of those problems. Don't worry about a few extra pounds of they are muscle! I'm sure If I stopped lifting or cut way back, I could drop five pounds easily, but who would help wrestle the couch out of the basement? I'd have to say "yes" when those obviously weaker 16 year olds at the grocery store ask if I'd like help taking the bags to my car I don't want to be one of the frail, bent old dears in a nursing home in twenty-five years!

Mel