Body Fat % vs. Body Weight

So I found a Body fat % calculator:

(http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calcul ator/)

and according to my measurments I have 31.45% body fat (yikes!) That makes me dangerously close to the obese range but according to my height and wieght (5'3" 122 lbs) I'm in the normal weight range. What the heck?! People tell me don't worry about the numbers on the scale and use measurements to track progress but the measurements I just typed into that site has me as obese. I am so confused.

that seems really high.. the average woman should have 21% body fat. that calculator doesn't seem like it could be that accurate. have you tried getting your body fat tested with something more reliable- like a caliper or even a scale that measures body fat??

Original Post by sarah_b:

that seems really high.. the average woman should have 21% body fat. that calculator doesn't seem like it could be that accurate. have you tried getting your body fat tested with something more reliable- like a caliper or even a scale that measures body fat??

Sarah B -  Where does it state that 'the average woman should have 21% body fat'? 

This doesn't match the figures I've found when looking up average body fat percentages on the internet.

21% body fat would put you at the top end of the 'fitness' range (21 - 24%) and just outside the body fat percentage of a female athlete (14 to 20 %).

Other charts provide average body fat percentages for different age ranges The older you get the higher the average body fat percentage becomes (for that age range).

Original Post by cferrari:

So I found a Body fat % calculator:

 

(http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calcul ator/)

 

and according to my measurments I have 31.45% body fat (yikes!) That makes me dangerously close to the obese range but according to my height and wieght (5'3" 122 lbs) I'm in the normal weight range. What the heck?! People tell me don't worry about the numbers on the scale and use measurements to track progress but the measurements I just typed into that site has me as obese. I am so confused.

Plain and simple: that site is not accurate. I'm going back soon to have my fat % measured at the gym since I had it done 3 months ago. I entered my stats of 3 months ago to see what it came up with and it gave me around 7% more then i am. I was 25% at 5'0 and 138 pounds. I'm shorter then you and weigh even more so there's no way your 31.45%. If you want an accurate reading, get a fitness accessment done at a gym. Here, Good Life gyms do it for $25.

Original Post by mamonaku:

Original Post by sarah_b:

that seems really high.. the average woman should have 21% body fat. that calculator doesn't seem like it could be that accurate. have you tried getting your body fat tested with something more reliable- like a caliper or even a scale that measures body fat??

Sarah B -  Where does it state that 'the average woman should have 21% body fat'? 

This doesn't match the figures I've found when looking up average body fat percentages on the internet.

21% body fat would put you at the top end of the 'fitness' range (21 - 24%) and just outside the body fat percentage of a female athlete (14 to 20 %).

Other charts provide average body fat percentages for different age ranges The older you get the higher the average body fat percentage becomes (for that age range).

That's what I was told by an onsite personal trainer at my work when I got mine tested. I should have checked other sources though.

body fat % is a strange thing when you start at first. When I was in college my volleyball team was tested once a month and the first time I did it my weight was "below average" but my body fat % was 28% which is very high for a Division 1 athlete... it is possible it be a "high body fat %" skinny person... it is all about converting your weight...

By the end of the year we were lifting extensively as well as haveing practices and I converted 14 lbs of fat into 12 more pounds of muscle so the scale showed that I dropped 2 lbs but I was then at 18% body fat and RIPPED! lol so if your body % fat is high, i know from personal experience, that no amount of cardio will help when you are already at a good weight... as you are.

you have to lift weights and challenge your muscles so that you can burn fat... plus the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you can burn in a day, which means MORE FOOD IN A DAY! YAY!

If you are up for a challenge that will WHOOOOP your buttt for 90 days I would try P90X videos. My friend just lost 12% body fat and 20 lbs doing it! She is letting me borrow it this month and I'm going to give it a go.

Original Post by sarah_b:

that seems really high.. the average woman should have 21% body fat. that calculator doesn't seem like it could be that accurate. have you tried getting your body fat tested with something more reliable- like a caliper or even a scale that measures body fat??

Sorry but that's nonsense. I have salter digital scales which advise a woman can be healthy up to 30% body fat.  I'm 5ft 6" and 10 stone 6 and mine varies from 28-29%.

It may be worth mentioning body fat is tricky to accurately measure even with digital scales and the percentage shown can vary depending on if you have just eaten or are bloated, so I have noticed personally.

Note that was a Navy tool and as a 20 year veteran of the air force who battled with weight by military standards for 20 years I just wanted to explain the validity of this formula.  I was 5' 6" and at 150 lbs was wearing a size 12/14....I know that people think that saying your big boned is crap but technically it isn't, so the measuring of the forearm and wrist as well as your hips and waist is their way of looking at your weight distribution.  It tells them if you're evenly distributed or top heavy or bottom heavy.  It is the military's way of recognizing and not penalizing athletic types or endomorph types.  The reason I bring up the big boned is that once when my 2 year old hurt her arm the orthaepedic surgeon asked me if I had weight problems, (she was military too) and puzzeled I said yes and she said it didn't surprise her because my daughter's arm was heavy.  She said a bone can vary in weight greatly based on density and if my daughter's arm was any indication of my bone density then I might seek a water based BMI test.  I did and proved my BMI was much lower than any chart indicated.  Most charts currently tell me I am 36% or higher but this formula says I am 32% and I think that is close because I am 5'5" and currently weigh 215 lbs but can wear a size 16/18.  Most health professionals that weight people daily put the scale around 180 and I always have to say you better just start at 200.  That tells me I don't look like I weigh that much.

This calculator gives me a much higher bf% than mine actually is.

My bf% is about 22% and it gave me 32.42% (!)

I wouldn't worry about it.

I was skeptical of one someone posted using your BMI, but it gave me 21% so it seems pretty accurate. Here it is:

Adult Body Fat % = (1.20 x BMI) + (0.23 x Age) - (10.8 x gender) - 5.4

(for gender, use 1 for male, 0 for female)

See if that works any better for you

My scale tells me 28.2% and the formula but_not_quite posted gives me 27.9%, but the site you used gives me 32%. See what results you get using the formula because it was a lot more accurate for me.

These body fat calculators are a joke!  DO NOT USE THEM.  I am nearly 6' 4" tall, not fat at all at 215 pounds, and these weight and body fat calculators say my ideal weight is 197.  wtf?  If I weighed 197, I'd blow away and look like an emaciated Somalian. These calculators don't even use real physics to determine body fat and have caused people to literally stay frustrated dieting and have made people stop dieting, or not even start.  The military used to use these until the calculators were proven wrong.  There were guys in my unit who looked great, well built, lifted weights, etc., yet they were told they were going to be put on the fat boy program because they were overweight.  Huh?  So, the military offered the "water immersion" test where the tub, or whatever you got in was at a certain level.  You then got in and where the water rose to on the ruler was used to calculate body fat.  Literally 99% of the people in my unit were told their body fat % was fine and in many cases very low! So, stay away from these stupid online calculators.   

Original Post by sarah_b:

Original Post by mamonaku:

Original Post by sarah_b:

that seems really high.. the average woman should have 21% body fat. that calculator doesn't seem like it could be that accurate. have you tried getting your body fat tested with something more reliable- like a caliper or even a scale that measures body fat??

Sarah B -  Where does it state that 'the average woman should have 21% body fat'? 

This doesn't match the figures I've found when looking up average body fat percentages on the internet.

21% body fat would put you at the top end of the 'fitness' range (21 - 24%) and just outside the body fat percentage of a female athlete (14 to 20 %).

Other charts provide average body fat percentages for different age ranges The older you get the higher the average body fat percentage becomes (for that age range).

That's what I was told by an onsite personal trainer at my work when I got mine tested. I should have checked other sources though.

 Sarah - personal trainers ALWAYS lie to people about this stuff.  Why? Because they want you to hire them and you're not going to if you don't think you're fat!  I had a 'free consultation' when I joined Gold's Gym and the head personal trainer there tried to tell me that I should be in the low 20's.  At the time my fat % was 32%.  He made it seem like that was just obese, which it's not.  He also tried to tell me that I should only be eating 1200 calories a day AND working out.  I didn't say anything but I knew he was full of crap.  He had NO IDEA what he was talking about.  1200 calories? Are you crazy?  I was only trying to lose TEN LBS in 3 months, so that seemed way too extreme for me.  1500 is the lowest I can go and I think I would know better than he would.