I don't feel severely overweight

I have a question, I went to the BMI tool and it said...

"Based upon your current Body Mass Index (BMI) of 32.7, you are currently classed as severely overweight. "

I don't feel that over weight, last physical fitness test I took I scored 67 pusups (2min) 63 situps (2min) and a 16:30 on a 2 mile run...  I wear medium ACU pants (32-36 waist).  Am I just in denile or is there some factor I am missing on the overweight determating scale thing?  Either way I know I need to loose weight and get in better shape...  I just don't like thinking of myself as severely over weight...

You will have a higher muscle mass, that's all.

The BMI tool is just an estimate and it only has weight to go by.
But muscle weighs much more then fat does.
So even if you have a large muscle mass, the BMI tool doesn't know it's muscle and not fat.
Maybe working out your Body Fat % would be better for you?

Oh okay, thanks :-D  How would I go about doing that though?

restless_girl is right: bmi is just a ratio, with little meaning.

there are several ways to get you body fat tested, not all equal.  the most accurate is an immersion test.  you can have a caliper test done by someone qualified.  or you can get a body fat scale. 

the home body fat scales aren't particularly accurate, but good ones are consistent.  so if you get an immersion or caliper test done and buy a bf% scale, you can set your own baseline and go from there.

oh okay, I will have to wait on that one, I am in Iraq right now and I don't think they have those here :(  I will just go based of a measurments...

37 waist
16 neck
16 bicep
16.5 lower leg muscle thing
24.5 upper leg muscle thing
47 chest

haha I just noticed from doing that that my neck and arm are the same size around haha

BMI is a tool that doesn't work for everyone...muscle will mess it up.  The scale really isn't acurate either for the same reason. 

I assume you are in Iraq in the service...THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We appreciate what you all are doing.  Many don't see the big picture, but I know you are all helping us and protecting us much more than we know.  I am grateful for your sacrifice!

Here is a tool you can use to estimate your body fat percentage.

http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home -body-fat-test-2774-143.html

nooo you are not severely overweight, the scale and bmi tool is especially disheartening for men and generally not accurate. I remember specifically watchign a reality television show and a muscular and extremely in shape man appeared on the screen and declaired that the scale classified him as OBESE!!! Although the computer gadget is helpful it can also dole out useless information. In your case you may have a ton of muscle mass but the computer can't tell that! best of luck and don't freak out over it!

Judging from your pictures, you are very muscular and very fit. Don't worry about BMI or even the scale, worry about how much fat you haveon top of the muscle. You probably have no more than 10-15 lbs of fat that you could even lose.

I'm "slightly overweight" too... with 10% body fat! The BMI index is flawed because it doesn't take into account your muscle mass. Don't worry about it!

cellphane:

There is no WAY your 10%, at 10% you'd be seriously under fat for a woman, most likely quite vascular, thin as a rail, no soft spots on you at all, no flab visible...

Looking at your pictures you're probably closer to 25-27% (hard to tell without seeing you in a suit), the BARE minimum a woman should ever get is 12% (less and you'll likely not have your mesntral period anymore as your body will stop that).

At 15% women have pretty good sixpacks usually, 18% and its a completely flat stomach with the hipbones sticking out. (Mostly, they are not hard fast rules)

cell:

BTW, I didn't mean anything negative about my last post, I read your profile, congrats on a great transform..

I'd suggest a different method of BF analysis though, and your goals you said you want to lose 15lbs, if you honestly where 10% at 168, that means 16.8lbs of you is 'fat', and if you lost 15, then you'd be < 1% fat, which a male can't even survive at for more then a few hours (Some extreme nutcases do it for competitions but severly dehydrate themselves to achieve it, and almost immediatly bounce back to 3-4% and thats male, female figure competitors bounce into the 8% range but generaly go back above 10% very quickly).

Are you using a BIA scale? Those things are notoriously off sometimes. Both positive and negative. When I was close to 10% it was giving me readings of 25-40%, and when I was closer to 28% I got 18%-19%... They are beter used for 'tracking progress' than anything, the number should be going down, not up.

DEXA and Hydrostatic testing are the most reliable, but expensive and not available at most places (If you have a Univ thats big into healthcare you may be able to get dunked for a hydro test). DEXA I've no clue... But your gym will probably have a pair of calipers and someone thats decently skilled at using them (hopefully).

For your reference...

Jaime Eason (Well known fitness model with a unique ability to stay very low BF%) at 14% (5'2, 111lbs, 95.5lbs lean, 16lbs fat)

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/photo/data/500/ homepageimage21.jpg

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/photo/data/500/ medium/IMG_5904.jpg

No offense taken! Ok, 10% is very low... I had my BF measured by my personal trainer, using body fat calipers. I was blown away when she said 10% (down 0.9% from two months ago!) but my PT explained that although she used the skin fold/caliper method, they don't take measurements from all possible areas so my BF% is probably higher than that; however, I'm in the "excellent" range for optimal health! I do still have some visible body fat but I am pretty muscular ("solid"!) too. Right now, I'm just using the percentage as a base number to see if I go down, up or maintain. 

EDIT: caliper measurements were taken from biceps, triceps, subscapular, Illiac crest, suprailiac, abdomen and medial calf, but NOT the chest, midaxillary, suprailium, mid or rear thigh (and most of my left over body fat is in the thighs).

cellophane, i'm guessing that your personal trainer accidentally used the "male" chart to interpret your caliper measurements. You certainly do seem healthy and fit though, so I doubt that you have too much fat ("fitness" level for women is 19-24%).

Keynan, you don't have to worry about the BMI - you're quite muscular and that skews the results (even more so if you're tall).

Just work on eating right and sticking with the exercise and you'll be fine. :)

Keynan,

I'm guessing you're a Marine (maybe Army) from what you said (2 mile run, PFT, and where you measured yourself), if you aren't please don't be offended. God Bless you in Iraq, and I hope you return safe. I can't speak on behalf of any branch other than the Navy, but I know that some of our medical facilities have the capability of doing the immersion measurements. When you get home, you should check into it. Once you get an accurate body fat measurement, you are likely to feel better about your weight. Judging from your measurements, I would guess that you are not severely overweight, just more muscular than fat.

Thank you all for your help.  (I am army :P)  I am just doing what I love, no different then you all doing what you love.  I took that body fat test thing iknowmychicken put a link up for and it was more helpfull on my self esteem then the other thing, it said..

"You have 2.5% body fat.

You have 5.3 Pounds of fat and 204.7 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water)."

 

haha, I don't think that thing is very accurate either, I am going to have to wait till I get home and get the other tests.  I was hoping to see what I was now, but I will just go with 20%

Keynan, how vascular are your arms? At about 15% on guys the bicep veins usually start to show. 8% and you'll have a six pack (if your muscular), 12 and you should def have atleast the upper two if not a 4-pack. 18% you probably will have forearm veins (Which I see one in the pic).

All those are 'rule of thumbs' tho, but you def don't look severly overweight, maybe slightly chubby, but very muscular.

According to that estimate, I have 17.5% body fat.

You have 28.9 Pounds of fat and 136.1 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water).

Original Post by keynan:

Thank you all for your help. (I am army :P) I am just doing what I love, no different then you all doing what you love. I took that body fat test thing iknowmychicken put a link up for and it was more helpfull on my self esteem then the other thing, it said..

"You have 2.5% body fat.

You have 5.3 Pounds of fat and 204.7 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water)."

 

haha, I don't think that thing is very accurate either, I am going to have to wait till I get home and get the other tests. I was hoping to see what I was now, but I will just go with 20%

Wha???? Don't make me come over there with my tape! LOL

Unfortunately it seems to read bang on for me.

"You have 37.5% body fat.

You have 89.6 Pounds of fat and 149.4 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water)."

Uggggh. Ah well, it's certainly better than the stats I had in January!

Just ahead of warning 63 situps in 2 minutes is a better way to throw your back out then it to do anything ab related.

A good situp you hold for 5-10 seconds at the most painful ab spot, it'll burn, and get hard to hold yourself... If your whipping up/down, you use your back/neck to 'throw' your bodyweight up... So when it comes to ab workouts, quantity isn't quality... You want to kill your abs, do a pullup, then while your upper body is supsended at the top of the pullup, take your ab muscles and 'pull' your lower body up, so you form an L. keep your legs stiff, and uper body stiffy, no swinging...You will feel these the next day, trust me :)