Terribly high body fat percentage!

I am female, 28, 5'10, 190. After being sedentary and obese most of my life, I started watching my calories, riding my bike every day (my bike was my sole means of transportation for a year) and walking a lot; I lost a lot of weight and built lots of muscle in my legs.
Now I'm trying to lose that last 30 to 40 pounds, and am biking or running an hour a day, burning 500 to 1000 calories in exercise and eating 1700 to 2000. I feel healthy and strong and great.

But! I recently got one of those body fat analyzer scales (Omron HBF-514), and it says my body fat is 48%! That's extremely obese! Can that possibly be true? It's so disappointing; I worked so hard to get my BMI down 11 points to where it is now, and was so happy when I was officially not obese.

I know that to get a truly accurate measurement you have to get it done with calipers and submersion and whatnot, but just how accurate are these scales? Doesn't 48% seem awfully high?

The scales are not very accurate at all. It depends on how hydrated you are, among other things. The hand-held electronic body fat analyzer at my gym tells me I'm 23.5%. My scale at home told me this morning that I'm 30%. Calipers read somewhere in the middle.

BMI is not a very good indicator either. It doesn't consider the amount of muscle you have or your build. It wasn't even created for the purpose of telling you how healthy you are!

48% is indeed high, but I doubt that the scale you are using is very accurate.

http://bodyfattest.com/  There's a mobile station that does hydrostatic testing, they give you a very detailed report, and it's only around 50 bucks. See if they have one in your area!

Congrats on your weight loss so far :] Keep it up! I suggest adding in some weight training :]

Ya the scales aren't accurate AT all. I have one of those dealies on mine too. My boyfriend is almost in body builder shape and it tells him his body fat is in the 30s. There's no way. And it tells me mine is 19%... just doesn't make sense.

So ignore that scale. Heck ignore any number telling you your body fat. Even calipers don't measure right. And who CARES? It's all about being comfortable in your own skin, not a percentage of fat or any numbers on that dang scale.

Body Fat % is a very important measure and as such it is important that you get it as accurate as possible.

Don't use your scales straight after a workout or within an hour of eating or drinking. My suggestion would be to do it first thing in the morning in which case you should get a reading with a 1 - 2% tolerance.

Other than that learn how to use a calipers. t is quite simple to use on yourself and is also reasonably accurate.

Actually it would be pretty inaccurate first thing in the morning because you are very dehydrated, the more hydrated you are the more accurate it will be.

While you shouldn't worry excessively about the numbers, body fat % is good to pay attention to, once you go over a certain point, I think 35% for women, is when your weight is likely to have negative effects on your body.

Another easy measurement you should pay attention to is the circumference of your waist. If it's over 35" you're more at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Hayleymajayley,

I'm sorry but you're wrong.First thing in the morning is the ideal time to use bio-impedance measurement. The reading is adversely effected by hydration. First thing in the morning is also the ideal time to weigh yourself on the scales.

The healthy range for a women is anywhere between 30 - 35%.

Um, sorry brianpdownes, but 30-35% for women is pretty high.  32% and up is considered overweight, 24-32% is acceptable, and 21-24% is good for fit people. 

I can't say how accurate the hand-held BIA is, but I know it is pretty consistent if I use it every morning at the same time.  And it is useful for trending, but I personally don't trust it's accuracy.  Maybe I'm biased, but the caliper test showed my body fat several percentage points lower than the BIA. 

Karozel, that is incorrect. It depends on your age. Under 35% is within the healthy bracket for a woman.  The younger you are, the further from 35% it should be. If you are under 39 then it should be below 32%.

Ideally the BIA should have 4 points of contact to get a more accurate reading. The caliper test is commonly recognised as being a more accurate  measure of body fat.

Brian, sorry but I think karozel is closer to the recommendations. 

According to the American Council on Exercise (via wikipedia, sorry can't find the direct link), healthy is 21-31% for women, with athletes being lower and 32%+ being overweight or obese. 

I did find this chart which varies slightly by age group but generally 20-30% is still the healthiest range. 

Feel free to provide sources supporting what you say, always helps if you want people to believe you ;)

ETA:  OP, those scales are not very accurate if they are just the ones you stand on (i.e. no handheld portion - as Brian said, BIA is more accurate with 4 points).  If you're concerned, do the hydrostatic testing - I'm getting mine done tomorrow!

A very wise woman (my mother) used to tell me "dont believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see" with that being said I will say this, currently I am 173 pounds, 5'2.5 and 29 years old, and I feel like nobody, no scientist no researcher no one knows my body but me. I can run a 5k, I can walk up 3 flights of stairs and not be outta breath, im healthy as a horse and I like what I see when I walk past a mirror, I think I can do better thats why im here, but I will be damn if im "obese", dont let people that dont know you or your body put a name on you, so you can fit some standard that they set.  As long as you know you are healthy and can stay that way, then you will be fine.