Body Fat vs. BMI

[PastorSBC]

I recently signed up for an account with Fit Together and been keeping track of all my numbers.

I have a question for those of you who are way smarter than I ? What is the difference betwen your Body Fat level and your BMI? Which is more important to watch in regards to getting fit?

Thanks all. Hope everyone is doing well!

[2big4mysize]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

Neither is a judge of fitness

body fat is an actual measure of the pounds of body fat you have realative to your total weight and can be a great judge of your body composition. if you were 300 pounds with 150 pounds of fat you would be (150 / 300) x100% = 50% body fat and have an unhealthy body fat but if you were a rock hard 300 pounder with just 30 pounds of body fat you'd be 10% body fat and in excellant body comp health
the BMI is a general measure ment to tell if you are overweight or not but if you have a large frame or are very muscular as Say a powerforward in the NBA would be then you would incorrectly measure out in the BMI as obese.

however you could have 10% body fat and be in horrible cardiovascualr fitness or have 40% and be very cardio vascular fit was many overweight regular walkers are.

[PastorSBC]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

Thanks. So it sounds like Body Fat number is more important to watch than the BMI. Is that right?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

as far as determining your final goal weight but you can but healthy body fat and not fit with either number. 10% is the healthy bottom number for guys and 15% is it for females.

[PastorSBC]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

Right now I am at 21.12% for Body Fat and at 29 for BMI. So a good goal would be to get to 10% for Body fat %?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

it will depend on what you are looking for acceptable body fat for males can be as high as 25% here is a chart but you will find a different chart if you check out the fitnes council and even another one if you check out Dr. C. Everett Koop's site.

Classification Women (% fat) Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%

[PastorSBC]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

Thanks, I appreciate your help!

[PastorSBC]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

So does age affect these numbers. I have been checking my numbers each week and keeping track of them on Fittogether. This past week I lost 2lbs, all of my measurements were either the same or less. Yet my Body Fat number was a little higher than last week while my BMI dropped. The only thing that I can figure is they list my age and I got 1 year older this week.

[Kent]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

I would not worry minute changes from week to week. It is the long term trend you are looking for to be important. It is likely your BF % went slightly up due to no loss of inches, which is extremely difficult to get accurate each and every time. It might have been you missed a .125" difference in a measurement between the two weeks, which would change the BF % accordingly.

The BF% is not tied to the age. I have seen some acceptability charts vary with age, but your actual number does not.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Body Fat vs. BMI

happy birthday. Actually there are some med groups that feel body fay healthy amounts should increase slightly with age but that woyld not mean your body fat would change overnight on the day you have your birthday. just keep working out and you will see in a few weeks a big change . join the 5WEC if you haven't already and then compare yourself again after 4 weeks of exercise,